The Black Lodge
By Illuminati Prime
Nickar is best known for writing The Declaration of Ethics. This document has been influential in the ecological and psychological coding of shared service protocols used by nearly all people. Nickar’s ideas are also highly admired by many non-human artificial systems. Nickar wrote The Declaration from the perspective of a primitive human. A person whose experience is limited to such a situation will develop ideas from personal interpretations of events. The following story takes place about 57 years before Nickar began writing The Declaration. The story is of historical importance because it portrays an event that deeply influenced the development of Nickar’s thought.
The priests of the Thunder God were tall powerful men who practiced a strict disciplined way of life. Moloch was the highest-ranking priest who had a presence about him that caused people to fear him. People obeyed him. It was Moloch who sent scouts out to find out why communication signals from other parts of the world had stopped. They found that no one lived on Asia, Europe or Africa any more. Humanity was dying out everywhere. Moloch sent his priest to help the few remaining human settlements in North and South America.
As Moloch's influence increased, some people began to call him the king of the world although Moloch prefers to call himself a humble priest. A group of people inspired by Moloch collected artifacts of technology and constructed an electronic city. Moloch never visited that city. He did not like technology.
People would call Moloch the Philosopher King. Perhaps he was. The Thunder Dreamers share many ideas with the ancient philosopher Plato, though they developed these ideas independently. They had never read Plato before Moloch sent his priest to explore the rest of the world. Moloch, like most Thunder Dreamers, believed that the good exists somewhere. This was one of the main concepts in the Thunder Dreamers’ religion.
Critics of this theory claimed that the sense of right and wrong is a social instinct we inherited from our primate ancestors. It holds the tribe together and only exists in the mind of social species. Moloch countered these critics by saying, “Perhaps our primate ancestor had discovered something that always existed. One plus one equals two was true even before any human performed the equation. Perhaps the good also always existed.”
Many people would bring gifts to Moloch although he never wanted these gifts. Some people even thought that gifts would grant them more favors. Many of them wanted to be put in charge of one of the settlements. Moloch learned to dislike such people and understood that power attracted such parasites. People who brought the gifts acted like they cared for other people. What they really wanted was to eliminate care because they really did not care for other people. These people considered themselves the elite.
Moloch started to avoid most people. One of the few people that he would talk with was his favorite student Nickar. He believed that Nickar cared for other people. He also felt that Nickar had inner strength, discipline and dedication. Moloch feared this strength would create a monster if Nickar ever became corrupted or started to act like one of the parasites.
Nickar was a priest who lived in the Dry Wasteland. He had gained a reputation as a great healer and helper of the people. For years he had gone on vision quests and traveled the realm of the Thunder Beings. Their mystery was now his, but for some reason his great vision was incomplete. Too many pieces of the puzzle were missing. He wanted to know more about the enemy of the Thunder Gods. He wanted to know about the Serpent.
Every tribe that Nickar has ever met will tell stories about a serpent-like creature called a Dragon. This creature can be portrayed as either good or evil. The image of the serpent seems to be deeply imbedded in human mythology and psychology. But what exactly is he? The image that Nickar knew best was of an eternal battle between a Thunder Bird and a Giant Water Serpent. The Serpent was Primal nature. The Thunder Bird represents anyone who challenges this Serpent.
“I see that you are troubled Nickar.” Master Moloch spoke. “You have spent your whole life here in the Dry Wasteland. Perhaps you should go 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.” He then put his respirator on and crawled out of the dome. In the distance he could see 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 and destruction. Thousands of years ago there was industry. Today, all that is left is toxic waste. 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.
Civilizations rise and fall every few thousand years. Over the centuries, cites have crumbled and blew away in the wind. The only large structure that remains is a hydroelectric dam in the middle of a sea of salt dunes. It reminds the people that at one time water flowed through this region. At one time men tried to hold the water back and use it to generate energy. They used this energy for evil purposes. They were evil men who did not know how to live as part of the land. Now the water is gone.
The 40-day walk across the Dry Wasteland would be easy for Nickar. The people who lived in the wasteland were generally more physically fit than other races of men. Centuries of hardship had produced a tough and long-lived race. Nickar was only sixty years old. Among the Thunder Dreamers, anyone under 100 was considered young. He could walk over 70 kilometers a day and easily go weeks without food and days without water. He was accustomed to extremely hot days and freezing nights.
