A Sufficient Rendering: Defining the Outer Bounds of the Mythopoeia of Eden’s Womb

“Ancient of Days” by William Blake, 1784.

“I'll sing to you to this soft lute; and shew you all alive
The world, when every particle of dust breathes forth its joy”

The world underlying the speculative and visionary hard sci-fi novel Eden's Womb has been decades in the making.  As with most great mythical works, it begins with an ultimate source that frames reality, or ushers the world into existence.  In Eden's Womb, that source is the great being Eru Ilúvatar (a name coined by J.R.R. Tolkien as one of many names for the supreme being, ‘God’, ‘The One’, i.e. the Dao, etc.).  Although his/her name is not mentioned anywhere in the novel as currently told, her/his influence motivates the 'Core Narrative' from the 'Book of Collected Inheritance', which is the overlying frame-story out of which Eden's Womb emerges. That his/her name is not mentioned is understandable, since Eru dwells in a world that lies far beyond men's understanding.  It is a realm greater and more ancient than all that can be conceived.  Indeed, it lies beyond the very veil of knowing.

Yet by the Copernican Principle, which declares that any observer's position and perspective must not be deemed special or privileged in any way, Eru has to be considered merely an average citizen among peers on his/her world.

All our experience—the understanding gained by the deepest explorations of science—holds this principle to be universal.  Once we believed that Earth was at the center of the universe.  Then Nicolaus Copernicus came along and proved that the Sun held that central position.  Subsequently we found our sun to be a minor star at the outskirts of a vast swirling island-universe called the Milky Way.  Soon even the Milky Way was found to be merely an average Galaxy among trillions.  Indeed, the 'layers of the onion' of reality may be limitless.  Nevertheless, for the purposes of telling the tale of Eden’s Womb, the story must begin somewhere, so we shall arbitrarily declare that Eru’s individual being is sufficient to encompass all that needs to be told. Thus, our story has an ‘All-father,’ a creator being.

Eru is presumed to be of a comfortable and familiar form. He (or she) consists of a physical self and a mental identity, and the two make up the inseparable essence of her/his being. S/he is (or was) mortal, and yet his/her coming was before the curtain of time drew open and her/his passing happened, or shall happen, far beyond the end of the future of all knowledge.

Eru’s physical essence has a familiar structure. Her/his being is made of a multitude of specialized living cells. Each of these cells contain a great stream of undying knowledge in a manner similar to our DNA, and it is believed that Eru’s mind has the ability to read or interpret that undying knowledge, though perhaps imperfectly, even as we ourselves can only sense vague shadows of the knowledge contained in our DNA (which we call intuition).

The individual cells of Eru’s being are constructed of structures equivalent to proteins and other molecules that make up our living cells. In turn, these structures are composed of corpuscles that are the equivalent of atoms in our world. As with the atoms of our Periodic Table, the corpuscles come in a variety of kinds, and all corpuscles are combinations of, and made from, the seventeen fundamental elements of Eru’s world: four kinds each of Earth, Wind, Water, and Fire, and an all-encompassing, unifying Great Field of Power, which grants meaning to all things. Scholars quoted in the 'Collected Inheritance' argue whether this Great Field is nothing more than the familiar Vacuum, either as we know it or in some higher or more robust state.

The four elements of Earth are Crystal, Glass (a specialized rotating version of Glass, taking the form of a disc is what is called Flat World in the Eden’s Womb novel), Dust (Ash), and Iron (Metal).

The four elements of Wind are Smoke/Steam, Breath, Storm, and Sky.

The four elements of Water are Blood, Clear Water (sweat and tears), Bile (Acid) and Phlegm.

The four elements of Fire are Flame, Lava, Explosion, and Light (Sun).

