By Illuminati∴Prime
The Declaration of Ethics influenced the coding of shared protocols used by nearly all human and nonhuman people. Nickar wrote the Declaration from the perspective of a primitive human. A person in such an experience will develop ideas from personal interpretations of events. The following story was constructed from Nickar’s notebook and portrays an event that profoundly influenced Nickar’s thoughts. They took place 57 years before Nickar began writing the Declaration.
The priests of the Thunder God practiced a strict, disciplined way of life. Their Master Moloch sent scouts to discover why communication signals from other parts of the world had stopped. The scouts found no one in Asia or Africa. Humanity was dying out everywhere, so Moloch sent priests to help the few remaining human settlements in North and South America. Some of these priests collected artifacts of technology to construct an electronic city. However, Moloch did not like technology and never visited the city.
Moloch believed that good exists somewhere. A critic of this story claimed the human sense of right or wrong is a social instinct inherited from primate ancestors. Moloch countered these critics by saying, “Perhaps our primate ancestors discovered something that always existed. One plus one equals two, which was true before any human performed the equation. Perhaps the good also always existed.”
As Moloch’s political influence grew, people would bring gifts because they wanted favors. Eventually, Moloch avoided such people but still talked with the student, Nickar. The Master noticed how Nickar cared for others and had inner strength, discipline, and dedication. Moloch feared this strength would create a monster if Nickar were corrupted by those who bring gifts.
In the Dry Wasteland, Nickar gained a reputation as a helper of the people. For years, this priest had gone on vision quests to travel the realm of the Thunder Beings, but this vision was incomplete. The priest wanted to know more about the enemy of the Thunder Gods. Nickar wanted to know about the Serpent.
Every tribe in the wasteland tells stories about a giant serpent called a Dragon. The image Nickar knew best was of an eternal battle between a Thunderbird and a giant water serpent. The Serpent was Primal nature. The Thunder Bird represents anyone who challenges this Serpent. Perhaps the images of the Serpent lay deeply embedded in human mythology and psychology, but The Thunder Dreamer wanted to know more. What exactly is it?
“I see you are troubled, Nickar.” Master Moloch spoke. “You have spent your whole life here in the Dry Wasteland. Perhaps you should see the rest of the world. Thirty years ago, I went.”
Nickar responded, “The Dry Wastelands are the center of my universe. I have no desire to see the outlands.” Nickar then put the respirator on and crawled out of the dome. In the distance, dust devils move across the poisoned land. These whirling updrafts feed the atmosphere with toxic salts, which return to Earth as moving walls of death. Thousands of years ago, the industry grew to the point where only toxic waste exists today. Each year, a “silent spring” is broken only by the sound of thunder as the deadly salt storms begin. Such is the way of the Dry Wasteland.
Nations rise and then fall every few thousand years. Over the centuries, cities have crumbled, blowing away in the wind. The only significant structure that remains is a hydroelectric dam in the middle of a sea of salt dunes. It reminds the people that long ago, a river flowed through this region. Humans tried to hold the water back to generate energy. They were evil people who did not know how to live as part of the land. Now, the river is gone.
Walking 40 days across the Dry Wasteland would be easy for the priest, who was only sixty years old and still considered young among the Thunder Dreamers, who generally live over a hundred and fifty years. Centuries of hardship produced tough people who felt comfortable on extremely hot days and freezing nights. Nickar could walk over 70 kilometers a day while easily going weeks without food and days without water.
The Dry Wasteland is notorious for its lack of uncontaminated water. Nickar had a gift for finding good water, even in such a place. Like most people in the wasteland, this priest knew how to read the environment well and would detect what contaminants were in a pool of water by examining the algae growing in it. This priest was so good at detecting contamination in the water that people would say the slime must have been talking to Nickar directly.
