A Bleak History of Christian Mission - Part III

With the advent of the imperial Church (early 4^th century CE), Christian missionaries, teachers of the faith, began to be used as a means of spreading the civic apparatus of the Roman Empire.

Ulfilas, the “apostle to the Goths” was instrumental in bringing the Gothic people into the fold of the Roman Empire.[i] He brought the Gospels to the Gothic people, written in their own language, but he did not teach them that Jesus of Nazareth, Joshua son of Joseph, was God, or the son of God, he preached the traditional understanding of who Jesus was, a man who had led an extraordinary life, a prophet who proclaimed The Way, and was killed for his faith. Ulfilas was a follower of Arius, and in the early fourth century the church was tearing itself apart over the question of whether it would adhere to the traditional understanding of who Jesus was, and the new understanding, championed by Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria,  that in Jesus, the creator of the universe, God almighty had become incarnate. 

The Emperor Saint Constantine called the first Plenary Council of the Church at Nicea to settle the question once and for all. It was cast as a zero-sum game. The Church would not be allowed to hold both views, and the council was evenly divided.

The party of Athanasius won the day, the party of Arius lost. Many in Arius’ party relented, adopting the new teaching. Many did not. Those who did not adopt the new teaching become known as Arian Christians, heretics, they fled into exile, Ulfilas among them, or failing to flee, they were tortured and killed.

If it was not for the unfortunate events of the Council of Nicea, and the emergence of Arian Christianity as a heretical sect, his missionary activities, the use of the political power of the Roman Empire to convert the Gothic people would be fondly remembered by all Christians.

As it turned out, his conversion of the Goths to Arian Christianity set the stage for the first in a long (perhaps endless) series of inter-Christian wars.

The prosecution of war against the Arians, by the Christian leadership of the Roman Empire, may be seen as another example of orthodox Christianity in defense of itself, like the earlier persecution of the Gnostics, the Marcionites, the Marionites, etc…but there were distinct differences.

1. Christianity was now the official religion of the Roman Empire and co-extensive with its government.
2. The version of Christianity promulgated by Athanasius and codified at the Council of Nicea, was a departure from the traditional form of Christianity preached in the Apostolic Age.

It is important to note that the missionary work of Ulfilas, the conversion of the Goths,  marked the beginning of the Church’s role in the growth of the Empire, despite the fact that the outcome of Nicea led to centuries of conflict rather than cohesion and stability.

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[i] Richard Fletcher, The Barbarian Conversion, From Paganism to Christianity (New York: A Marion Wood Book, Henry Holt and Company, 1997), 66.

Lamplight Part VII

The way is light and peace

Bursting through illusions

A shower of stars, burning

Passing through the dome

Lanterns in the silvered sky

Thought reshapes the world

Free from the hand of gravity

Without mass, without weight

A Homily – Matthew 13:44 - 52 ©

The Gospel According to Matthew – 2017.07.30

The Fire Does Not Destroy

The authors of Matthew’s Gospel should have stopped there writing with the good news, as it was presented in the first two examples of what the God’s garden is like.

It is the most priceless thing, it is to be guarded, protected, invested in. Like a field with a hidden treasure or a pearl of great value.

The God’s garden is like a fisherman’s net, full of a great and diverse quantity of fish, but none of the fish are to be set aside for destruction.

Every fish will encounter God’s fire, every person.

In scripture, fire is always an image of our encounter with God.

Every fish will be kissed by the flame of the Spirit, everyone will be changed.

God’s fire may be like a blazing furnace, but the fire refines, rather than destroys. This may be painful, and there may be weeping, but after the tears there will be joy.

He Sells Everything He Owns and Buys the Field

Jesus said to the crowds, ‘The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field which someone has found; he hides it again, goes off happy, sells everything he owns and buys the field.

  ‘Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant looking for fine pearls; when he finds one of great value he goes and sells everything he owns and buys it.

  ‘Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet cast into the sea that brings in a haul of all kinds. When it is full, the fishermen haul it ashore; then, sitting down, they collect the good ones in a basket and throw away those that are no use. This is how it will be at the end of time: the angels will appear and separate the wicked from the just to throw them into the blazing furnace where there will be weeping and grinding of teeth.

