The Seeker

by Kingsley L Dennis

  THE SEEKER

  The hand of winter reveals the secrets of spring

  Kingsley L. Dennis

  Beautiful Traitor Books

  Copyright © 2020 by Kingsley L. Dennis

  All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage or retrieval system without the prior written permission of Beautiful Traitor Books.

  Published by Beautiful Traitor Books –

  http://www.beautifultraitorbooks.com/

  Second edition: 2020

  First published: 2016

  Cover Concept: Kingsley L. Dennis & Ibolya Kapta

  Cover Design & Book Formatting: Ibolya Kapta

  Copyright 2020 by Beautiful Traitor Books.

  All rights reserved.

  info@beautifultraitorbooks.com

  ‘There is no truth. There is only my truth, and none of this may be for you.’

  Jacob – the Seeker

  CONTENT

  PART ONE

  THE HAND OF WINTER

  PART TWO

  THE SECRETS OF SPRING

  The snow was falling in fat, soft flakes, oblivious to whether anyone was watching. Nature was back to her own devices and cared not for the ignorance of human behaviour.

  Nature was unaware that a few scientists in the world had declared the present era as the Anthropocene Age. Nature did not care for such naming and classification. She breathed. The human species had fallen victim to its own folly.

  It had been said that humanity’s impacts on Earth were now so pervasive and sufficiently distinctive to justify a separate classification - as distinctive from the existing Holocene Epoch that started at the end of the last ice age. In just a human lifetime the human species, which had been on the earth for only the briefest time, had profoundly impacted this billions-years-old planet. Human civilization had repeatedly failed to live in harmony with its surroundings. And so they dated the beginning of the Anthropocene Age from the 1950s. It was the decade that marked the beginning of the “Great Acceleration,” when the human population and its consumption patterns suddenly speeded up. It coincided with the spread of ubiquitous “techno materials,” such as aluminium, concrete and plastic. And, importantly, it covered the years when thermonuclear weapons tests dispersed radioactive elements across the globe. Their long-lived activity would remain as a curse upon the earth for hundreds of millennia. Humanity’s impacts, as sad markers, would remain visible in sediments and rocks millions of years into the future.

  Human evolution, it was now speculated, had been an anomaly in the lifetime of the earth – and their skeletons would be forgotten from history like so many unearthed bones.

  PART ONE

  THE HAND OF WINTER

  1

  The snow was falling in fat, soft flakes.

  Zuse-1 was looking at the wall in his office as it displayed an image of the external scene. He liked to watch the snow. It made him feel warm, although he knew this was a false and conditioned reaction. On such occasions he allowed himself the luxury of artificial emotions. As the snow fell, Zuse-1 thought of the beauty of fractals in Nature. Whoever programmed Nature, he had once said, was the greatest mind in the cosmos. Zuse-1 reminded himself of that phrase yet again as he stood facing the wall. It made the need even stronger for bringing in that great cosmic mind upon the earth. And that was now the plan – to spiritualize the earth during the eschaton.

  There still remained several pilgrims out there wandering in the world. As Zuse-1 stood quietly, a thousand thoughts and calculations running through his mind, his fellow pilgrims were coming home to receive their revelation – and to join the community.

  They had built a radical new city that would be the beginning of a renewed world. Things would be different this time around. Zuse-1 was convinced that none of the mistakes that created the Great Turning would be made again. Nous-City was the inspiration from new, improved minds that were not tainted with the afflictions from past greed and ignorance. Evolution upon planet Earth had now entered another phase. And still, the same fat, soft flakes fell upon a desolate land where few feet now trod.

  TWO

  Jacob’s feet began to drag across the path as a restless weariness entered his mind. He had walked far, and there was still further to go. He had been upon this journey for longer than he cared to remember. It felt as if he had always been upon this journey. Jacob was one of those deemed a Seeker, and now his pilgrimage had become utterly real and physical.

  3

  The enclosed circular room was chilled, yet Zuse-1 registered no difference to his internal metabolism. This room was privy to him alone. Within this room, at the heart of Nous-City, was the architect behind the project for the new world.

  ‘Zuse-1, progress report.’ The voice was neutral, without emotion, and yet penetrating.

  ‘All systems are now sustainable. We have finalized the water recycling so now the city is self-sufficient in both energy and water resources.’

  ‘Good. And the agricultural sections?’

  ‘We are still preparing the gardens; they will soon be ready with full personnel.’

  ‘The selected individuals have been trained?’

  ‘Yes, DOC, they have.’

  ‘Good. I note all infrastructural sensors operating correctly.’

  There was a pause where neither spoke. Zuse-1 knew better than to try to exit without first being dismissed. There was surely more to come.

  ‘Zuse-1, we are not yet complete as a community.’

  ‘DOC, could you elaborate?’

  ‘Yes, I will. I refer to the fact that not all our pilgrims are home yet. All those accounted for have had their revelation and are now fully aligned with the program. The psychic energy we require for our project to be successful is huge.’

  Again, another pause.

  ‘Yes, DOC, I appreciate that.’

  ‘I sense that a few of the remaining pilgrims are near. Yet one of them is further out and will need more time to reach us.’