The structure of Eru’s body is beyond knowing, but the variety of ways that s/he senses and directs its internal function seem to be myriad. As said, the choice to adhere to the Principle of Sufficiency precludes consideration of all things that Eru senses beyond her/his own body. It is sufficient to explore the interactions between mind and body and to explore theories regarding the inner workings of that mind (Eru’s imagination, creativity, internal narrative, and emotional palate, for example). What matters most to us is that Eru’s thoughts encompass what we perceive as the Spirit World—the realm of all things metaphysical—and such thoughts surely also have great sway on our physical realm. The wealth and richness of Eru’s ponderings are unfathomable; this is an area of study that may just be beginning to be revealed. In this era of emerging AI, there are those who would argue that Eru is nothing more than a massive computer of some sort, and that our reality is entirely her/his mathematical construct, with the mathematics being all that is fundamental. Others claim that the uncontrollable (even in principle) presence of the Vacuum requires the emergence of a physical realm that must underlie and give meaning and purpose to any computation. Both sides of this argument seem equally valid. The Principle of Sufficiency declares that these two opposing world-views exist in superposition, and therefore do not require resolution.

The minimum total information content contained in Eru’s being can be estimated roughly by extrapolating from our universe, with roughly 10⁹⁰ bits, through Flat World, which contains (very roughly) 10¹⁰⁰ universes, to assume (without justification) that Eru’s body is similar to our own and contains roughly 10²⁸ fundamental/elementary units. Simply writing that number (((10⁹⁰)¹⁰⁰)²⁸) would fill a book. Vast, indeed, must be the knowledge contained. Yet this is only a minimum estimate. The Watchers from Book Seven, Navel of Time, declare their universe to contain a quantity of information comparable to or greater than that minimum number, although they recognize their world as equivalent in nature to Naja’s being, in other words, just one known universe-citizen among the masses that dwell on Flat World.

Flat World, then, is our place in Eru’s realm.  As said earlier, Flat World is an amorphous Glass element, the structure of which is malleable and dynamic, and is just one of the seventeen primal elements from which Eru is built—a single unit among 10²⁸ that make up his/her being.

Surely, for our purposes, these constructs are sufficient. Eru’s vast mind and physical being map or project all things that could possibly be relevant to us—all things worthy of our contemplation. 

Although that which lies beyond may be glorious and majestic, we deem these things to be truly ‘beyond the Veil.’

For now.

As more of the 'Collected Inheritance' comes to be revealed via future extensions or expansions of the Eden's Womb tale, we would hope that more about Eru's grand design and purpose may someday be revealed.

Where's PJ - April 2024? Africa!

Greeted by school kids, Pemba Island, Tanzania

It's my sixth continent.  Antarctica alone now awaits my footsteps.  I wasn't seeking a wife (though the next shot might look that way):

but mixing with the local culture in out-of-the-way places was definitely the most memorable part of this trip.  The village on Kilwa Kisiwani has about 1000 people, and the island has no roads and exactly three motorbikes.  Otherwise, you get around on foot or by bicycle.  They only have a few solar panels for power, and yet this fellow had a smart phone and wanted a selfie with the strange westerner with the big white beard.

Wildlife wasn't bad either.  No safari on this trip, so no pics of the 'Big Five' and their cohorts.  But there were rare Zanzibar Red Colobus Monkeys, and out in the Indian Ocean on some of the remote islands of Seychelles, there were many encounters with giant tortoises.

Among the flying creatures were fruit bats called Flying Foxes, red-footed boobies, Frigate Birds with the male's distinctive red throat pouch:

There were giant coconut crabs.  These guys were more than a foot across, but they get as big as three feet!

Then there were the massive baobab trees.  The ones on Madagascar are well known.  I had intended to see them, but a travel restriction on visitors from the African mainland (due to a cholera scare) nixed that visit.  I had to settle for other species that aren't quite so cartoon-like, but still monstrously impressive:

Let's just keep the pics going.  The ancient Arab-origin Dhow is the standard fishing vessel of east Africa. Note that the mast and boom supports are just made from ordinary 'sticks'.

Mozambique

Yes, those African sunsets were killer -- even caught a good 'green flash'

More to come in May.  Stay tuned.

Nature's holiday ornaments, Blue Ridge of Virginia style

 Monday, December 18, 2023.  HAPPY HOLIDAYS from the Cloister at Three Creeks!

American Holly.  Not one tree in my area seems to have produced berries this year.

