Thanks, ladies for your hospitality. New month...time to go. So I did, dragging my culture shock behind me. Took the yellow RER C train to the end of the line. Exited at Chateaux Versailles. Unlike the pretty photo above, the courtyard, when I was there, needed sweeping.

Next, I hitched a ride between Versailles and Chartres with a fellow who was kind enough to speak English with me, unlike Parisians who believed we should all know their mother tongue. I agreed with the Parisians in principle, but not in practice; although proper to speak there, it was better to be there. It was late in the afternoon in the cathedral, but the remnant light through the rose windows reminded me of what I came to see. In the middle ages, light was the metaphor for God. After all, John 1:9 said Jesus is Light, and since God and Jesus are one, according to some ancient creed about a triangle, God must be Light also. Perfectly theological, albeit oxymoronic. Jews of The Zohar liked the idea too, so much so, they adopted two triangles. There are of course many other paradigms of GOD, each with their particular consequences.

chartres


A few years ago, I attended a Seventh Day Adventist discussion on worshipping. What is the real purpose behind their worship service, I wondered? Why are these rituals so important to them? To placate a God, and find favor in the afterlife? Old-timey fire insurance? Not likely in the 21st century. The true meaning of worship is to connect us to what cannot be explained, to bypass the metaphors, and return us to the mystery of our human existence by encompassing us with awe. In the 13th century, we awed at light streaming through stained glass windows. Today we awe at light streaming through a telescope in the sky... wavicles...parves ... parves...wavicles... same mystery, same AWE — August... Wonderfilled... Eternal.

After attempting as much osmosis of the interior space as I could absorb, Catherine Boyer, a twenty-something, gave me a ride south into the wine country surrounding Tours on the Loire River. She and her roommate, Marie-Helene Robert, gave me a room to sleep in at 3 Allée le Titien. According to the Google PanCam, this address has since been replaced by what appears to be government housing. Wish I could say more about Catherine and Marie, but I have totally forgotten what they said or what they wanted from life. Their generosity, I predict, and as most scriptures would echo, reaped them abundance.

Tours


Nearby, in the year 732, Charles Martel and his Franks held off the invading Islamic hoards and saved Christianity, so that someday Christian hoards could return the favor and invade Islam. So it is written...