  ‘Have you understood all this?’ They said, ‘Yes.’ And he said to them, ‘Well then, every scribe who becomes a disciple of the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who brings out from his storeroom things both new and old.’

17^th Sunday in Ordinary Time

A Bleak History of Christian Mission - Part II

The exact time is not clear, but within a couple of hundred years after the death of Jesus, prior to the ascendancy of Saint Constantine (c. 300 CE), the Emperor who de-criminalized Christianity, endorsed it, and made it the official religion of the state, as Christianity was becoming a dominant force in the Major urban centers of the Empire, Christian mission began to spread via the political machinations of civil government, and through the use of violent coercion.

Coercion and violence became the modus operandi of Christian mission almost immediately upon the transformation of the Church into an arm of the Roman Empire.

There is some evidence for inter-Christian violence before the Constantinian era, especially during the persecution of the so-called “Gnostic” groups, which orthodox (right thinking) Christians viewed as heretical, heterodox (wrong thinking) Christianity. In the second and third centuries of the church, many so-called heterodox Christians were forcibly converted to orthodox norms, they were killed, murdered, exiled.

In the era before Constantine, Christians experienced regular persecution from the civil authorities that governed them.

The periods of persecution that the early Church endured gave Christians a consciousness of how political power and violence can be used to injure one’s opponents.

St. Augustine of Hippo (4^th and 5^th Century CE) wrote extensively on the use of political power and violence in defense of the faith. In his dealings with the Donatists he called upon the army to suppress dissent,[i] and he praised the passage of laws that allowed bishops to crucify those that refused to submit to the authority of the Church.[ii]

The persecution of the Gnostics by Christians and the later persecution of Christian heretics in the imperial Church were analogous, and even identical to the types of persecutions that orthodox Christians endured at the hands of the Roman government in the pre-imperial Church and the types of persecutions that the Roman government regularly engaged in, in relation to other secret societies, burial-groups and guilds etc….[iii]

Persecution and Christian mission are not inherently related activities, but they share a common, and a bleak history.

The use of violence in defense of Christianity may seem absurd to some, as it does to me, bu violence in the defense of “right beliefs” is subtly different from violence used to spread Christianity in the mission field.

The persecutory activities that the early Christians engaged in, were the active proponents of, had primarily to do with a felt need to defend orthodoxy.

Violence perpetrated against non-Christians, in order to force them to become Christians, is something else.

Violence, coercion, and the tactics of persecution represent an intrinsic betrayal of The Way, that Jesus taught, lived and died for.

Violence in defense of one’s beliefs and traditions is one kind of betrayal.

The justification of the use of violence to make converts out of non-Christians is a different kind of betrayal.

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[i] St. Augustine, Treatise on the Correction of the Donatists, The Political Writings, edited with an introduction by Henry Paolucci, including an interpretive analysis by Dino Bigongiari (Washington, D.C.: Regnery Publishing Inc., 1962), 223.

[ii] Ibid, Power to Crucify and Power to Release, 340 – 342.

[iii] Robert Wilkin, The Christians as the Romans saw Them (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1984), 16 – 17.

Lamplight Part VI

Flashback to yesterday, wayward

The story of salvation, unread

Forgotten, names and reflections

We were lost in s tale of freedom

Adrift in the night, rocking

Cradled in the trough of the wave

Asleep beneath the velvet curtain

Dreaming of the liquid world

Emergence: Section Three, Earth; Collected Parts, XXII – XXIIIV

22 Childhood, 23 Prodigy, 24 Adolescence, 25 Abnormal,

26 Adulthood, 27 Isolated, 28 Encounter

Emergence 2.0 Section Four, Kathy Part Twenty-two, Childhood Collected Chapters 01 Memory 02 Memories 03 Remembering 04 Knowledge 05 Knowing 06 Understanding 07 Expressing #Emergence #SuperShortFiction #365SciFi #55Words Like it, Follow it, Share it!