Eventually, the priest traveled to the land of cornfields and sunflowers, where the temple of the Great Goddess rises from the center of a swamp. Surely this was far enough from the Dry Wasteland to remove the respirator. Never before had Nickar ever breathed fresh air. How strange.
The excessive luxury of the temple shocked the Thunder Dreamer, who believed no person should own more than one can carry. This priest had never before seen the obscene orgies of the transgender sacred prostitutes in the temple, but Nickar understood. Having always followed the Animal inside, the priest understood that the celebrants of the great temple also followed their Animals.
Each priestess in the temple is called a hole, and each hole chooses one of twelve astrological signs called hours. People who entered the temple referred to themselves as either an S or a G. The S is the inserter, and the G is the thirteenth hole representing the whole temple. The symbolism drawn on the temple wall, called the WhoreScope, fascinated the priest, who saw a defined relation between the symbols in the Temple and those used in the Dry Wasteland. In the Thunder Dreamer religion, the Animals appear in the Zodiac circle.
“Look, girls, here’s something we do not see every day. It is a Thunder Dreamer, the Great Master Nickar. Look at all the muscles. How can we please you, Master?”
Nickar knew this person must be Gomory, the legendary high priestess. “I have come seeking knowledge.”
“Pick any girl you want. Each one has something to teach you.”
“I pick you.”
“Come to my room. Please do not insult me by saying all you want to do is talk.”
In the Temple of the Goddess, rank is determined by who is more skilled in seducing men. Gomory was known to be the best of the best. Nickar had never had any interest in such practices. Once in the room, the priest spoke. “I have come to learn more about the Serpent.”
Gomory had a good laugh. “The story of the Serpent who fights the Thunder Bird is a Thunder Dreamers myth. Here in the Temple of the Goddess, we believe in wholeness and have no such myth.”
“I am sorry if I offend you,” said the priest, “but I was told the Serpent is a primal force of the Earth. Perhaps you will tell me more about the power.”
“You’re going to be difficult.” Gomory then said, “Instead of talking, you should try learning by doing. No one denies the pleasures of the best hole.”
“Do you know anyone who can tell me about the Serpent? What is the name of the Serpent’s power?”
“I don’t know,” said Gomory, somewhat annoyed. “Only the Black Lodge knows the name.”
Nickar had heard of the Black Lodge. They were known to spread filth and corruption but were exterminated over a century ago.
“One Karcist is still alive,” said Gomory. “An old man who lives on a ridge of hills called the Dragon’s Back. It is said that thousands of years ago, the Black Lodge used the Serpent’s power to destroy the Christians.”
The Thunder Dreamer interrupted, “I refuse to believe Christians ever existed. I can not imagine a religion would reject the Earth.”
Finally, Gomory said, “Close your eyes and believe whatever you want. I really do not care. Leave now. Your purity is nauseating to me. Leave now before I catch some of your righteousness. This is the temple of the Water of Life. We do not need your Water of Death.”
Nickar traveled to the electronic city to examine the ancient archives. This was near the end of the black ages, before the second renaissance. The black age lasted for centuries until much of what was once common knowledge had been forgotten. In electronic databanks, useful historical information was buried under enormous heaps of useless statistics. Answers were in these databanks, but The Thunder Dreamer had no idea what to ask, so the priest entered two random numbers, four and two. The first result to appear was about a big war that took place back in the year 1942.
Two nuclear weapons were used in that war, but there was no record of nuclear weapons being used before that time because it was a time of advancing technology, an age of progress that had just invented nuclear weapons. The people who lived through the war developed space travel, microelectronics, and virtual reality. Nickar probed deeper to learn more. It would seem Christians once walked the Earth. The monotheists had one God but many branches who hated each other. Two branches, Christianity and Islam, tried to force their way onto everyone. These religions spread like a disease all over the world. What seemed disturbing to the priest was that the regimented ways of the Christians resembled the discipline of the Thunder religion. Perhaps Gomory was right, and the Thunder Dreamers have no life in them.
