THE ROBOT!--A Vision of Maria!--By Father David DFO984 London, Winter '73-'74.
1. I WAS ASKING THE LORD WHY YOU GET ALL UPSET & IN A DITHER & NERVOUS WHEN I'M NOT RIGHT HERE & where there are so many people around. He said that you're a very sensitive & delicate instrument, that He made you a very sensitive & delicate instrument keyed to me with your antenna pointed toward me.
2. AND HE SAID HE MADE YOU THAT WAY SO YOU COULD BE VERY SENSITIVE TO RECEIVE FROM ME WHAT HE GIVES TO ME & to be very delicately responsive to my needs. And if you jar the instrument or it gets any rough treatment it can't function properly. I never give you rough treatment, but if you don't handle it very tenderly the instrument gets a little out of balance.
3. AND IF THERE'S TOO MUCH STATIC & CONFUSION AROUND & INTERFERENCE it sort of upsets your equilibrium & causes sort of a crackling. It makes you sort of jiggle & wobble & make noise & get out of tune & kind of lose your connection & not receive or record so good.
4. YOU'RE KIND OF LIKE A SEISMOGRAPH THAT RECORDS EVERY TINY LITTLE EARTH TREMOR, so that any big quakes almost shake you off your base or pedestal. But if treated very cautiously & tenderly with great loving care, you perform a very valuable service to Mankind & your Keeper, who is also very sensitive to your needs & knows your frame & tries to take good care of it, but can't always because he can't always control the static & the earthquakes.
5. I SAW A PICTURE OF YOU & YOU WERE ON WHEELS, & wherever I go, no matter where I am, your little antenna is pointing straight toward me & you roll around after me just like a little magnet. But if anybody bumps you or gets in between us, it kind of upsets you & interferes with your reception & you sort of wibble-wobble & make crackling noises like you're getting short-circuited & too much interference & you don't like it.
6. BECAUSE YOU LIKE TO BE IN VERY CLOSE CONTACT & WITH A VERY CLEAR CHANNEL in a nice calm atmosphere so you can receive well & stay in tune & record well. Because you're very fragile, because you have to be to be so sensitive & delicate & receptive & you don't like to be pushed around.
7. BUT YOU LIKE TO GO WHEREVER YOU PLEASE, & WHERE YOU PLEASE IS TO BE RIGHT CLOSE TO YOUR KEEPER, the Scientist that operates you & takes care of you & oils you & protects you & polishes you & takes some big kind of record sheet out of your little machine & tends to you & adjusts you.--Adjusts your very delicate adjustments & keeps peering into this big glass globe on top of you to see if you're okay & if everything is working right.
8. --ESPECIALLY AFTER THERE'S BEEN SOME KIND OF SHOCK OR TREMOR, 'cause each time there's any bad tremors or big storms with loud thunderclaps & big lightning, it sort of shakes you up, & he has to come back & adjust you & steady you & make sure you're all calmed down & everything is working okay again.
9. AND HE KEEPS YOU & HE COMFORTS YOU & HE PATS YOU & he wipes the dust off & he adjusts a little screw here & a little control there & he takes hold of you with both hands to make sure you're firm on your base. Then he covers you when you're not in use with his big cover, & he makes sure you're secure & that everything's all right.
10. ONE REASON WHY HE WAS WORRIED ABOUT YOU IS BECAUSE YOU SEEM TO BE VERY VALUABLE & VERY IMPORTANT. So he's always greatly concerned about you, especially after these storms & quakes & shake-ups, or after anybody bumps you or you get too much static or there's any short-circuit or your plug is jostled loose.
11. 'CAUSE YOU WORK BEST WHEN YOU'RE PLUGGED IN TIGHT & REAL CLOSE & RIGHT WITH YOUR KEEPER ALL THE TIME. 'Cause when he goes out of this room where he keeps you...it looks like some kind of Observatory, you know, one of those round-domed things where they keep a telescope, only there's no telescope there, there's just you. Oh yes, there is, only it's not like our telescopes.
