The Known, The Unknown And The Lost

I don't know what people's personal circumstances are, who come by here and read.

I expect that in each of your own individual lives, you have 'adapted' I suppose, to the material needs of life, and are engaged in various undertakings which would be considered 'normal' from anyone else's point of view.

A long time ago, I was asked by Dr Tom Odgers at Edith Cowan University, to give a short address to some post-grads there who were finding problems and issues with sourcing employment in keeping with their education qualifications. There was no fundamental reason I should have been giving such an address, other than that I was seen as someone who was successful up to a reasonable level almost by dint of personal drive and not much else - and yet I was the same age more or less, as those who were finding difficulties.

Just very recently, I was asked again, to do a similar thing, and this time, the people were a lot older.

Everyone had their own individual sets of negative experiences of life, although all of this particular group were well in control of their own outlooks and had a philosophical stance about all the bad things in life. What could I really say? Turned out that in fact, at least I was able to 'pass on' some interesting simple things I had acquired from other people - older, wiser, and now mostly all passed(!), people I had known. But those things were important to the group I was speaking with. In one case, a father was worried that he wasn't able to give much money to his fourteen year old kid, who lived with his mother, and naturally, it seemed like the mother cast this 'loser' cloak over the father, and the kid was showing some despondency about I suppose, probably, not having the kind of 'rich' father maybe, that some of his friends must have had.

Simple answer, of course, and most of you know it.

We would only comprise an utterly tiny 
component of that...

But anyway - how about you, though; never mind your kids? What about you yourselves...

There is this thing in the ancient texts, you know - in some of them, the meaning is 'peace of reassurance' (literally from God, as such), and otherwise, it is known as 'the Ark of the Covenant' in which resides 'the Glory of God...' This was, according to the standard Western literature, given to Moses by God Himself on that infamous mountain. Along with the Laws; the Laws were not the only thing given, in fact, they ended up not being the things given at all, because the original ones, Moses smashed up.

I'm sure everyone thinks they know, what 'the Ark of the Covenant' actually is. There is an enormous amount of preaching about what it is. Theoretically, it has 'disappeared from the Biblical narrative at some point.' As in, its actual physical existence has, when Jeremiah, I think, hid it in some mountain.

Now, actually, the part I want to talk about, is that if the wrong person gets their hands onto it, or 'sees' what is inside it, they have some pretty dire consequences visit them - and you would reasonably think, well, why is a benevolent Divine Being doing that?

All the same, I am going to point something out to you here... I am going to tell you about what this small group of us do, fairly regularly. On the one hand I would love for all of you to feel the 'peace of reassurance' - in other words, something of real and genuine substance that gives you a solid feeling inside that things are okay. I suppose a few hundred thousand additional dollars on the positive side of the ledger would achieve it? Do you think?

Leon Bakst again - Egyptian
'Ark' on the dress on the left.

And on that proverbial other hand, there is also the narrative about some people getting burned alive when you know, when Indiana Jones opened up that 'Ark' - or was it the Nazis... I forget; but someone got obliterated.

You think you know what 'the Ark of the Covenant' is? Some archaeologists thought it really was the Anubis Shrine from the Tomb of Tutankhamun. Looks similar. Some other people figure the Knights Templar took it and hid it somewhere at Chartres - and there is another one of these 'death' stories relating to Colonel Welborn Barton Griffith, who saved the Cathedral from destruction; but who himself was killed later the same day.

There is something about 'the Ark' story, isn't there, that tells you there is an implied warning concerning it.

So yes, I know where it is.

And I know what is in there.

And all I can do is go around and around on the outside for you, unless there is some 'secret pass-word' that you can give me, to let me know you will be safe enough with the knowledge.

However, me just going round and round on the outside may well still give you sufficient clues that will allow you to get in on your own - and take responsibility for your own welfare afterwards...

Much bigger than this though...

So. Back to what I was going to tell you: there is this little gang of us, see. And we get together very regularly and it's in different places and just recently it was on someone else's (we don't even know whose) impressive super super ultra wealthy person's cruiser yacht.

Everyone gets a glass or three of something pretty punchy right up front and so, how things go down afterwards could be explained by that. Anyway, there's loud loud music and a live DJ - one of the biggies always - and then the chefs turn up and set fire to something, cognac for the steak Diane or rum and bananas or something, or just curry puffs even, maybe.

And then the high heels come off - one girl slung hers across the salon right about just after the flames in the dimmed lighting; with just the ultra-violet mood lights on.

Those lipstick red-soled Loubis.

By the time this track (the one here below) is played, people are already 'flying' but if you try and stick yourself in the moment, in the context, you might get a sensation of what is going on: