Chapter
33
A
Friend of Cathars
We hypostatize information into
objects. Rearrangement of objects is change in the content of the information;
the message has changed. This is a language which we have lost the ability to
read. We ourselves are a part of this language; changes in us are changes in
the content of the information. We ourselves are information-rich; information
enters us, is processed and is then projected outward once more, now in an
altered form. We are not aware that we are doing this, that in fact this is all
we are doing – Philp K. Dick
“We have more in common that you would
prefer to admit, my Friend,” said the Bon Homme. “Your Kabbalah is the story of multiple
creations, your Four Worlds … though we need only the two.”
“You always say this,” Joshua reminded him.
“That is because,” replied Guilhabert of
Castres, Cathar Bishop of Toulouse, and Joshua’s oldest friend, “You refuse to
see what is before your eyes. Even in
your Kabbalah, it is Samuel, spirit of darkness that reigns as Archangel over
Malkuth, this world of ours.”
“You are not debating Dominic, my friend,”
joked the Cabalist, “And if I cede your point, you’ll count me among your
credentes.”
“In good time,” Guilhabert laughed, “Maybe
not in this lifetime, but perhaps the next?”
“I’ll drink to that,” and lifted his glass
of wine. Both men drank.
“It is good to see you,” observed the Bon
Homme. “Though, I fear this visit won’t
be a long one. The storm clouds are
gathering in Languedoc. The pope will
blame Raymond for Peter’s murder, and our protector will be powerless to stop
the onslaught that shall be unleashed upon us all. My sources tell me that Innocent has
abandoned conversation and diplomacy and is ready now to turn to the sword to
deal with us, and I’m sorry to say, all of our dear Raymond’s experiments in
social equality and liberty. You would
do well my friend to come with me, or at the least to flee Toulouse before the
iron fist of the crusader is let loose upon us all.”
“Ah,” answered Joshua, “but if this world
is an evil illusion then fleeing makes no difference, does it?”
“I have many to minister to. I can tend those in the mountains where the
crusaders will not go. Souls are real
enough, and the more I can turn away from this evil world of illusion, the
better, if not in Toulouse, then elsewhere.”
“Before you leave, just in case you are
right, I have something that I want you to take with you for safe keeping: My work, my life’s work.”
“The nameless Arab’s musings on the
Kabbalah?” guessed the Bon Homme.
“The Veils of Negative Existence are far
more than musings,” retorted Joshua.
“Ah, now, who is trying to convert who?”
copyright 2017 Diana Hignutt
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