That morning, Chris Turner awoke with a start. He had had a mysterious and terrifying nightmare. He was in the middle of the woods, where the sun's rays could not penetrate. Suddenly he came to the edge of a clearing in the middle of which a large oak tree was struck by the slanting rays of the rising sun. The last mists were slowly fading away and that's when he saw it. A majestic deer was watching him. But something was wrong. The deer was armed. He realized that he was the prey. The animal gave off a powerful presence, something divine and evil.
Chris knew as he looked around that this vision would haunt him all day. He walked over to his espresso machine with mixed feelings. His rational side wanted to get the images out of his mind, but another side of him wanted to get to the bottom of them and wanted to replay them. He closed his eyes and listened to the coffee flowing while the rain hit the windows. All this was likely to soothe him. He opened his eyes, took a deep breath and put on some random music. From the first notes of the piano Chris recognized Alone together by Chet Baker. It was one of his favorite songs. Maybe because his feeling of loneliness followed him everywhere like his shadow, like his vision that morning.
He had announced to his entourage that he was leaving for France to finish his novel, but he realized this morning that his real motivations were. He had fled with the illusory aim of escaping from his shadows, from this malaise, this profound discontentment from which he could not rid himself. He drank a sip of coffee slowly and, while putting back the cup, noticed the tourist leaflets in pseudo-disorder. He gave them a dark look. He had not come here to play tourist. However, one of the flyers caught his attention. He recognized Josephine Baker in a medallion on the one dedicated to the Château des Milandes. Chet's trumpet was still playing in the room, which for Chris was more than just a coincidence. The term synchronicity came to mind. What connection could there be between a jazz trumpeter and a music hall star? Chris remembered that after the Revue Nègre at the Théâtre des Champs Elysées, Josephine had recorded several great jazz standards. He thought of Blue skies precisely when the rain stopped. Behind the clouds there is always a big blue sky, he thought, all it takes is a little poetry.
Perhaps this was the link between them, and between all of us, thought Chris. This stubborn desire to ascend and to slowly search for happiness that opposed the pain of living, this hand rising from the abyss to draw us into the depths. This internal struggle between light and darkness that animated Chris, and probably many human beings, could certainly find a favorable outcome thanks to art. It was undoubtedly the key, the means to reconcile these visions, these apparently irreconcilable antagonistic forces?
Chris also found an unexpected source of inspiration for his novel. He took the road to the castle and the path was as winding as the thoughts inside him. The valley of the Dordogne was soothing and beautiful. A river spanned here and there by ancient bridges, green forests, castles on the hillsides and medieval villages that shaped the landscape.
When Chris arrived, he understood why Josephine had liked the Château des Milandes. Built in the Middle Ages and transformed over time, it had become a chimera. It was not the reflection of an era but symbolized the passage of time, the accumulation of centuries. Its architecture was an architectural mix of medieval gargoyles, neo-gothic allegorical sculptures and neo-renaissance staircases.
This castle had certainly made Josephine want to make it the nerve center of her "World Village", the refuge of her "rainbow tribe".
Chris wandered from room to room, thinking about Josephine's dream, a dream that could be felt, touched. He looked at the list of names of Josephine's adopted children, children of nine different nationalities. There were also some pictures from "Paris Match" and "Jours de France". He was meditating on Josephine's project, on world peace, on sweet utopias. Suddenly he realized that a slender man with clear eyes was standing right next to him. Chris had not heard him approach. The man, without looking at him, said softly:
- They were twelve, like the signs of the zodiac. A strange coincidence...
Chris turned to the man, who did the same. He had penetrating eyes. Chris noticed that his polo shirt had an emblem on it, a deer's head circled with hunting horns. The man guessed what Chris had seen and squinted, with a small smirk.
- Can I tell you a story?
Chris swallows
- Further south in France, in 1691, a man named Benoist reported something astonishing in his book entitled "Histoire des Albigeois et des Vaudois". This unjustly overlooked document was found in the archives of the Inquisition in Carcassonne. It relates the revelation of John, the beloved disciple, received while resting on the Lord's breast. John asked what Satan was like before his fall. Then Christ answered, "He was in such magnificence that he ruled the powers of heaven". He then told him how he wanted to see God's creation and discovered that the earth was covered with water and that hanging clouds covered the expanse of the sea. So he went up and told the angels that he wanted to set up his throne on those clouds and be like the Almighty. Thereupon he was cast out of heaven with them by God. But God had mercy on him and allowed him and his angels to do as he pleased for seven days. Satan used this time to create the world and men according to the pattern described in Genesis. This text, as you can imagine, was considered a heresy. Which explains where it was found centuries later. Yet I find that this version could explain many things.
- But if the world and men are creations of Satan, then there is no hope!
- If you seek perfection then, indeed, there is little hope. Fortunately there is another way.
- What is that?
- That of wholeness, that is to say, the balance of the antagonistic forces that act within us. We all have a shadow to accept, we must go to meet it
- Easier said than done
- Indeed, that's why most people don't do it.
- I was wondering...
- What?
- If we don't go to our shadow, is it possible that it comes to us?
The man nodded:
- And you know when that happens, don't you?
Chris had a sudden revelation:
- In dreams?
- Exactly. A dream is that moment when something inside you is trying to get a message across. You must have crossed your shadow, right?
- It could well be so.
- If it is not too indiscreet, where did it happen?
- In the middle of the woods
This time, it was the man who seemed surprised:
- Did you know that in Occitan1, Milandes means in the middle of the woods?
- A strange coincidence...
- At this point I would like to talk about synchronicity. In the Middle Ages, this castle was probably surrounded by forests full of animals. It was a remote, isolated place. And yet it is here that she wished to build the world village. Why?
- We all want to build something, right?
- All of us? No, I don't think so. On the one hand, a small part of humanity seeks to build while another minority only knows how to destroy
- That's right. And in the middle there are all the others, the most numerous, the undecided, those who can lean at any moment on one side or the other
- Josephine was a resistance fighter during the Second World War. She took in abandoned children and did what she could for them. She may not have been perfect, but she had a gift for turning the negative into the positive.
Chris thought about the meaning he wanted to give to his life and what he could contribute to humanity. The words kept coming back to him. He felt his clothes in search of his notebook. He raised his head to speak but his mouth remained open. The man had disappeared. Chris was alone in the room. He looked for the man in the adjacent rooms, in vain. As noon approached, most of the visitors had left. The few people he saw had not seen the man.
Chris wondered if this meeting had really happened. The memory of the man was slowly fading. Chris looked around. He felt like he had just returned from a long journey. He was a new man. He left the castle with a smile, walking with a determined step towards his destiny.
