The Great Wall
On the stage of life there's a wall which is called the Great Wall of Ranks & Rites.
Shelves are attached to this wall in the ranking order of the lowest
trophies on the bottom shelf, to the highest trophies on the top shelf.
These trophies are made of the same fabric as the costumes of the
marionettes on the stage.
They call them Ranks, and to each Rank a Rite is attached.
These Rites are symbolic expressions of the warped reality of the mirror
to which the Rank belongs, and they come with special privileges.
This huge wall reaches all the way up into the air, the dark Loft, and
the higher you reach, the closer you are to the deep darkness of the unknown
Loft.
Those who worship in front of the wall refer to the top of the wall as
Heaven, or nirvana, the ultimate bliss.
They cannot see the Darkness at the top, because they have sold out to
the Lie which makes them project the illusion of light where there
is nothing but darkness.
Their entire life stands in service of climbing up the Holy Ladder of
Compliance to reach for the top shelf and be rewarded with the highest Rank and
the highest Rite which comes with the Rank.
In front of the Great Wall of Ranks & Rites stand the Guardians of the Mirrors.
Nobody is able to see them since they hide in the dark shadow of the
wall.
They are the ones who determine the candidates qualified to receive the Ranks
and Rites.
They select and judge the candidates based on their compliance to the
reality of the Mirror they guard.
The better the reflection of the candidate in the mirror, the higher the
reward with one of the Ranks becomes.
These Ranks and their Rites support and assist in the shaping of
identities in the image of the mirror.
Failure to live up to the image in the mirror results in chastisement
with the rod, conforming to this image is rewarded with higher Ranks.
These Ranks have a magical power given to them by the Guardians of the
Mirrors.
This magical power is like a magnet: it captivates the attention of the
marionettes as if they are under a spell where their hearts resonate in perfect
unison with the words of the Rite spoken by the one who wears the Rank.
The magical power installs the image of the Rites in their minds.
Just like a fisherman uses a fishing-rod to catch the fish, the Rites
use the image in the minds as bait on their fishing-rods of magic to draw the
identities of the marionettes into the image of the warped mirror.
The magical power begets its strength and magnetism from the power,
esteem and approval which is bestowed on the image in the mirror.
The more you live up to that image, the more you partake of that power
and esteem, and this creates the magnetic pull of the Rites upon those who
dwell on the stage.
A higher Rank and Rite means a closer embodiment of the doctrinal image
reflected by the mirror, and therefore they beget a greater authority in the
minds of the ones who want to live up to the image of the mirror.
All the while the Shadows who created the image are the ones with the real power, and they use this power to harvest souls of victims whose
ambition drives them to chase after the perfect image in the Mirror, the
perfect plastic identity.
Most of the marionettes who wander on the stage are in love with the
reflection they behold in the mirrors.
They are captivated by the harvest of praise and esteem they receive for
their compliance to the standards incorporated in the mirror.
The more they conform, the greater the harvest of approval, the more
powerful the lure into the mold of conformity becomes.
The approval and praise for the reflected image in the mirror and the
sense of belonging is the fishing hook which draws them into an externally
imposed identity.
The measure of conformity to these images in the different mirrors is
related to different grades of authority and standing within the Ranks of the
reality of the mirrors.
Once a marionette has been seduced into identifying with the reflected image, he
is allowed to reach for the Rank on the bottom shelf to pin this Rank on his
costume.
With each higher Rank he pins on his costume he gradually grows into the embodiment of the Rank and Rite system of
the Mirror he identifies with.
The greater the conformity, the higher he is allowed to reach on the
great Wall of Ranks & Rites.
The Rank is an outward sign of the identity the marionettes have acquired,
supporting and reinforcing that identity.
There is a secret hope in each marionette to be changed more in the
likeness of the ideal of the mirror with each Rank it pins on its chest.
This hope is fuelled by the magical powers bestowed on the Ranks and Rites.
Marionettes believe that by pinning more and more Ranks on their
costume, their hearts will be changed more and more in the image of the Rite which
comes with the Rank so that they can reap the rewards which come with the image.
After all, the better the reflection in the mirror becomes, the greater
the approval and the more authority and power they have within the Rank of the
mirror.
And surely, at the top of the Great Wall they will be closer to the
light of Heaven than ever before, right?
So they reach for their projected image of Heaven up there in the dark
Loft.
Yet they fail to realize that as they seek to plaster an identity on
their soul derived from the magical powers of the Rites, they are drawn into
the marionette costume even more than before.
Their eyes begin to assume a vacant flat look where once there was an
expression of a soul looking through the windows of the body.
They stepped into the mirror and became the reflection instead of the
reflected, and the image in the mirror stepped out into the marionette costume to live out a surrogate life.