Episode 6: House of Wisdom

As he treaded the darkness, each passing step taken in his fearful self seemed to magnify that very same horrific attribute. It seemed as if the darkness was getting darker. His heart raced faster than how his footsteps could carry him. The echoes of the howling winds seized him, as they bore the breath of four dagger-teethed beasts he had no strength to fight. Darkness began to dance around him, as how a beast would play with its prey. Every step in agreement with that very same fear strengthened its grip on him. And how potent it was, almost driving his confused mind to a point of despising Aletheia and its wondrous, glorious mysteries that he had already begun to partake of. How heinously deceitful was that wretched darkness...


He carried on in that state but kept moving, his inner light refusing to concede the journey until it had met with a house that bore the same substance. The light of hope in the forgotten distance, once only etched in the traveller's fading memory had now begotten form in the far side of the narrow Way. The light that it released, sought the traveller and zealously retrieved his soul from the possessing darkness, carrying him closer and closer as would a mother. It bore him near until it overtook and vanquished the poison within and he had come to grasp and undertand the reality that the light was far greater than the darkness. He surrendered to that very same truth and came to rest.

He stood before a grand stately mansion that welcomed him. The brightness that the house exuded was far greater than what he had perceived from a distance. He still remembered that it was night time but standing before the house, he noticed that the house itself and all within its grand vicinity experienced such an eager blessedness of a perpetual day. He knew no wolf could draw near. He made his way up the grand portico and helped himself through the front door. He did not need to knock for the house had invited him in. The stateliness of the structure did not diminish its warmth. He knew he was at home.


He stepped into the main hall and beheld the beauty and grand design of its intricate furnishings, almost as if everything within the house was alive and alight. Surely none in all Aletheia could surpass the glories of the house but for the Palace of the King Himself. He surveyed the structure and its seven stately pillars that held the house high in grace and dignity. The seven pillars glowed with seven virtues, distinctively etched on their sacred form: purity, peaceableness, gentleness, submissiveness, full of mercy and good fruits, impatiality and sincerity. As he examined their grace and form, they seem to flood his eyes with light and understanding. He passed each of them with silent awe until he was received by an arched doorway, leading into the living space.

At once he was face to face with a figure of immense stature, of insufferable dignity and royalty. She was a being of light, intense and yet welcoming. Her countenance seemed to exude those seven very same virtues etched upon the grand pillars. He knew that those pillars were what she stood for, a mark of her sure service to the Aletheian royal house. His heart raced, this time with joy and all the fond memories of Aletheia. The brilliant smile on her face dismantled his initial disease at his lowly bearing and discourtesy. He knew she wouldn't condemn him. Yet though her being conveyed the presence and joy of family, there was a fearsomeness to her brilliance. He knew that she wasn't human.


"Welcome, my son." said Lady Sophia.


Stunned, the traveller raced amidst his multitude of questions and finally picked the most reasonable one. "You mean.. you're my mother?"


She laughed. "Yes, I am your mother, as well as to those that travel that path to the City of Truth." Her voice was as sweet as it was unrelenting.


The traveller was still brimming with questions but Lady Sophia urged him still and led him upstairs to rest. She furnished him with fresh garments; a white pleated top shirt and a pair of dark blue trousers. They were light and appropriately suited for his journey. She also furnished him with a jacket for such a moment that he should resume his westward journey. The fine and intricate quality of the garments made him share in his mother's stateliness and grand bearing. He took a hot bath and comitted his tired self to rest atop soft silken matresses.

Time passed by slowly, if it did at all. But at the House of Wisdom, there was no sense of time. Everything seemed to transcend into eternity, a realm beyond realms, and yet tangible to the average traveller. After he woke up from his restful sleep, he had no sense of bearing of how long it had lasted. Refreshed, he left his quarters in search of the lady of light. And he did it with such a purpose as he became so inwardly aware of something she should convey to him. That awareness turned into desire and that desire turned into hunger, and since there was no time, it could have happened all at once or forever... He came upon the corridor in the house and beheld many doors.. He took a peek through one of them and saw many more. His heart raced as he searched out for his host, admittedly his mother. Yet, he knew was in search of one whose race was other than his own, one whose race seemed rare even in Aletheia. The burning impression of her simple yet brilliant countenance had not yet diminished from his mind.

The house was much larger on the insde than how it appeared on the outside. Used to Aletheian mysteries, he applied himself diligently on his search. Guided by only his heart and inner vision, he came past one door into a place with many more. And when he treaded past that, he came to a place with many more, and yet still not a few beyond that. Yet his heart and inner light was quickened to seek her. Yet with each door came many more. And many different kinds too. There were big doors and small doors, and grand doors and simple doors. There were great bejewelled ones and ones made of gold and silver... There were also tall, high ones and large wide ones that nearly stretched across entire wall panels. Each door was unique, true to its own design and pleasantly crafted. Yet even the grandest ones yielded no person of light beyond it.

