by David Bowles
APPENDIX E: THE PATH
Jitsu’s official religion, the Path (Oturi in Baryogo) is often called Neo Gnosticism by non-believers. Adherents of the faith simply call themselves Seers (B. matakite) or Pathwalkers (B. Oturitu). The members of specific branches of Neo Gnosticism have additional labels for themselves (such as the Baryogo terms Dominatu for Dominians and Shimangatu for followers of Kosiya Yemo’s expunged teachings).
Origins
Towards the middle of the 21st century, Alejandro Dresch Sifuentes, a philosophy student at the University of Texas, was arrested and put on trial for a strange string of alleged crimes including murder and terrorism.
Dresch claimed that he had been visited by the biblical Lazarus, alive two millennia after being revived by Christ. Lazarus, Dresch alleged, had revealed to him the true nature of the Godhead. Such affirmations captured the attention of a viewing public addicted to scandal and yellow journalism. Tabloid sites and webnews alike streamed every word he said during his trial for all to hear. He was convicted and sentenced to life in prison. For the first fifteen years, Dresch posted to the net a new set of scriptures called The Revised Bible. A populace hungry for something momentous and reality-shattering couldn’t help itself: his every word was read with a morbid curiosity. When he was killed by an overzealous guard, what had been just a fad became something more.
beliefs
Alejandro Dresch sketched out in The Revised Bible the following cosmogony.
The Ogdoad
In the early moments of the life of the universe, eight beings (joined in complementary pairs called umbini) evolved into a quantum singularity of great power called the Ogdoad, the Eight or The Collective (B. ra-Wanane). Over time discord arose concerning both the purpose of the universe and the role of the syzygies. One umbini, Ennoya-Bitosh or Idea-Depth, was convinced that the reason for its existence was to evolve sentient beings capable of reaching gnosis. Ennoya-Bitosh also clung to its individuality, refusing to lose its identity in The Collective. Rejecting the indifference and introspection of the Ogdoad, the umbini separated from the Eight, naming itself Neweru and abandoning ra-Yindawo, the plane of existence in which The Collective dwells. But the separation was traumatic, and one half of the umbini went mad, believing itself the only being in existence.
The Grey Prison
This mad half, the Demiurge (B. Umenzi) blindly seized his complement, who now named herself Sopiya. Believing he must destroy in order to create, Umenzi tried to reshape her. Sopiya was violated and reduced, but she fought the Demiurge with every bit of her being. Their struggle set off the waves that generate everything around us, the physical universe, what Dresch calls the Grey Prison (B. Hayiro Gereza), a very small and insignificant part of what truly exists. Convinced that his mangling of Sopiya was the origin of all, the Demiurge arrogantly declared, “I am God, and there is no other God beside me,” for he was ignorant of his strength, the singularity from which he had come. For that reason he is called Samayeru (the blind god) and Sakra (the foolish one). Those who rebel against him, despite all odds, are said to be Unblind (B. Samanei).
Sopiya's First Sacrifice
Unlike Sakra, Sopiya remembered her true nature and understood the danger that her insane complement now represented for the universe. However, she saw even deeper truth; her separation from the Ogdoad and Sakra's madness were necessary means to a necessary end: the strengthening and broadening of the Ogdoad itself. She saw in a flash of wisdom the Path, and she understood her role in the self-actualization of the very universe, a process known as Aburakusa.
Ceasing her struggle, she put herself in Sakla's power and allowed herself to be shattered. This first sacrifice is termed Shamanga. The innumerable pieces of her being (B. tenshi or “sparks”) drifted throughout the Grey Prison, merging with the illusory physical universe of which Sakra believed himself creator.
As sentient life arose, Sakra in his madness again believed himself the cause, and he from time to time intruded on their minds, warping their perception and causing them to worship his cruel and childish ways. But every sentient being contains a small spark, a bit of Sopiya's broken being, and over the ages some fought against Sakra's tyrrany in any way they could. Every once in a great while, in fact, one of these sentient beings would, through recognizing and cultivating that spark within (tenshi), create a soul for themself that could survive beyond death. These souls eventually made their way to the Ogdoad, and over millennia a small fraction of Sopiya was restored to The Collective.
The Rise of the Oracles
Finally, Sophia had reconstituted herself enough to commune with the Ogdoad and share her vision of the path to Abraxas. Through her connection with the Grey Prison, the Ogdoad caused guides to arise: the Oracles, who encourage sentient beings to turn their attention inward and seek self-knowledge. To follow the Path.
the path
The grand purpose of the physical universe, Neo Gnosticism declares, is Marejesho ra-Sopiya, the Restoration of Sophia. In order for this goal to be reached, as many sentient beings as possible need to achieve kedarum (quantum enlightenment) at death. For those who do, their souls survive beyond the flesh and enter ra-Yindawo, the nirvana-like plane that contains the Ogdoad. The Path to haskalah entails a variety of activities that are collectively referred to as Uchimbaji ra-Tenshi, (the Extraction of the Sparks).