Emergence 2.0 A Novel – In 55 Words a Day Day 162, June 11th, 2017 Chapter One: Memory From the moment she was born Kathy lived in two worlds: one, her senses; two, the larger world of memory. Her memory spoke to her in word and vision, contextualizing everything she encountered, summarizing each new experience at the speed of light, faster. Every smell, every touch, every sound was evocative. She was often paralyzed. #Emergence #SuperShortFiction #365SciFi #55Words Like it, Follow it, Share it!

Emergence 2.0 A Novel – In 55 Words a Day Day 163, June 12th, 2017 Chapter Two: Memories There were hidden places within her, deep places she would spend years discovering. There were languages no person had spoken for millenia. There were memories of love, of pain, and the promise of transcendence. Her memories were full of visions, visions of transformation, of her ancestors, where she was always in a state of becoming. #Emergence #SuperShortFiction #365SciFi #55Words Like it, Follow it, Share it!

Emergence 2.0 A Novel – In 55 Words a Day Day 164, June 13th, 2017 Chapter Three: Remembering Kathy’s memories came to her unbidden. They simply suggested themselves to her in order to frame her understanding of the events she was experiencing in real time. She experienced a dialog with the ancestors living within her, deciphering events, and answering questions in an instant. It was an atavistic process. It happened at light speed. #Emergence #SuperShortFiction #365SciFi #55Words Like it, Follow it, Share it!

Emergence 2.0 A Novel – In 55 Words a Day Day 165, June 14th, 2017 Chapter Four: Knowledge The new was surreal to Kathy. The more unique the event, the more fascinated she was by it. For her to witness something unprecedented was like watching a movie in a blurry, off-axis context, while the voices inside her attempted to shape her understanding of the event by providing context, offering comparisons, and suggesting similes. #Emergence #SuperShortFiction #365SciFi #55Words Like it, Follow it, Share it!

Emergence 2.0 A Novel – In 55 Words a Day Day 166, June 15th, 2017 Chapter Five: Knowing For Kathy, knowing things came unbidden. Details of particular points of knowledge filled her mind at quantum speed. She did not have to ponder or search her memory for anything. The meanings of symbols, and of histories, populated her consciousness in no-time. Everything she sensed was filtered through a screen of the complete human experience. #Emergence #SuperShortFiction #365SciFi #55Words Like it, Follow it, Share it!

Emergence 2.0 A Novel – In 55 Words a Day Day 167, June 16th, 2017 Chapter Six: Understanding For Kathy, comprehension came from beyond time and space. It came from a place within the mysteries of the atom, within the waves that make up the fabric of the subatomic field, from a place in which time and space are concepts without meaning, trillions of points of light drawn into the concrescence of insight. #Emergence #SuperShortFiction #365SciFi #55Words Like it, Follow it, Share it!

Emergence 2.0 A Novel – In 55 Words a Day Day 168, June 17th, 2017 Chapter Seven: Expressing Kathy played music. There was not an instrument, or a rhythm that she did not master instantly. She sang, with perfect pitch. She spoke in her own voice, all the while sensing the multitude within her, guiding her fingers, her brushes, her pen, and her tongue. She was the living repository of all human knowledge. #Emergence #SuperShortFiction #365SciFi #55Words Like it, Follow it, Share it!

Emergence 2.0 Section Four, Kathy Part Twenty-three, Prodigy Collected Chapters 01 A Funny Child 02 A Strange Child 03 A Frightening Child 04 Discipline 05 Conformity 06 Quietude 07 Other #Emergence #SuperShortFiction #365SciFi #55Words Like it, Follow it, Share it!

Emergence 2.0 A Novel – In 55 Words a Day Day 169, June 18th, 2017 Chapter One: A Funny Child Kathy loved jokes. Her laughter was the first thing her parents noticed about her. It alerted them to the fact that she was different. Even as an infant she picked up on the punch lines, understanding the spoken words, the inferences that were made. She understood these exchanges months before she had learned to speak. #Emergence #SuperShortFiction #365SciFi #55Words Like it, Follow it, Share it!

