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23.5 Degrees: Breadcrumbs Under the Snow
By Stella Maris
August 30, 2008
Defense at Dusk: The Grand Arch of Fraternity, the western
termination of the Arc de Triomphe's alignment with the Louvre
Pyramid via the Champs-Elysees.
© Wikimedia Commons
Back at the Grand Monarch hotel, I tried to analyze exactly what had happened during our visit to Chartres Cathedral that weekend, but nothing really made sense. The preconceptions of what Soph and I had expected to find had been utterly confounded.
Yet, it felt as if something had shifted, I just wasn't sure what. Getting lost in the crypt and finding the vintage French Resistance leaflet seemed real enough, as I still had the leaflet in my possession. But I was definitely beginning to think that I might have only dreamed the encounter with handsome stranger. Maybe somebody had just dropped the envelope by accident? It could well be a treasured family heirloom, in which case I should definitely attempt to identify the owner.
And, while the cathedral itself had been a letdown on one level, we could still see the enduring vestiges of the Temple of Solomon imprinted into the existing fabric, even after all these centuries.
Years later, in retrospect, I began to understand that our visit to Chartres was the cogent beginning of some kind of philosophical quest, which is still continuing today. Furthermore, I’ve now realized that each person's quest is unique to the individual... that there is no prescribed formula and no definite answers. Everyone will instinctively choose the path that they need to follow in order to get where they need to go. It could involve aliens, Jesus, hobbits, or knitting. My quest just happened to trigger at Chartres, for a multitude of reasons, which took me a long time to unravel.
But, the real joy of the journey is not in uncovering deeply hidden shocking secrets that will change the future of mankind, but in meeting and engaging with the other intrepid pilgrims along the way. We may not always agree, and what works for me may not work for you. But, sharing our pieces of the puzzle undoubtedly accelerates our understanding of the bigger picture, and therefore our collective perception of the Reality we are creating.
Anyway, it was several months before I could follow the restaurant owner's advice and take the underground Jean Moulin flyer to the Resistance Museum in Paris for appraisal. So, for the moment, that aspect of my quest was on hold... or, so I thought.
In the meantime, Soph and I had to return to London to address the downsizing of my company in preparation for my divorce. In the process, we didn't move MemoryMap's Paris office to Chartres, afterall, but to a small suburb in the west of Paris near the Grande Arche, in the business district of La Defense.
Which, of course - as it eventually transpired - was exactly where I needed to be.
Newton Coordinate: The Feast Day of the Martyrdom of John the Baptist, August 29th, on the Greenwich Meridian.
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