Terse

Anna,

Your latest missive suggests that you find yourself in a less than comfortable situation. I'm glad to have received word from you. Nevertheless, my dear, I am unable to find myself emotionally moved by your words. This may be an expression of feelings toward you, and how welcome another missive from you would be. Perhaps it is not.

Thomas

The Wonderous Claims of Johannes Grisebach

A young man walked into a tent, uninvited. Sitting silently in contemplation was another. Disturbed from his meditation, the man in the tent sighed and looked up inquiringly. He was annoyed, but acquiescent. The man who had entered spoke: "Are you the one they call Johannes Grisebach?"
"My name is of little importance. What do want with me?"
"It has been claimed that you can command the winds and the clouds--"
Johannes chuckled, "Who says such things?"
The young man was surprised. "I had heard that it had come once from your own mouth. Am I mistaken?"
Grisebach responded absently, "I have made no claims of my own abilities; perhaps, I have repeated claims made by others. I place little importance on the discourses of men."
"So, then, are the claims not true?"
"I have made no such statement."
"Are they?"
Grisebach chuckled again, mysteriously. "Perhaps."
"You see, I come from a village where it hasn't rained for a long time. My father is an elder; he had heard of your abilities. I-- my village, was hoping you could help us out. We could give you cattle... Or gold, or, or anything you want."
Grisebach looked into the young man's eyes, into his soul. After an infinite moment, he smiled sadly, paternally. "I'm sorry; your village has nothing I desire."
"Nothing you desire? Or nothing that will induce you to aid us?" the young man replied hotly.
"Nothing I desire."
"There must be something you seek; perhaps we can lend men who can aid you-- I myself am willing if you would protect our village."
"I seek only the Path."
"The Path?"
Grisebach sighed; so young, so devoid of understanding. Alas. "In the East, they call it jihad; further east still, enlightenment. the Jews call it, depending, Cabala, The Word, or Elijah's Spirit, there are other names in other places; but you do not care for such things."
The young man was desperate. "Is there nothing we can do?"
"Nothing." The voice was firm. The young man's heart nearly shattered.
"Then goodbye, sir." The young man turned slowly and left the small tent. Grisebach fell back into his meditations.
As the young man made the weary journey to his home, he stopped in a town where a woman was praising a strange man she had met at a well. In his melancholy, he noticed nothing else. When he returned to his village it had rained.
Johannes continued his search.


*-*-*-*-*
Obviously, Johannes is a reference to The Rose. Obviously, also, there is a jarring anachronism. Who cares?

Appeal to Higher Authorities

An anthropologist friend of mine informed me recently of a few remote groups of esoteric mystics. They seem to believe that all things come from an abstract ideal concerning groups of things, and transformations of these groups. My friend could not give me much more precise information that that, as he cannot decipher their thoughts. In part, this is due to the arcane nature of their sects. He informed me, however, that the primary problem in deciphering their beliefs is that their written language is full of non-sense symbols and punctuation, with almost no written words. To make matters worse, the few letters they use seem to be used interchangeably, and occasionally, other opaque substitutions are made.

As a scholar of languages, he asked me to take a look at the texts. So far, he has been unable to give any to me; however, he did remember (he thought) a short snippet of the unintelligible writing:

{a,b|x,y} & {c,d|z,w}
     .es.
{{a,b}&{c,d|z,w}, {c,d}&{a,b|x,y}|{a,b|x,y}&{z,w},{c,d|z,w}&{x,y}}

Clearly, I have my work cut out for me. However, these seems vaguely reminiscent of an ancient instruction book I once glanced at. There may be a link-- or even an unbroken tradition. Esoteric sects have a way of keeping themselves alive longer than should be expected.

*-*-*-*-*
The astute (and overly educated) reader will find the above set theory familiar, and would be able to "translate" & and .es.
But it doesn't matter anyway.