The Crimes of Mars - Chapter 2 -f 12

The Publication of the Blue Knight’s Treasure

 

And upon the death of Baptiste De Guerre, I, Camille Du Monde, was granted leeway to unearth the treasures buried beneath his chapel. Great care was given to keep intact and not disturb the bones of an unnamed saint, whose body was interred many years before my birth. A portion of the valuables found was distributed among the Blue Knight's lesser heirs, with a greater part set aside for Christ and the administration of His Church.

 

However, a scroll of unknown origin and several writings belonging to the deceased’s dear friend, Jean Ami, were given to me as mementos of my accession to highness. A public reading of that scroll took place in the hours that followed. Some of the townsfolk were invited to attend, and afterward, provided excellent entertainment in the form of a mystery play about our Lord's creation of the world and Man's expulsion from paradise.^[1]

 

A mendicant friar then delivered a thoughtful sermon about God’s oversight of the Church, in which he posited that some priests do not believe in God and live their lives according to the senselessness of being, while others believe in God and conduct their affairs in the light of their beliefs. He noted, however, that all are required to abide by the rules that govern their calling; for it is the fidelity to rules that most pleases the Holy See.^[2] He then went on to rail against the heresy of dualistic beliefs, extolling the virtue of tithing and praising the office of the Inquisition.

 

-P-

 

 Song of Yaldabaoth^[3]

 

I am the fetor of the flesh,

Though I am other things 

 

That violate

The lap of grace

 

Or curse a christening

 

 

I am the obscene worm within

That bores a pit in thee to vitiate

A place of light with darkest liberty �"

 

I am the spur of want and will;

I am the rolling wheel that crushes

Every tender heart and leaves

 

The royal seal

 

I am a frightful ghoul of night

That wakes a sleeping child,

 

Or cuts him

With a careless blade,

When love is first defiled

 

I am a virtue lost in years �"

I am the goodness gone

 

That flees into a starless night

In which there is no dawn

 

I am the sackcloth worn in shame,

The scrape of sand and stone

 

Upon the bloodied knees of prayer

That kneel in flesh and bone.

 

But peace! Oh, peace! I am but true!

I am both fiend and friend,

From whom men learn

Their lessons well

 

 About the sorry end

 

 

Oh, all have known since time began

Who doth hold earthly sway,

 

For all have seen the sins of Earth

Assemble as they pray

 

All knights must know that this is so

And share the general fate of lesser men

Who keep a sty in which they fornicate!

 

I trust thee by thy oath and heart

And know thee by thy will:

I pour in thee a mystery

 

Until the blood doth spill.

 

-P-

 

                 Thoughts of Camille Du Monde: Entry Two

 

To me, these lines speak of a divinity that condemns men to suffer for the sake of suffering only. It paints our lives in black or maybe gray, and has no better palette from which to pick its paints. If such were true, what man would choose to live upon this landscape, given that he has no hope for happiness in this world or the next, no reason or higher purpose to contend with evil things? He would do better as a stone and not a mind that thinks. What man with open arms would embrace his absolute negation! Yet many men of substance do, even though they need not view themselves as equal to some grains of sand beneath their filthy feet.^[4]

More than Baptiste De Guerre, our Jean Ami is said to have been troubled by such thoughts and often sought to flee them in amusements that might distract him from deeper darkness. Though both he and the Blue Knight are said to have been faithful to their oaths in most ways, they are also said to have had some lesser friends who led them in the madness of their youth, and the extremes of debauchery, drunkenness and violence were known to flourish and often in the company of common varlets.

 

-P-

 

Sheep of Certain Kinds

 

(The Folly of Innocence & the Folly of Experience)

 

Yet, such is the folly of inexperience, and I would not judge a man upon the sins and foolish activities of his youth. But I also would not judge him on the wicked thoughts he has in old age, as that would be to mock his life from beginning to end.[5] We may thank God that the generally better thoughts of youth and the necessarily improved activities of old age mitigate a man's baseness and save him from absolute condemnation![6]

 

 This is not to say that a man is doomed to be a feckless rogue when he is young and a cunning villain when he is old. But old age and youth are sheep of certain kinds and heed the staff of different shepherds. Their lives cannot easily be compared or judged by the other. Indeed, a single biography of a man cannot be written, as time makes each man many different people. Only his immortal soul is said to be constant.

---

[1] According to Encyclopedia Britannica, a mystery (or miracle) play was a teaching device used by the medieval Church to instruct the flock about the Christian faith. Few people were literate. Subject matter ranged from Old Testament epics like the Fall of Eden to New Testament stories such as Christ’s resurrection. These dramas are believed to have been a popular activity and a precursor to modern theater. Mystery plays could go on for days and were often accompanied by music. Pope Innocent III came to frown on this activity, and he eventually forbade priests to participate in the plays.

 

[2] The poet believed that the Holy See has been staffed by hypocrites, misanthropes, and freeloaders since the time of St. Peter. To him, its functionaries are and always have been, inveterate sinners who do little to achieve God's grace. Therefore, the good friar seems to make an obvious point when he suggests that some priests do not believe in God. That is why the Church has rules that govern its individuals. However, Paris reasoned that the Church cannot be fairly criticized for its selection of personnel since every applicant has a similar resume.

 

[3] According to the New World Encyclopedia, the word demiurge means “artisan” or “producer,” not necessarily “creator.” It is probably accurate to think of the demiurge as the “pre-eminent force in the physical world,” but one that is inferior to the god of the spiritual realm. It is the "fashioner" of real and perceptible physical objects. The Gnostics considered this process to be deceitful and therefore evil. Paris’s concept of the demiurge sides with that belief, and for the purposes of his story, assigns malicious intelligence to it. To him, a religion that abhorred the physical universe to the extent that Catharism did was likely to have attributed an active, Satan-like intelligence to the demiurge.

 

 

[4] The last recorded public appearance of the American actor Marlon Brando on film was in a long biographical documentary called “Listen to Me.” At one point, Brando discusses his fondness for the islands of Tahiti, referring to himself as a meaningless “spec of sand” on one of its beaches. At no point during the film does he express a positive belief about his existence. He was a gifted, world-famous millionaire who seems to have left this world without love or respect for himself or anyone else. But who knows? Maybe it was just an image he wanted to convey.

 

[5] Paris did not think that aging has much to do with wisdom. Like many, he believed the passage of time provides practical experience, making it easier to recognize recurrent patterns. But it does not make anyone smarter about the things that matter, e.g., the purpose of it all. “Now that I am old,” he observed, “I would probably be able to avoid some of my past mistakes, but, if given the chance, I would likely fall into a multitude of new debacles.”

 

[6] An idle mind is not the devil’s only playground. A lonely mind is also a favored venue. An idle mind makes phone calls, looks for something to read, or watches TV all day; a lonely mind desperately seeks available company.