Emergence 2.0 A Novel – In 55 Words a Day Day 170, June 19th, 2017 Chapter Two: A Strange Child Kathy was as quiet as she was observant. She did not flit about randomly like infants and toddlers do. She was focused, balanced, and cautious. She repeated sounds and gestures in patterns that quickly became noticeable to her parents. She was training herself, quickening the pace by which she would learn to walk, and talk. #Emergence #SuperShortFiction #365SciFi #55Words Like it, Follow it, Share it!

Emergence 2.0 A Novel – In 55 Words a Day Day 171, June 20th, 2017 Chapter Three: A Frightening Child Kathy was crawling within weeks of being born, and walking within a few short months. By her first birthday she was dancing. Kathy practiced and practiced in the quiet moments of her day, at night, in the dark, while her parents slept. She did not speak a word until she was speaking in complete sentences. #Emergence #SuperShortFiction #365SciFi #55Words Like it, Follow it, Share it!

Emergence 2.0 A Novel – In 55 Words a Day Day 172, June 21st, 2017 Chapter Four: Discipline The direction for her exercises came from deep within herself. Kathy’s memories spoke to her, they guided her, the ancestral voices focused her, kept her calm, allowing her to see her own life and experiences in the context of the collective experiences swelling within her. She formed plans spontaneously, in order to realize her goals. #Emergence #SuperShortFiction #365SciFi #55Words Like it, Follow it, Share it!

Emergence 2.0 A Novel – In 55 Words a Day Day 173, June 22nd, 2017 Chapter Five: Conformity Whatever her parents tried to teach her, Kathy took to with ease She mastered complex tasks without effort. The only thing that took time was developing muscle memory, which required repetition. She struggled with the skill of blending in, hiding her differences. It was only through the most diligent habits of mindfulness that she succeeded. #Emergence #SuperShortFiction #365SciFi #55Words Like it, Follow it, Share it!

Emergence 2.0 A Novel – In 55 Words a Day Day 174, June 23rd, 2017 Chapter Six: Quietude For Kathy to get along, she learned to be silent, listen, wait, to let the others around her fail. She could not insert herself into their activity, she could not correct them, or provide the right answer. She learned to experience success as a private affair, only harkening to the applause that came from within. #Emergence #SuperShortFiction #365SciFi #55Words Like it, Follow it, Share it!

Emergence 2.0 A Novel – In 55 Words a Day Day 175, June 24th, 2017 Chapter Seven: Other Kathy was unique. She was different from every other human being on the planet, different from everyone who had ever been. She was still young when she realized that difference. Understanding it did not help her manage her feelings, or those of others. Her parents were afraid, afraid for her. She was like an alien. #Emergence #SuperShortFiction #365SciFi #55Words Like it, Follow it, Share it!

Emergence 2.0 Section Four, Kathy Part Twenty-four, Adolesence Collected Chapters 01 Anger 02 Doubt 03 Disturbance 04 Rage 05 Refuge 06 Attraction 07 Sexuality #Emergence #SuperShortFiction #365SciFi #55Words Like it, Follow it, Share it!

Emergence 2.0 A Novel – In 55 Words a Day Day 176, June 25th, 2017 Chapter One: Anger Kathy understood the things she was going through, the physical transformations of adolescence, but like much of her knowledge, her comprehension of it was abstract. It was disconnected from her actual experience. Understanding had little power to quell the rank emotions rising within her body, the chemical miasma fuming within her which every youth experiences. #Emergence #SuperShortFiction #365SciFi #55Words Like it, Follow it, Share it!

Emergence 2.0 A Novel – In 55 Words a Day Day 177, June 26th, 2017 Chapter Two: Doubt As a child Kathy was composed. She always acted with a semblance of poise and surety that even in an adult, would have marked her as unusual. As she matured, when in public, she was paralyzed by insecurity. Am I insane, she thought, who am I. The answers she gleaned shook her to the core. #Emergence #SuperShortFiction #365SciFi #55Words Like it, Follow it, Share it!

Emergence 2.0 A Novel – In 55 Words a Day Day 178, June 27th, 2017 Chapter Three: Disturbance Her parents did whatever they could to help Kathy, bringing in tutors, and sending her to special schools. Out of frustration and deep resentment she lashed out at her teachers. She mocked them, she alienated everyone who came in contact with her. Between the ages of nine and fifteen her family moved a dozen times. #Emergence #SuperShortFiction #365SciFi #55Words Like it, Follow it, Share it!

Emergence 2.0 A Novel – In 55 Words a Day Day 179, June 28th, 2017 Chapter Four: Rage Kathy burned with hatred. Her contempt for everyone she came in contact with lit a fire deep in her belly. There was no talking it away. There was no therapeutic approach to help her mitigate those feelings. In order to cope, she turned the heat and violence inward, focusing all of that energy on herself. #Emergence #SuperShortFiction #365SciFi #55Words Like it, Follow it, Share it!

Emergence 2.0 A Novel – In 55 Words a Day Day 180, June 29th, 2017 Chapter Five: Refuge In time Kathy learned to separate herself from her emotions. She found peace in meditations that took her outside of her body. With an ability that no human being ever had before, she entered the cynergenic field, creating a distance from the structured feelings of her own body, and discovered unity with everyone on earth. #Emergence #SuperShortFiction #365SciFi #55Words Like it, Follow it, Share it!

Emergence 2.0 A Novel – In 55 Words a Day Day 181, June 30th, 2017 Chapter Six: Attraction She needed a place to escape. Kathy found distraction in the passions of her body. She was able to forget herself, and the world around her, in uncritical, careless delights. She lost herself in beautiful people, in the present moment, in the desires that were immediate. She concentrated all of her attention in the now. #Emergence #SuperShortFiction #365SciFi #55Words Like it, Follow it, Share it!

Emergence 2.0 A Novel – In 55 Words a Day Day 182, July 1st, 2017 Chapter Seven: Sexuality Kathy found peace, release, and freedom in the orgasm. The energy of a sexual climax took her to a place beyond space and time. The universe contracted, as did her psychic connection to humanity. From her first time with her first lover, to the last man she took into her bed, it was the same. #Emergence #SuperShortFiction #365SciFi #55Words Like it, Follow it, Share it!

Emergence 2.0 Section Four, Kathy Part Twenty-five, Abnormal Collected Chapters 01 School 02 Testing 03 Sequestered 04 Institutionalized 05 Experiment 06 Psychic 07 Think Tank #Emergence #SuperShortFiction #365SciFi #55Words Like it, Follow it, Share it!

Emergence 2.0 A Novel – In 55 Words a Day Day 183, July 2nd, 2017 Chapter One: School When she was five years old, instead of beginning kindergarten, Kathy’s parents placed her in a private tutelage. They took this step because they were continuously unnerved by her manners. They were afraid of her, and they feared for her. They were desperate to help her, and eager to be released from their parental obligations. #Emergence #SuperShortFiction #365SciFi #55Words Like it, Follow it, Share it!

Emergence 2.0 A Novel – In 55 Words a Day Day 184, July 3rd, 2017 Chapter Two: Testing The behavior of every tutor Kathy’s parents contracted to teach her fell into a pattern they learned to dread. At first they were delighted, then scared. They tested her, wrote about, and then they sought to exploit her. Every one of them was convinced that the fate of the world hinged on learning her secrets. #Emergence #SuperShortFiction #365SciFi #55Words Like it, Follow it, Share it!

Emergence 2.0 A Novel – In 55 Words a Day Day 185, July 4th, 2017 Chapter Three: Sequestered By her tenth birthday; Kathy’s parents decided to forego tutors. They put her in the care of doctors, and clergy, people with a broader commitment to supernal values. They entrusted them to guard her education. Kathy was alone, she was not a child, she had no parents. She was a patient; the subject of fascination. #Emergence #SuperShortFiction #365SciFi #55Words Like it, Follow it, Share it!

Emergence 2.0 A Novel – In 55 Words a Day Day 186, July 5th, 2017 Chapter Four: Institutionalized It took a great deal of time for Kathy’s proctors and advisors to find a place for her. When the did, they told her it was a home for prodigies, gifted youngsters, but it was a front for National Security. It was safe. Only those who had been entrusted to help her, had betrayed her. #Emergence #SuperShortFiction #365SciFi #55Words Like it, Follow it, Share it!

