The Archetype of Anthropos and his most trusted advisers were convened in wisdom council. That the AllFather deemed it prudent to meet in secrecy bespeaks the evil of the era more eloquently than any scald could characterize it. They were met in the magus’ abode, deep in the hinterland of god-forsaken Asgard. Perched above the Bardo Plain, at the edge of Form, a ruined watch-tower gave a sense of snug enclosure from the clear but lightless void that was so much emptier than the night sky on MidGard. He laid coals in the old grate against the tower wall, and created the semblance of a fire that cast a faint glow across the ancient, guardsmen’s quarters. As one who followed the Way of the mantra Hum, fire was the magus’ comfort and companion, even here in semi-Form.

The sages were all men of gravitas, who kept silence until He asked them to share their views of affairs in heaven and on earth. Even then, none spoke at once, but after brief deliberation, Malthus said,

"Your manifestation in Form becomes corrupt; evil philosophers and religious promote dysgenic behavior. The best are barren and the worst are fecund; my Kindred withers, and seems likely to perish."  After a lengthy pause, for there were many ramifications of this, and resolution was elusive, the magus said,

"When the foundation gives way, the tallest tower falls." He let slip the illusion of a wall on the ruined side, and their attentions were instinctively drawn to the sere of wasted Asgard: it had been "a land of wolf-slopes and fierce torrents, shadowed by misty mountains and windy headlands", but now there was barely any substance to its Form, nor sign of life. "The situation on earth is deteriorating in so many ways, so quickly, that it threatens to destroy the manner of existence we cherish here."

"The Yin spirit overwhelms the Yang," Lao Tzu said.

"Women rule over and mislead the people; strange children oppress them." The patriarch Isaiah said.

All of them had suffered, though none so severely as the Archetype and Asgard, as New Jerusalem had exploded in size, to everyone else’s loss. Isaiah and the patriarchs were an embarrassment to the religious cliques that struggled to dominate that phenomenon, and whose theology centered on the worship of Jesus, as the 'anointed', or Christ. Their imposed restraints on the Archetype’s nature (holiness, perfection, infinite compassion, purity; why there was hardly an end to them) severely constrained his scope of action and manifestation. No one else spoke at once, and the magus added,

"World-Ruin is almost upon us: ‘an age of whoredom, until the world ruins’", he quoted from the Voluspa Saga.

The AllFather looked at him without speaking, so he added,

"It is foretold that, ‘the rising seas announce the knell of fate’, and the ice has begun to melt; soon it will be fulfilled that ‘earth sinks into the sea’. Then, when the clouds and moon become blood-red, WorldRuin will be only a few months away; when, ‘the sun turns black’, it will begin. At first, ‘winds whine’, and soon after that the atmosphere becomes so hot, ‘fumes reek; into flames burst’, and finally, ‘the sky itself is scorched with fire’, After FireFall burns up the earth, Fimbul Winter sets in, for at least three years, without intervening summers."

"Only now do women rule over men, and children have mastery over them. This is the portent of the end times." Isaiah said.

"Ice melting and flood I grant", said Newton, "but whence the near-eternal sun should burst I cannot see." Several indicated that they too were unsure that FireFall was imminent. The magus admitted that his arts were not so far advanced as to explain how and why the sun would explode, but affirmed that it would, and in this historical era. He pointed out the convergence of Semitic and Nordic prophecy, and quoted again,

Newton grumbled, "Ambiguous, problematic source, corruptions..."

The AllFather broke in, "Let us not quibble about when the fire will fall; I foresee that it will soon follow the rising sea: what more to say? Let your art explain or not, we face that bane, but it is not the matter that I hold most urgent. Indeed, we should not avoid any liberation from HiveDoom, for it is that which threatens Our nature."

"But my lord", the magus said, "is it not fated that whore-queens rule in the Hive of Hel?"

"Just so, and what were you before you found Me?"

"Why lord, well you know that I was a warlock and astrologer, seer and scald, alchemist and metaphysician, philosopher and theologian; one who sought knowledge of truth wherever it was to be found."

"Warlock you were, when first you sought me, and a mercenary; all else I added unto you as I made you a magus."

"Indeed", he said with sincere humility, "what little I am is your inspiration, but poorly rendered, and I confess that I do not grasp your subtle point."

The AllFather gave him no answer, but addressed Kung Fu Tzu: "What is required to bend the Way of Fate?" and the word bend struck the magus’ mind like a silver bullet. A dragon-spirit, he thought.

"The dragon is said to tame the fates," that sage answered.

