The Saturn
Presentation of this planet and its moons, including ring and creatures
- Chapter 34 -
The household constitution of the Saturnites. The planting of a temple. The most important law: emigration love your neighbor or charity.
Who is the head or principal of such a large family or commune in the highlands?
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If it happens that the progenitor is still alive, he remains both the head and high priest of the family for as long as he lives. When he dies and there are two or more sons, the oldest son is chosen to be the head in domestic as well as in spiritual matters. When the eldest son dies, and one or more brothers are still alive, then the oldest surviving brother always becomes the head. When the last of the brothers has died, then the firstborn son of the oldest of these brothers becomes the head; in other words the brother who took over as head of the family from the progenitor. Under these conditions the oldest in the family will always be the head of the family.
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When a family is not as numerous, then the transfer of the duties as head of the family from one member to another sometimes continues up to the seventh generation, in some instances even to the tenth generation. What happens when the family becomes too numerous, when it reaches the fifth generation? At this point a separation takes place which happens in the following manner: the eldest brother takes over the family responsibilities, whereas the two younger brothers, after they have been given a dowry by the brother that remains as head of the family, take their family members and leave with their belongings in search of another uninhabited dwelling tree (gliuba). After having found such a tree they say their thanksgiving prayers and, under the leadership of the oldest, beseech the Great Spirit to bless and maintain the live domicile as well as all their other dwellings.
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Once this prayer has been completed, the oldest takes several steps to the side and prays by himself. He is asking the Great Spirit to provide him with a Spirit of Light, the same as the Great Spirit did for his father and forefathers, and that this Spirit may at all times proclaim to him the will of the Great Spirit. During this prayer, all family members lie on the ground with their faces down. The oldest does not cease with his invocation until the Great Spirit has sent him the desired Spirit of Light.
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When the Spirit of Light has appeared, the elder asks the Spirit to bless the new, uninhabited tree in the name of the Great Spirit, and then to take him first into the tree to show him the place which he is to occupy as the head of the family. Once that has been done, the oldest gives thanks to the Great Spirit in the presence of the Spirit of Light for this great blessing. Then the oldest is led down by the Spirit of Light to the spot where the Spirit of Light first appeared to him. Here the Spirit of Light leaves the oldest, but not until he has strengthened his will.
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Strengthened in this manner in his Innermost, the oldest returns to his family, which is still lying on the ground face down, and speaks to them in a strong voice, whereupon they rise, praising the Great Spirit for bestowing such a great blessing upon them and giving them their own enlightened patriarch.
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Once that has been accomplished, the oldest assigns the branches to the fathers of the families, and they take possession with gratitude. The branches are cleaned and made ready for occupancy.
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On such an occasion, which does not occur too often on Saturn, everybody is very happy and cheerful. They have a livable tree, but they do not yet have their live houses to live in and the storage buildings. That is why, on the first day, not much is achieved and everything is properly taken into consideration, planned and discussed, but always under the leadership of the oldest, because nobody will do anything without his consent.
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At dawn the next morning, they immediately begin measuring the areas for the houses which are yet to be grown. Then the oldest blesses the lots, and the seeds of those trees which are appropriate for growing such live houses are placed into the ground in the proper order.
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Once this work is done, which rarely takes more than one day, they go into the forest the next day to cut the proper wood for building the storage buildings; the domesticated animals also help with this work. Horud, the Saturnian lion, which is halftame and half-wild, cuts down the biggest tree branches from the pyramid tree with its strong beak and the well-known house servant fur picks up these branches and carries them to the place indicated by the people.
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As soon as all the required wood is at the building site, it is properly trimmed and the storage buildings are built.
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When that is done, the animal stables and gardens are planted. Also, a fairly wide dam is built around a rain tree so that water can be gathered and a pond can begin to emerge.
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Should there be any mountain springs, they build simple water conduits through which water is conducted to the main dwelling. These conduits are built with the aforementioned stick snails. Should these snail shells not be available, the fruits of the funnel tree are used.
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Once that has been done, other properties are measured and their use determined. And when this allotment has been completed, should there be forests of funnel trees too close to these properties or infringing upon these properties, the trees are cut down and the forest is cleared to the extent that they have the right size for the property. When this work is commenced the aforementioned animals are given their tasks. The wood is piled up to dry at the end of the properties and later is used as firewood.