Emergence 2.0 A Novel – In 55 Words a Day Day 187, July 6th, 2017 Chapter Five: Experiment Kathy read, she listened, watched. She engaged all of her senses in the act of probing her memories. She studied, took tests, and she was tested, probed, examined by her proctors for the limits of her knowledge. There were many occasions when she was unaware of what was transpiring, but she learned to see patterns. #Emergence #SuperShortFiction #365SciFi #55Words Like it, Follow it, Share it!

Emergence 2.0 A Novel – In 55 Words a Day Day 188, July 7th, 2017 Chapter Six: Psychic Kathy’s handlers had never considered the concept of an “ordinary psychic.” Genuine telepaths were exceedingly rare, but they existed. In the later 20th century their abilities were tested, analyzed, put to use by spy agencies and police forces around the world. Psychic abilities of any degree were extraordinary. Kathy’s gifts required a completely different understanding. #Emergence #SuperShortFiction #365SciFi #55Words Like it, Follow it, Share it!

Emergence 2.0 A Novel – In 55 Words a Day Day 189, July 8th, 2017 Chapter Seven: Think Tank Kathy’s moods normalized as she grew older, and adjusted to the reality of her differences. She found resources in her memory to guide her in the development of self-control. Her gift for analyzing data grew exponentially. Institutions formed around her, access to Kathy was more valuable to national intelligence than access to the fastest super-computer. #Emergence #SuperShortFiction #365SciFi #55Words Like it, Follow it, Share it!

Emergence 2.0 Section Four, Kathy Part Twenty-six, Adulthood Collected Chapters 01 A Place in the World 02 Valued 03 Work 04 Career 05 National Security 06 Religion 07 Writing #Emergence #SuperShortFiction #365SciFi #55Words Like it, Follow it, Share it!

Emergence 2.0 A Novel – In 55 Words a Day Day 190, July 9th, 2017 Chapter One: A Place in the World As she advanced in her skills and gained control of her powers, Kathy’s sensitivity to the motives of those around her became profound. The intentions of the analysts who questioned her were an open book. Millions of dollars were spent to mask them, to foster in her a sense of belonging, with ever increasing difficulty. #Emergence #SuperShortFiction #365SciFi #55Words Like it, Follow it, Share it!

Emergence 2.0 A Novel – In 55 Words a Day Day 191, July 10th, 2017 Chapter Two: Valued In her work place, every little detail of her environment was contrived, scripted, fake. No effort was spared to engender within Kathy feelings of safety, and love. In her youth Kathy saw through the contrivances, while valuing the sentiments behind it, taking those for genuine. Over time all the false fronts vanished. She was cynical. #Emergence #SuperShortFiction #365SciFi #55Words Like it, Follow it, Share it!

Emergence 2.0 A Novel – In 55 Words a Day Day 192, July 11th, 2017 Chapter Three: Work The analysts came to see her nearly every day, Sundays being her only respite. Kathy listened to them. She read their papers, watched their films, and when they put questions to her, she shared her insight from the depths of her memory. She read ancient languages, interpreted obscure symbols, and saw the patterns in everything. #Emergence #SuperShortFiction #365SciFi #55Words Like it, Follow it, Share it!

Emergence 2.0 A Novel – In 55 Words a Day Day 193, July 12th, 2017 Chapter Four: Career Kathy loved problem solving. She took joy in it, helping people pleased her. It gave her a sense of purpose. In the cases she was presented, or the analysis she was asked to give, the greater the complexity and length of time, the better it was for her.  She was fascinated by encountering new things. #Emergence #SuperShortFiction #365SciFi #55Words Like it, Follow it, Share it!

Emergence 2.0 A Novel – In 55 Words a Day Day 194, July 13th, 2017 Chapter Five: National Security In order to maintain their own secrecy, her handlers deliberately narrowed Kathy’s focus. They sought her understanding of minute details, doing everything they could to limit the information that she could glean from them. She kept her full abilities masked. She never revealed to them how easy it was for her to penetrate their thoughts. #Emergence #SuperShortFiction #365SciFi #55Words Like it, Follow it, Share it!