'Tis the season.  Holiday fever and last-minute shopping are well underway.  As always, I prefer to 'Opt Outside' so my holiday mission on this day was to document Nature's free holiday ornaments.  What single plant is most associated with this season?  It's gotta be Holly.  I started the day on a mission to find an American Holly female tree sporting her bright red berries.  Fail.  I must have looked at a hundred trees.  Has there been some 'conspiracy' among the trees (oaks do this, I know) to withhold production of berries this year?  In the end I had to settle for a fine substitute: flowering dogwood berries:

What else is reminiscent of this season?  Remember that old song:  "Chestnuts roasting on an open fire ..."

Couldn't find any chestnuts on today's hike, though there are some trees in the area that produced nuts this year.  For this post, we'll have to settle for a late October photo of an American Chestnut tree in full fall color, with red maple in the background.

"... Jack Frost nipping at your nose."

Sorry, no folks dressed up like Eskimos today, though.  It was in the low 50's.  But there were icicle-like ornaments to be found.  The male catkins of the American Hazelnut:

I even came across one oddball catkin that almost looked like a 'Jingle Bell'.

The color's getting a little monotonous, though.  Here's a nice splash of color, but it's an invasive: Japanese Barberry

Going for maximum color, you can't beat this evil invasive: the naturalized offspring of the Bradford Pear - not the fruit this time, but the leaf:

Bradford pear tends to be one of the very last to sport fall color.

More color:  Here the mini-tomato (size of a marble) that Carolina Horsenettle produces in abundance:

Then, of course, not to be outdone for color, here's American Beautyberry:

One splash of winter green with its ornaments of silver-dust blue is the Eastern Redcedar, also known as Virginia Juniper:

And not far down the color spectrum from there, we have the shriveled-up but abundant wild grape:

We'll go full circle from dark to light, now, with the near-white seed pods of Climbing Milkweed:

That leads us to an invasive: The translucent seed pods of the Mimosa tree, native of Asia:

And we'll let one Asian invasive lead us to another: Oriental Bittersweet:

Ornaments of a different sort, after a foggy mild morning:

That last view might seem a bit odd, and that's because it is upside down.  Somehow it makes more sense visually that way.

And now back to the more permanent type of ornament, and back to species that are native to the area, I rounded out my tour with some bigger ornaments.  Here's the seed ball of the sycamore.  Each little seed is its own parachute, spread by the wind.

Bigger yet are the cones of Virginia Pine.  They stay on the tree for many years, and turn white(ish) with age:

Biggest ornaments of all are the 'monkey-balls' - soft-ball-sized fruit of the Osage Orange:

And wrapping up the seasonal theme - what would the season be without some mistletoe?  Here's a big specimen, almost like a big ornament, shown with the snowy Appalachian Trail as a backdrop.

Yes, up there on that ridge is the AT.  Look closely and maybe there's a hiker looking back.  There's a nice viewpoint at the summit up there.

I hope your holiday season is relaxed and full of inner warmth and happiness.  Don't let the rush and hustle come between you and the peace you deserve.  If you find there's too much frenzy, look to nature whenever you can.  It's always waiting for you out there, with open welcoming arms.

How Colonist John Smith changed his name at the age of 147

This is Captain John Smith, one of the founding fathers of Jamestown Colony, Virginia, and my cousin by marriage (to be specific, he is my children's 5th cousin 13 times removed.  My kids and Captain John Smith actually share 29 common ancestors based on data retrieved from WikiTree on 17 Dec 2023).

This is a family history biography of my great-great-great grandfather John Smith, colonist who left his home country and made a new life in the New World.  But it is NOT about the guy in the engraved illustration above.  And it is not about Jamestown Colony, Virginia.  It's not even about a man named John Smith—a least not until he was 147 years old.  And lastly, it's not about founding a colony in the New World, but about leaving one in the Old.

Interest piqued? Here's the rest of the story:

Biography of Johann Schmidt and Louise Behnke

Johann Schmidt was born on 15 June 1808 in Schmilowo, Kreis Flatow, Province of West Prussia, Germany. now called Śmiłowo, two miles east of Vandsburg, which is now called Więcbork, Poland. He was the third of nine children of Daniel Schmidt and Maria nee Tesmer.