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When this work is complete, the properties are blessed by the patriarch and all kinds of fruits are sown. This seeding usually takes place every ten years on this planet. However, one seeding fully suffices for all future harvests where the soil is richer, because the roots of Saturn plants do not die off so easily, but remain alive in the soil, like the roots of so many shrubs and bulbous plants on earth.
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Once this work is completed, it is the last work in regards to preparing the soil for the harvest; then the family gets together to give a prayer of thanksgiving to the Great Spirit and at the end of this prayer they beseech Him to bestow upon all these fruits and upon all their labor a prosperity that has His blessing.
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Once they have completed these prayers of thanksgiving and supplication, they begin with the most important work, namely the planting of a temple, wherein they offer the great God alone a sacrifice that is pleasing unto Him. This is performed by the patriarch and two of the elders and no one else is allowed to put his hand on this holy work.
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Where do they begin with this work?. On this occasion the patriarch proceeds to the location where the messenger from the beyond first appeared, and he beseeches the Great Spirit to most graciously show him, through the Spirit of Light, where He, the Great Spirit, would like to have the temple erected. When the patriarch has implored the Great Spirit long enough, and no one has appeared, then they build the temple where the Spirit appeared the first time. Should the Spirit appear, he leads the patriarch to the spot where the temple is to be built, or the patriarch sees the Spirit already on the spot where the temple is to be built. The patriarch goes to the spot where the Spirit awaits to show him the outline of the temple.
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On the spot where the Spirit is waiting, a mark is placed on the ground; that is where the elevation is built from whence the patriarch will teach his family. At the same time he is shown a spot by this heavenly messenger in the direction towards the rear exit, upon which the patriarch, after appealing properly to the Great Spirit, will learn the will of the Great Spirit from the heavenly messenger.
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Once all this is done, the Spirit will become invisible. The patriarch gives a sign, so to speak, from man to man through a number of messengers who are waiting within a certain distance from each other right to the dwelling tree, with the message that he has permission from the Great Spirit to build a temple on that spot. He asks them to thank the Great Spirit with him for such a blessing and to beseech Him that seeds to grow the temple may soon prosper, and that He may find all of them worthy to let them know His holy will.
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This prayer is very solemn, and as soon as it is completed the patriarch calls for two or three of the oldest and distributes seeds among them that have been breathed upon by the Spirit; these are planted in the soil to grow the temple. The elders immediately begin their work and plant the seeds of the most magnificent and beautiful species of trees with the greatest devotion and confidence.
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The two or three eldest plant the front part of the temple which is intended for the people or family members, whereas the patriarch plants the sanctum of the temple, which consists mostly of ray trees (bruda), while the other part of the temple is usually made up of mirror trees (ubra).
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Besides the elliptical egg shape of the temple, a circle of the noblest kind of wall tree (brak) is planted at the proper distance instead of a ring wall. This noble kind of tree can be distinguished from the common kind by its bark. The bark of the common kind looks like gold, whereas the bark of the noble kind looks like many rainbows one on top of the other. The colors have a very lively metallic luster. The leaves on the upper edge have almost the form of aloe leaves, only their size is in proportion to everything else on this planet. Their color is a dazzling white. The blossom is just like the common wall tree, only more delicate with an extremely lovely fragrance.
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When these temple builders have completed their work, they again thank the Great Spirit for the energy and the insight that enabled them to build this temple, and they ask Him to help the seeds so that the temple may grow perfectly from the planted seeds.
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After these prayers of thanksgiving and supplication, they leave the building site with great awe, and walk backwards more than halfway from the wall tree. They bow and then depart for home.
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When they reach their dwelling, they ask the others to get up from the ground and climb up to their allotted branches of the tree they dwell in, upon which they eat and drink after the eldest in the family has blessed their food. Because, while the temple is being seeded, which for the Saturnites is one of most spiritual rituals, neither food nor drink is consumed.
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After the meal, which is under those circumstances as well as on a specific spiritual day celebrated in the evening, the elder admonishes all family members that they should sincerely unite their will with the will of the Great Spirit and that they should have no other will now other than that the seeds of the temple should soon prosper in a wonderful manner.
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Upon such admonition, every Saturnian inhabitant present hones his will, invigorating the soil where the temple is seeded. And you can believe this: the circumstances surrounding such an occasion are absolutely miraculous; the seeded temple very often stands there complete in all its great splendor on the following morning, which to you might seem inexplicable.