Awareness
For an individual to be initiated into the teyopan (local Pathwalker congregation, part of the larger community, B. hapori), they must affirm the Three Tenets of the Path:
Humans are born without souls.
The universe is a fractured piece of the Ogdoad.
Humans’ fate is to create souls for themselves through self-knowledge and in that way help to restore the Ogdoad.
A new convert (B. tahuringa) is still considered sama or unenlightened (lit. “blind”) until they have performed daily zazen (meditation with drugs, virtual mandala, kleinballs, etc.) for typically seven years, especially in the case of children. Adult converts may move through this stage more quickly.
By the end of the seventh year, the ivver should have the kyunsun or vision of their own blind self (B. aham), their divine spark (tenshi) and the Ogdoad. When they have peered beyond the Grey Prison, they are declared a matakite (lit. “seer”) for having reached keihatsu (awareness). Then comes the rite of upanayana: their giya or some other anshyano will witness their affirmation of the Three Tenets and will place the intambo or Pathwalker cord around their chest (over left shoulder, under right arm). This cord—woven from eight strands, each a different shade of blue—signals they are a teyopanjin, a full member of the congregation. Children born into the community typically become teyopanjin at seven years of age.
Basic Enlightenment
Further zazen and ritual reflexion (varying from sect to sect) in all areas of the self, from the most wretched to the most sublime, elevate matakite to satori (lit. “secret knowledge”) or basic enlightenment. Matakite who attain this level are called satorijin. They are said to have lit up their selves with their spark (such an illuminated self is known as a teyo). The most respected satorijin in a community are refered to as anshyano.
Full Self-Knowledge
The next step is nosisu), gnosis or complete self-knowledge that leads to Hanga ra-Roho, the creation of a soul. Rejecting the world, satorijin begin the process of shattering and bricolage (B. shamanchiwaga), by which the kludged self (B. marecho teyo) is broken and rebuilt around the spark, giving birth to a soul. Pathwalkers who have created a soul and seen it in the second vision (B. umbono) are called arojin (lit. "other-born"). Many arojin become giya, guides to enlightenment for sama, matakite and satorijin in their congregation.
Quantum Enlightenment
The last rung on the ladder to escaping the Grey Prison, kedarum, occurs when the created soul escapes the flesh to be reunited with the Eight. Certain individuals, called kedarumsha, achieve kedarum while yet alive. Kedarumsha spend much time in the state of u
karibu, their created selves in constant communion with the Ogdoad, though not with the individual souls rejoined to the Eight, a privilege known as yorukaki in Baryogo, reserved only for the Oracles.
Dominian Oracles of Jitsu
1—Domina Ditis. Born Bolormaa Munkhbat in the floating city Kunming on the moon Titan in 2492. Parents are indentured by the Republic of Saturn to the company Naftek after criminal convictions. When Naftek adopts Wiccan Catholicism as its company religion, her parents rename her Domina Ditis (adopting the out-of-date fashion of using Latin names when converting to that faith). Naftek is acquired by Soltec when Domina is six years old, and she attends a corporate school for several years, where she is taught the Path before being kidnapped by her maternal uncle Zamilan Chono. In 2521, her uncle’s ship crashes on the world that will later be named Jitsu. Domina dies in 2524, leaving behind new scripture in the form of her journals that becomes the basis for the Dominian Path.
2—Kosiya Yemo. Born in Jitsu’s Misitu Prefecture in 2590. Revealed to be the Second Oracle in 2604. In 2619, the Conduit is shut down, and an object expelled from it impacts against the Southern Continent while the Oracle is meeting with religious leaders there. She orders the Shrine of Shattering to be built. By 2622, the theocratic government of Jitsu decides that the Oracle’s teachings undercut their power, so they build a shrine to contain her, declaring portions of her scripture distorted by Sakra. She eventually dies in 2631.
3—Samanei Koroma. Born in Jitsu’s Mashkanu Prefecture in 2658. She’s revealed to be the new Oracle in 2671 and is immediately confined to the Jinja ra-Orakuru (Shrine of the Oracle). Despite being cut-off, she begins to manipulate global politics, ordering the creation of a legislature with Chamber of Deputies in 2675 and establishing free elections for deputies by 2682. In 2697, she is taken from Jitsu by her brother-in-law.
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