The magus was so lost in revelation that he took no care to guard his thoughts and all could hear them. The warlock bends his way through the world, taking advantage of propensities to actualize potentialities: to reap where he has sown but little or none. In a refined form it becomes "non-doing", which is allowing things to take their natural course when such conduces to his will and intent. The magus surpasses the warlock not merely by the exaltation of this art, but by the conjunction of other aspects so as to become something altogether different than merely a warlock writ large and fine. He must be a genuine sage, not just a rote learner; he must enter upon the Great Way, not merely attain proficiency in some one or other of its manifestations. But such arts and sciences as constitute the lesser ways he must also learn, for these are the skillful means by which he works his will. He must attain self-mastery, which encompasses all discipline, and eschew all cowardice, which requires that he overcome the fear of death. Thus he must practice martial arts, but not become overbearing or too bold. Withal, he must seek out the One and desire to be his righteous servant, because without His inspiration what chance is there for a man to find his way so far? Even with good will and divine inspiration few rise so high.

All this said, there is a certain similarity in the way a magus wends his way through space and history. By wit and daring, constrained by caution and patience, and the knowing of which and when, he finds his Way in the void. By intent he shapes the evolution of the future in accordance with his heart’s desire and imposes his will upon history. One who possesses the strength of will and the wit to employ such skillful means as are appropriate, and who can discern what can and ought to be attempted,  are represented by the spirit of the dragon, who is said to tame fate. By that, it is meant that he bends and changes the course of human events and "destiny".

In the magus' native language the word for 'fate' was orlog, and its literal meaning was, the top log in a pile. The whole pile of logs represented the history, potentials, and circumstances of the Kindred, from the past up until the present. The lower courses of logs could no longer be shifted, but the over-log ... the top log, could be moved. It was, in fact, the essence of a culture hero's feats that he shifted the orlog and changed his Folk's default destiny. So, to the magus, 'fate' did not signify an immutable doom, but the magus sensed his own, personal fate. He was about to plunge into the sluggish turmoil of life in Form to accomplish some great purpose in accordance with the Archetype’s will. He felt reluctant, and began to build resolution.

"Thy will is mine," he said.

"Good and faithful servant, be about My work." AllFather said.

"My lord, what shall I do?"

"Think of something; that’s your function. Come to me with a plan, and if We approve it, any resources at Our command will be available for its support." The AllFather solicited additional comment, and, when all were silent, adjourned the gathering.

Alone, the magus felt as desolate as his surroundings. He composed his mind, and fortified his will and intent by taking up the practice of his favorite mantra, HUM.

Whereas my heart’s afire

I murmur the mantra HUM

with the rhythm of the heart

to the rise and fall of breath

Whereby I am the fire

that purifies

by destruction of corruption

WEBER & DARWIN

When the magus had spent some time in the practice of HUM, and felt resolute, he began to consider the mission. As he groped with the question of how and where to begin, it occurred to him that he should start with the end: the prevention of a hive society. What factors would work to preclude the development of such a polity? Once he put the matter to himself that way he recognized that he didn’t know much about objective social concepts, having originated in a primitive social milieu and always dealing with society in an intuitive way or avoiding it entirely. He decided that his background was an inadequate basis for an understanding of social theory and dynamics, moreover he was too out of touch with the current events in form to make even a superficial appraisal of the situation. If he was to have any hope of bending social evolution he would need to learn about it in a scientific way, preferably from someone who had recent experience there.

He contacted one of his agents in the bureaucracy that dealt with the flood of immigrants from life on MidGard, who had to be interviewed, judged, tested or otherwise categorized and assigned to appropriate circumstances. There was a fellow named Max Weber, (so newly arrived 'in country' that he was part of this functionaries’ caseload) who had founded a discipline being called sociology, which seemed to address the questions that the magus wanted answered. He made a formal request that Weber be assigned the task of briefing him, and was informed that a special liaison had been established to support him, which would facilitate this and any other requests that he made.

It did. By the time he seated himself behind an imposing desk in a nearby office suite, hastily vacated by a senior executive, Weber was already there, and clearly apprehensive to be the focus of such high level interest. The expansive desk that separated them was lightly scattered with devices which were meaningless to him, but seemed to have referents in Weber’s mind that imbued the magus with power and authority.

"Well and swiftly done," he thought to the smartly turned out officer of the Archetype’s House Carls, who respectfully accorded him a very slight bow, then turned as if to leave.

"Please remain with us." the magus said, and began to address Weber in the manner of one who need not dissemble, but comes straight to the point.

"Herr Doktor Professor, I feel fortunate to have the opportunity to learn something of the new science you have developed, and I trust that you will favor me with an overview of its nature and scope, together with some appreciation of its methodology."