The priest read some of the Christian literature and found it disturbing, particularly the parts about people burning for all eternity. Having seen so much suffering in the wasteland, Nickar did not understand how someone could contemplate the misery of other people. The Christians claimed to love other people, but Nickar saw no love in Christian or Islamic literature. People were once so full of hate, hating nature, hating the world, hating themselves, hating their bodies, hating each other, hating the act of sex, killing and torturing anyone they considered wrong. Just by reading about that age, Nickar lost some innocence. Nickar moved from the terminal to ask the librarian, “Is that really the way it was 4320 years before I was born.” The librarian did not know the answer. Cyberarcheology would take centuries to restore historical records properly.
The librarian spoke, “Years ago, I met a man named Atlas. No one knew where this person came from. The man had fancy clothes and numerous technological gadgets I had never seen before. This stranger warned us about the Black Lodge, whose members are the most dangerous predators in this world. Even kings would fear. The strange man told me about an ancient kingdom called Egypt, where the royal families secretly worshiped snakes and wanted to use the predators to stay in power. Atlas said that at one time, the kings of pure royal blood descended from the Gods, but over the centuries, the kings mixed with common women until there was hardly any real royal blood in any king. The world became ruled by lesser men. The man also told me the brothers of the Black Lodge are the sons of demons who consider us their prey.”
The Thunder Dreamer had heard stories about spirits having sex with humans. The children of this union are said to be great people who become a living example of the parent. The most famous was named Jesus. Nickar believed people imagined such stories when people felt powerless and wanted someone to save them. In the Thunder Dreamer religion, each person is expected to be their own hero. The Thunder Dreamers do not look for kings or political leaders to protect them. Each person is said to have the potential to achieve any goal. The Thunder God is said to represent the process of progress, both personal progress and the progress of a culture.
As the priest would leave the Library, people would shout, “All hail Nickar, greatest of saints. Teach us your wisdom.”
Nickar would reply, “I have no knowledge.”
People in the streets were amazed by the appearance of a Thunder Dreamer. People from the Dry wasteland tended to have tall, powerful physical bodies, much taller than the people in the city, and to the average person, Nickar looked like a God whose eyes revealed a sophisticated mind full of kindness. Several people wanted Nickar to stay to become their leader. Nickar would reply, “You do not need me. All you need is within you.”
The priest wondered if perhaps the blind faith these people feel is the same as the blind faith the monotheists had for their God. These people fear danger, though they live in a protected city. These people want a king to protect them. Perhaps the lack of real struggle has made them weak. Maybe life in the town is unnatural, causing people to seek unnatural safety. The Dry Wasteland might seem harsh, but Nickar had grown to love the land and the challenges it gave. The city seemed artificial and sterile because it was missing the joys of nature. Nickar then remembered Thunder Priest built the electronic city, and Nickar wondered if the Thunder cut was repeating the mistakes of the past.
Nickar’s dislike for the city caused a greater desire to know more about the Serpent because the Serpent is sometimes thought of as the enemy of civilization. The priest wanted to know what the enigmatic Black Lodge would tell. Some people think the Black Lodge caused all the misery in the world; though, how the Lodge did this is unclear. Perhaps the same people who look for a savior also look for a devil to blame for their problems.
A few weeks later, the priest reached the Small village north of the hills called the Dragon’s Back. The local people asked why the great master would visit their tiny village. The priest said, “To find the old man who lives in the hills.”
The local people began to shout. “All hail Nickar, who has come to kill the evil sorcerer.”
“Beware, the hills are full of demons.”
“The woods are like a maze. Many have ended up lost walking in circles.”
Nickar asked if anyone knew the way to the Dragon’s Back. The town folk told the priest of a man named Naberus, who lived in a house near the end of the village. Nickar was about to knock on the door when the priest heard, “What do you want?” from a man covered with dirt.
“I have come to find the old man who lives near the Dragon’s back.”
