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Mikhi had gotten used to attending events at the Holy House, but this time he had some serious questions to ask of the people in the basement.
“What the heck was that all about? I saw four people killed before my eyes! Am I still in trouble? And just who exactly are you guys that you can do that sort of shit?” Mikhi was almost hyper-ventilating. He had thought that he had dealt with his experiences, but he suddenly realized that he was in denial. He was really freaked out by the previous week’s experience.
The short, old woman with the super frizzy hair in long braids answered. “There are lots of different answers to your questions. Let me start with the one that you haven’t asked, but probably is the most important one for you.”
“When people go through a shocking experience they generally feel numb for several days afterwards. This makes perfect evolutionary sense because it dramatically lowers our chance of survival if we immediately dissolve into emotional goo whenever we witness extreme violence. We need to get away from or fight a danger, not freeze. You are experiencing the emotions that came from your experience now because you feel comfortable in our presence. Don’t be afraid of your emotions. They are natural. And the fact you are experiencing them now, in the basement of the Holy House, with us, means you feel part of the community of Elders---which is a compliment to us more than anything else.”
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Mikhi realized that the next person to speak, a heavyset, middle-aged fellow with short iron-grey hair, was one of the people with the two dogs that he’d met on the trail. “The Elders have had many centuries to hone their ability to protect themselves from violent people and institutions. We have special subgroups who have learned how to apply a subtle understanding of force in order to protect ourselves and others without drawing attention.”
“Generally we are able to operate with a minimum of violence. But sometimes we have to deal with opponents who are so crude that the only logical response is to respond in kind. Ong Kata and the Rukka are probably as crude and violent as any force we have ever encountered. We had been watching the people watching you very carefully, and, as you saw, we were able to protect you when push came to shove. But I will admit I personally consider the fact that four individuals died in a public park at our hands a colossal failure on our part. I would rather have resolved the issue, if not peacefully, at least with minimal direct involvement.”
“I can assure you this will not happen again. Our operatives have manipulated Mr. Kata’s extreme anger and arrogance to trap him into a suicidal war with the Rukka.”
At that point the tall, thin, elderly black man stepped into the conversation. “I think we need to get you into a program of therapy. You’ve been through a really traumatic experience and we need to help you deal with it. PTSD is a real thing, and your experience could cause a really good case of it if left untreated. We will hook you up with a good therapist this week.”
Mikhi wasn’t finished with his questions. “I think I need a better explanation about who exactly the Elders are, and, where I fit into the plan. I just had four people attack me and watched them get very efficiently killed. I think I’m owed a better explanation.”
The middle-aged Asian guy with the smooth face and tired-looking eyes spoke up. “Yes, you are. And I’ll try to give you a bit of one. But you must realize any real answers will have layers of meaning, and the person hearing the answer won’t understand all of it until they’ve assimilated a certain amount of information first.”
“We don’t know when people began to realize that---contrary to the democratic slogans---all men are not created equal. It’s a combination of genetics and childhood experience, but there is a small percentage of the population who have the potential to have a significantly greater level of self-awareness. Within that small set of individuals, there is a much smaller group that have had the opportunities in life to get the necessary education to live up to their full potential. No one can know how many brilliant people wasted their gifts in menial labour as slaves or died in silly wars, being not much more than cannon fodder, etc, over the centuries.”
“But eventually schools of wise folks grew up in various countries. For example, when Alexander the Great entered into India he found a group of wise men he called the ‘Gymnosophists’. There was another group the Greeks found in Egypt that they called the ‘Ethiopian Gymnosophists’. When the Romans invaded Britain they found a school for Druids on the island of Ynys Môn---which they destroyed in order to end resistance to their colonization effort. In China a group of individuals called “the Old Ones” wrote a book of theory titled The Book of the Way and Its Power which people still read and which has been translated almost as much as the Bible. You would know it by the title Tao Te Ching. Later on, under the Islamic civilization, orders of Taṣawwuf---what you might have heard of as the ‘Sufis’---were established. In addition, under the Turkish diaspora a secret society called “the White Beards” collected information and directed efforts aimed at saving their civilization from the ravages of the Mongols. At the same time, the Free Masons were established in Western Europe as a means of creating an intellectual ‘sub-current’ aimed at freeing the population from the tyranny of the Catholic Church.”
“There were successes and failures. Some organizations degenerated into being not much more than lodges aimed at self-help, charities, or, even superstitious cults. Individuals and groups suffered persecution. But there were always enough individuals who went undetected and who kept the light of reason burning so new progress could be made in learning what it means to be an awake, aware, concerned human being. Eventually human technology and social organization developed to the point where different groups could easily connect with each other and eventually co-ordinate their actions on a greater scale.”
“What really helped the Elders take off was the creation of the World Wide Web. It had been tremendously difficult to co-ordinate actions across international and cultural boundaries before. But the Web has created a real global civilization for the first time. This has allowed us to extend the reach of our activities in ways that simply wouldn’t have been possible before. Moreover, the way in which modern societies have become dependent on technology has meant that the specific strong suit of the Elders---knowledge, wisdom, and, self-awareness---are increasingly important assets for asserting influence over the greater society. In other words, it is getting harder and harder for brute force to trump brains---as Mr. Ong Kata recently learned.”
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