Weber was master of his subject and was soon lecturing in an absorbed manner, stimulated by the obvious interest and importance of his audience. The magus kept him focused, demanding an occasional recapitulation, dismissing some historical speculation or other as irrelevant, and in this manner was able to grasp both the potential and limitations of the discipline. Moreover he was able to extract a couple of key concepts that seemed to bear on the problem which concerned him; unfortunately they were very discouraging in their implications. The magus grilled him some with reference to those points, making sure that the liaison officer took note of same. Then he dismissed them both with instructions to prepare a through report of the interview, together with any further reflections that process might elicit, and to impart it to the Archetype’s attention.

One of Weber’s statements had synopsized the situation:

"Humanity is building an iron cage for itself, and once locked in, no escape will be possible." He’d explained that there were several, self-reinforcing processes operating to reduce and restrict human potentialities and liberty; our fate would be to live like social insects. Societies tending in that direction would always be more efficient than the less concentrated and directed cultures with which they would compete. Since they could sustain higher population densities, they would inevitably triumph in the struggle for world space and resources. Freedom, let alone liberty, would not be compatible with the imperatives of social control inherent in 'advanced' societies, and these would develop technologies and infrastructures that gave them irresistible advantages in competition with less constrained cultures. He had tried to elicit any information Weber could give him with regard to countervailing tendencies, but there seemed to be little beyond characterization of aspects opposed to that of the hive. In other words, not only was the hive incompatible with freedom; men at liberty prevented its precursor social forms from becoming established or prospering. He recalled the pre-christian society he had lived in, and doubted that it would have sustained current, perverse trends.

The magus turned now to learning something about evolution, and as it was his way to drink from the spring, he decided to interview Darwin. He called upon that worthy at his faux-estate, and found him in his study. Their extended and desultory conversation kept returning to Darwin’s assertion that he was not responsible for the improper extension of his work into the realm of sociology in the form of "social darwinism". The magus rather thought that there were analogous dynamics at work between competitive  groups and biological entities, but recognized that natural selection proceeded at the level of the individual, gene-bearing, fitness competitor. Still, if some aspect of group dynamics enhanced its members' fitness, wasn't that group-selection? If people competed in a society, as in any other eco-system, wasn't it reasonable to think of that as social-darwinism?

Darwin was so sensitive about the question of the applicability of evolutionary theory to social development, that the magus abandoned that line of inquiry and delved into the matters of dominance hierarchy and primate social organization. Darwin was so relieved to change the subject that he became rather more forthcoming, and imparted much that was apropos to the earlier questions which had so disconcerted him. The magus reflected on how he’d skirted the issue of specifically human evolution from anthropoid ancestors: laying out the incontrovertible evidence, then refraining from stating the conclusions explicitly. He was clearly a sensitive man and was suffering from the attacks of social critics now as he once had (and still did) at the hands of religious.

After the interview, as he recalled the conversations, he felt convinced that evolutionary doctrine was correct, in that it described what had happened in world history. However, as he restated that theory by way of understanding it, he was chagrined to see that it was a tautology! Reproductive success is evidence of biological fitness, while biological fitness is that which enhances reproductive success. While indisputably true, it was not clear what predictive value the theory might have except in hindsight; its relevance to social development seemed more opaque than ever. Weber had confirmed that some, whom he disparaged, had tried to create a sub-discipline called socio-biology which seemed focused on the very questions the magus was considering. However these developments were so recent that little had been accomplished, and none of the people involved were in country. He decided that socio-biology would be a major area of inquiry when he incarnated.

With respect to dominance hierarchies and primate social organization he’d learned much more; now he could understand why HiveDoom was fated. All the propensities tended toward the realization of that potentiality! Humans were derived from a species that had been shaped by accommodation to dominance: one might as well have called it doominance. The only countervailing influence that he could identify was male fitness competition, which had failed at the level of cooperative male kinship groups. Those who feared individual struggle to the death for fitness banded together with male kin to overwhelm a superior individual, which enhanced the fitness of inferior individuals. The same dynamic led to the creation of larger and larger social groups, and the suppression of direct individualistic fitness competition, as well as its sublimation into other forms which were un or even inversely correlated with biological superiority.

The practice of agriculture and the accumulation of surpluses led to even more pernicious social organizations, as rulers could now maintain armies of thugs with which to terrorize the populace of a given "territory". In practice this resulted in an anti-fitness selection pressure for men, who were feminized by subjection to tyranny, often literally as with eunuchs, in order to facilitate control by authorities. In more recent times the process had continued with the progressive criminalization of all sorts of species-specific male competition behavior.

