Chapter 271 The Ancient Greek God in Charge of PUA (4.5k)
At night, the Great Temple.
Athena, who was working on documents at her desk, heard familiar footsteps outside the door. She casually drew forward with the stylus in her hand, and the restriction on the door was broken, and a figure tiptoed in.
"Why are you here?"
"I can't sleep, so I'm going to have a drink with you."
Loen smiled, put the two jars of fairy honey wine he brought with him on the table, took out the wine glasses and filled them for the two of them. A rich aroma of wine and sweet fruit filled the temple.
"I just brewed it, would you like to try it?"
Athena picked up the wine glass and took a sip of the agate-colored wine. After tasting it carefully, a look of surprise appeared on her face.
"Not wine?"
“Well, I used pomegranate.”
As Lorne explained, he picked up the jar of wine and filled the empty cup in front of Athena again.
This time, Athena observed and tasted more carefully.
This novel pomegranate wine has a pure body, bright and transparent color, and a sweet and sour and refreshing taste. In addition to retaining the natural sour, sweet, astringent and fresh flavor of pomegranate, it seems to contain some magical effects.
Soon, the goddess of wisdom opened her eyes thoughtfully and looked at Loen opposite her.
“Does this thing have any other effects?”
“That’s right!”
Loen gave Athena a thumbs up for her sharpness, and then told the goddess of wisdom the true function of the forbidden fruit, and finally told her his own plan.
“Since it can enlighten the mind and break down class barriers, why not use Athens as a starting point to use this miracle to benefit the world and gradually bring about changes to the world.”
Athena was immediately interested when she heard this: "What are the details? Tell me about it?"
Luo En nodded and said in a deep voice what he had prepared: "I plan to create a regular gathering to worship the gods, tentatively once every seven days. At that time, the God's Blood Guards will maintain order, and ordinary clergy will listen to the visitors' confessions in a private space, answer their confusions and provide help as appropriate. The priest will be responsible for presiding over the ceremony and distributing wine and food representing the grace of God to the believers who come to the gathering to relieve their fatigue from the journey."
Then he paused, a cunning look in his eyes.
"I named this ceremony Mass."
This ritual originated from the Last Supper in the Bible. During the last supper on the eve of his crucifixion, Jesus took the wheat bread and wine, gave thanks and blessings, and then turned the bread and wine into his body and blood, and gave them to his disciples to eat, and asked them to do the same to commemorate him. This is the first mass in the world.
The original meaning of Mass in Latin is "send you away", which also indicates that after the crucifixion of Jesus, the blessed disciples will disperse and spread this grace and love to all parts of the world.
Athena's purple eyes swept across the wine jar on the table, her gaze flickered, and her face looked thoughtful.
"You want to change them subtly?"
Luo En nodded, his eyes deep.
Athena was only half right. This change was not only to eliminate their disasters and activate their divinity, but also to cultivate psychological identification.
There were too many gods in Greece, the beliefs were too fragmented, and the ways of worship were too arbitrary.
Even in Athens, where Athena was the main object of worship, the power of faith she received was not pure or huge.
Although there was an endless stream of people coming to the Great Temple to worship the gods, they were scattered and disorderly, and most of them were just going through the motions.
According to Loen's understanding, the best way is to use a specific time, a specific occasion, and a systematic ritual to fix the act of worship, and to bring together scattered individuals into a group with a unified label.
In this way, under the control of unified consciousness, the group will generate a strong and pure power of faith to support the gods.
Successful religions of the future will often have some mind control tricks.
For example, the Five Precepts and Ten Virtues of Buddhism, the Ten Commandments of Christianity, the Ten Commandments and Eight Prohibitions of Islam...these can all be considered disciplines for believers.
Often, the stricter the requirements and the more frequent the rituals of a religion, the more extreme its beliefs are.
Take worship for example. Christianity requires gatherings every seven days, that is, Sundays, to worship God and pray together.
Islamic law requires that in addition to the Friday noon prayer, there are five prayers every day: morning prayer, noon prayer, afternoon prayer, evening prayer and night prayer. Failure to observe these prayers is considered a serious crime and is punishable - unless there is a legitimate reason.
Therefore, from the perspective of mental control alone, Islam, which is also derived from the Abrahamic religions, is more extreme than Christianity in its teachings and is more likely to cultivate believers who are prone to extremes.
