Chapter 4B

They went inside the temple and gawked at the ornate furnishings that decorated the hall. At one end there was a dais with a replica of the Trundholm sun chariot with the Golden horns of Gallehus on either side and the Nebra skydisk behind it. Minerva walked up to it in reverence while Chris examined the rest of the room.

He declared "This looks like it's the focus of the temple, maybe that would be the best place to pray to"

Minerva knelt down and bowed before the chariot. She raised her hands high and intonted "Almighty Odin, hear the prayers of your handmaiden and grant me your wisdom so I may carry out your tasks. Father of All, give me guidance to find the way to restore my wings so that I may rejoin you in Elysium"

Chris peered around to find out if anything had changed and inquired "Any sign of him? How do you know if it is working?"

Minerva straightened up and answered "I don't know, I've never done this before. I'm not getting any inspiration."

Chris ran his hand through his hair and advised her "From the research I did on him, it looked pretty gruesome what the people that worshipped Odin made a lot of sacrifices to gain his favor in battle. Even Kings were sacrificed to try and influence the situations. I sure hope we don't have to go to those extremes to get his attention."

Minerva considered this and dispelled the idea "That doesn't sound like the Odin I know, maybe those people were just looking for a way to get rid of the unpopular ones. How about this horn? Maybe if I blow on it, it would help to get his attention?"

Chris waved to it and told her "Give it a shot, you never know, it might help."

Minerva walked up to the horn and stood on her toes to reach the mouthpiece then blew into it with all her ability. The horn rang out with a resonant sound that had a melodious timbre. It echoed through the room and reverberated off the walls.

Minerva prostrated herself on the floor and beseeched Odin again "O God of Wishes, hear my plea, return the powers of my halo and let me continue with your grand design. Much Loved Odin, give me the strength to carry on with your assigments by blessing my endeavors with your knowledge of how to proceed."

Chris heard a noise and movement behind him so I turned to investigate. Through the entrance walked a short man in emerald robes. He surveyed the room and bowed to them.

He queried them "Is there something I can help you with? I am Zakita, the caretaker of this temple"

Chris contemplated the monk with his pony tail and sandals. He addressed him "I'm suprised that you would be the caretaker, I would've expected someone with more of a Viking manner about them to be interested in this sort of thing."

Zakita smiled and radiated tolerance for that assumption. He told them "I represent many faiths here since it is part of what people consider sacred. I heard the horn, so I came over to see if I could render some assistances. What is it that you wanted here?"

Minerva got up from the floor and approached the newcomer. "Greetings, we've been trying to contact Odin on a matter of utmost urgency. Do you know a way to do that quickly?"

Zakita bowed and grinned at her. "For a woman of such surpassing beauty, it would be a pleasure to share my knowledge. It all depends on how quickly you can pierce the veil of Maya and achieve Bodhi. If you let go of all illusion, then it can happen in an instant. But if you hold onto your solid ego, then it may take many lifetimes."

Minerva frowned at that, since it didn't sound like particularly helpful advice She asked "Then how do you propose to pierce the veil of Maya and let go of illusion? The clouds hide the sun, but it's hard to move them from the ground."

Zakita shrugged and inquired "Isn't that just a different frame of reference? Is the flag moving, is the wind moving or is the mind moving? Take your pick since it depends on wherever you are experiencing it from."

Chris stroked his chin and questiond his methods "So what you mean is, just as there is no spoon, there are no clouds. I didn't expect Enlightenment to be delivered by Fed Ex or get a cell phone with a direct line to Odin, but how about some more practical suggestions?"

Zakita kowtowed in front of them then he rose and begged "Forgive me for being too vague. Maybe if you followed some of the instructions in the Bardo Thodol, it would be more effective than the prayers you've been using. The chikhai bardo has a lot to say about the evolution of consciousness and the sidpa bardo deals with the involution."

Minerva perked up and said hopefully "Odin mentioned those in my assignments, he told me that Involution was greater than Evolution equals Eros less than Thanatos. Do you know what he meant by that? Does the Bardo Thodol give any instructions about that?"