As if this alone were not enough, primate society was centered around the females and their young and its only purpose was to enhance their fitness. The function of males was to sacrificially sustain and protect females, hoping to be represented in their progeny, and competing with the other males for access to them and their favor. As far as the magus could see, society had been important while humans struggled with other life forms, but was an evolutionary danger now that man was supreme on the earth. Primitive social organization had functioned to protect the vulnerable reproductive capacity of the kinship band from destruction by competitive species. Now it was a runaway feedback mechanism destroying masculine nature by progressive feminization and dooming the species to degenerative being and life conditions. One thing was clear; humans were overpopulating the earth so rapidly that it was only rational to reduce support to the dysgenic breeders, yet society was organized and constituted to maximize their support.

Clearly, less society was better, and none was best, but how to reverse the trends that had brought MidGard to this point was not at all clear. He resolved to identify those potentialities which were conducive to male liberty and competition, as such was antithetical to HiveDoom. In a sense, he realized, male liberty and competition was the highest sort of righteousness because it conduced to human improvement! He realized that to divert support from dysgenic reproduction, thus reducing overpopulation and all its banes, was beneficial to the greatest number of people and the earth itself. Consequently, modern society was simply evil and any activity that tended to disorganize it was potentially beneficial. He doubted that human proclivities would ever permit the reduction of society to a state of nature, but hoped that some dynamic balance could be achieved between the propensity for submission to dominance and a desire for liberty on the part of some fraction of males.

The magus decided to follow up his research on the principle of liberty by interviewing Jefferson, being especially interested in that American liberator’s views, as it was there he intended to incarnate. It would give him a sense of the place and heritage he'd be working with in form, and he foresaw that land would be an arena of decisive conflict. It was a country of contradictions: one that prided itself on the possession of liberty, and yet it was the mother of whore-queens.

Jefferson affected the style of a renaissance prince, absent the menace, and exhibited a graceful hospitality, while preserving a modicum of sincerity. Early in their conversation he'd said, "I must tell you that things are going very badly in my beloved America; one hardy knows where to begin the lament, so much is lost of its early promise. Perhaps the most distressing development is the overwhelming aggrandizement of the central government, which has supplanted state power, and intruded on individual liberties. We clearly limited it with the tenth amendment which has simply been ignored, while that ratty little interstate commerce clause has been stretched as if it were written on a parchment of foreskin! But it all goes back to what I said about the necessity for a revolution every couple of decades: ‘The tree of liberty must be nourished with the blood of tyrants and patriots in every generation.’ A written document can't preserve liberty. Only a people of spirit, as manifested by their constant vigilance and a willingness to defend their rights through the maintenance of the militia, can prevent the pernicious degeneration of freedom into authoritarian rule."

As Jefferson had been privy to so much, and had no military record to defend or embellish, he had a keen insight as to what had really happened in the revolution. His view of the battles of Lexington and Concord, held them to be among the most important engagements of the war for at least two reasons. First, if those men had not fought, but meekly surrendered their weapons, there would have been no surge of revolutionary spirit which led to political union and concerted action: someone had to set the example of standing up to tyranny. Second, it revealed that it was suicidal for a militia to form up like regulars, or to wait like sheep for a regular army to deploy against and slaughter them. The regular militia had been dispersed and its leaders killed with a volley or two. Only the 'irregulars', the very men who had not drilled and trained to be soldiers, turned a defeat into victory. They were simply mad and wanted revenge for this and other atrocities. With no leaders to direct their efforts, they just sniped and harassed the British without trying to hold a position, or to close with them for a decisive victory. Yet it was decisive: after that, the British army had to maneuver in sizable units; they were no longer lords of the land, who could terrorize the populace with a squad, but an enemy that faced resistance everywhere they ventured.

At Breed’s Hill, the colonial position was abandoned, but the assault had cost the enemy so many casualties that their aggressive spirit was subdued. The magus found his appreciation of the militia’s role most illuminating; where commanders had tried to use them as they would 'regulars', especially in the assault, there were disappointments. But used in a defensive role, or as scouts, snipers, messengers, and the like, they were excellent; under commanders like Sevier and in places and circumstances like King’s Mountain, they were superb. At Cowpens they held an unfortified defensive line against the assault of professionally led British troops, winning one of the very few American victories on an open field of battle.