The Dry Wasteland is notorious for its lack of uncontaminated water. Nickar had a gift for finding life supporting water even in such a place. Like most people in the wasteland, Nickar knew how to read his environment well. Most people could detect what kind of contaminates were in a pool of water by examining the algae growing in it. Nickar was so good at detecting contamination in water that some people would say that the slime must have been talking to him directly.
Eventually Nickar traveled to the land of cornfields and sunflowers where the temple of the Great Goddess rises from the center of a swamp. Surely he was far enough from the Dry Waste land to take off his respirator. Never before had he ever breathed fresh air. How strange.
He was shocked at the extreme luxury and excess of the temple. The Thunder Dreamers believe that no man should own more than he can carry. All of Nickar’s possessions were in a small pack that he wore on his back. He had never before seen the obscene orgies of the transgender sacred prostitutes in the temple, but Nickar understood. He always followed the Animal in his dreams and understood that the celebrants of the great temple were also following their Animals.
Each priestess in the temple is called a hole. Each hole chooses one of twelve astrological signs called hours. Most people who entered the temple referred to themselves as either an S or a G. The S is the inserter or active penis. The G is the thirteenth hole, which represents the whole temple. Nickar was fascinated by the symbolism in the temple's Zodiac called the Whore-Scope that was drawn on the walls of the Temple. In the Thunder Dreamer Cult, the Animals are represented on a circle called the Zodiac. Nickar could see a defined relation between the symbols in the Temple and his own religion. Both religions emphasized a circle of Animals.
“Look girls, here’s something we do not see every day – it is a Thunder Dreamer, the Great Master Nickar himself. Look at all the muscles on him. 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 that 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. Though Nickar had never had any interest in the priestesses of the temple, he found it hard to believe that this was a counterfeit woman. Once in her room he sat as far from her as he could and 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 Nickar, “but I was told that the Serpent is a primal force of the Earth. Perhaps you could 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. “The only people who know the name are the Black Lodge.”
Nickar had heard of the Black Lodge. They were known to spread filth and corruption. They 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 thousand of years ago the Black Lodge used the Serpents power to destroy the Christians.”
Nickar interrupted, “I refuse to believe that Christians ever existed. I can not imagine a religion that would completely reject the Earth.”
Finally, Gomory said, “Close you eyes and believe what ever 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 and examined the ancient archives. Nickar lived near the end of the black ages before the second renaissance. The black age had lasted for centuries. Much of what was once common knowledge had been forgotten. In electronic databanks, useful historical information was buried under enormous heaps of useless statistics. Many answers were in these databanks, but Nickar had no idea what to ask. He entered two random numbers, which were four and two. The first result that appeared was about a big war that took place back in the year 1942.
Two nuclear weapons were used in that war. He could find no record of nuclear weapons being used before that time. It was a time of advancing technology. It was an age of progress. The people who lived through that war developed space travel, microelectronics and virtual reality.
Nickar probed deeper and learned more. It would seem that Christians did once walk the Earth. The monotheist had one God but many cults who hated each other. The two most famous were Christianity and Islam. Each side tried to force its ways onto everyone. Monotheistic religions spread like a disease all over the world and nearly wiped out all life. What seemed most disturbing to Nickar was that the regimented ways of the Christians resembled the discipline of the Thunder cult. Perhaps Gomory was right when she said that Thunder Dreamers have no life in them.
The ancient scholars who had recorded these historical records had many theories as to why the monotheist age came to an end. It could have been war or technological failure. But Nickar knew that such could not be the whole truth. Civilizations will rebuild themselves unless something changes inside of the people.
Nickar read some of the Christian and Islamic literature. Nickar found most of it disturbing. They wished suffering on other people. He had seen so much suffering in the wasteland that he could not understand how someone could wish suffering on other people. The Christians claimed to love other people, but he could see no love in a Christian’s heart. The Islamic literature was just as hateful as the Christians’.
Men were once so full of hate. They hated nature. They hated the world. They hated themselves. They hated their bodies. They hated each other. They hated the act of sex. They would kill and torture anyone they considered wrong. They invented institutions designed to correct people’s behavior. They claimed that they wanted to save the soul. Just by reading about that age, Nickar lost some of his innocence. Nickar moved from the terminal and asked the librarian, “Is that really the way it was 4320 years before I was born.” The librarian did not know the answer. Cyber-archeology would take centuries to properly restore historical records.
