-7-

"What, then, is the hope for man? How can this ages-old cycle of alternation between male and female dominance, with its attendant accumulation of anthropomorphic characteristics in the endless pantheon of gods, be broken? How can man be freed of the cynicism that stems from the conflict between his desire to hold his god in awe and the less than admirable accretion of human characteristics each perception of that god has inevitably acquired?

"To place our own cultural antecedants in this cycle, we need only note that the word 'god' itself still has for us unavoidable male anthropomorphic connotations that do not go away when we substitute 'deity' as a synonym. This cycle of male dominance successfully sustained itself by transferring many of the old Mother Goddess's attributes to one of her male underlings, usually called Satan, and elevating him above her in importance while equating many of her natural characteristics with evil.

"The less threatening female qualities were retained by a lesser quasi-deity identified as the mother of the son of God, thus providing a focus for those mother-worship tendencies that persist. In this way the female has been less suppressed than ignored, less differentiated than granted a quasi-inclusion, enabling the male god-head to maintain an unnatural balance.

"More currently, though, the concept of God has begun to suffer the same old emasculation through elevation to Primary Source, this time in the name of Science, that in the past has led to His displacement by the Mother. This leaves Satan as the only remaining virile male god, ready to take His place in the hearts of those men who cannot see through the veils of Illusion deeply enough into the well of Awe to know that they are not being abandoned by the Father. Unless Mary loses her eternal virginity, Satan may rise unchallenged.

"The cycle can be broken only by widespread recognition that Primary Source truly need be neither male nor female, but comprehends and subsumes both in its undifferentiated spiritual nature. For this to occur in a male dominated cycle, the priesthood of the dominant accepted representation of Primary Source must persuade the popular mind to confer its male aspect on a subordinate secondary source, not as an act of self-emasculation, but as an act of spiritual ascendancy.

"This is to say that the Awe which maintains illusion must be divested of accumulated anthropomorphic content, not as an act of capitulation to a rising opposite power, and not as an attempt to exclude lesser deities from participation in the god-head, but as an act of recognition of basic truth as man has always conceived it in the innermost well of his spiritual identity. Those who see through the veils of Illusion and comprehend the source of their Awe as the Eternal Creator, and recognize in themselves the spiritual reflection of that Source, will rise above the anthropomorphic cycle of differentiation. But not until the mass of men achieve this awareness will this best hope for the spiritual welfare of Man be realized."

Bernie deactivated the booktablet. Was this the truth at the heart of the legend? Was Prester John's path to a perfect world in fact a spiritual Path in pursuit of, what was it, the Source of Awe? The pieces seemed to fit. But was this his father's path, then? Would he find his father had become a hermit on some mountaintop? Bernie was finding answers faster than he could assimilate them, and new questions and doubts were rising as fast as the answers. He dropped his head in his hands.

"Come on, Bernie. It's time for a break, and you look like you need one."

It was Ellie, standing next to his table. Bernie looked around. The others in the room were standing too, stretching, talking with one another, some heading for the street door. Bernie and Ellie went outside too.

"I just don't know, Ellie," Bernie said. "Maybe it was a mistake to come here after all. But what other choice do I have? What else can I do? I can't just ask everyone I see 'Do you know where I can find Price Forester.' That could take forever."

"Your father is Price Forester?" Her stunned look matched her voice. "Bernie, that was Price Forester who was sleeping in the same room with us last night! Didn't you recognize him?"

Bernie was shaken. "Ellie, the last time I saw my father was over ten years ago, when he left Earth to follow the legend of Prester John. All I saw last night was a man with a graying beard. Are you sure that was him?"

"Bernie, Price is practically a legend around here! He spoke to us at a Gathering about six months ago, told us about his Long Path. I would have known him anywhere! Oh, Bernie, I'm sorry. I didn't know it was him you were looking for!"

"How could you have? I never mentioned his name. Or my own last name either, come to think of it. Ellie, I've got to get back there!"

Bernie grabbed his bag and ran back to the air taxi landing. He jumped into the first one in line and punched in the Freeport destination code. On the way back his excitement had time to cool enough for doubts to arise, and he fretted with concerns that Ellie might be wrong, or, worse that his father would have left before he got there, and no one would know where he had gone. At last the taxi landed and Bernie got out, but when he looked around he realized that this was not the same taxi stand they had left from in the morning. It took him almost another hour to find the Center.