At the close of their cordial conversation, Jefferson had suggested that he interview Marion, "the swamp fox", as an exemplar of militia spirit. That taciturn old warrior told him that men who wanted to fight were the sine a qua non of militia action. If the men were mad enough about what was happening in their country: to them, their friends, and their neighbors, they'd want to fight. Then they really didn't need a leader except to give them tactical ideas and the guidance to help them avoid foolish errors. Little strategy was needed to preserve liberty: just the courage to fight back when imposed on, and to attack where you found advantage. Tactics were crucial, but simple: avoid enemy offensives, while punishing collaborators. Ambushing the oppressors’ rear echelon troops and pillaging supplies was very important as it put at least some of the burden for supporting the militia on them rather than your own people. Such easy victories built morale in your troops and broke the enemy's spirit. He advised against an assault on fortified positions, or any engagement where the enemy could use his combined arms to effect. Marion disdained holding a position, having seen what happened to all the American troops used to defend Charleston; the city was inevitably lost and all the men with it. He had even abandoned his refuge areas when the enemy launched well prepared and supported operations against them, punishing the enemy as he advanced, and returning when they withdrew.

Marion summarized the militia’s mission by pointing out that it didn’t have to win; it only needed to endure. "Washington hardly won any battles", he said. "Even Yorktown was a French victory, but he won the war by enduring. The British were never able to completely destroy our forces, and so they could not declare a victory and withdraw. They had to go on fighting as long as we were willing to do so, and the longer it went on the more our men hated them and wanted vengeance for the things the British did in the effort to impose authority over them. Our men chose to live on roots and water to have the opportunity to fight for liberty." When the magus asked how he felt about the way things went after the war, Marion grimaced and said, "Talk to Sevier"...and so he had resolved to do, but first he felt the need to understand the knowledge he had gained.

When he had casually reviewed his conversations with Jefferson and Marion, he began to reflect on those parts which had made the most impression on his mind. He was struck by the lack of emphasis that both men had placed on what are called decisive battles. Jefferson had realized that skirmishes which looked like defeats at the time were actually decisive victories; like Marion, he’d praised Washington, not for winning battles, but for avoiding a disastrous defeat and preserving an army long enough to gain political credibility with the French. Marion had often avoided decisive action as too risky and explicitly recognized that the mere maintenance of a military force in open rebellion was decisive. His men punished the Tory settlers, eventually evicting them, and eliminated the crown’s base of support; unless there was a British force at hand, the land was theirs even before Yorktown. The redcoats might go where they wished, but only in force, and always subject to sniping ... or serious assault if circumstances favored the Americans.

Another thing he pondered was Marion’s assertion that well motivated men want to engage the enemy, and need little more than the prudent counsel of experience to help them avoid blunders and recognize opportunities. That every man could be his own leader was another factor to consider; no enemy could 'decapitate' such a liberation force. If simple tactics were sufficient, as Marion felt, then normal communications and successful examples might substitute for experienced leadership and counsel.

He found himself wondering what would have changed, if Cowpens and King’s Mountain had been stand-offs or even defeats. As long as the militias had continued to scour the Tories off the land, while giving battle to the British forces only when it suited them, what could the crown do but eventually give the war up as an unprofitable enterprise? This line of thought led him back to Jefferson’s dictum that a revolution was needed in every generation; whereas his first reaction had been that it was hyperbole, he now wondered if it were not possible to have perpetual resistance to tyranny, no matter how hopeless it might be to engage its army in battle? As long as the people could manifest the spirit of resistance, and if every resentful man was his own leader, nothing short of genocide would pacify them. He recalled the society of his youth and how the men of his clan reacted to any imposition; tyranny could not sprout in such soil, but only be imposed by overwhelming external power. Even then it was "over their dead bodies"; such men could not be subjugated, only murdered.

There had always been those who scrupled at nothing in the imposition of their authority, and such determined tyrannies displaced free cultures. All society trends to HiveDoom, he reminded himself, and recalled Jefferson’s comment that, "Eternal vigilance is the price of liberty". But for now, America’s government was constrained by constitution and custom, which guaranteed basic liberties and recognized the militia’s right to exist; decimation, let alone genocide did not seem to be options in that country. He was mindful that both Jefferson and Marion were very disappointed, but overall he was encouraged. To the magus, who had grown up in anarchy and spent most of his life under naked tyranny, it looked as if America was amenable to beneficial influence.

The magus began by asking about the great victory at King’s Mountain ... the more laudable in that it was won against Ferguson, an outstanding officer who had rallied the British forces at Guildford Courthouse, and enjoyed success in raising a Tory militia. Sevier recounted how the Appalachian mountain men had "just got together and decided to fight" in response to various British impositions and demands. They had set out walking toward the coastal plain, driving a few cattle along for rations, without much in the way of intelligence or strategic conception except to engage the enemy, which they found in a defensive position atop King’s Mountain. Sevier’s men surrounded and began to snipe them. The British made several sallies, but the mountaineers always returned, and as the British sustained losses they were unable to prevent the Americans from taking high ground that allowed a murderous fire into their positions.