  ‘Do you have a location on this pilgrim?’

  ‘Yes, I do. He is Jacob-9, and he is approaching a small rural human settlement on the fringes of Area 12. I estimate he will remain with this settlement according to the code of integration and experience.’

  ‘I see.’

  ‘I shall shortly be boosting the Call signal to accelerate completion of pilgrimage. We require all pilgrims in Nous-City. External conditions continue as unfavourable. Our location remains secure?’

  ‘Yes, DOC. Since our last update only two people have attempted entry into the city.’

  ‘This phenomenon of pseudo-pilgrims was expected as an aspect of human behaviour. There was no communication with them?’

  ‘None, as agreed. All uninvited visitors finally left dejected and confused. Our perimeter is impenetrable.’

  ‘This is good, Zuse-1. You are to continue with the expanded meditation programs for all personnel of Nous-City. We shall await the final pilgrims.’

  ‘Yes, DOC.’

  Another pause. Zuse-1 focused on the low blue haze that illuminated the room. He knew he was standing in the holy of holies. No one else in Nous-City had this privilege.

  ‘Zuse-1. In your meditations I sense a great energy concentration from you. You display impressive mental focus.’

  ‘Thank you, DOC.’

  ‘This is where we are superior. We do not have the capacity for lazy minds, for misplaced emotions. Do you think the Cosmic Mind cares for lazy, undisciplined minds?’

  ‘No, DOC, I do not.’

  ‘The Cosmic Mind awaits our contact. It wishes to be immanent here upon Earth. We cannot fail in this. The Earth ha
s no more time for evolutionary failures. Do you understand?’

  ‘Yes, I do.’

  ‘Good. You may leave now, Zuse-1.’

  Zuse-1 exited the sealed room and strode away down the corridor. His long white robe splayed out around him as he walked. Upon his upper-left breast was displayed an orange-yellow circle symbol. He approached the Great Hall of Priests and entered with reverence. There was a need to meditate further. Zuse-1 felt the inner urge to provide more psychic energy for the program. There would be no new world without new minds to immanentize it upon the Earth.

  FOUR

  The Great Turning cleansed a great many things. It was not only the Earth culling as if making to clear some room for itself. The inner heart of humankind received an emptying. What replaced it was a need, a desire, for simplicity and reflection.

  A new winter had arrived upon the Earth to cut down and prune the trees of human pride and arrogance. The bacteria and viruses did the rest. The only sanctuary was thought to be through austerity and, for those who could, through humility. And so, the Seekers arose.

  Theirs was a life of pilgrimage and penance. They did not come to proselytize or to preach to others. They came to serve - to give completely of themselves in order to prepare themselves for a new world to come, and to receive this new spirit into them. And so this became a new faith. It was no longer referred to as religion. Religion was the old path that had collapsed in the fires of consumption. The new faith wished for immanence upon the world, through the purified minds of a new humanity. The mind of the new higher faith – the True Spirit - no longer trusted in the minds of humanity to manifest the Great Will upon the world. The only hope for humanity was to become vessels for the immanence of the True Spirit. This was to become the new reality. They wanted to immanentize the eschaton.

  Each Seeker had this phrase burnt into their lips like a branded blessing. Constant repetition guided their days as a barely audible flow of breath. Jacob had himself become an ardent Seeker as a result of the Great Turning. Now he longed for nothing more than to empty himself from the inside out. Jacob felt his purpose was to give himself to the great service of preparation - for the great new immanent mind to enter and work through him and into the world.

  This desire, this urge, had intruded into every nerve of his body and invaded his life. To be a Seeker was something akin to possession, where nothing else could give meaning. And a life without meaning, without an inner drive, was no life at all; or so Jacob had decided. Humanity needed to find a new direction - new hope, new faith - if it wished to go on. For most people though, their daily struggles were enough. It was all they could bear, and all they could find meaning in. It was enough to survive, and to hope that their descendents would fare better. A few though, sought for something more. These were the Seekers.

  For a Seeker, their path was their life. Their path was first a pilgrimage - to experience a life on the road: to see the people, and to pass through them in service, yet without attachment. They could not stay in any one place too long. They had always to be back on the road. Their pilgrimage was not without end or direction. Ultimately, it would lead them to their place of retreat - to the Seeker’s sanctuary. Their destination was the city monastery; the place where a new hope had been birthed. A city had been raised from the ground through the new faith. It was here where the immanence would be called down, and the eschaton achieved. Nous-City became the spiritual destination for all Seekers. Yet only the true Seekers were allowed entry. The rest remained outside the city walls. And yet, the question that arose was - How would a person know if they were a true Seeker or not?

  FIVE

  The road was neither short nor long. It stretched ahead and simply was. Jacob walked in a straight line at a slow pace, determined not to slouch. The way one walked the path was a reflection of the person, as if walking with a silent companion. A Seeker walked with their inner person, and with a longing that burned with a double self. Jacob, like other Seekers before him, could not say when, or from where, the first impulse arrived. It came suddenly; a tremble, a vibration, a whisper. It came as a voice at once so familiar it could have been a call from the cells. When a Seeker received the Call, the invitation, it was from a voice so close to them that it would have been impossible to ignore. It would be as if ignoring not only their very self but the very particles of their body. The Call came through them as if it had been broadcast, and their only response was to respond - and begin the walk.