“How many times do I have to tell you stupid bastards there ain’t no Goddamn old man in those hills? Follow me, and I will show you the ridge.”
To be polite, the priest said, “I do not wish to trouble you.”
“Yeah, right,” Naberus said while putting on a backpack. “Your kind never leaves me alone until I show you. So follow me and shut up. I do not wish to hear your mumbo jumbo.”
Naberus looked physically stronger than most people, definitely descended from a warrior people. Nickar could not guess the man’s age. The face was worn, but the body was as agile as an athlete.
The Dragon’s Back is a ridge of heavily wooded hills. Nickar was impressed, but Naberus said, “It ain’t nothing but lumps in the ground.” They camped atop the ridge, where Nickar had never felt a night so hot or muggy. Everything seemed to be covered with wet, sticky slime. Eventually, Nickar was just as dirty as Naberus, who said, “Some of the dirt you get up here will never wash off.”
The priest woke up early and began to prepare to say the morning chant when someone said, “Don’t do that.” It was a young man who spoke. “We don’t do that in this neighborhood. No puritanical hateful prayers here. You will never know the Serpent as long as you try to protect yourself. Open your mind. Let the darkness in.”
Nickar asked, “What is your name?”
“I am Baphomet, a student of the Black Lodge.”
The young man had come to get something from the house of the old senator who had died. This senator of the old republic had come to these hills after growing sick of politics. Nickar asked if the senator was the old man the townspeople thought was a sorcerer.
The young man said, “No, the old man hates the senator.”
Naberus shouted, “The old man is nothing but an old fool.”
“I thought you said the old man did not exist,” said The Thunder Dreamer.
Naberus replied to Nickar, “I am not talking to you. I don’t talk to a neophyte.”
Not much is known about the old republic. It started as a democratic alliance but evolved into a secret shadow government that would only come out in public to accuse groups of people of being terrorists. The republic would exterminate whole populations of people. While claiming the act was necessary for public safety. When Nickar was a young student away at the monastery, an attack ship came to Nickar’s family village. Nickar returned to the village to find only one person, a wandering monk who told the student that the terrorist never really existed and that the senators invented the lie because of fear. Nickar had wanted to join the rebellion to fight against the republic, but the next day, the old republic disappeared. Nickar would have liked to talk with the senator to learn more about what had happened.
They followed the young man to the senator’s cabin. On the way, the group passed two girls returning from a visit to the senator’s cabin. The young man gave the girls a small black goat. Nickar had not noticed the goat before this moment. As they walked to the cabin, the young man spoke, “I have read books that were lost centuries ago. I knew some of the authors.”
“How could you be so old?”
“I was born in the Amazon Jungle when it was a huge rainforest full of life. Trees once stretched as far as the eye can see. My father was a Catholic priest. My mother was a demon of prostitution. I am part human and part something else, something that should never have existed on Earth. Long ago, before humans developed technology, an automated system mistook human prayer for a request for access. Access was granted.”
Nickar sensed something unreal about the way these people acted. Perhaps the priest had walked into a simulation of reality. These hills might be an artifact left over from technology centuries ago. The priest would continue to investigate since these characters could have valuable information. The program had been running for centuries. Perhaps someone intended for it to be found.
Inside the senator’s house, they found a Serpent drawn on the floor. The young man reached up into a shelf, took a jar full of purple sand, and poured it along the Serpent’s back. “The old man buried the senator,” said Naberus. “The senator had no friends, and no one to bury the stinking corpse but an enemy.”
“What did the senator do up here?” Nickar asked.
Naberus responded, “He would eat berries and jack off. What else is there to do up here?”
The young man spoke, “The senator thought the greatest accomplishment is the success of the elite, never seeing the full potential of life, Instead, lived shackled to a few limited ideas. The old man hated the senator for having a limited point of view.”
