A Very Suitable Introduction
I would like to tell you a story about a man I know. His name is Ulysses. He was just fifteen when I first met him – a short and slender youth, nervous; in a place he didn’t belong. His dark hair was long and curly. The skin on his unusually handsome face was still smooth, the face of a child. In many ways he was still a boy. He was a boy trying to become a man. And, like many men, he wished to go back and change his past. He desired this more strongly than most, but like all was impotent to do so.
Now, you may at some point wonder if this story is a fantasy – taking place in an alternate universe – or something of that sort. The answer is no. It may seem rather unusual, but things such as this really do happen, even if they are rarely verified by a respected scientific expert. This may be because a scientific expert would no longer be respected if they started believing in things which were not verifiable through the scientific method – at least not if those beliefs differed widely from those held by other respected scientists. Anyhow, this is the kind of story that intellectual types call a myth. Many people think that means it’s a lie, but that’s not what it means at all.
I’ll tell you the story, you can judge for yourself. But first, let me relay to you a brief story written years ago by a man named Theodore de Laguna. Theodore is the deceased relative of this narrative’s principle character, Ulysses. He wrote this story as a young man. Its relevance to Ulysses’ story will be seen soon enough. Theodore wrote:
My little niece put her head in at the door of the study.
“Teddy, put away that everlasting Greek and come downtown with me. The exercise will be good for you, and I want to get a book out of the free library.”
To read more CLICK HERE to download pt 1
Ulysses and the Donnellys stepped off the transit bus onto Alberta Street. Years ago the area was a slum, but the low housing costs were attractive to artists. So, Alberta and the surrounding district have become the center of an alternative art scene. This has brought in cafes, bars, restaurants, and shops that sell interesting unessential items. One of the more interesting attractions – its no longer there – was the clown house.
Now it’s a well-known fact that clowns horrify most people. Why is this? It’s because of amateur clowns who think that throwing on a rainbow wig and painting one’s face white with big red lips makes one a clown. There is a delicate balance between making people laugh and causing them unexplainable terror. Half-cocked amateurs who practice without proper training have ruined the noble profession of clowning. The clowns at the clown house are the most disturbing clowns I've ever seen. For some reason they apparently feel that performance art clowning is a good idea.
Alberta is also a good place to see some of the people in Portland who pursue the pirate life. Minus the boats, pillaging, murdering, stealing – really minus all the actual pirating activities. These neo-pirates are into the dress, music, and lack of hygiene.
This is the place Ulysses picked, because it is a place to find genuinely odd people. For a boy who had never actually met a neo-pagan or Wiccan, it seemed like a good place to start their quest.
To read more CLICK HERE to download pt 2
Gilbert had crossed the river of Lamentation by means of his own boat. The secret society to which he belonged had brought many helpful objects down into Hades to help them with their work.
Gilbert had not tried to pass through the gate guarded by Cerberus. Instead he had merely climbed over the wall at a different place. He had immediately made his way to the castle, Salem. Once he had safely snuck into the castle, he made his way directly to his commander’s private rooms.
“I already know that you have failed,” said Gilbert’s commander.
“I didn’t fail. He was already gone. I got the order too late.”
“Are you blaming me?”
“Sir, I’m not blaming anyone. The mission was not completed. How do you want me to proceed?”
“The boy is already here.”
“In Hades? How?”
“We don’t know how, but he is here and the King knows. That is the least of our worries. The boy is in Shinar as we speak. If he joins Lucifer, who knows what will happen?”
“I will go into Shinar and finish the mission.”
To read more CLICK HERE to download pt 3
Paloma had watched her son walk away. She waited until the last moment, when she could see him no longer – she didn’t know if she would ever see him again. To let him go was too much, to abandon him once again as she had done before; she did feel like she was abandoning him. She wept. Then, she turned and began to walk up the mountainside, going in the opposite direction of her son. She walked towards the adamantine gate. She was on her own until she got to the forest on the other side of the gate. There she would meet Rab and the children, and George she hoped. Had he grown tired enough of this place to risk his death in escaping? She didn’t know. But, it was time to try. She was tired of living in fear. She was tired of her false husband, false in his deceitful leadership, false in their marriage. It was a difficult passage over the mountains, but Paloma didn’t dare go through the valley in front of Paloma walked on. She reached the top of a ridge. From there she could see the gate, and the wall running off from it in both directions. On the other side was the forest where she would meet the others. A steady stream of dead passed through the gate.
To read more CLICK HERE to download pt 4
For anyone who might care my Master's Thesis available for perusing
Understanding the history and use of the Apostles’ Creed will enable us to appreciate the necessity of doctrine and what a truly Christian confession will contain. In my paper I discuss the value of creeds to the contemporary Church, especially the emerging church. To do this I engaged the work of Michael Frost and Brian McLaren. Both men are leading advocates of the emerging church and have addressed the issues of creeds and doctrine, while attempting in their own manner to define true Christianity. To read Click Here.
