Watson, Ian - Novel 08 by The Gardens of Delight (v1.1)

his title , not the
name he was bom with—isn’t Knossos. It’s Gnosis. That’s Greek for ‘knowledge’—‘occult, hidden knowledge.’ Just twist the sound a
little and you get the Cretan lie. He’s the hidden king of this world, all
right—given his divine right by the superbeing; and the name of the game ...
is knowledge.”
                 Jeremy
eyed the great cromlech rising up ahead like a fossil pachyderm, a stone tree
that burst into actual foliage at its crown. He sighed wistfully. “You see? You
do know, Athlon —more than me.”
                 “It’s
a place in Ireland,” repeated Sean lamely.
                 “That’s
always been your purpose, hasn’t it? Knowledge. Now
you’ve found the right place to fulfil that purpose. As did
Knossos. Thanks be to God.”
                 “He’s
only a superbeing,” said Muthoni.
                 “Only?
Only?” Jeremy giggled.
                 “I
mean, he isn’t God — The God.”
                 “What
Muthoni means,” said Sean, “is that ‘God’ is something
abstract and universal. God is an idea, a principle —which we humans seem to
have an instinctive feeling for deep in our psyches. When you decouple all the
other mental sub-systems—by trance or meditation, say—there isn’t just nothing left, there’s an oceanic sense of deity. Your
superbeing can’t be that God—though
that’s what He’s playing at being, because of this instinct of ours.”
                 “What’s
the difference? He has all the attributes of God. What do you know about God,
anyway?” Jeremy wagged a finger at Muthoni. “Watch out, lady, you’ll lose your
nigredo. You’ll be reduced to buck private. Or maybe even rabbit!” He wriggled
his nose clownishly.
                 “One
of God’s attributes being the habit of punishing folk in Hell? I don’t think I
like this God. He’s capricious. This world is a caprice.”
                 “Maybe
the whole universe is a caprice? Have you thought of that? I wonder if our God
wholly knows what He is?” said Jeremy
lightly. “Maybe He’s a bit of a caprice too.”
                 “But
you can’t have an ignorant God!”
                 “Ah,
so now you want Him to be omniscient? You can’t have it both ways, lady. Either
He’s God or He isn’t—though in so far as God is a paradox, maybe that isn’t
true either ...”
                 “Being, superbeing! If this alien is part of natural reality, we can understand what part He
is.”
                 “But
what if you can’t understand? Unless . . .”
                 “Unless
what?”
                 “Unless
you transform yourselves alchemically . . . You could, of course,” added
Jeremy, “just enjoy yourselves, on the other hand. Have fun. Have a ball. It is fun here, you know. In the Gardens. You might find you were transforming
yourselves faster by having fun!”
                 Sean
grinned crookedly. “Was God crucified on the cross so that we could have fun?
As the old joke goes ...”
                 “Ah, that God may have been crucified.
This one never was. This is a fun God.”
                 “So
what is Hell doing in the other hemisphere?” asked Muthoni. “Is that fun?”
                 “It’s
instructional,” said Jeremy, sounding hurt. “You don’t like His gardens? You
want to be instructed?” He shook his head. “No, it isn’t a question of being
fried if you don’t want to have fun in His gardens. Don’t you see , it’s all part of the alchemy? Well, you don’t see yet. But
you will. Sean sees. Don’t you? And Denise sees a bit too.”
                 “And
you?”
                 “Oh,
I see lots of things. I’m the witness. Whether I want to be
or not.” Jeremy’s mouth drooped. Sadness