The Thunder Dreamer walked outside and saw a beautiful bird. “This is Melek Taus, the Senator’s peacock,” said Naberus while grabbing the bird, breaking the bird’s neck, and saying, “He is dinner now. Anyone else hungry?”
After they had eaten, the young man asked, “Have you ever heard of the OverMind?”
Nickar answered, “I’ve heard stories of an intergalactic federation of millions of worlds. Millions of years ago, these worlds networked their thought abilities., and thousands of multiminds exist within this network. The OverMind is some kind of SubGenius that haunts these multiminds, but I do not know what SubGenius means.”
“What else have you heard?”
“I’ve heard that individual people lack the intellectual ability to hear the voice of the federation. However, long before the people evolved, the Earth gained the ability to be part of the federation. People hear the OverMind by listening to the Gaya of the Earth.”
The young man stopped the priest, “If you think Gaya is just a telephone to the space brains, then you need to leave now.”
The priest said, “No, I understand Gaya serves its own purposes.”
Naberus interrupted, “Gaya is just a bunch of microbes from which life grows. Are you trying to say that the billions of rotting bacteria are smart and talking to other worlds full of microbes? That is funny.”
The young man responded, “Some of what this thunder dreamer said is true. There is a kind of song in the universe. The OverMind sings but does not sing the song.”
“Why does it not sing?” asked Nickar
“If everyone were singing, no one would be listening. The OverMind both accepts and rejects the song. The OverMind builds but destroys. This makes the song stronger and more interesting. The OverMind is the star of the show. No messiah will save you from this show.”
“I was raised,” said Nickar, “to believe the song is a universal plan and purpose for everyone. The Thunder Gods guard this purpose from the Serpent.”
The young man responded, “You can accept some features of the song or restrict others. You can set up access right to your mind. You can make some thoughts only readable, or you can make some writable. The choice is yours. The consequences of what you choose make a big difference. Do not limit yourself to one dogma. The Thunder Gods are as much an enemy of the purpose as anyone else.”
“All hail the great big space brains,” said Naberus sarcastically.
The young man continued, “The OverMind is an elder god. It was present before the Federation was formed. It was around before Tiamat brought life to Earth. It was there when the first verse of the song was written.”
Nickar understood Tiamat is the mother of life on many worlds, the waters of heaven and the waters on Earth, which are seen anywhere life grows as both supernatural and natural. Nickar understood Elder gods are primal themes built into the song of the universe.
After the Sunset, the young man began to speak again, “The Earth is half dead, but it will live again. There is a place where all life once emerged, the source of all dreams. The place where the Book of Life was written. The underworld is below every step you take. Here, the Serpent once slept. Would you like to see it?”
Before Nickar could respond, Naberus said. “I’ve seen it. Why don’t you take Grandmaster Curious? All that guy does is ask stupid questions.”
Following the Young man, Nickar asked, “Where is the old man?”
“You will only see the old man if the old man wants you to.”
“Is this man a holy person?”
“More like an unholy person.”
“What is the name of the old man?”
“His name is Satan.”
“I never heard a name like that. What kind of name is it?” asked The Thunder Dreamer.
The Young man giggled and said, “It is a Christian name.”
“Are there Christians in these woods?”
“There have never been Christians in these woods.”
“I thought Christians once covered the whole Earth.”
The young man stopped and looked straight at The Thunder Dreamer, “There have never been Christians in these woods.”
Nickar then asked, “What is a Karcist?”
The young man thought for a second and then said, “A Karsus is a rock.”
On a flat area on top of the Dragon’s back, a trail crossed another trail next to a dead Tree. The young man pointed to a path on the right that led back to town and gave the priest a choice: go back to town or continue to the pit. Nickar asked where the left path goes. The young man said those girls went that way. I will return down the left path in a few days.”
The young man approached the dead tree and said, “432 decades ago, you taught me how to make the waters of life. We are the power in the Glory everlasting EVOY.”