It was an unusual example of militia forces prevailing in the assault against good troops in a seemingly strong position, but in actuality Ferguson’s position was a trap. The mountain men were able to crawl into positions with both cover and concealment that were within rifle range of the British and afforded a field of fire. They were very fortunate to encounter this situation, which they seized with an admirable resolution. This battle exemplified the individual militiaman seeking out the enemy in an effective manner on his own initiative; the Americans fired, then retreated from each bayonet counter-attack. They were not formed up for a renewed attack in the wake of each the British sally, but quickly returned to the assault by fire on the heels of their withdrawal, because of their desire to engage the enemy!

Sevier was far more outspoken than Jefferson or Marion with regard to his disappointment with the American government since the revolution. His personal experiences were illustrative of the way in which their battlefield victories led to political defeats for those who had gained liberty through heroic struggle. After King's Mountain, Sevier went on to become "General of the Over-mountain Army". As such, he commanded the militia forces west of the Appalachians, and held that territory throughout the revolutionary war. His was the only military force occupying (or even capable of entering) those wild mountains. He had recruited and led that victorious army, and was in possession of the land, which thus belonged to the people from which the militia was raised. They owned it by right of conquest, having occupied it with an unchallenged military force. They owned it by adverse possession, having liberated it from the aboriginal inhabitants and defended it against the pretensions of the British crown.

When North Carolina ceded its claim to the land in April 1784, the inhabitants petitioned congress for acceptance as the state of "Franklin". But once the militia was disbanded, the state reneged and enforced its claims on the land and its people . That state, which owed its existence to Sevier’s militia, confiscated his property for taxes, betraying and defrauding the heroes who had liberated them. The state of Franklin was an example of the way politicians would destroy the promise of liberty everywhere.

"The states were so overbearing and corrupt we missed the British!" Sevier said, "We felt we needed some distant authority, like the crown had been, that we could appeal to for relief from state abuse. That's why we supported the federal government at first; it seemed too far away to intrude, and a balance to the state’s autocratic power which was at the service of politicians from the densely populated areas of the east." He’d ended by recommending that the magus question Forrest, who'd fought in what Sevier called "the second revolution,".

Forrest called that conflict "the war between the states" and the winners, who wrote the histories, called it the "civil war", apparently with the intent of denying the very nature and origin of the conflict. Few, it seemed, any longer saw it as a revolution against central government tyranny, as Sevier had instinctively characterized it.

Nathan Bedford Forrest was arguably the greatest hero of recorded history, not excepting Alexander. He rose from private to Lieutenant General in four years of battle, during which he killed thirty union soldiers in hand to hand combat. He was wounded four times, had twenty-nine horses shot out from under him, never lost a battle, and led the last regular forces to surrender. He killed other men as well, in fair fights and self-defense: once a subordinate treacherously shot him, and he mortally wounded that assailant with a pen-knife! Even though he was physically wasted by the stresses of war, he went on to save his people in yet another struggle before forthfaring.

In the wake of defeat, the south was subjected to a punitive occupation called "reconstruction", which term was a cruel perversion of the character and intent of that oppressive era. Confederate veterans were persecuted and deprived of their citizenship rights, while the former slaves were exalted; the scum off the northern 'melting pot' flowed into the south to pick the bones of that prostrate people. Men such as his former officers sought his leadership to continue the struggle by irregular means and such tactics as were necessary to preserve their race and culture. There was more than a decade of military occupation, but due to the obdurate resistance of such men it failed of its perverted intent. For their era, and that of their sons and grandsons, they had preserved their people.

Forrest’s views with regard to tactics were not very apposite to the militia that the magus envisioned, but his strategic insights were. "Lee and all those gentleman officers had no right to trifle away our people’s destiny over what they called honor. War is too important to lose, and we were overmatched with the survival of our race and culture at stake; the enemy had no decency or mercy, and we ought to have shown them none. Those prissy gents wouldn’t even let us use landmines, or pay civilian terrorists, or a lot of other things that we could have done throughout the north, to take the war home to them. Quantrell had the right tactics; we should have flooded the north with irregular cavalry from the first day of the war. They could have lived off the enemy, and been paid from the loot. With them plundering and wasting the yankee countryside, union forces would have been to busy and dispersed to invade the south. The northern people would have been tired of the war and voted Lincoln out in ‘64, instead of it dragging on until their industry and manpower advantages overwhelmed us."

There was one observation Forrest made that went beyond military analysis, and added an element to the appreciation that the magus was making. It related to the circumstances after the war when the defeated soldiers went home to the experience of reconstruction. Conditions were so grim that no one would have continued the struggle except for one unbearable imposition: the northern politicians exalted the negros over the white men, economically and politically, and encouraged them to make advances on white women. "Because the government put them over us, we couldn’t give in," he’d said. The magus took immediate cognizance of this; here was the unendurable provocation for some fraction of men. No government that aggrandized black over white men could fail to be resisted by some significant percentage of the whites!