Emergence 2.0 A Novel – In 55 Words a Day Day 195, July 14th, 2017 Chapter Six: Religion Religious conflicts began to shape the later 20th, and the early 21st centuries. Kathy’s input regarding the origins of these conflicts was invaluable.  Her ability to pinpoint specific moments in time that were the antecedents of tribal conflict was uncanny. Her memory produced volumes of insight, but questions along those lines left her deeply disturbed. #Emergence #SuperShortFiction #365SciFi #55Words Like it, Follow it, Share it!

Emergence 2.0 A Novel – In 55 Words a Day Day 196, July 15th, 2017 Chapter Seven: Writing The intelligence operatives stopped visiting Kathy in person, they engaged her by proxy, through handlers. They submitted questions in writing. She in turn wrote papers giving detail, and context, responding to the questions they submitted to her. Oftentimes she did not answer questions directly, she supported their work by helping them to ask better questions. #Emergence #SuperShortFiction #365SciFi #55Words Like it, Follow it, Share it!

Emergence 2.0 Section Four, Kathy Part Twenty-seven, Isolated Collected Chapters 01 Art 02 Music 03 Dance 04 Diet 05 Academic 06 Recluse 07 Travel #Emergence #SuperShortFiction #365SciFi #55Words Like it, Follow it, Share it!

Emergence 2.0 A Novel – In 55 Words a Day Day 197, July 16th, 2017 Chapter One: Art Kathy journeyed inside herself, reliving lifetimes through memory, in quantum time. She developed austere habits and disciplines; learning muscle control, discernment, patience. She developed the ability to flesh out the memories she wandered in, to experience them for herself as if she were truly living. There was no path too remote for her to follow. #Emergence #SuperShortFiction #365SciFi #55Words Like it, Follow it, Share it!

Emergence 2.0 A Novel – In 55 Words a Day Day 198, July 17th, 2017 Chapter Two: Music Of all the “normal” things that people occupied themselves with, the little things that filled up their day, music was the most difficult for Kathy. It changed so little over time. If she was careless, a melody could cause her to slip, without knowing, into another lifetime A beating drum told a hundred thousand stories. #Emergence #SuperShortFiction #365SciFi #55Words Like it, Follow it, Share it!

Emergence 2.0 A Novel – In 55 Words a Day Day 199, July 18th, 2017 Chapter Three: Dance When Kathy danced she moved without thinking. She lost herself in the drums and rhythms. She abandoned time in movement, in the moments flowing from the present fuge into past ages. She relived the steps of her ancestors, felt their feelings, their fears and their hopes for the future. Dance was a place of transcendence. #Emergence #SuperShortFiction #365SciFi #55Words Like it, Follow it, Share it!

Emergence 2.0 A Novel – In 55 Words a Day Day 200, July 19th, 2017 Chapter Four: Diet Eating was a necessity, she could not avoid the nexus of memories it brought her to. Flavors and odors haunted her. Taste and smell transported her instantly to past times, to past ages. Kathy found solace in the bland, comfort in modern processed foods, foods that were completely new, and entirely foreign to human experience. #Emergence #SuperShortFiction #365SciFi #55Words Like it, Follow it, Share it!

Emergence 2.0 A Novel – In 55 Words a Day Day 201, July 20th, 2017 Chapter Five: Academic After years of working with Kathy, her handlers come to appreciate the dangers of interacting with her directly regarding matters of national security. They determined to engage her at a distance, as a result she was allowed a semblance of a normal life. She was placed in a small college, she did research and wrote. #Emergence #SuperShortFiction #365SciFi #55Words Like it, Follow it, Share it!

Emergence 2.0 A Novel – In 55 Words a Day Day 202, July 21st, 2017 Chapter Six: Recluse Kathy had developed the ability to ward off psychic intrusions. She built mental walls to ensure her privacy, to keep the thoughts and feelings of other people from seeping into her mental flow. Those defenses required constant mindfulness, a diligence that stole her energy. And so, in order to rest, she preferred to be alone. #Emergence #SuperShortFiction #365SciFi #55Words Like it, Follow it, Share it!