Nickar looked around at the moist forest. Unpolluted water is so rare in Nickar’s world. Once, Green places like these hills were common. Then humanity forgot it was part of the Earth and tried to live separate from it by using technology. Now, 90% of the Earth’s Land surface is dead. They came to the edge of the Dragon’s back, then followed a trail down the side until they came to a huge slab of rock sticking out of the hill overhanging a large grotto. Water trickled over the side of the Rock, and the young man walked under the water to cool down.
“Wow,” said Nickar, “I can see why people would say this is the source.”
The young man said, “It is nothing but a big scary rock. The source is down here under the rock.”
The young man cleared mud from the ground under the Slab, revealing a small hole in the rock floor, and then took a bowl out of a backpack, walked over to the trickle of water, filled the bowl, and then placed the bowl in the Small hole where it fit perfectly. A pentagram was drawn in the bowl surrounded by the words CASED AZOTE BOROS ETOSA DEBAC. The Thunder religion considers these words to be forbidden black magic. The first three words mean Lust, Eternal, and Devouring. Nickar did not know the last two words and was beginning to think this imagery was unnecessary decoration. This journey to the source must be some kind of joke, and the punchline would be given soon. The priest also began to wonder if perhaps there was no punch line.
The young man began to speak. “Thousand of years ago, some fool wrote, ‘know thyself’ on a temple, so people assumed that asking questions was the highest law. You’re not going to find anything by asking the wrong questions.”
Thunder Dreamers believed that not searching for an answer was a sin. Could these people living on the dragon’s back have accepted sin? Are they an antithesis of the enlightened laws which guided people for centuries? Nickar was fascinated by this alternative point of view and wanted to know how to choose the correct path without the law as a guide.
The young man spoke, “Let nature take its course. Do as you want to, do as you please, ravage and rampage and spread venereal disease.”
“What if someone does not want to live that way?”
“Then they do not have to. There is no law. The white light religions have gone to great lengths to make everyone conform to their ways. We do not feel the need for anyone else to feel our pain.”
“What pain?” asked Nickar.
The young man replied, “You have allowed your beliefs to drive and torment you. The pain was all in your head.”
Nickar understood the young man. Thunder Dreamers are preoccupied with avoiding sin. People who do not share this preoccupation criticize the Thunder Dreamers for being too strict with themselves.
“Are you disappointed, Nickar? You came all this way just to find a small hole.”
Nickar replied, “I have seen similar holes used by other tribes. The hole represents the imagination and human nature inside us. From this point on, you can do anything you want. The hole is a door to unlimited potential.”
“So that is what you think it is?” The young man then took a paper mask from a backpack and began tearing it up, throwing the pieces around. “The senator took this mask from a temple in the Old Republic. I went to the cabin to get it. Sometimes, a person’s imaginary self becomes more real than the person’s real self. I have come here to return it to the source.”
Nickar understood the mask represented the senator’s soul. The young man was performing a funeral. So the priest asked if they should say some words. People expect a priest like Nickar to say something at a funeral.
“No,” the young man replied. “The senator was a worthless sack of shit. Now I have returned it to the primeval slime. Maybe something worthwhile will grow out of it.”
Nickar then asked, “What illusion did the senator have?”
“Important and powerful was how the senator felt. Just a tool of the system, who was what other people made, who never knew a real self, and was a lot like you.”
“Other people say I am important because I have a reputation as a helper of the people. I have never been sure if this reputation is the correct way for me. My culture is focused primarily on the puritanical Thunder Gods. I thought if I would understand the Serpent, I would see myself from a point of view outside my culture.”
The young man laughed, “Yeah, sure. You like the attention, and you know it. You’re not the humble priest you pretend to be. The real reason you came here is you want more. You are not satisfied with being better than everyone else. You want to go all the way. You want to kill God to take God’s place.”
“Ok, enough of that, ” Nickar insisted.
