What is "science"? When I was young, and still could only read the eastern letters(1), I encountered this word in a codex and I went to ask the teachers what it meant. I said it incorrectly, I feel certain, but the teacher I spoke to only pronounced it correctly, and went on to say this- "Science" is "knowledge", xe said. Science is that which we know, that which is certain and holds true. Science is light, and it has a counterpart, ignorance, which is darkness. We know what we can see, what light shows to us, but whenever light falls upon a thing, there is also a shadow created, and when the shadow is deep enough, we cannot see what is within it. So to know something means to be ignorant of other things. I think I asked, "Is it possible to know everything?" Xer answer was simple. "How could you know if you had?" Years later, I learned that what I had thought was the great difficulty there- the fact that some facts would block the vi
TO: Gracious Lord Sahtashtan, Hierophant of the Magi, Suppliant of the Transcendent Light Idovanus, Despoiler of Lies, Friend of Turos, etc. It was with some slight misgivings that I went forth on the mission so assigned by you, worthy one. I thought, "But this is an area where they consider any rite of divine worship less than a thousand years old to be a new rite, and have four priests of the old rituals standing by in case anything explodes. Surely there is nothing to worry about in the way of heresy. If anything, I may have to temper their zeal." O worthy one, it was my foolishness that led me to doubt your wisdom, but the Truth blazed before my eyes at last even as I wandered in the dismal murk of the Lie. When we came to the place under question, myself, two scribes, six others of the hazar rank, and eight peasant baggage carriers, I was immediately appalled to see the condition of the temple complex. They had removed what seemed to be half of the shrines, most espec