2077:Knights of Peace. Summary of chapter 17: The Hermit Sage

17. The Hermit Sage p.285-301

(the summary is followed by the first few pages of text and a note from the author)


Sister Agatha is a Hermit Sage living in a hut overlooking Codale Tarn in the English Lake District. This is no ordinary hut. It is constructed and designed to make full use of virtual reality in bringing about the spiritual Enlightenment of Knights, impounded dominophiles or anyone wishing to be transformed spiritually in Christ. Father James visits her with Roscoe, his fellow Knight Eric, Isla and her atheist brother Damien.  Sister Agatha explains the Divine Light, how it not only relates to the Holy Spirit but is a manifestation of it, revealing how our different belief systems are necessary and complement each other, stressing that it also heals, confers spiritual gifts and yields fruit. She demonstrates and explains how the stages of Enlightenment take one on a journey, like a pilgrim, to successively higher levels. She says that logic divorced from or denying the divine source of reasoning, the Logos, behind our universe and our own being, can be destructive. The actual programme of Enlightenment goes on for months under the guidance of a Hermit Sage and there is no coercion.


First few pages of chapter 17, the Hermit Sage...

 It was dawn as the five of them walked up the damp stony path which was the final steep stretch towards the hut overlooking Codale Tarn.

A small stone building came into view. A nun-like figure in dark grey stood in the entrance, welcoming and composed in her demeanour. Her face had a few creases but shone with an indefinable radiance. Was it the Holy Spirit, or the Divine Light that dwelled in her? Roscoe decided they were more or less the same thing. There was no mistaking those who were filled with it.

On coming up to the hut Father James introduced her as ‘Sister Agatha’. She was in fact a Sister of the Numinous, a Hermit Sage of the Monastery of Divine Light. She welcomed each one of them in turn with a friendly and dignified handshake then beckoned them in to the small stone hut. It reminded Roscoe of the one he had built during his trial as part of the entry test to the Knights of Peace, though this one was noticeably larger.

As they filed into the hut Roscoe was relieved to see that Eric, now almost recovered from the puma attack, was not accompanied by Isla. She stayed close to her brother Damien, indicating no special privilege of affection for either Roscoe or Eric.  There was an overwhelming sense of peace inside the hut, which seemed to calm Roscoe, and indeed all of them. Somehow this reminded him, through its contrast, of the barbaric battle between Ogrenians and Essonians he had witnessed only three days ago.

Sister Agatha announced that she was feeling rather hungry after her dawn stroll along the top of the valley overlooking Easedale and invited them to help themselves to bread, cheese and cakes, which she had placed on a small table, while she put the kettle on the stove, which burned logs from one of the large forest plantations covering parts of Cumbriana. Father James touched Sister Agatha on the arm and announced he would leave her to conduct the visit. He would go back as soon as he had had a cup of tea and one of her delicious cakes.

She brought over the kettle and poured hot water into a large teapot. Isla took charge of pouring the brewed tea into the mugs which Sister Agatha had placed on a small table and soon they were all sipping gratefully as a way of warming themselves up after walking in the cold mist of the early morning. They also ate pieces of bread and cheese, except Father James who eagerly finished his cake before leaving.

After a few minutes of eating and drinking Sister Agatha made clear her wish to address them. ‘I believe that all four of you are interested in Enlightenment but have not yet had it.  Am I right?’

 They nodded assent, putting down their cups.

‘The tour will, I hope, give you a basic understanding of the process so that, if and when you experience it, your mind and soul will be prepared.’ She and Isla cleared the table, then Eric folded it up and put it in the corner

A white dome of very fine mesh material took shape above and around them as a black curtain dropped down to cover the door, casting the single room of the hut into deep darkness. Sister Agatha turned on a small dim lamp, then spoke in a gentle and reverent voice. ‘Now remember, I’m here to answer any questions you may have. So please don’t hesitate to stop me in my tracks.’

 ‘You all have a Christian belief, I understand. Had you been, say, Moslems, or Jews or Buddhists, the spiritual journey inspired by the Divine Light would have been slightly different. It might be instructive sometime for you to see the versions used for followers of other faiths. There is even a version for atheists, although this is much more than slightly different from all the other schemes.

‘But today let’s sample the Christian version. Remember, the purpose is to show how your religion serves as a spiritual model for engaging with God. As you know, all the world’s major faiths and mystical philosophies use the word ‘light’ to mean something which illuminates one spiritually and Father James was the first to receive what we call the Divine Light in a Holy vision. Under its inspiration he became a healer of the divisions between the world’s faiths and, a little later, perhaps because of the Christian roots of the culture in which he was raised, became a Christian.