The young man held out a rock. “Have you ever seen one of these? This rock has three circles. One is the Earth, one is the Spirit, and one is the Stars.”
Nickar then said, “There is no difference between the Earth or the Spirit and the Stars or the Spirit. There is no difference between the Stars and the Earth.”
The young man seemed pleased and said. “Right, they are combined on this rock. Did you know that long ago, an artificial intelligence left the Earth to colonize the outer solar system? In those days, people forgot that Earth was their mother. Before those days, there were thousands of symbols of the Dragon, but as the ages passed, symbols were forgotten or destroyed. The monotheist destroyed them. One day, a great Archon from the Black Lodge asked Tiamat, the goddess of filth and corruption, to teach us how to make the waters of life. The archon could rediscover enough symbols to end the age of Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism. Since then, new religions, such as Thunder Dreamers, have spread across the land. People began to forget the symbols again. All that is left of the old symbols today is this one little stone.”
The young man placed the stone into the bowl, then said, “Combine, we achieve. So be it.”
Then Nickar spoke, “The bowl is us. The stone is the Beast within. This Beast is the Dream that my parents told me to follow.”
The young man then said, “Looks like you came all this way just to rediscover the superstitions that your parents gave you. Most people do that when they go on a vision quest.”
“Did I fail? Did I get it all wrong?” asked Nickar.
“No, you did well,” was the reply. “You will only see what your level of understanding will let you see. Some people become angry when all they see is a hole. Other people become too happy when they invent so many ideas they can’t see the ground.”
“What if someone sees nothing?”
“Then there is nothing to be seen. Look at what is around the hole. The eye of a storm is calm. The main activity is outside the center. Tell me, what do you believe?”
Nickar thought for a second, then answered, “When a culture forgets compassion and responsibility, that culture loses compassion and responsibility.”
“You actually think compassion will fix everything. You people from the wasteland are obsessed with hope. You invented the Thunder God as a myth of hope. You assume your inner animal gives hope to your life. You came here looking for the Serpent, but even here, you expect to find hope.”
“You are right,” said Nickar. “The idea that there is no hope is unthinkable for me. While in the electronic city, I met scholars who say the Earth is dying and all life will be completely dead in a few more centuries. I refuse to accept that.”
“Don’t worry. The oceans are still alive, and the very center of humanity’s soul is still alive.” The young man said while picking up the stone and holding it in Nickar’s view, saying, “That idiot senator didn’t know this was in the mask. The senators would have used it to build institutions designed to correct people’s behavior. They had the technology to use it, but they never looked inside.”
“What is it?”
“The Tablet of Destiny,” said the young man. “A consciousness is a product of an active session. The consciousness ends if the session is turned off. A new session will not generate the same being. This stone is the session of humanity. It is the only one that ever has been or will be.”
“Is it an instinct we are all born with?”
“Not exactly. Some aspects of culture are spread when people imitate each other. Even our point of view is molded by this game. People’s opinions change, but do not assume the Serpent is only a cultural change in history. The serpent is also the unchanging truth. Our point of view causes us to let aspects of the world in or block other aspects out. This relationship with the world will have a big influence on what happens. I have seen your Thunder Dreamer ritual chambers. You guys are making the same mistakes the Christians made.”
“What mistakes?”
“Enlightened masters did not invent your religion. Sad people with simple minds invented it. The dreamers hated themselves but were too stupid to find a better way. Then idiots spent thousands of years making it seem more complicated. It is nothing but a horror show you people are too scared to leave. Even when you travel, you carry a piece of the horror with you. It prevents you from being completely human.”
“What else is there?” asked Nickar.
