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.