The librarian knew very little documented history. He knew many popular myths and legions. The librarian spoke, “Many years ago I met a man named Atlas. No one knew where he came from. He had numerous technological gadgets that I have never seen before. He once told me that the Black Lodge members are the most dangerous predators of this world. Even kings would fear them and but would also try to be like them. He said that a king might consider himself strong but there is always someone stronger. He told me about an ancient kingdom called Egypt. He said the royal families of Egypt secretly worshiped snakes. They wanted to use the predator to stay in power. He said that at one time the kings of pure royal blood descended from the Gods. Over the centuries, they mixed with common women until there was hardly any real royal blood in any king. The world became ruled by lesser men. He also told me that the brothers of the Black Lodge are the sons of demons who consider us their prey.”
Nickar had heard stories about spirits having sex with humans. The children of this union are said to be great people. They become a living example of the parent. The most famous was supposed to be named Jesus. Nickar believed that people imagined such stories when they felt powerless with the conflict in the world and wanted someone to save them. In the Thunder Dreamer religion, each man is expected to be his own hero. They do not look for supernatural beings to save them. The Thunder Dreamers also 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. He represents both personal progress and the progress of a culture.
As Nickar 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 often amazed by the appearance of Thunder Dreamer. People from the Dry wasteland tended to have tall powerful physical bodies, much taller than the people in the city. To the average person, Nickar looked like a God. His eyes revealed a sophisticated mind full of kindness and love. Several people wanted Nickar to stay and become their leader. Nickar would reply, "You do not need me. All the power you need is within you."
Nickar wondered if perhaps the blind faith that these people feel for him is the same as the blind faith that the monotheist had for their God. These people have a fear of danger though they live in a protected city. They want a king to protect them. Perhaps the lack of real struggle has made them week. Perhaps life in the city is unnatural and causes people to seek unnatural safety. Nickar then realized that Thunder Priest was just like him and had built this city. He also realized that men who followed progressive ideals built the industrial civilization that almost killed the earth. Perhaps progress can go wrong if applied in unnatural ways. Perhaps something needs to balance progress with nature.
The Dry Waste land might seem harsh but Nickar had grown to love the land and the challenges it gave him. The city seemed artificial and sterile. It was missing the joys of nature. Nickar’s dislike for the city caused him to desire to know more about the Serpent because the Serpent is sometimes thought of as the enemy of progress. He wanted to know what the enigmatic Black Lodge could tell him. They might know an alternative to progress. Some people think the Black Lodge caused all the misery in the world. However, how the Lodge did this is unclear. Perhaps the same people who look for a savior also look for a devil to blame their problems on. Is it possible those people were wrong? Perhaps they should have accepted the Serpent rather than rejected him.
A few weeks later, Nickar reached the Small village north of the Dragon’s Back. The local people asked him why the great master would come to their small village. He said that he had come to find the old man who lives in the hills. The local people began to shout.
“All hail Nickar. He has come to kill the evil sorcerer.”
“Beware the hills are full of demons.”
“The woods are like a maze. Many men have ended up lost walking in circles.”
“The few who lived have gone insane.”
Nickar asked if anyone knew the way to the Dragon’s Back. They told him of a man named Naberus who knew the way. Naberus lived in a house near the end of the village. Nickar was about to knock on the door when he 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 that there ain’t no God dam old man in those hills? Just follow me and I will show you the ridge.”
To be polite Nickar said, “I do not wish to trouble you.”
“Yeah, right,” Naberus said as he put on his 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. He definitely descended from a warrior race. Nickar could not guess his age. His face was old and grey but his body was as agile as an athlete in his twenties.
The Dragon’s Back is a ridge of heavily wooded hills. Nickar was impressed. Naberus said, “It ain’t nothing but lumps in the ground.” They camped on top of the ridge. Nickar had never felt a night so hot and muggy. Everything seemed to be covered with wet sticky slime. Eventfully, Nickar was just as dirty as Naberus. Naberus said, “Some of the dirt you get up here will never wash off.”
Nickar woke up early and began to prepare to say his morning chant when he heard, “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 said that he had come to get something from the house of the old senator who had just died. The dead man was once a senator in the old republic. He had come to these hills because he was sick of it all. Nickar asked if the senator could be the old man that the town’s people think is a sorcerer.