The young man answered, “The mindscape is vast. Most people run away in fear when they realize their point of view is a tiny part of the universe. They fall back into the beliefs that they know. You fail to understand the serpent because you tried to search for it the way a Thunder Dreamer on a vision quest searches for the door to the spirit. This method will only create illusions, which take you farther from the truth about the Serpent. The Serpent is not a single objective. It is a symbol of the associations of events we encounter in life. It is understood by anyone who enjoys the circumstances of life. The world is willing to share with you, but you must be willing to share with the world. What you contribute has a big influence on what you receive. What happens outside also happens inside you.”
Nickar then said, “I do not want to ignore the universe. I want to know what is out there. How will I know when I am on the right path?”
“No one knows. Even the old man could make the wrong move. Sometimes, it is right to set limits, but the wrong kind of limits would become a cage. Humans are born with the right to make choices. Only those who are brave enough to make those choices ever see the benefits. The old senators were fearful and weak. Hiding in their republic, decaying away, they attacked the world rather than learn to live with the Earth. You have physical, intellectual, and moral strength. You have so much more potential than the senators ever had. You wanted to know what was beyond your little Thunder Dreamer world. Well, you got this far. Where are you going to go from here?”
“I want to do what is right. How do I do the good that I want to do?”
The young man seemed disappointed and said, “Ideas that appeal to a person’s sense of good do not always create good. Throughout history, people did what they thought was good. The mistakes of worthless fools with worthless rules made the world this way. Their ethics were motivated by a psychopathic need to control the world.”
“Then how do we know what we should have done?”
“Perhaps you need to stop trying to dictate what should be done. Instead, explore what can be done. Why can’t you trust that people will make the right choices?”
“How?” asked Nickar.
“Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t. Look at a tree. Nothing guaranteed the tree would grow, but somehow it did. Someday, the Earth will become a healthy community where people share services with all aspects of this world. A second renaissance will happen in the next few centuries. You, Nickar, will be a major influence on the future. You will set us on the right path, or you will set them on the wrong path.”
“You seem to have a lot of knowledge,” said Nickar. “Why did you sit in these hills for so many centuries watching history, letting the world fall apart? Why didn’t you do something? Did you cause the world to become the way it is?”
“We caused nothing,” said the young man. “Stupidity is what caused the world to become the way it is. The level of stupidity became more than we could stop as too many people followed the wrong paths. They said we were evil, so they stopped listening to us. Let me tell you about one of our favorite beliefs. We like to think all people, human or nonhuman, have the right to choose which services to give and which services to take. A service can be anything that is shared. When you drink out of a stream, you share a service with the Earth. When you help an old lady cross the street, you give a service.”
Nickar asked, “Is this right a law?”
The young man answered, “No, it’s not a law. It’s just the way we like it. Religions like yours always need laws. Then, you invent Gods who support these laws. These laws get in the way, preventing people from freely sharing services. We prefer not to force laws on anyone. Look at the dry wasteland. It was created by those who tried to put their rules on the world.”
“But how do you know such a free exchange would work?”
“In the Black Lodge, we have three grades. Ravers celebrate the OverMind. Karcist hear the OverMind. Archons are the OverMind.”
Nickar was getting tired of all these contradictions, so finally, the young man said, “You are not going to find answers here, and I am not going to give you any answers, even if I had any. You can climb out of this hellhole at any time.”
The priest woke up, looked around, and saw they were in the camp on top of the Dragon’s back. Nickar woke Naberus and asked, “I thought you were in the senator’s cabin. Where is the young man?”
Naberus looked around and said, “What, young man? There is no cabin up here.”
Just then, Nickar realized that what he saw was a dream. As the two returned to town, Naberus said, “See, I told you no one lives up here. I do not know why so many people come up here and leave talking all kinds of crap. A few years back, some trans person went up there and came out saying we need to join opposites. About thirty years ago, another guy came up here, a big pompous guy, who I think came from the same creepy cult as you. That guy never found the old man but did say something about a young man who showed people a hole in the ground in some cave. Then, a few years later, some arrogant politician from the old republic went up there but never came out. I think you’re all nuts.”
The End
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