Chis shook his head negatively "Well Eros and Thanatos are Greek names for Life and Death so I wouldn't expect them to be in the Tibetan Book of the Dead, but the same concepts might be. Could we see a copy of it?"

Zakita led them into a library room and took a large manuscript from a shelf. He set it on the table and advised them humbly "As it says here to the wise 'O nobly-born, these realms are not come from somewhere outside thyself. They come from within the four divisions of thy heart, which, including its centre, make the five directions. They issue from within there, and whine upon thee. The deities, too, are not come from somewhere else: they exist from eternity within the faculties of thine own intellect. Know them to be of that nature.' take heed to those words and ponder the meaning of them to you."

Minerva opened the book being careful with brittleness of parchment. She browsed through it until she came to this passage "O nobly-born, now the signs and characteristics of the place of birth will come. Recognize them. In observing the place of birth, choose the continent too. If one is to be born as a deva, delightful temples built of various precious metals also will be seen. One may enter therein; so enter therein."

Chris stood over her shoulder and scanned the book for something useful, he read "O nobly-born, if thou hast not understood the above at this moment, through the influence of karma, thou wilt have the impression that thou art either ascending, or moving along on a level, or going downwards. Thereupon, meditate upon the Compassionate One."

Minerva looked perplexed and pouted her lips. She addressed her concerns by stating "This is too cryptic and mystifying to me, how does that help me contact Odin or explain what he meant by Evolution, Involution, Eros and Thanatos?"

Chris "I think it's more that the monks that wrote that were from a time where they expressed thing more esoterically and profoundly than simply. I guess in the culture they were in was the style to be that flowery and overblown in the language like that. What I'm getting from it is that, it's like having to judge what your senses are telling you to determine what's real from what's illusion like in The Matrix or Virtual reality programs. I don't see how that's relevant to our situation though, it doesn't seem to be much help."

Minerva returned the book to Zakita and declared "I couldn't find anything in here that would benefit me in solving the problem, but thank you for your effort, it was kind of you."

Zakita took the large tome graciously and nodded to her congenially. He informed them "If prayer isn't aiding enough in your search, then maybe the path of action might be more effective. How about the practice of Kundalini Yoga?"

Chris considered the idea and told him "We'll give it some thought, thanks for the advice."

They walked back to the car and Minerva looked disappointed. She said bleakly "Well that was a let down. I'm still no closer to finding my way back or getting on with my job."

Chris grabbed his laptop from the back and opened his web browser. He tried to express some more hope by telling her "We did get a few leads though, and a better idea of the problem. Here is what it says about Eros 'Eros wants perpetuation of its own existence, to transcend its obvious physical fate. So it creates a series of symbolic substitutes for that Self, and pretends to be cosmocentric, independent and immortal. Eros also causes the fervent drives to achieve wealth, fame, power, knowledge.' Does that help?"

Minerva shook her head and declared with discontent "No, that's what Odin said the purpose of the Guardian Angel Branch was to find methods to help people give up symbolic substitutes. But that doesn't tell me why Thanatos is less than that"

Chris puzzled over that while looking up the other definition "Maybe this will shed some light on it. 'Thanatos is the pull of Wholeness, that would tear down the boundary between self and other, the primary dualism, which would lead to death, dissolution, transcendence. So the Atman Project seeks to avoid all that threatens the separate self's dissolution. It finds substitute sacrifices for the lost Whole: if you won't surrender, you need to find substitute sacrifices, ie death to others. In other words, the desire to kill is Thanatos extroverted. That sounds like the flip side of the coin and that's why they're related. If you have more Eros, then you have less Thanatos and vice versa."

Minerva vented her frustration by exclaiming "That doesn't tell me how to balance them or how to apply it to Evolution and Involution."

Chris tried to calm her down by stating "I figure that means that if you accept ego death and give up some sustitute sacrifices then you evolve more. But I don't know what methods you would use, since I expect it's different in every situation. Since we're so close to the beach anyway, why don't we go to the Santa Cruz Boardwalk? That would cheer you up and take your mind off your problems for a while"

Minerva gave him a blank look, like she had stared at a basilisk. She requested "What is that? Why would it cheer me up, especially now?"