The young man said, “No, the old man hates the senator.”
Naberus then shouted, “The old man is nothing but an old fool.”
“I thought you said he did not exit,” Said Nickar.
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. They started as a democratic alliance but evolved into a secret shadow government. They would come out in public only to accuse groups of people of being terrorists. The republic would exterminate whole populations of people and claim the act was necessary for public safety. When Nickar was a young student away at the monastery, a senatorial attack ship came to his village and killed his whole family. He returned to the village and found only one person, a wondering monk who told Nickar that the terrorist never really existed. He said that the senators invented the lie because they were angry. They became angry because their penises would not become hard during sex. Nickar had wanted to join the rebellion to fight against the republic, but the next day the old republic and the senators disappeared. Nickar would have liked to talk with the senator and learn more about what had really happened.
They followed the young man to the senator’s cabin. On the way, they passed two girls who were returning from a visit to the senator’s cabin. The young man spent several hours talking to them. Then the young man gave the girls a small black goat. Nickar had not noticed the goat before this moment. He remembered a story about a goat and a lamb. These two sons of spirits represent opposite points of view. The story is very old. 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 that old?"
“I was born in the Amazon Jungle back when it was a huge rainforest full of life. Trees once stretched as far as the eye could 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 the 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 he had walked into some kind of simulation of reality. These hills might be an artifact left over from technology that existed centuries ago. Nickar would continue to investigate. These characters could have valuable information. The program had been running for centuries. Perhaps someone intended for it to be found.
Inside the senators house they found a Serpent drawn on the floor. The young man reached up into a shelf and took a jar full of purple sand. He poured it along the Serpent's back. “The old man buried him,” said Naberus “The senator had no friends; no one to bury him but his 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 that the greatest accomplishment is the success of the elite. He never saw the full potential of life. Instead, he shackled himself to a few limited ideals. The old man hated him for his limited point of view.”
Nickar walked outside and saw the most beautiful bird he has ever seen. “This is Melek Taus, the Senator’s peacock,” said Naberus as he grabbed the bird. Then broke the bird’s neck and said, “He is dinner now. Anyone else hungry?”
After they had eaten the young man, Nickar asked, “Have you ever heard of the OverMind?”
Nickar answered, “I’ve heard stories of an intergalactic federation made up of millions of worlds. Millions of years ago these worlds have networked their thought abilities. Thousand of multi-minds exist within this network. The OverMind is some kind of SubGenius that haunts these multi-minds. 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. Men can hear the OverMind by listening to the Gaya of the Earth.”
The young man stopped Nickar and said, “If you think Gaya is just a telephone to the space brains, then you need to leave now.”
Nickar then said, “No, I understand that Gaya serves its own purposes, just like any one else."
Naberus interrupted, “Gaya is just a bunch of microbes that life grows out of. 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 Nickar said is true. There is a kind of song in the universe. The OverMind both sings and does not sing the song.”
“Why does he not sing?” asked Nickar
“If everyone was singing, no one would be listening. He both accepts and rejects the song. He builds and destroys. He makes the song stronger and more interesting. He is the star of the show. No messiah will save you from Him."
“I was raised," said Nickar, "to believe that the song is a universal plan and purpose for everyone. The Thunder Gods are guardians of this purpose and the Serpent is the enemy.”
The young man responded, “You have the ability to accept some features of the song or restrict other features. You can set up access right to your mind. You can make some thoughts read-only or you can make some writable. The choice is yours. The consequences of what you choose can make a big difference. Do not limit yourself to one dogma. The Thunder Gods can be just 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. He was present before the Federation was formed. He was around before Tiamat brought life to Earth. He was there when the first verse of the song was written.”
Nickar understood that Tiamat is the mother of life on many worlds. She is both the waters of heaven and the waters on Earth. She can be seen anywhere that life grows. She is both the supernatural and the natural. Elder gods are primal themes built into the song of the universe.
After the sun set, the young man began to speak again, “The Earth is half dead, but it could 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 that 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 dickweed to it? All he does is ask stupid question.”
As Nickar followed the Young man he asked, “Where is the old man?”
“You will only see Him if he wants you to see him.”
“Is he a holy man?”