And finally, when his search for Lady Sophia had seemed fruitless enough door past door, he came to one that caught his attention. It was the least of all doors, made of simple dark oak wood. It had no beauty in it that it should attract a searching traveller to what lied beyond it. Yet it exuded no small amount of grace and dignity, that intangible quality that superceded its natural attractiveness or lack thereof . It called out to him and he drew near. He tried to go in but it was too small. He had to bend lower, yet when he did, it seemed such that the door itself grew smaller and he had to bend lower still. And it beckoned to him to bow low and lower still until his face was upon the dust and he had to deny himself his very breath to crawl through the humble portway... when he finally got through, he knew it was another mystery for there was nothing in him that could get him through such an opening. Humble though it was, it revealed the end of his search, the heart of the House of Wisdom...

Lining rows upon rows of this giant concentric space were books in place of books. It filled the entire room, at least what was visible of it, for the books seemed to stretch into an infinite distance. At the centre of the hall was the Book of all Books. All else gathered around it, almost as if in reverent expectation... almost as if in humble submission... almost as if in... worship. It carried such a light that from where the traveller stood, it answered the mystery of the house's perpetual day. He approached the Sacred Book and beheld her who stood alongside it, born of the same light. Lady Sophia stood there, smiling...

"You need humility to get into this place" she said, getting straight to the point. He knew that everything was laid bare before her and that he didn't have to say anything. His search from door after door had yielded nothing and when he was at the end of himself, then the least of doors appeared before him. And even then, he had to bring himself to the uttermost of submission that he may enter that very sacred space. His thoughts then returned to the Book of Books, curious as he was to catch a glimpse of its sacred pages.

"One day you will read this.. and even some of the other books contained herein" continued Lady Sophia... "but for now..." She opened the book and its brilliant rays begot a sharp two-edged sword. She brandished it from within the illuminated pages and respectfully handed it over to the traveller. As he surveyed it, he became aware of its exquisite craftsmanship. He beheld his own eyes through the lighted blade and saw that the same glow that permeated the pages of the Sacred Book emanated from the ardent metal. He gazed at the golden hilt and crafted upon it was the graven figure of a lion on one end and a lamb on the other, one as fearsome as the other was determined. At the centre of the hilt was a most unusual crest bearing a lion, an ox, the face of a man and an eagle. They were positioned around a cross and set upon purple, red, white and blue gemstones. Inwardly, the traveller was aware that the sword bore the crest of the royal house of Aletheia, to whom Lady Sophia was also in service.

She smiled at him and gazed at him lovingly through her piercing eyes. "My son, this is Rhema. It shall serve you well for your journey. Treasure it well."

The traveller was undone for what maner of princely stature could only the sword convey upon its bearer? Beyond that, the honour was even more augmented by stateliness of the one who handed him the very same, the lady of light. As the bearer of such a fine instrument, he, too, shared in its intricate qualities. It was happening all too quickly, all his experiences at the House of Wisdom; Lady Sophia, the library and the sacred book, Rhema... like doors beyond doors were enigmas after enigmas. It was almost like a dream but it all seemed more real than reality, whatever reality even was... and before he could ask another question, or even choose which to ask next, Lady Sophia raced ahead of him.

"My son, you must carry on with your journey. There will be a time for you to know more but not now... You are called to move till you reach the city of rest.. like my other children, you are called to a journey and to finish it." "Many seek to move you from it but stay steadfast on the Way. Always remember to walk in humility and if you should hear my voice, heed it!" she said with both kindness and severity. "And if all else fails and you should come to the end of yourself, remember to call upon the Name of the King, wherever you are, in any circumstance. This too, is high wisdom."

The sojourner was at a loss for words. Yet in a place of submission, he had come to surrender his questions and just live on the reality of the present truth.

And with a deep voice that resonated into eternity, she charged him, "Overcome!"

At once he was at the grand hallway, before the seven pillars, ready and fully equipped with Rhema sheathed by his side. He stood before the pillars of wisdom, almost as if they comissioned him to carry their very same virtue wherever the way would take him. Yet his eyes fell one last time at his mother. Surely she had seen many embark on this journey, as proud as she was of them passing the test of humility and as she beheld the traveller, she was sure that no wolf could extinguish his hope. Yet, she knew that despite her work at the house of wisdom, a greater commissioning would await those who do eventually reach the City of Truth and behold the King. She had seen the army that the King was raising up and with one last embrace, she looked at the traveller in the eye and gave a dignified whisper. "The King awaits."