Louise Behnke was born to Martin Behnke and Eva Rosine nee Thom sometime between 1819 and 1821, also in West Prussia, probably in Jastrzembke Colonie, 4 miles ENE of Vandsburg.

TOURIST DETAIL: Jastrzembke Colonie is now an empty field. It can be visited by following directions to “Jastrzebiec k Wiecborka, Poland” about 8km ENE of Więcbork. Also please note that a Google Map Search for Śmiłowo will give you the wrong location – a larger town with the former German name of Schmilau, about 50km to the west. The correct Śmiłowo is also on the map, just two miles due east of Więcbork.

These two grew up during a turbulent time in this part of the world. This territory was historically Polish, and only relatively recently had Germans begun to arrive during a period when Poland’s government was weakening and under pressure from all its neighbors. 

The map below (courtesy of Wikipedia) shows the historic migration of Germans eastward in a movement that became known as Drang nach Osten, translated as the “Urge to push to the east” with Drang also connoting a sense of discomfort or stress.

Vandsburg, marked by the red arrow, was located in what came to be known as the ‘Polish Corridor’ because although Germans populated the areas to the west and east, a Polish majority population persisted in the gray areas. (See also the 1910 census map below). To put complex history in a nutshell, the dispute over the Polish Corridor was the core cause of World War II.

The area had been under the control of a weak Polish government until 1772 when the stronger neighboring powers of Prussia, Austria, and Russia forced Poland to cede lands, marked in the lighter shades on the map below (with Vandsburg again marked by a red arrow).

Map attribution: Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_Partition_of_Poland

The Polish corridor thus came under the jurisdiction of the Kingdom of Prussia. It didn’t last. Thanks to the invading French armies of Napoleon, Vandsburg was again officially under Polish rule (Treaty of Tislit, 9 Jul 1807), so Johann was born Polish (or maybe French? I have no idea how formal citizenship was conveyed, if at all). The area was under the control of the short-lived Duchy of Warsaw from 1807 until the defeat of Napoleon in 1815, when Vandsburg again came under Prussian control, so that Louise was born Prussian.

Following the defeat of Napoleon, the Prussian Kingdom was on the ascendancy, consolidating power and gaining military superiority, joining the German Confederation in 1815, gaining further superiority as the outcome of the 1866 Austro-Prussian war, which led to the German Empire in 1871, and becoming increasingly militaristic in a century-long build-up to The Great War – World War I. All this while, the Prussian government continued to promote German settlement in the east.

Below is a public domain map of Prussia at near its greatest extent in 1905, with Vandsburg again marked with a red arrow.

It was in the midst of this inferno of political change and a local atmosphere of ethnic tension that Johann and Louise grew up, met, and married in the church in Vandsburg on 23 Aug 1835. Louise was no more than sixteen years old at the time of the marriage.

Now, here comes the part about Johann being a 'Colonist'.  Soon after their marriage, Johann and Louise settled in Zakrzewke Colonie about four miles WNW of Vandsburg.  There Louise gave birth to eleven known children between 1837 and 1866.

The fact that the place they lived was called a ‘Colony’ speaks directly to the political and ethnic conflict that surrounded them and to the sense that these German settlers were pioneers (intruders), taking root in a hostile land. As seen from the public domain Census map from 1910, shown below, Vandsburg (again marked with a red arrow) stood in the midst of an area of very mixed ethnicity with small enclaves of German settlement in that ‘Polish Corridor’. Census districts that are colored Green are majority Polish districts, where those in orange-red are predominantly German.

TOURIST DETAIL: Zakrzewke Colonie is now abandoned, but there is a historic marker at the former train station. To visit it, follow directions to “Dawna stacja Zakrzewska Kolonia, Zakrzewska Osada 34A, 89-410 Zakrzewska Osada, Poland”. The historic marker is not along a road, but on the abandoned Świecie nad Wisłą – Złotów railway line right-of-way about 7.5km WNW of Więcbork.