After his talks with Sevier and Forrest, the magus felt that he had learned enough to make a more strenuous effort to wring understanding from that knowledge. When he had pondered the views of Jefferson and Marion it had been only a rational analysis, which he recognized as an essential step, but regarded as only an initial one. That had led him to an understanding of certain aspects, and an appreciation of what more he needed to know. While the magus certainly did not regard cognition as shallow, he was not surprised that integrative insight did not immediately occur of its own accord. He was satisfied that he had prepared his mind to recognize wisdom when it was revealed; now he would use a 'skillful means' to seek it.

He prepared himself for contemplation by centering his consciousness on HUM, and when his attention had abandoned all else, he was still. He had not gazed into a flame, as he might in the course of some ordinary contemplation; he wanted to go beyond any phenomenal suggestion or shallow ritualism. In time, the one who held the thought of HUM released that too; yet, thoughts arose, but he abandoned them. Finally, only the most profound concepts presented themselves to attention ... in iconic, abstract, and pre-cognitive representations. These too were ignored. When thoughts ceased to arise, the watcher grew unaware of itself.

Then the image of the Phoenix burst into his vision-field, glorious and radiant even before the flames at its feet had advanced beyond suggestion, and the one who watched became aware; he had seen it before, recognized it, wanted, yearned for and craved it, thought about it ... dissipated it! It faded and the self returned. In the manner of one who has nothing else to do and forever to accomplish it, he began again to still himself, and now he manifested the mirror mind. Like the mirror, his mind accepted and reflected the thoughts arising, but was unaffected by them, did not hold or crave or cling to them, nor rationalize, extend, or otherwise become ensnared by them.

In the fullness of time, the Phoenix rekindled itself in the mirror of his mind; the magus watched entranced, as the image grew clear. First he saw that the flight feathers of the raised wings were men, in motley array, but bearing arms and of a serious mien. Then he saw that the whole phoenix was composed of such as he took to be militiamen, and that the pyre from which it rose was a scratched-together pile of their homes and meager belongings. The Phoenix beat its wings and the flames roared up; its feathers, all afire, swirled away like sparks, and wherever they fell a new Phoenix was kindled. In time his whole vision-field was afire, and it faded so imperceptibly that the watcher only became aware that it was gone, replaced by the empty void, when an antique sound aroused his mind.

It was the clash of sword and axe on shield and armor, and it grew more clear with time, not so much as if he approached a scene of battle, but as if he overtook the sound, and finally the sight of it. He saw that it was the heroes of old Asgard, at sword play, and while he watched a horn blew, and all stood down from arms. Then maidens came among them, bearing ale and cakes; they roused the fallen and comforted the wounded. Soon all were feasting and making merry on the green.

After this vision faded, there were no more; though he remained the watcher, no image appeared upon the mirror of his mind. He remained long in deep and thoughtless contemplation.

It is the propensity of wisdom to propagate itself. Often this is accomplished through the dissemination of incremental elements, typically through the 'Lesser Ways' such as martial arts, or the skillful-means associated with yogas and the Tao. These the magus sought to understand; the greater part he disdained as error and ignorance, much of the rest was irrelevant to his interest. But that which was true and conduced to the understanding of the great Way: all that made him magus by the knowing and doing of it, that he cherished.

Now, as he began to prepare himself for life in form, he sought to establish an affinity to various skillful means by use of same. He had been led by previous contemplation to understand that the recursive character of such a practice was metaphoric of fundamental natural processes; he incorporated that understanding in what he thought of as a time-loop of wisdom, which relied on the propensity of same to propagate, and his life-form’s affinity to intersect it. He had been led to this understanding by witnessing the fulfillment of prophecy, and the recognition that it (when validated) was revealed as a rational (if misunderstood) report of precognition. He established an affinity to the prophetic lore of the Garuda, as a mind opening revelation of such a loop, which would "close" in this life. And he went on to establish a redundant series of affinities to the book of Isaiah, and most of all, to the pertinent fragments of his beloved Voluspa.

He created loops to all the references of rising sea and the natural phenomena that related to it, so that his life-form would encounter the scientific knowledge in a context and have a background of interests that conduced to his assimilation of that data into understanding of the prophecy as a natural event to be expected as a consequence of the data. In like manner, and to an even greater degree, he spun an affine web around the sun: he would know more. He distilled his desire for deep understanding into yearning with regard to the sun ... and he joined it to fire and wisdom, so that all his paths would lead to the sun.

