S p i r i t ua l i t y S t u d i e s 5 - 2 Fa l l 2 0 1 9 7 1 Petr Pavlík “She doesn’t even care about me,” the knight complained, “and yet she should be my main strength! A queen, that’s the strongest chessboard figure!” He remembered the carving on his old wooden shield. Yes, a queen! The lady of his heart… She sent him to death, and it will happen soon. Why is he here to fight for some vain kingdom with a white king who, moreover, is good and yet wisely advises him? He is a thousand times better! Let him keep his kingdom and reign in it fairly further… Such thoughts ran through his head while the battle continued. The white knights already penetrated his territory, and a huge white rook threatened his right side. “So will my lady do anything?” The knight wondered. He watched her anxiously, not to miss her only movement. To his surprise, he realized his lady was no longer in her original position. She stopped watching the white king and stared at the back of the nearest black pawn. “What is she doing? She is supposed to attack and not throw off with the last infantryman. She had liked at least the white king before, but this is too much!” He stopped and reminded himself to command peacefully. So he pushed out jealousy and looked at the pawn’s back. What if things were all different? And indeed, it was different. The black pawn in front of them had a small door in his armour, up on his back! The knight strained his eyes even more and gradually became convinced that every single figure, either black or white, had that hidden door there — in secret, not to know about it, and not to be able to reach it. It occurred to him that his beloved star — apparently now in the role of this black queen —was somehow helping him out here. Only her love had just changed from hot to metallic cold: “Think my dear, hurry, just notice. Use your head!” “Oh, these ladies…Who’s supposed to know them?” The knight frowned, yet obeyed, forcing himself to think coldly in the middle of the fight with all his strength: “The back door, of course, he realized immediately. This game has its backdoor. And with the backdoor there is a way out! Black or white, pawn or king, we all have a chance to get out, escape the curse in that chess figure of ours. And whoever doesn’t get out by himself, let him help the other one.” This thought enchanted him now. He rejoiced that he had just found the key to victory: “Just let the enemy attack, from now he has no chance,” he was cheering ahead, “it’s all just a game of black and white after all… because the truth is only who we are inside, and this one can never lose! It’s a real miracle, now I’m holding the last key to the kingdom of heaven in my hand. It is just enough to turn it right. In fact, I can become the saviour of all beings in the world!” At that moment, his cold mind had subsided, and the decision was made in one instant. Turning sharply to the black lady at his side, he shouted in fierce passion: “I’ll free you first!” With a single move, he swept the lush raven hair off her back, and ripped her gown with his iron glove. He rushed to the hidden door, opened it, and reached inside hastily. But his face froze in horror: He felt absolutely nothing inside! Chapter Four Is human life enough for this goal? One sleeps until the horn blows, the other doesn’t just allow his eyelids to sink. The knight stood petrified, watching the battlefield grimly. “This is obviously not where salvation leads. How could it, if this is just Heaven of Nothing? Horror! The disguise will be even more perfect than I expected! Still, there is real blood pouring from the wooden figures, though all empty inside. The wounds in my empty body really hurt me, and I can clearly feel the icy breath of death behind my neck.” Then he watched how his black knight ended up stabbed, hitting a long spear in a hurry. His two rooks slowly turned into piles of ruins. In the end, even his black queen had to cross the board and surrender herself to the white king: “Don’t go there! Stay with me…” Just in vain.
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