represented the heart and the mind – love and knowledge. The sad thing for those who share the vision of the birth of a religion of love associated with Jesus, is the realisation that the turn of historical events imply that it became a shell from which power devoid of that essential spark of love, emerged. It became a contradiction in terms, as periods of the Byzantine and Catholic history so dramatically illustrate. The Kingdom that Jesus alluded to therefore was one that constantly came off its tracks and needed one of his true followers and interpreters to bring it back on course all the time. I would not be surprised if that is not what is meant by the perilous seat in the Grail legends, for whomever dared to face the forces of organised politicized religion in the name of Jesus, faced their own executioners, if they lacked the conviction and strength that Jesus demonstrated. Taking on the role of Messiah through bloodline was not enough – the divine nature and heart had to form a binding part for an incarnation to herald a new leaderhship and age. Lancelot, for example, failed the test.
People watching Jesus mix with and address the crowd would have in turn attracted his individual scrutiny immediately. He would not have missed those lurking in the shadows and if they did not belong or appear to be there for the wrong reasons, he would keep them in sight and address them on a second plane that only they would have understood. Jesus could sweep through the crowd with eyes of an objective intensity that earned him the fascination of those who came close to him. These eyes could alight on anything that struck him as different or meaningful in the context of what he was doing and provoke an instant response. It was these blind,