THULE
An Alt-Reality
by Joseph Rex Kerrick
Introduction
Life as it's lived in postmodern times is not my life. The world as it is ~ or at least as it seems to be ~ is not my world at all.
Sometimes when the Moon is full, or my mind is still, or the Sun reflects just so on a shard of glass, I remember my real homeland. It may have been long ago or far away, but often it's as lucid as yesterday's walk in the woods. My best guess is that it really exists right here and now on Earth, but as a parallel world, an alternate reality. And always the name is as clear as a bell: it's called Thule. This name has two syllables, and rhymes with "truly", at least in the English tongue.
I'd like to share with you some of the lore of Thule, its worldview and folkways, as best I can reconstruct them. My hope is that they will be read by a few of my fellow Thuleans, and then we can remember and dream together ~ and perhaps even resurrect Thule right here on Earth in the present day. I think that if such a thing happened it would be the end of postmodern times and the start of a whole new aeon.
1. Theocratic Anarchy
There is no religion in Thule, because everything is sacred. The Spirit breathes forth in every act of life, and breathes out in every death. The highest form of Spirit is called Supernal by the Thuleans. This is the divine Oneness, the source of all light, love, and power. As you might guess, it's also called God.
In Thule many people have Supernal experiences; they are said to be God-realized. Of these, some become almost perfect instruments of the Supernal radiance, and bestow it freely upon the people. Thus they are called Sons of God and Daughters of Goddess ~ or simply Avatars, the same word used by the Hindus. Such incarnate male and female divinities will often be wed to one another, so obviously in every case it's a match made in heaven.
There is no government in Thule, because as large as the population may grow, it's all one big family. Every father and mother is the King and Queen, the President and Vice President, of their own family; and just as their children respect and obey them, so do all the people of Thule honor the couple who are the most perfect incarnations of God and Goddess. Other radiant souls play the roles of uncles and aunts and (of course) Godparents in the great extended family that is Thulean society. It all happens very spontaneously, or by the design of a Higher Power, depending on your point of view.
There is no law in Thule, because it's ruled by love. Love exists in an infinite series of forms on an ascending scale from the depths to the heights. But even the pure white light of God's love is the transmuted essence of erotic passion, which rises from the primordial fires of lust, surges up the shaft of the cosmic axis, fills the Sacred Heart with divine compassion, ejaculates the Holy Name in Heaven, and thence descends again as the blessing of redemption for us all.
There is no social discord in Thule, no class conflict, no collective envy of the lesser for the greater. This is because every individual is perfectly attuned to the divine radiance, the numenal music of the whole, which is literally a larger organism, a collective soul. Inborn gifts and talents vary as broadly among the Thuleans as they do for any humans; but in Thule the people rejoice in the magnitude of power and energy which their leaders, guides, and teachers possess by natural capacity, because these blessings are freely shared with all. The burden of power is never shirked; the high ones hang on the cross and shed their blood for those who are only too happy to render devotion and service in return.
2. Primal Tech
The Earth on which the Thuleans live, whether it's in the past, the future, or an alternate present, seems to be mostly in a pristine wild state. There is no impingement on the natural habitat by industrialism nor a technologized lifestyle ~ yet some of the tech is there. Many of the buildings look like tribal huts and lodges, made of straw bales, pounded earth, and living timber; some of them, though, sport solar panels for electric power.
Hunting, fishing, and farming are the main sources of the collective livelihood; daily life features an optium combination of styles and devices from the Neolithic to the Medieval eras of our familiar history. Yet when a special need arises, or a certain kind of project, the people will go to storage places, some of which are caves, and resurrect items ranging from trucks and bulldozers to computers, laser devices, and other high-tech equipment.
These surprising observations made it clear to me that the natural, primal lifestyle of Thule is totally voluntary. The people do not view it as primitive or oppressive; this is how they wish to live because they've found it to be the best way. They're obviously well aware of the dangers and drawbacks of mechanization if it's allowed to proliferate without restraint.
The Thuleans seem indeed to have worked the miracle of combining material science with spiritual reality; they call it metascience. They have just as much knowledge of the physical world as our scientists and technicians, and just as much power to deploy it; but in Thule the Spirit is ever the master, and matter its faithful servant. The Spirit knows that it flourishes best in a state of nature, and so technology is never allowed to upset the vital natural balance.