II
In terms of the spiritual content of the document “Theology and Bicyclism,” it could approximately be reconstructed like this: The bicycle symbolizes the vertical. In the age of darkness, Kali Yuga, one should embark — the writer (or writers) of “Theology and Bicyclism” believe — on the road to salvation by bicycle. That is absurd, but because of that it is also salutary. Because “absurd” does not mean “impossible.” Theology renders a pile of useless knowledge; that knowledge can also be true, but it is unusable. That is exactly why theology and bicyclism should be combined. The advantages are obvious. Above all, the classical methods of salvation are no longer suitable for this era, which is so steeped in corruption that there are special institutions and services for inhibiting salvation.
No doubt, the Little Brothers are not far from the truth. The system of values of this world is tragically twisted. It is easy to suppose that Buddha would be arrested nowadays for begging, Jesus would be locked up in the madhouse because of his parables about the resurrection of the dead. Riding a bicycle, that is not conspicuous and this is very important. “Because,” as it is written in the ‘Theology,’ “the persecution of Christians goes on at full intensity, in spite of the commonplace rumors that it is a thing of the past. True, it is done more subtly and clandestinely, but also more efficiently.” That is why the Little Brothers, inconspicuously riding out of the cities on bicycles, turning the pedals till they are exhausted, attain mystical ecstasy, meditating on the symbol of the fish in which the name of the Savior is hidden — Ικϑuς.
The symbolism of the bicycle is interesting in itself. Seen from above, thus, from the viewpoint of the Holy Spirit, the bicycle looks like a cross to us:
The Evangelical Bicyclists, generally speaking, try to observe everything from above. Since that is impossible because of biological determinism, patient exercises in imagination are needed so that one can observe things from a birds-eye perspective, which significantly changes the meaning of events on the surface of the earth. A battle, for example, takes place according to the laws of iron logic for the participants and observers: we defend ourselves when we are attacked; we charge at a high point, because that will strengthen our position. Yet, if that same battle is watched from above, we just see a herd of fools moving about here and there, chaotically, shooting, killing and getting killed. The pinnacle of the Bicyclists’ meditation is to separate the soul from the body and observe oneself on a bicycle from a height of some three hundred feet, but rare are the brothers who have managed to do so.
Observed, on the other hand, horizontally, the bicycle is teeming with ancient symbols:
Its two wheels, two circles, symbolize two eternities: the rusty — front wheel — which turns meaninglessly and does not know that it is set in motion by the real eternity represented by the back, driving wheel. These two eternities are connected by the triangle of the frame that symbolizes the human conception of the Holy Trinity, because the true Holy Trinity is transcendental to the mind, like the bicyclist is to the bicycle. The large and small sprockets (connected by the chain, by the representation of the chain of cause-effect-cause) symbolize the unity of the macro- and micro-cosmos.
If we remove the wheels of the men’s bicycle, there is just the frame with its forks, and that is a graphic representation of the male souclass="underline"
The female soul is represented by the frame of the women’s bicycle. Since it does not have the supporting crossbar, it is susceptible to deviations:
The top of the triangle (D) is facing down, a symbol of the depravity of man, and the legs (A and C) — are iniquity and passion that pin the soul to the earth.
The second chapter of the document “Theology and Bicyclism” deals with the city. It should be mentioned that the Little Brothers despise all urban settlements. For them, the urbs is a labyrinth with no way out because, after wandering about for a long time, after the unsuccessful search for meaning, you end up at the graveyard. There is a legend that the Evangelical Bicyclists authorized a project for a gigantic mental hospital (with a capacity for 20,000,000 mental patients) in which the madness of the world would be classified and organized like a complete city. However, there is no data about it. There is something else, a portion of short text which is ascribed to one of the Grand Masters of the past, rendered here in full through the kindness of Branko Kukić, who is its owner:
THE ARCHITECTS’ CONSPIRACY
When the Lord confounded the languages and stopped the construction of the Tower of Babylon, the architects did not capitulate. They made a sacrifice to Baal and convened on the ruins of the tower on a night with a full moon. They knew that they had mistakenly built the tower upwards, toward heaven, and that never again would they succeed to ascend to the place they wanted. So, they made a decision to build heaven on earth.
Thus, they began working on the project of a horizontal tower. They needed hundreds and hundreds of years to calculate the paths of the stars, a thousand years of study, so that they could compose the Great Urban Plan. But that plan, when it encompassed the whole planet, was no longer a plan of a city, but the blueprint of hell. Still, since it encompasses the entire planet, it is impossible to build any kind of structure that is not foreseen in the Urban Plan. So it is that, whoever builds something is building hell for himself. Because, as early as the 14
th
century… (the manuscript finishes here.)
Finally, it is worthwhile to mention some of the projects and documents of the Little Brothers of the Evangelical Bicyclists of the Rose Cross: the Metaphysical-Strategic Defense Plan of the Eastern Roman Empire, the project of a Door for Exiting History, the Transcendental Biography of J. V. Stalin, Places That Are Vanishing, the Technological Approach to Producing a Bullet That Will Miss Archduke Franz Ferdinand, How I Became a Member of the Order of Little Brothers of the Evangelical Bicyclists of the Rose Cross, the Secret List with the Biographies of Meritorious Members of the Order, The Third Eye, The Death Fugue, Somnambulists… and many others, most of which have never seen the light of day.