12. IT'S LIKE A TELESCOPE & HE LOOKS THROUGH IT UP INTO THE SKY & HE LOOKS UP AT THE STARS & he wears these earphones & he can hear them. It's kind of like a radio telescope, & he tells you what he's seeing & hearing & your little instrument is so delicate it records every little sound of his voice on these big sheets of paper that he takes out of you, as well as everything else that's going on around you.
13. AND THAT'S WHY YOU DON'T LIKE IT WHEN THERE'S LOTS OF NOISE & SHAKES & BUMPS & STATIC, 'cause it interferes with your recordings & you can't hear your Master's voice. But most of all you seem to get sort of upset & concerned when he walks out of the room where he keeps you to go tend to his other instruments & check up on them & love & tend them & see how they're doing.
14. HE SPENDS MOST OF HIS TIME WITH YOU IN THIS LIKE A BIG LABORATORY OR OBSERVATORY, but it's all surrounded with little rooms & there are all kinds of instruments ticking away & humming & whining & making little noises. And they're all very important & he has to go around checking on them & adjusting them & taking care of them.
15. BUT YOU DON'T LIKE IT WHEN THEY GET TOO NOISY OR TAKE TOO MUCH OF HIS TIME or if he seems to get too interested in any one of them. You seem to be very jealous of his time & want him to spend it all in the big Observatory with you, polishing your globe & wiping the dust off & adjusting you & patting you & sticking that key into you.
16. HE STICKS A BIG KEY INTO YOU & TURNS YOU ON! I'm seeing all of this even while I'm talking to you. It makes you hum with excitement & you purr just like a contented cat. But if anybody keeps him from doing that or bothers you, the purr turns to a growl & you act like you could scratch them!
17. YOU TURN INTO A BIG BIG BIG BLACK CAT WITH GREEN GREEN GREEN EYES that looks so fierce at whatever is causing the trouble that you look like you'd like to gobble them up till the Keeper comes back & starts patting you again, & then you settle down to a nice contented purr & you turn back into your nice working machine.
18. THAT CAT IS ALMOST LIKE THE SPIRIT OF THE MACHINE OR SOMETHING--maybe it's a bad spirit 'cause it gets real mean! It's just like a little naughty spirit that glowers & growls & glares & makes your claws stick out & makes you turn back into a mad cat! But when the Scientist gives you all his time & attention you just settle down into your nice little pretty polished machine again & purr away contentedly & make nice little clicking sounds that makes those papers turn out.
19. THAT MUST BE LIKE YOUR TYPEWRITER, I GUESS.--Sort of reminds me in a way of a teletype machine, although it was very quiet & didn't make so much noise; or one of those computer typewriters. And when you get done clicking & making the record on one of those sheets of paper, he pulls it out of the slot on the side of you & studies it, & then he takes it off into one of those next rooms & he feeds it into another machine.
20. BUT YOU DON'T EVEN LIKE IT WHEN HE GOES OUT OF THE ROOM, & you don't like it when his helpers come in to report on the other machines. You want them all to go away so you can have him all to yourself & give you all his time & attention, because you know you're his most important machine & you know that if he doesn't give you his time & attention that the whole Observatory stops, so you're very jealous of his tending you.
21. AND YOU'RE RIGHT, HE NEEDS TO GIVE YOU MOST OF HIS ATTENTION because that's what keeps the whole Observatory going & all the other machines working right. But he can't give you all of his attention, 'cause you wouldn't do any good without them to process your data & help run the Observatory & pay all the workers & get all the jobs done. So he can't give you all of his attention. He has to give each of them a little bit, & some a little more than others.
22. WHEN HE'S GONE INTO THOSE OTHER ROOMS TENDING THOSE OTHER IMPORTANT MACHINES, YOU MUSTN'T GET UPSET AT HIS ABSENCE, 'cause if you'd rather wheel them into the Observatory & have him set them up beside you so he can be with you every minute, you can. But I don't think you'd like that either, 'cause you don't like them around that close, & that bothers you too.