In doing all this, he realized that his physics had not kept pace with his metaphysics, so he began to prepare himself. He soon realized that he would need help, as he did not have enough background to establish meaningful referents that could be expected to guide his studies into fruitful areas. Accordingly, he inquired of Newton with regard to a suitable concept of physics which would lead him into the deepest understanding of nature. Newton scorned him as ignorant and old fashioned, and the magus was humble enough to realize that he didn’t comprehend the mathematics that Newton spouted in lieu of a cogent explanation of his ideas. After several unsuccessful attempts to get him to translate the math into a language he understood, he realized that Newton wasn’t able to translate the ideas because he didn’t understand them himself. He saw what the relationships were and he could describe them in the language of math, but he didn’t understand them in the way one has to in order to translate; he didn’t have a clue why gravity manifested in the form it did. And it was gravity that the magus settled on as the touchstone of physics; he wanted to understand it, but he still wasn’t sure how he wanted to encode this loop. Newton’s formulation of gravity, with its ineffable and incomprehensible forces, was too sterile for that purpose. He wanted a formulation that would hint at the deep truth, rather than offering pragmatic satisfaction by use of a model that worked, but thereby diverted attention from grasping the reality of nature.

Skillful and prolonged questioning finally elicited the name of the physicist Max Planck, lately arrived in country, and the magus sent for him immediately.

In Planck the magus found one who understood physics in such an intuitive way that he was able to explain himself in ordinary language.

"Herr Doktor Professor", he began in the most respectful and honorific manner and tone, and with utter sincerity. "I rely upon you to assist me in my service to the Father, for I am too ignorant and uneducated to perform the task which he has given me. I am told that you know things about physics that I must understand, but I have little training in mathematics, and I desire that you explain matters to me in ordinary language insofar as possible.

"I can’t prove what I tell you without recourse to the math, and you may not understand it without the assistance of that science," Planck said, and thus it proved; the magus didn’t understand it, yet he was satisfied, because he found what he sought.

He began by asking about gravity, and mentioned Newton’s formulation by way of entering into the discussion. He found himself in deep water right off the bank, when Planck’s reply directly addressed the epistemological inadequacy of Newton’s concept of forces. However, an analogy to the Ptolemaic model of the solar system got him through the first stage of understanding. Newton’s formulation was analogous to Ptolemy’s in that it accurately described and predicted correctly, while being based on an erroneous model of nature.

Planck, then launched into a recapitulation of the formulation by Poisson, and a discussion of Maxwell’s work with respect to attempts at unification of gravity with other "forces". This was all new to the magus, and he was about to redirect the line of discussion, when Planck mentioned geometry. Thinking that his solid grounding in Euclid would carry him through, he listened on. Indeed he recognized many of the terms, though by no means most of them, and even the familiar ones had strangely extended meanings to judge from the way they were used. Planck was saying that the most radical new thinkers were contending that gravity was an artifact of geometry. The magus found this rather implausible, so then he did ask Planck to express his own opinions, and struck gold.

Planck said his own research had revealed a remarkable relationship between gravity and other fundamental constants, which he had succeeded in describing, but admitted that he did not understand the meaning of it in the sense of being able to explain in words how gravity arises. However it was his view, based on this relationship, that gravity was an emergent property of the union of space and time. That statement aroused the magus’ attention; he immediately suspected that he’d found something to develop affinity with, and he required Planck to demonstrate his formulation in complete detail, which Planck (with an inner smirk) proceeded to do with a very slight flourish, and no verbal elaboration.

(^hc/_G)^{a  1}/_H^2a-1

The magus contemplated it in silence for so long that Planck grew restive, and undertook to begin an explanation, but the magus cut him off with a statement.

"This is not an equation," Planck said, "but the expression of the relationship between these fundamental constants of nature. The element c is the speed of light, and G is the force of gravity, while h is a constant of nature, which I have derived but cannot account for. The parentheses indicate that the resolved value of the elements within it are to be considered together when raised to the arbitrary power signified by alpha. That can be any number, but the same number must be substituted for alpha in the other element of the expression, where H represents the mass of a proton; the lines indicate that the quantities above the line are divided by those below the line."

Again, the magus considered this long in silence, and when he spoke it was surprising to Planck, for he had obviously understood somewhat, though his terminology was that of an old Greek geometer.

"And is the statement that it makes an observed and confirmed truth?" the magus asked, and when assured it was he began to commit the expression to memory, for he had found the token he sought, and knew where he would enter into the Way of physics when in Form. But he now knew that he would have to establish an affinity with mathematics as well as physics, because it was obviously a prerequisite. He thanked Planck, and let him know that he would be commended in his report to the Archetype.

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