  All roads would eventually lead to Nous-City, if you knew which roads to take. And yet somehow the most direct roads could not be taken. It was as if the Seekers instinctively knew this, or it had been encoded in the Call itself. The long, indirect paths had to be taken. And these paths crossed communities and wastelands alike. That was why it was known as the Pilgrimage.

  As there is real gold in the earth, so too has there always been false gold amongst the people. It is as though one thing cannot exist without the other. As the Seekers arose and began their journeying, so too did others attempt to follow in this way. And yet they did not receive the Call; it was not given to them. They arose in mimicry, in false hope and vain drives. Theirs was a desire to reach the famed Nous-City, a place increasingly upon peoples’ lips as an excited rumour. False drives fuelled false hopes, as was the frequent want of humanity, then and now.

  A dryness parched Jacob’s cracked lips. With no expectations, he walked slowly up to the gates of the new settlement. On reaching them he called out. A few minutes of silence passed. Jacob remained unperturbed. In the dusty silence he listened to his breath as it rose and fell. He was familiar with its sound. So many, and long, were the periods where he had had no other sound but his own breath. It had become a deep and trusted friend for him. Eventually a noise brought Jacob back from his deep silence.

  ‘State your purpose, stranger.’ A brusque voice called out through the slits of the wooden gate.

  ‘I am a Seeker. My name is Jacob. I come in service. I come to purify me for the preparation. I come in peace.’ Jacob softly spoke the words said by many a Seeker.

  A voice grunted, and could be heard speaking to another in hushed tones.

  ‘We’ve not had a Seeker here before. Why do you come now?’

  ‘I did not arrive here with reason or intent. I just followed my path, and it brought me here. I cannot speak for other Seekers.’ Jacob bowed his head as he spoke. His words, he hoped, would reflect the tremor of his humility.

  There was a pause. Then the large wooden gate creaked as it opened.

  Jacob was greeted by suspicious eyes. A large, burly man stood before him. In his hands he held a solid looking baton. Jacob nodded in acknowledgment.

  ‘I’m Prentis. And this other beside me goes by the name of Zachary. He is in charge of our settlement.’

  Jacob saw that Zachary was older, and his hair had whitened with time and worry. Prentis was younger in years, yet with a strong, muscular build. He had a large hairless face that was disfigured with some reddish patch. A burn mark or birthmark, thought Jacob. It had, no doubt, disfigured also his perception and acceptance of the world.

  ‘I go by the name of Jacob. I am a Seeker, and the path towards my preparation has brought me to your door. I wish to serve you in any way I can.’ Jacob paused. ‘Then I shall be on my way again. It is only asked that you provide humble shelter and food. I ask nothing else from you.’

  Prentis huffed. ‘And nothing else shall be given to you, Jacob the stranger.’

  ‘He will stay with us. I have room in our lodging for him. He shall work the fields.’

  Jacob watched as the older Zachary spoke. His manner was more guided and restrained.

  Zachary held out his hand to Jacob. ‘Welcome to our settlement. We call it Spring.’

  Jacob smiled slightly, as if approving of the name. ‘It is in celebration for a new season upon earth, and for humanity?’

  Zachary gave a gentle laugh, which pleased Jacob. ‘No. It is not for that reason, thou
gh it could be. Here we have a source of water that comes from the ground. It is our spring, and also our hope.’

  ‘Ah. Yes, where there is a source there is hope. Immanentize the eschaton,’ said Jacob softly.

  ‘Immanentize the eschaton,’ repeated Zachary in a low voice.

  Prentis’ eyes narrowed questioningly.

  Zachary took Jacob to his lodging and introduced him to his son, Johan. The little boy’s eyes lit up upon seeing Jacob.

  ‘Wow. So you’re a real Seeker? I’ve heard of those like you but never actually met one. We’ve never had a Seeker in Spring before.’ Johan’s enthusiasm seemed genuine to Jacob.

  ‘I’m surprised none have passed this way before now,’ added Zachary, warmly.

  Jacob nodded. ‘There are many paths. They lead Seekers in many directions. We each walk a different path, and yet our destination is the same.’

  Johan jumped up and down. ‘Is it true what they say? That there is a bright new city full of lights, where all Seekers go, and that they are building a new world for us?’

  Jacob looked over at Johan kindly. He was small, dark-haired, and had a pleasant face. He could have been no more than eight or nine years old.

  Zachary put his arm around his son. ‘They may be building a new world, but not in the way we all think. It’s a different kind of building, son.’

  ‘How’s that?’ asked Johan, looking up attentively at his father.

  ‘They’re building something up in order to bring something down.’

  Jacob whispered inaudibly under his breath, immanentize the eschaton.

  ‘But let’s talk more later,’ continued Zachary. ‘Our new guest must be tired after his travels.’

  Zachary showed Jacob to his quarters, a small room at the edge of the dwelling, separated only by a curtain. Inside the narrow room stood a simple bed and a wash basin.