In an amazing coincidence, a professional quality video of this train station at Zakrzewski Colonie was posted on YouTube just as I began researching this topic in January 2023.

What caused the Schmidts to emigrate to America is not certain. Many of our ancestors were just seeking opportunity—a better life. Perhaps life in Zakrzewke Colonie was hard and getting harder. But in late June 1876, Johann and Louise and their four youngest children boarded the S.S. Oder in Bremen and sailed for New York by way of Southampton, England. They arrived at Ellis Island, on July 8th 1876, just four days after the Centennial of United States independence.

The trip from New York to Milwaukee is not documented, but most travelers used the Erie Canal corridor, traveling either by boat or on the adjacent railroad line, then got on another ship at Buffalo and sailed to Milwaukee.

Either in Milwaukee or perhaps in New York Johann and Louise and children were probably met by sons August and or Fritz, who had preceded them in emigrating. Son Fritz was the pioneer in 1869. He left his wife and children in Germany and came to America sailing aboard the Bark Bremen, arriving in July. A year later his wife and four oldest children joined him, traveling by steamship (a much faster transit). Son August followed in 1873, traveling as a young single man alone. Finally, son Carl and his young family joined them in 1885. To date I have no record of the fate of three of the other four children. A daughter Justine died in Germany as a baby in 1853.

Johann and Louise settled in rural Waukesha County and farmed near Muskego. (The area is now suburban, and part of the Greater Milwaukee Metropolitan Area.) Johann and Louise eventually retired and moved into a small home or apartment on the farm of daughter Louisa and her husband Herman Schultz. Johann died there on 29 Jul 1895 at the age of 87. Louise passed away on 5 Apr 1901 at the age of 82.

They were buried together in the town of Muskego in the old Muskego Center Cemetery. But their story does not end there. This old cemetery had filled up and was falling into neglect. In 1955 the owner of an adjacent amusement park proposed to purchase the cemetery and relocate the graves in order to expand the amusement park. (These clippings courtesy of Whitney Gulbrandson from Waukesha Daily Freeman, 9 Jun and 4 Oct 1955)

The property transfer was approved. As result, Johann and Louise’s remains were disinterred and reburied at Vernon United Presbyterian Cemetery, Vernon, Wisconsin, about five miles to the west.

Photo: Whitney Gulbrandson, at Find-a-Grave.

The new grave marker names them John and Louise Smith. I do not have any evidence that they changed their names. In the 1880 and 1900 US Census records they are listed as ‘Schmidt’. Even the cemetery records transcribed in the 1955 newspaper article above (lower right) name them as “John Schmidt and ____ Schmidt, his wife.”

There is only one member of the family who formally used the name Smith—youngest son Rufus, who died in 1959, and who just happened to live in the town of Vernon. Family oral history says that Rufus’s wife Emma Peffer preferred the name Smith over Schmidt. This couple’s census records, and their grave marker all use the Anglicized version of the name. At the time of the grave relocation, Rufus was the only remaining living child of Johann and Louisa, and he was already well into his 80’s.

It appears that Johann and Louise Schmidt’s name change did not take place until they were buried in Vernon in 1955 when Johann was 147 years old.

And perhaps that is, at last, the end of the story.

CHILDREN:

1. Wilhelm (1837- ) – no issue (?) 

2. Friedrich “Fritz” (1838-1926) – m. Amelia Fedder, 9 children 

3. Henriette (1842- ) – no issue (?) 

4. Johann Julius (1843- ) – no issue (?) 

5. Carl Ludwig (1847-1933) – m. Johanna Bahr, 10 children 

6. August Julius (1849-1941) – m. Louise Lumpe, 4 children 

7. Justina (1852-1853) – no issue 

8. Edward Gustav (1855-1946) – m. Minnie Witt, no issue 

9. Emilie Mathilde (1858-1946) – m. John Richter, 2 children 

10. Louise Auguste (1862-1938) – m. Herman Schultz, 3 children 

11. Rudolph Gustav (1866-1959) – m. Emma Peffer, no issue