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When the family sees this temple, their devout jubilation and praise finds no end. This jubilation, praise and glorification sometimes lasts for several days and nights.
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Why are these people so happy when their temple has grown so well and so fast? There is more than one reason for their happiness. The main reason is that they are convinced now that the Great Spirit is with them in their new domicile as He was before in their old one. A second reason is that, through this, they once again have a place where they can and are permitted to approach the Great Spirit through their patriarch. And a third reason is that this family, which is now separated from the main family, through this temple is obviously pleasing to the Great Spirit.
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There is still another reason, but one which is closely related to the third reason, which is that this entire community can now draw the conclusion that the new property they occupy is rightfully theirs and is therefore a place of permanence. Because when a temple does not grow as quickly, then from their point of view the property is not rightfully theirs, and therefore if someone should come and say that this property had been in their possession before, they must at all times be prepared to relinquish it immediately without any opposition and look for another property elsewhere.
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Once there is a temple, any former owner loses all rights to this property. He would not, at the sight of such a new temple, make even the slightest demand for the restitution of his property. On Saturn the greatest law in existence is as follows:
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Whatever the Great Spirit has given to someone belongs completely to those who have received it from Him. And no being of heaven, no Spirit of Light and no worldly creature has the right to contend this highest of all gifts. Whosoever would do that must be cast out to those regions of the planet where nothing else awaits him but eternal cold, eternal ice and eternal snow.
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Every person on Saturn knows this law. And there is hardly any law which is more respected than this one. For this reason there are never ever any ownership disputes, especially among the mountain dwellers, because among themselves they always observe the best of order.
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In regards to the relationships between neighbors, there are no real borders; instead, wherever someone settles, that is as much as his property, because every human being on Saturn carries as mud) as the testimony of the Great Spirit within himself, and this suffices him to travel anywhere on this entire celestial body.
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Should it happen that a continent occasionally becomes overpopulated, several families will join together and leave their homeland and, on the ships we discussed in another chapter, move to another land on Saturn. Once they have reached this land, they look for suitable accommodation. When they have found such a place, they have the right to remain there for an entire year and partake of what the soil has to offer.
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Should the seeding of the temple prosper in the manner previously described, or should the temple grow gradually in the natural manner, and if the emigrated family can show the building site of the temple to the emissary of that country's natives who has been dispatched to them for that purpose, and if they can prove to him that all the temple trees are all growing well, then under those circumstances they are the owners of the property which they occupy. And the previous owner no longer has any rights to the property of which the newcomers have taken possession, except the right to friendship.
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A human being on Saturn never denies this right of friendship to another; they immediately establish a relationship. Whereupon the patriarch of the newcomers says to the emissary of the native people:
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"Brother in the Great Spirit, observe how your eyes examine me, but do not find anything which would deny them access to my person; by the same token, your heart shall not find anything in my heart that will deny you anything of which you are in need; that is why you are a brother to me in the Great Spirit."
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After these words have been spoken, they embrace each other. This embrace is a permanent document of complete community property of two of such families. Whereupon the emissary invites the entire newly arrived family to make use of his dwelling, until the new property has grown in all its aspects. Soon thereafter, the newcomers follow the emissary, who is usually an elder himself, to his house.
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Such an occasion is at all times one of great celebration. Because for the Saturnites there is almost nothing greater or more exalting than finding a brother in the Great Spirit on another continent or in the country to which they have emigrated. This is how the Saturnites address each other.
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Should it happen that the newcomer, upon his arrival in the dwelling of the other elder, finds that his host lives under very poor circumstances, he offers his host his services to cultivate and extend the grounds; these services are always graciously accepted by the host and, in return, the host offers his services to his neighbor.
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If, however, the newly arrived patriarch says to his new neighbor: "Brother in the Great Spirit! I am now convinced that you are very needy; therefore I have decided to return your former property to you and I shall look elsewhere for a place to live," the answer to this offer by the native patriarch will then be as follows: "Brother in the Great Spirit! I would rather cease to live and wish not to exist before I would see you leave the place which you have taken with the permission of the Great Spirit. You know very well that it is not the soil but only the Great Spirit which gives us all the means to live. Therefore, the ground we live on is large enough to completely nourish at least ten or more families like ours."
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When the newcomers decide to stay there is another celebration, and the original inhabitant does everything in his power to have his new brother for all times close to his brotherheart.
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This is all for today. In the next chapter we shall continue to deal with the constitution of the mountain dwellers.