‘Now you’ve no doubt heard it said by followers of some religions that theirs is the only way to God and the truth. What the Divine Light shows us is that they are all right, in that each religion relates to a particular aspect of our Lord that God chooses to reveal to followers through a particular belief-system. We have discovered that the Creator is incomparably greater, more mysterious and more unfathomable than was thought at any time in history.’

Damien was an atheist but had heard about Christians who would not admit of any route to God other than that of Jesus and Moslems who considered followers of other faiths as infidels. It was one of the factors that had turned him away from religion, except from his brief encounter with the SSS. ‘Excuse me, Sister, but is this not blasphemy for a Christian?’

‘It was indeed considered to be so by many Christians – the exclusivists. However, the situation has changed. Since the leaders of the world’s classic religions have been illuminated by the Light they have recognised that no one faith can accommodate the Creator of space, time, matter and life in all his magnificence. Yahweh surpasses all understanding. The Light teaches us that for any faith to believe itself to have an exclusive grasp of the true source of being is blasphemous. However, we Christians are right in saying we have exclusive access to the character of the Creator which Yahweh has chosen to reveal to us.’

Roscoe interjected. ‘Sister, one thing has confused me for a long time and I don’t know if you think it a fair question. How does the Divine Light relate to the Holy Spirit?’

‘A good question. I have found the best way to look at it is this. The Divine Light is the work of the Holy Spirit. At this stage in our history God has chosen to reveal how our religions are necessary and complementary to each other and the Holy Spirit is revealing this through the agency of the Light.’ Sister Agatha paused to see if he wanted to follow up his question and her reply, then continued. ‘Not that the Spirit and the Light are synonymous – the Spirit does other things than speak to us through the Light – it heals and responds to prayer.  Are any of you scientists or philosophers?’

Roscoe raised his hand ‘I studied philosophy and I take an interest in science.’ Isla hesitantly mentioned her mathematics degree and investigation of quantum encryption.

‘Probably even those who have not followed science in depth will realise that in recent decades the strides made have been quite stupendous not only in explaining the previously inexplicable but in presenting to us new mysteries which make the universe so awe-inspiring, almost frightening, that the sense of a deity behind it is as great as it was at the time of the hunter gatherer, as he looked at the moon and stars, or witnessed thunder and lightning or the birth of a child.’

She turned the lamp off and there appeared a large holographic image suspended in the darkness. It was a still one of a wealthy man standing in front of a prostrate, undernourished man in rags.

‘We are now in the first stage of a journey. Here the subject is taught that to go to the next stage he must understand the need for virtue. Without virtue it is impossible to reach truth because one is cut off from the divine source of reality, otherwise known as God.  In a moment the image will become animated.’

The rich man appeared to come to life, although he was faint, as did the poor man, who was slightly less faint. The expression on the former’s face was initially one of insolence but it gradually changed to a look of kindness. Then he knelt, touched the poor man gently on the head and gave him food and drink, at which both seemed to fill with light as a thin silver cord from the realm of God  dangled in space and blended into their foreheads, . ‘This is to show graphically and symbolically how a virtuous act brings us closer to union with God. And the closer we get to God, the more clearly will we see the reality of the world he created. During an actual Enlightenment process the pilgrim discusses the images with the Hermit Sage and is guided through the different levels. The Hermit Sage asks the pilgrim to meditate and pray as the journey proceeds. I will show you a few more images before we go to the next level.’

Now the dome appeared to become enormous, as big as a cathedral. A multiplicity of holographic scenes floated and slowly drifted throughout the seemingly huge space. A man was attacked by a vicious thug and refused to resist. Prostrate, he was kicked and punched in the face but refused to retaliate except with a look of pity, causing first his own body to glow with light, then that of the attacker, whose face gradually lost its hardness. A man saw a lady being robbed by two thieves and intervened, in a kindly and firm way, causing all four people involved to glow with numinousness. A man enslaved by pornographic images cast them angrily aside and became filled with the Light.

‘These images and conversations with the Hermit Sage continue until the pilgrim has fully absorbed the message: that acts of goodness, rejection of evil, bring in the holy light and draw one closer to our Creator.’



Author’s note


Some may get the impression that I hold a “many  paths to God” belief. This is not the case. All reality emanates from the one true Triune God through whom everything in creation was brought into being and by whom reality is sustained. By this very definition He can only be reached through Jesus the Christ. Those who believe in other gods are living in the same reality as the Christian (there can only be one) and even shares some of the values emanating from Christ. This is how God decreed it, knowing that it would take time to bring the world to harvest.  However, as I hope is made clear in this novel, the final step to the Holy Trinity has to be via Jesus, a member of the Trinity.


John 14:6:  Jesus answered: “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”