Victor Pelevin - Helmet of Horror

There’s a cathedral there. A Gothic cathedral.

Nutscracker

You just said there was a labyrinth.

UGLI 666

That’s there too, only inside the cathedral. And in front of the entrance to the labyrinth there’s another Latin inscription laid out on the floor:HVNC MVNDVM TIPICE LABERINTHVS

DENOTAT ISTE:

INTRANTI LARGVS, REDEVNTI SED

NIMIS ARTVS SIC MVNDO CAPTVS,

VICIORVM MOLLE GRAVATVS VIX VALET

AD VITE DOCTRINAM QVISQVE REDIRE.

Monstradamus

The meaning of that is more or less as follows – ‘the labyrinth represents the world in which we live, wide at the entrance, but narrow at the exit. He who is ensnared by the joys of this world and is burdened with its sins, may only rediscover the doctrine of life through effort.’ Only don’t ask me what the doctrine of life is. Was there really a wide entrance and a narrow exit?

UGLI 666

There wasn’t any entrance or exit at all in the usual sense. The entire labyrinth was laid out on the floor of the cathedral in light-blue marble. It’s just a mosaic.

Nutscracker

Is there such a thing as light-blue marble?

UGLI 666

Yes, there is.

Nutscracker

But what’s a labyrinth doing in a cathedral?

UGLI 666

The first canon told me a labyrinth is a part of that church and many others, because it illustrates the full complexity of the Christian path.

Nutscracker

The first canon?

UGLI 666

Yes. But the second canon objected that the Christian path is as simple and straight as an arrow. And the twists and turns and dead-ends of the labyrinth symbolise sin, in which fallen souls wander, hopelessly lost. And then the first canon replied that he had essentially meant the same thing, since sin is a distortion arising in the straight line of the Christian path. But no matter how tortuous the path of life might be, if the person walking it remains within the bosom of the Church, the simple arithmetic of good and evil ceases to apply, and the higher mathematics of the spirit comes into play.

Nutscracker

Now we’ve got a second canon as well.

Monstradamus

And what higher mathematics is that?

UGLI 666

However crooked and tortuous a life may be overall, a communicant of the Sacred Gifts may regard each infinitesimally small sector of his path as straight. And if any sector of his path is straight, then it is straight at any moment, and if it is straight at any moment, then it is always straight, and the Lord will not reject his soul. It is as though we grow mathematical wings that lift us up out of the depths of our degradation.

Nutscracker

But who are these canons? You mean you met someone?

UGLI 666

There were two of them. They were praying on bended knees near the altar. I made a noise, they noticed me and came over to help me with explanations and instructions.

Nutscracker

Tell us about them.

UGLI 666

They said that a long time ago, when faith was strong in people’s souls, a priest could send a repentant sinner on a pilgrimage to the Holy Land. In later times, when faith began to fail …

Nutscracker

Not about the instructions, tell us about the canons themselves. Don’t you understand, or what? No one else here has met anybody.

Monstradamus

What about Ariadne?

Nutscracker

She only dreamed about them. Surely I don’t have to explain the difference?

Monstradamus

Yes, explain it, Nutcracker.

Nutscracker

You don’t understand the difference between a dream and reality?

Monstradamus

I don’t understand what the difference is between the two stories.

Nutscracker

The difference is one’s about a dream and one’s about reality.

Monstradamus

But all I can see are letters on a screen.

Nutscracker

Not again. You’ve worn me out. Ugly, are you there?

UGLI 666

Yes.

Nutscracker

These canons, what did they look like?

UGLI 666

Medium height. In threadbare cassocks, with old-fashioned, wide-brimmed cardinal’s hats on their heads. The canons explained that the hats once belonged to holy prelates and they helped to calm the passions. The second canon had the brim of his hat bent upwards at one side, like a duellist. It reminded me of Aramis from ‘The Three Musketeers’, the one who was an ordinary sinner at first, and then became a general of the order of Jesuits.

Monstradamus

Sounds like the two dwarves that Ariadne saw at the very beginning.

Nutscracker

That’s what I thought too. But those were dwarves, and these two are medium height.

Monstradamus

Ugly, what height are you?

UGLI 666

That has nothing to do with anything.

Nutscracker

Forget it. Let’s move on. Ugly, did you see their faces?

UGLI 666

No. They stood with their heads bowed, as befits monks and spiritual people, and the brims of their hats hid their features completely.

Nutscracker

And what were their voices like?

UGLI 666

Humble and sincere.

Nutscracker

What did they say?

UGLI 666

I started telling you that, but you interrupted. They said that in the glorious times of the Holy Crusades, especially after the victory of Gottfried of Bouillon, pilgrims journeyed on foot to the grave of our Lord to repent. Later, when faith grew weaker and the human spirit no longer possessed the strength for such great effort, the site of pilgrimage was relocated to monasteries and abbeys, where people went to pay homage to the local saint. When people’s piety became too weak even for that, they were instructed to walk The League to do penance.

Nutscracker

The League?

UGLI 666

Yes. It’s the old name for the church labyrinth. That’s approximately how long it was. Although the one I was facing was a lot shorter. You were supposed to walk through these labyrinths on your knees. And for the time of ultimate decline that will come just before the end of the world, labyrinths on walls were prepared, really small ones that people go through by tracing the way with their finger. They are for those who are only willing to spend a very small amount of time on their souls. But there are labyrinths that are quite the opposite, endlessly long ones in which you can repent eternally. For instance in the Church of Sta. Maria-di-Trastavera in Rome. The first canon showed me a plan of it.

Monstradamus

He prepared well for the conversation.

UGLI 666

He didn’t prepare for it. The plans of the labyrinths were on the columns and walls of the cathedral. In fact, everything there was covered with them. The one that’s in Sta. Maria-di-Trastavera consists of a large number of circles set inside each other. It looks like a target for shooting practice. It’s the most mystical of all the labyrinths.

Monstradamus

The most mystical one is mine; please enter that in the minutes.

UGLI 666

The second canon explained that the meaning of these circles is that it’s no more possible for the soul to approach the Lord through its own desire than for the moon suddenly to decide to fly closer to the earth. The soul will remain eternally on the plane to which the Lord has sent it, and it will only be able to approach Him through His mercy, and not of its own will. And His mercy is expressed in the existence of the Church. It’s the Church that lends us those mathematical wings we were talking about. Without them we can only circle around Him like the planets. Sin is the centrifugal force that pulls us away from Him. But God’s love is like the force of gravity, because it draws us to Him. The soul dwells in this world below because these forces balance each other.