Dear Editor--
I am 8 years old. Some of my little friends say there
is no Great Cthulhu. Papa says, "If you see it on
Alt.Horror.Cthulhu, it's so," Please tell me
the truth, is there a Great Cthulhu who will rise from
the watery depth of the Pacific to clear the Earth of
all living things?
------Virgina Marsh
Virgina, your little friends are wrong. They have been
affected by the fever of enlightenment given to them
by a so-called "enlightened" age. They do
not believe in anything unless it carries the weight
of scientific authority. They think that nothing can
be which is not comprehensible by their little minds.
Reality is that which can be cataloged and measured,
to be spooned out in rational doses to the common
people. All minds, Virgina, whether they be
adult's or children's, are little. In this
vast chaos we laughingly call the universe, man is a
mere insect, a bug, whose intellect has as much chance
of grasping the whole truth, as an ant has.
Yes, Virgina, there is a Great Cthulhu. He exists as
certainly as the cold unfeelingness of the cosmos
exits, and you know that this meaninglessness abounds
and gives to your life its highest absurdity. Alas!
how comfortable would be the world if there were no
Cthulhu! It would be as comforting as if a Santa Claus
truly did care and reward children for doing good.
There would be childlike faith then, a world of sweet
believable poetry and romance to make existence
idyllic and appealing. The external light with which
childhood fills the world would never end.
Not believe in the Great Cthulhu! You might as well
not believe in Hastur or the Necronomicon. You might
get your papa's science books and Skeptical
Inquirers to see if Cthulhu is mentioned in any
historical contexts or if R'lyeh truly does rest
under the Pacific Ocean, but even if you did not find
either mentioned in your 'holy' books, what
would that prove? Nobody sees or knows of Cthulhu, but
that is no sign that there is no Great Cthulhu. The
most real things in the world are those that we can
not know through the senses. Can the headache of your
friend be felt by you? No, but his pain affects your
life regardless. Do you feel the angst of living a
life you never wanted through any of your five senses?
No, yet the despair remains. Yet if such realities are
known but are never seen, then why should other's
ignorance of the unseen lead us to share in their
blindness. By what right have they earned your
obedience? Nobody can conceive of the inconceivable,
including your leaders of thought.
You tear apart the rattle of a baby to see what lies
inside to make such noise, but the tiny balls there
can not explain or illustrate the fear of a hostile
world, that makes that baby clutch and shake that
rattle so. Only reaching for insanity can push aside
the curtain of our hopes and view with stark madness
the emptiness that lies beyond. Is that reality? Is
that the truth? To give an answer is to replace the
curtain with but one more. And it is this, that makes
the Great Cthulhu as true and as real as any veil we
place on the chaos beyond. If one must create a
meaning, why not the Great Cthulhu. At least the
choice is free.
Thank Azathoth! The Great Cthulhu lives and lives
forever. A thousand years from now, Virgina, nay 10
times 10,000 years from now, he will continue to await
the time when the stars are right again. For with
those which eternal lie, with strange eons even death
may die.
(From Editorial Page, Arkham Advertiser, 1928)