Chaco Canyon
had been the heart of the Anasazi culture that thrived approximately a thousand years
ago. Its architectural and construction technologies were quite advanced.
Where the
Anasazi people came from, or what happened to them, no one really seems to know for
certain. The civilization appears to have sprung into existence mysteriously and, then,
disappeared in the same fashion.
Among the
few remaining remnants of the culture are the walls of the Great Houses, some as long as
five hundred feet, with a maze of interior rooms - numbering about six hundred - of
different sizes and shapes. In some places, the buildings rise to as much as four or five
stories in height.
Thousands of
tons of sandstone, along with nearly twenty-five thousand trees- many weighing hundreds of
pounds, were used in the construction of, respectively, the walls and roofs of the Great
Houses. These materials had to be transported from as far away as fifty miles without the
assistance of anything except manual labor and whatever technological innovations the
Anasazi could devise to achieve their purposes.
After the
construction materials had been delivered to the building sites, the former had been
carved, shaped and assembled with intricate precision. The fact the walls have stood,
without benefit of any kind of mortar for more than a thousand years is a testimony to the
skill of the Anasazi builders.
At various
distances from the main center at Bonito, there are another eight Great Houses, although
not quite on the scale of the central structure. In addition, there are a number of other
settlements, some of them hundreds of miles away that are connected, to the main center,
by a series of straight roads, some thirty feet across.
These roads
do not follow the easier, natural contours of the land but follow, instead, a man-made
line. This required, from time to time, a series of steps to be carved into the face of
cliffs in order to keep to the straight lines of the over-all organizational plan.
The roads
were discovered from the air, in the 1970s, when the emergence of remote sensing
technology was able to detect their presence and nature. In light of the fact the Anasazi
used neither wheeled transport nor horses, the need for, or purpose of, such an elaborate
set of roadways is not known.
Like the
great dynasties of the early Egyptians and Chinese peoples, or like the Babylonian,
Phoenician, Greek, Roman, Maya, Inca, Aztec, and so many other civilizations, the Anasazi
are gone. So, too, will the civilizations of the modern world disappear, and those people
of today who can stare into the relentless evidence of history and still believe, that,
somehow, they will be able to escape the fate that has befallen, without exception, all
civilizations before now, are deluding themselves.
In view of
the purpose of the ceremony for which we were gathered, seemed to have been a well
considered choice. The only difference between now and then is that this time around,
whenever it actually took place, the disappearance of humanity would be final.
There were
about thirty people gathered for the ceremony. Although I did not know most of the people,
some were familiar to me.
Rip and
Brian Idaho were both present. Furthermore, each of the spiritual 'dissidents' who had
been mentioned in the photocopied material that Mary had sent to me also were in
attendance.
A
representative of each of the spiritual paths invited to the occasion had a role to
perform in the ceremony. Sacred recitations in a number of different languages took place.
The ceremony
was simple and straightforward. It probably took a little over an hour to complete.
Upon
completion of the main requirements of the gathering, some food was distributed among the
participants. As we were eating the food, armed men came in through several entrances to
the room within the Great House where the ceremony was being held.
They opened
fire and continued to do so for some time and, then, as suddenly as they had appeared,
they merged into the darkness of the night. Almost all of the participants at the
ceremony, including Rip and Brian, were killed instantly.
Once again -
this time in relation to an organization known as Futures Unlimited - a group of people
had decided to delegate to themselves the responsibility for trying to forcefully shape
what course history should take. As is usually the case in such instances, all that
actually had been accomplished was the murdering of a lot of people, while destiny
continued to unfold beyond the reach of mortal limitations.
Both Paul
and I were seriously wounded during the attack, but we had been taken away and hidden by
some Native people who arrived a short while after the intruders had departed. Agent
Bradley ... the very special, Special Agent Paul Bradley ... died just after sunrise this
morning.
I heard
later that Warren Idaho also lost his life at some point during that night. He had been
part of a decoy group that was intended to provide our circle with enough time to be able
to finish the ceremony.
Beth Idaho
is due to come by shortly to pick up the tapes that I have been recording. I'm feeling
very tired.
Yesterday,
when she came by, she had a few pieces of information to share with me. One of these was
in the way of a confession of sorts.
She informed
me that my precise facial features actually may not have been in the vision which she told
me about when we first met in my office in early June. Evidently, she was having some
second and third thoughts about that conversation and had begun to wonder if she had
misled me and, as a result, involved me in something in which I might not have become
entangled otherwise.
I indicated
there was no reason for her to feel the way she did about the manner in which fate had
become manifest in my life. As far as I was concerned, I was the person in her vision, and
all the events that led to my lying wounded before her were proof of this.
Indeed, as
she had assured me on several occasions, much to my annoyance at the time as I recall, the
vision would find a way for the person in it to help her brother, and this is what had
happened. Listening to the call of the owl was merely the price of admission one had to
pay in order to be a part of such a powerful and extraordinary vision.
Beth also
told me that the massacre was being described in the media as a raid on a terrorist
organization which had been plotting to destroy America. The group was said to have been
responsible for, among other things, fomenting discord within a variety of religious
communities, as well as for a recent terrorist attack on an educational research facility
in northern Maine, near Eagle Lake.
In
conjunction with the latter incident, my heart was relieved tremendously when Beth told me
that members of Jennifer's family had been able to secure release of her body and lay her
to rest in a cemetery near Jamee's farm. Until hearing this news, I had been feeling quite
restless about having left her in the clearing, but I don't know if we could have got away
if we had tried to take her body with us on the way back to the plane.
I pray she
has forgiven me for leaving her behind. I suppose I'll find out if she has done so soon
enough.
The final
bit of information that Beth conveyed to me concerned a report based on data which came
from the orbiting Hubble telescope. Apparently, although the precise nature of the
trajectory had not been established, there were a few asteroids, of uncertain origin,
headed in the general direction of Earth.
According to
the information Beth gave me, the asteroids were estimated to be some four hundred miles
in diameter. When I heard this, two things came to mind.
The first
thought that occurred to me was related to the moot court trial on the origin-of-life
issue in Chicago. I believe Dr. Yardley, the evolutionary biologist, had testified that if
an asteroid this size struck our planet, it would be capable of evaporating the oceans of
the world and, in the process, destroying all life on Earth.
The second
thought which occurred to me was the belief held by many Christians that next time God had
promised to destroy humankind with a fire, not a flood. Maybe, that time had come.
For me, the
issue is rather academic, since I don't believe I'm going to last much longer.
Nonetheless, for several reasons, I have made friends with my physical condition.
First of
all, before dying, I have been able to love someone, and to be loved back by that person,
in a way I never thought would have been possible a few months ago. I am thankful to God
that Jennifer and I had been given an opportunity, however brief it may have been, to find
one another and experience a love for which many people long but that few of us are able
to encounter, even for a few weeks.
Secondly, I
have come to understand, deep within my soul, that I have been brought into intimate
contact with truth in a variety of essential ways through my association with Beth, Brian,
Rachel Donaldson, Paul Bradley, Jennifer, Ken, Pam, Rip, the discussion group in Chicago,
Mary, Jamee, Warren, and the people at the ceremony. I might not complete my journey of
self-realization before I pass on, but, at least, I feel it has begun and, maybe, now, my
name can be removed, God willing, from the list of those who are without spiritual faith.
The time has
come to close down my form of bearing witness. The only thing which comes to my mind and
heart as an appropriate way of finishing my present task is to offer a saying from high
school Latin:
Magna est
veritas, et praevalet -
Truth is great, and it shall prevail.