“More like an unholy man.”
“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 Nickar.
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, looked straight at Nickar and said, “There have never been Christians in these woods.”
On a flat area on top of the Dragon’s back, they reach a place where the trail crossed another trial next to a dead Tree. The young man pointed to a path on the right that led back to town and reminded the priest that he could go back to town or he could continue to the pit. Nickar asked where the left path goes. The young man said those girls went that way. They are witches. I will return down that path in a few days.”
The young man went over to the dead tree and said, "432 decades ago you taught me how to make the waters of life. We are the power and 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. Man forgot that he 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 and 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 himself off.
“Wow,” said Nickar, “I can see why people would say that 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 until he revealed a small hole in the rock floor. He took a bowel out of his pack, walked over to the trickle of water and filled the bowl. He them placed the bowl in the Small hole where it fit perfectly. There was a pentagram drawn in the bowl surrounded by words in the sacred language of Goetia. CASED AZOTE BOROS ETOSA DEBAC, which can be translated as Lust, Eternal, Devouring, Locked, Following. The Thunder Cult considers these words to be forbidden black magic.
Nickar was beginning to think that this imagery was unnecessary decoration. He felt that this journey to the source was some kind of joke and that he would be given the punch line soon. He 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 thy self' on a temple. For thousand of years, people had assumed that asking questions was the highest law. You're not going to find anything by asking those questions."
Thunder Dreamers believed that not searching for an answer was a sin. Could it be that these people living on the dragon’s back accepted sin? It was obvious that those who live on the Dragon’s back are an antithesis of those enlightened laws; laws that had 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 answered, "Just 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 said, "I never said there was any pain. 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. Many 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 many tribes. They represent the imagination and human nature inside us. From this point on you can do anything you want. They represent unlimited potential."
“So that is what you think it is?” The young man then took a paper mask out of his pack, began to tear it up and threw the pieces around. “This mask belonged to the senator. It was his false face. The false face is something people try to be. Sometimes a person’s imaginary self becomes more real than the persons real self. I have come here to return it to the source.”
Nickar understood that the mask represented the senator’s soul and that the young man was performing a funeral. So he asked if he should say some words. Most 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 him to the primeval slime. Maybe something worthwhile will grow out of him.”
Nickar then asked, “What illusion did the senator have for himself?”
“He thought of himself as important and powerful, but he discovered that he was just a tool of the system. He was what other people made him. He never knew his real self. He 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 that if I could understand the Serpent I could see myself from a point of view outside my culture.”
The young man laughed and said, “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 because you want more. You are not satisfied with just being better than everyone else. You want to go all the way. You want to kill God and take his place.”
“Ok, enough of that.”
The young man reached into his pack and took 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 and 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 men left the Earth and colonized other planets? Some of those men have forgotten that Earth was their mother. Times have changed. New fashions come and go. Ages ago there were thousands of symbols of the Dragon. As the ages passed, symbols were forgotten or destroyed. The monotheist destroyed most of them. One day a great Archon from the Black Lodge asked Tiamat the goddess of filth and corruption to teach him how to make the waters of life. He was able to rediscover enough of the symbols to end the age of the white light religions. Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism came to an end. Since then, new religions have spread across the land such as your Thunder Dreamers cult. Man began to forget the symbols again. All that is left today of the old symbols is this one little stone. This is the Dragon.”
The young man placed the stone into the bowl and said, “Combine we achieve. So be it.”
Then Nickar spoke, “The bowl is us and the stone is the Beast within. And 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. That is what most people end up doing 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. Yours is better than most people. Some people become angry because all they see is a hole. Other people become too happy when they invent so many ideas that 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 most?"
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 that your inner animal gives hope to your life. You came here looking for the Serpent. Even here you expect to find hope.”
“You’re right,” said Nickar. “The idea that there is no hope is unthinkable for me, while in the electronic city I met scholars who say that the Earth is dying. They say all life will be completely dead in a few more centuries. I refuse to accept that.”
The young man then picked up the stone, held it in Nickar’s view and said, “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. Don’t worry. The oceans are still alive and the very center of the soul of man is still alive. This stone is the session of humanity. It is the only one that ever has been or will be.”
Nickar thought the young man was talking about a feature of human instinct so he asked, “But what is the Serpent? Is it an idea we are all born with?”
Nickar was surprised when the young man said, “No. Instead, aspects of culture are spread when people imitate each other. Even our point of view is molded by this game. Peoples opinions change, but do not assume that the Serpent is only the cultural changes in history. He is also the unchanging truth. Our point of view causes us to let aspects of the world in or block other aspects out. This give or take relationship with the world can have a big influence on what happens. That is just the way it goes and it is as true as 1 + 1 = 2. I have seen your Thunder Dreamer ritual chambers. You guys are making the same mistakes that the Christians made."
"What mistakes?"
"Enlightened masters did not invent your religion. Sad people with simple minds invented it. They hated themselves and 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 that you people are too scared to leave. Even when you travel, you carry a piece of that horror with you. It prevents you from being completely human."
“What else is there?" asked Nickar.
"You fail to understand the Serpent because you tried to search for the Serpent 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 father from the truth about the Serpent. The Serpent is not a single objective. It is a symbol for the associations of events we encounter in life. It can be understood by anyone who enjoys the circumstances of life. You came here because you wanted to know what was beyond your little Thunder Dreamer world. Well, you got this far. Where are you going to go form here?”
“I want to do what is right. How do I do the good that I want to do?”
The young man shook his head and said, “Ideas that appeal to a person’s sense of good does not always create good. Throughout history people did what they thought was good. The world is the way it is because of their mistakes. They were all worthless fools with worthless rules. Their so-called 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 and instead explore what can be done. Why can't you trust that people will make the right choices?”
“How?”
"In the Black Lodge we have three grades. Ravers celebrate the OverMind. Karcist can hear the OverMind. Archons are the OverMind."
“You seem to have a lot of knowledge,” said Nickar. “Why did you sit in these hills for so many centuries watching history and 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 wrong paths. They said we were evil and stopped listening to us. The world is ready to grow again. A second renaissance will happen in the next few centuries. You could set mankind on the right path. Or you could set them on the wrong path. You, Nickar, are the most dangerous creature on this planet.”
Nickar woke up and looked around. He was at the camp on top of the Dragon’s back. He woke Naberus and said, “I thought you were in the senator’s cabin. Where is the young man?”
“What young man? There is no cabin up here.”
Just then Nickar realized that he was dreaming. 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. About thirty years ago another guy came up here. I think he came from the same creepy cult as you. And he never found the old man, but did say that he met a young man who showed him a hole in the ground in some cave. He was a big pompous looking guy. Then a few years later some arrogant politician from the old republic went up there. He never came out. And a few years back, some sissy boy wearing woman’s clothing went up there and came out saying that we need to join opposites. I think you're all nuts.”
Nickar returned to the electronic city and spent decades studying historical records and learned more about what man once was. He also devoted decades to studying physics and biology but most of all, Nickar studied ethics. He studied Plato, Buddha, Lao Tzu, Krishna and Thoreau. Their ethical positions seemed similar to what Nickar had learned from his parents. Nickar felt his search was just going around in circles. He remembered his vision of the hole. It was still empty. He could see nothing in it. He felt like the evil OverMind was laughing at him.
Then Nickar began to write. He had no idea why he was writing it or what he needed to write. He was driven to say what he needed to say. He then realized that he had just written the same ethical theories that other people throughout history had written. Perhaps he was making the same mistakes they had made. They were all trying to dictate what should be done. Perhaps the young man was right when he said that Nickar was trying to play God.
He then erased what he had written. He began to wonder if people would choose the right course if they had the right tools. He began to wonder about the ethical tools they needed. Then he realized that all tools are technology. From reading history he knew the destruction technology could cause. He wondered if perhaps it would be better to just let nature take its course. He began to write again.
As you know, The Declaration of Ethics is a flexible set of procedures that people may modify to fit there own needs. It talks about optional motivations and goals. It takes into consideration the accomplishments and failures of the past and considers the possible accomplishments and failures of the future. The procedures provide people with a common ground where we can build a healthy community that allows individuals to enjoy personal growth. It allows the possibility that different communities may be developed and explored. Nickar intended The Declaration to be a suggestion for people to think about.
The young man appeared to him again and spoke, “Congratulations - you have found a significant chapter in the eternal song. The Serpent has been restored to this world. ”
The second renaissance began. Today the Earth is a healthy world full of life. People share services with all aspects of this world.