Emergence 2.0 A Novel – In 55 Words a Day Day 203, July 22nd, 2017 Chapter Seven: Travel Her handlers wanted Kathy close to them, under observation at all times. They utilized a revolving network of spies to keep an eye on her. Overtime, and with everyone linked by satellite they gained the ability to track her comings and goings in real time. Her autonomy increased. Every little bit they gave, she took. #Emergence #SuperShortFiction #365SciFi #55Words Like it, Follow it, Share it!

Emergence 2.0 Section Four, Kathy Part Twenty-eight, Encounter Collected Chapters 01 Watched 02 Correspondence 03 Conversation 04 Meeting 05 A Man Like No Other 06 Desire 07 Jim #Emergence #SuperShortFiction #365SciFi #55Words Like it, Follow it, Share it!

Emergence 2.0 A Novel – In 55 Words a Day Day 204, July 23rd, 2017 Chapter One: Watched Kathy began to feel something strange and unfamiliar. She felt as if she was being followed by someone, and she was used to being followed, but this time she was being followed by a man who was not connected to the agencies she worked with. His face evoked powerful memories. She could not read him. #Emergence #SuperShortFiction #365SciFi #55Words Like it, Follow it, Share it!

Emergence 2.0 A Novel – In 55 Words a Day Day 205, July 24th, 2017 Chapter Two: Correspondence Kathy ignored the fact that the letter in her box was not stamped or metered. Its arrival was unexpected. She was delighted. There was a mystery in front of her, she did not have a clue where it might lead. She peeled the envelope open, took out its contents, and read it, entering into conspiracy. #Emergence #SuperShortFiction #365SciFi #55Words Like it, Follow it, Share it!

Emergence 2.0 A Novel – In 55 Words a Day Day 206, July 25th, 2017 Chapter Three: Conversation The phone rang. The man who spoke to her, spoke in a language that had been dead for millennia. Her heart began to race, and skip. For the first time since she was an infant, she was not alone, and yet, she was slightly disturbed by his presence at the other end of the line. #Emergence #SuperShortFiction #365SciFi #55Words Like it, Follow it, Share it!

Emergence 2.0 A Novel – In 55 Words a Day Day 207, July 26th, 2017 Chapter Four: Meeting They met at a café Kathy frequented, a busy place. Kathy liked crowds. The more people around her, the easier it was for her to allow the psychic chatter of each individual to blend together as background noise. She felt safe. It was a place where it was not unusual for strangers to sit together. #Emergence #SuperShortFiction #365SciFi #55Words Like it, Follow it, Share it!

Emergence 2.0 A Novel – In 55 Words a Day Day 208, July 27th, 2017 Chapter Five: A Man Like No Other Kathy was at ease with Jim. The sound of his voice soothed her. He used patterns of speech, and inflection that leapt into her consciousness as if he were speaking from her memories. That first contact with him was a dream. The most significant thing about him was that she could not read his mind. #Emergence #SuperShortFiction #365SciFi #55Words Like it, Follow it, Share it!

Emergence 2.0 A Novel – In 55 Words a Day Day 209, July 28th, 2017 Chapter Six: Desire Meeting Jim, it was the first time she had ever encountered a human being who she could not fathom in an instant, and all she wanted to do was to be absorbed by him, to lose herself in him, as everyone she had ever met was lost in her. She felt distinct. She felt desire. #Emergence #SuperShortFiction #365SciFi #55Words Like it, Follow it, Share it!

Emergence 2.0 A Novel – In 55 Words a Day Day 210, July 29th, 2017 Chapter Seven: Jim Being with Jim, Kathy felt peace, and comfort. She was like a child with her father. His mind was still. He was utterly opaque. She knew that he was an ancient person, an alien, an anomaly, and yet nevertheless human. He was not like her, he was something different, and she loved him without question. #Emergence #SuperShortFiction #365SciFi #55Words Like it, Follow it, Share it!