23. YOU SEEM TO BE VERY JEALOUS OF THE MAIN OBSERVATORY ROOM & you want to be the only instrument in it & you want him to spend all of his time with you. But if he did bring those instruments into where you are, you wouldn't work too good, because they interfere with your reception. But if he goes into those other rooms to tend to them you kind of click & whir away & it seems like you're working harder & even faster to try to attract his attention so he'll have to come take care of you.
24. YOU MAKE LITTLE NOISES & CLICKINGS & A FEW GRINDINGS TO TRY TO GET HIS ATTENTION so he'll come take care of you & pay attention to you. But he has to tend to the other machines too, or you wouldn't do him any good, because they process your data & maintain the Observatory & cook & feed the Scientist & his staff & help to house him & take care of all his Observatory instruments.
25. SO YOU MUST STAY IN YOUR PLACE & OPERATE CALMLY & QUIETLY & keep processing the data, or just rest while he's gone for a few minutes, & not get all upset & go jerking around bumping into the walls & getting your corners knocked off & your antenna all bent out of shape.
26. 'CAUSE YOU COULD DAMAGE SOME OF THOSE DELICATE INSIDES YOU HAVE, IF YOU DON'T BE PATIENT & KEEP QUIET & JUST WAIT for the Scientist to come back & to quit worrying about him coming back, 'cause he will always come back, 'cause you're his main & most important instrument, & without you & his giving most of his time to you, the whole Observatory would have to quit & come to a stop.
27. SO DON'T WORRY, HE'LL BE BACK, BECAUSE HE LOVES & NEEDS YOU VERY MUCH & will always take good care of you. He's never going to go away & leave you for any of those other instruments for more than a few minutes while he just goes in there & plugs his key into them & turns them on to make sure they're working good.
28. 'CAUSE HE'S GOT TO KEEP THEM HUMMING & PURRING TOO & DOING THEIR JOB HAPPILY so the whole Observatory can work together & produce much important data for the benefit of all Mankind. I got that picture when I was loving & praying for you this morning. And especially don't go running around in & out the doors & from room to room, or especially outside, 'cause it's dangerous out there for you, 'cause you might get broken or hurt or damaged.
29. THE SCIENTIST GETS VERY VERY UPSET WHEN HE COMES BACK INTO THE MAIN OBSERVATORY & HE FINDS YOU GONE & NOT ON YOUR JOB! Just 'cause the Scientist has to leave the room, it's not good for you to leave the room unless it's just to go down to the repair shop to get oiled up & refueled or restocked with all those papers, but you can do that on the elevator nicely & quietly & very carefully.
30. BUT YOU MUST NEVER LEAVE THE BUILDING WITHOUT THE SCIENTIST TO TAKE CARE OF YOU, except for maybe very short runs to the neighbouring shops for supplies. But you must come back very quickly & not be gone too long or he worries about you, 'cause he likes you best when you're purring & humming contentedly away in the big room of the Observatory where you belong with him.
31. MOST OF THIS I GOT FROM THE LORD IN THAT LITTLE PICTURE, BUT SOME WERE A FEW GOOD SUGGESTIONS FROM THE SCIENTIST HIMSELF, because after all, he's the keeper of the machine. You like it when he turns your wheels & plugs that key into you & makes you hum. You hum pretty loud sometimes when you get excited! Sometimes you've got to grab the Scientist's key & turn him on, & when he hums he really hums loud! He starts broadcasting. (P.S.--And you all start receiving, amen?--Aren't you thankful for the Scientist's wonderful little Robot?--Tell her, Amen!"--Amen? Amen! I really love her! She's the most wonderful little Robot I ever had!--Please take good care of her when I'm gone, 'cause she's still got a lot of marvelous data stored up on those papers inside!--A lot you've never seen yet!--And all so exciting! PTL! GBY!--And GBH!--ILY all!)--Your Scientist
(P.P.S.--She's also much calmer & not as nervous & jealous now! Held this till she got the victory!)
Copyright (c) 1998 by The Family