CHAPTER FOUR AMOS
Amos led the congregation and the people down from the mountains and brought them into the land of Heth, a good land was opened up before them. But Amos warned the people that they were like gems among pebbles, therefore they were not to provoke the people who had accepted them because of their skill. Amos said, “We will build a city for ourselves and our children, and within it a temple for those who follow the light of the Right Hand Path. The temple will be like the pearl within an oyster, or the heart within the body.” The congregation with Amos were the Children of Light and the people were Kenim who worshipped Yawileth, and Galbenim who worshipped Eloah. But Amos taught the people to walk in the light of Truth and said, “To each of you his own god, but above any god which can be named is something that cannot be named and you shall know it as The Supreme Spirit”.
The Galbenim built the city and the temple, while the Kenim set up forges among the sons of Heth, and Amos went among them and saw that all was well. The number of those who followed the Right Hand Path and resided about the temple was one hundred and forty-four, and it was never any more or any less. The number of those who laboured in and about the city and dug the soil or attended to sheep and cattle, was two thousand four hundred and thirty-five. The number of the Kenim who followed Amos was eight hundred and twenty, and the number of the Galbenim was three thousand and fifteen. These were the numbers of those who could labour or bear arms.
As Amos went out among the sons of Heth he taught the way of light, but they would not listen to bis words. They were like men walking a circle in darkness, one behind the other, each having his hand on the shoulder of the man in front. Therefore, when the king of the sons of Heth came to buy what Kenim had made, Amos spoke to him about the way of light, and sometimes the king listened. When they came upon priests of the sons of Heth, Amos said, “What manner of men are these who prance about as though the ground were covered with hot cinders? Before their altars they are like drunkards who go about shouting and singing. They leap like horses kicking at the wind”.
“What manner of spirit possess them, is it a spirit of light or a spirit of darkness? We have seen this often among your people, it is seen even among the princes and those who sit in judgement. Who can understand the words that pour from their lips? This is not prophecy but a drug-induced delusion. The people who listen to their words are as misguided as those who resort to a tomb at night and sit within a vault. If a spirit comes, it is a restless one whose words have little value, for they are hollow, empty things”.
“Surely the gods of such as these are demons in disguise, whose powers are a myth, for they are unhearing and unseeing things. They are unfeeling idols clothed in garments of delusion woven within the tormented thoughts of men”. The king said, “I have seen your own holy men as they sat beneath their trees and they, too, acted in a manner strange to the eyes of ordinary men. Where is the difference?” Amos said, “Our holy men sit in quietude, at peace within themselves and if their mortal eyes are unseeing it is because their spirits roam freely as birds. There is a test whereby the difference can be made known, if you will agree to it”. The king gave the sign of consent.
Then a place of absolute darkness was prepared, a place to which light could in no manner be admitted. Into it went two priests of the sons of Heth and two of the Holy Ones from the congregation, the king and two attendants, and Amos. Then, while the king and his attendants watched, they saw the Holy Ones radiate a light that lit up the whole darkness, so that the faces of all became visible. The priests of the sons of Heth remained in darkness, for their spirits were feeble things without power. This is the test of true illumination. Because of this the king looked even more favourably upon Amos and his people, but he did not change his ways or seek to walk in the light. For Amos refused to perform acts of magic before his court or to foretell the future, and the king believed that magic could accomplish all things. He believed there was an effortless way to accomplish all things, if the secret were known, and could not understand that the secret was safeguarded behind the doors of austerity and self-discipline.
There was a city called Migdal within the kingdom and some of the Kenim laboured there for the temple. When Amos came to the city it was the festival of its great god and no man laboured, neither did the Kenim, for it was the day when their fires rested. When Amos sought the overseer of the Kenim, he could not find him and none of his people would say where he had gone. But Amos found him at the temple of Belath and awaited him in the courtyard outside, and was filled with anger against the overseer.
When the overseer came out Amos chided him, but the overseer said, “What have I done wrong? This place provides the food I eat, and is its god not brother to mine? There was a decision to be made, should a door of brass be cast one way or another? I sought an answer from the god by means beyond the control of men”. Amos said, “Might not even the god answer according to his own pleasure? By what means was the decision sought?” The overseer said, “By the ebin which only the god could control”. Amos said, “You say this is beyond the control of men, it may be so, but there are men who are more than men, men even as this god whose smallness I will prove. Come, let us put this matter to the test”.
Amos then sent an attendant in haste to bring back a Holy Man of the congregation, who was with his caravan. When the Holy Man came, Amos showed the overseer and the priests that such things were not beyond the control of enlightened men, for the Holy Man could foretell the issue, whatever was done with the ebin. When Amos left the temple he took with him a woman named Kedshot, whom he had won from the priests, and made her free. The degradation of women to serve the temples was common in the land of Heth and Amos raised his voice against it. When next in the presence of the king, he said, “The common feelings of all men condemn fornication, and it is not allowed by your own laws. Yet if fornication is sanctified to your god the priests permit it for their profit. Is it not true that this wickedness is now so common in the temples of Heth that the woman who seeks to sell the services of her body in the drinking booths can ask no more than a handful of meal? ” The king said, “Such is the custom of Heth, which is of long standing and cannot be changed”. Amos said, “Does the long standing of a custom make it good?”
Amos said, “If your desire is to walk in the light of Truth you must choose between your form of worship and righteousness. You must choose between your gods of this land, and Truth. If a nation sow the wind it must be prepared to reap the whirlwind, for no other crop can spring from such seed, except through violation of laws which are never inconsistent”. The king said, “I have long been patient with you, stranger with the unbridled tongue, but do not overvex me”. Amos held his peace, for he had disregarded his own command to his people. Yet the king heard the words of Amos and was kindly towards him. When the king came to Lethsan to buy the wares of the Kenim, Amos was there with them and the king said to him, “The gods of Heth are many, added to those of other places the gods must be beyond counting. Why are there so many and which one is it most profitable to serve? The priests say each has power in its own place, can this be so among gods?” Amos said, “There is only one God, but each man views Him from a different standpoint and in his own light. It is even so with lesser things of Earth, how much more so with the greater things of Heaven! A mountain rises up from a plain and men see it from all sides, and to each it appears different. Some see it in daylight and others in moonlight, some at dusk and some at dawn, it is never alike to all men. Even so do men view God in different aspects. As no man knows the whole mountain but sees it only in part, so men see God in part, and each man names the part he sees according to what he sees and his understanding. Therefore, though it seems that the gods are numerous because of their names and differences, each is no more than a part of the whole. There is, in Truth, only one God, but what mortal man can see Him in wholeness?”