This is because human energy is limited. Once most of the day is occupied by religious rituals and prayers, believers will lack room for self-reflection and will gradually be brainwashed and assimilated, becoming puppets to implement the doctrine.
Moreover, what Loen listed were only some orthodox sects. They certainly had mental control over their believers, but it was relatively restrained and still followed certain rules of the game, which could be tolerated by universal values.
If we go one step further, it will become a cult template.
- Using a large number of rituals and group activities every day to discipline individuals, not allowing participants any room for thinking, until they are shaped into puppets who have lost their selfhood.
If this technique is applied in the real world, it is the so-called "pyramid scheme" organization.
- Holding repetitive meetings every day, pumping up enthusiasm, shouting slogans, using group consciousness to trick the targets into joining in, making them obey the "teacher's" arrangements and instructions, and do anything, even if it means losing everything, or even their lives.
The believers produced by the latter two groups, although they have strong cohesion and pure faith, are also highly destructive and can easily get out of control.
As a senior PUA master, Loen naturally disdains this method of exhausting the resources, so his missionary method basically adopts a relatively gentle strategy.
But once this idea that was ahead of its time was put forward, Athena was still a little hesitant.
"There are so many gods in the world. Are you sure that the humans out there will listen to your arrangements and follow your steps?"
“So, we need to provide comprehensive services.”
Lorne shrugged, gave a subtle smile, and began to talk.
"As far as I know, civilian babies have a high mortality rate because they do not receive comprehensive care after birth and are weak. My suggestion is that the god of medicine, Asclepius, teach the priestesses medical skills, let them learn some skills of delivery and rescue, and provide free medical treatment to pregnant women who come to worship regularly.
When the child is born, or one month old, we will send someone to baptize them and give them the blessing of God to protect them from disease and disaster and ensure their healthy growth.
Loen raised the glass filled with pomegranate wine in his hand and shook it gently as a gesture.
Athena narrowed her eyes slightly, as if thinking about something.
"How do they grow up?"
"The temple will help them check their bodies and test their qualifications. Those with potential can be sent to the Athens Academy for careful training."
"What if you succeed in your studies?"
"Those with average grades will be divided into the society according to their professions, such as doctors, warriors, craftsmen, magicians... Athens is still in great need of these high-tech talents. Those with excellent grades will be selected with clean backgrounds and no hidden ties behind them, and will be directly absorbed into the temple for further training to become Saints fighting for the goddess Athena."
Lorne tapped the table with his fingers, winked and smiled.
"There are still many vacancies in the Eighty-Eight Star Palace and the Holy Land..."
“Who will control them?”
"Teacher Ma, I suggest that in addition to his position as the principal of the Academy of Athens, he should be given another title."
"What?"
"How about the Pope? He is responsible for the management and training of new Saints."
Lorne smiled and uttered a wickedly humorous answer.
Unfortunately, Athena on the opposite side did not understand the fun of this. After thinking for a moment, she nodded in agreement and looked at Loen deeply.
Although it is too risky to bestow God's grace on ordinary people.
But Loen has made well-organized arrangements for those little ones from birth to growth. If it is carried out in an orderly manner, it will greatly enhance the strength of Athens and Mount Ares.
only……
"Why don't you sit down, Pope?"
"The risk is too high, so forget it."
Luo En waved his hand and declined quickly.
In my impression, the Pope either turned evil, was stabbed in the back, or died in battle. Few of them had a good ending. With such a high-risk profession, it’s better to leave Mr. Ma alone.
Athena didn't force it when she heard the rejection. She pushed away the empty wine glass, leaned over and took out a pile of new documents from under the table, put them on the table, and continued working.
Seeing the number of files that was almost overwhelming Athena, Loen was stunned.
"There are still so many?"
"It would have been fine, but now that Themis is lying down, the part of the judicial issues that she is responsible for has become mine."
Athena responded unhappily, throwing a processed legal document aside.
Hearing the resentment in those words, Loen sighed and asked in a deep voice.
"So how is she now?"
"Not so good..." Athena shook her head, her tone somewhat helpless. "I built a temple for her in the Holy Land and sealed her in it. I wanted to use the small world built by the Eighty-Eight Star Palaces and the faith of the city of Athens to help her stabilize her injuries and restore her godhood. But the small world built by the Star Palace is incomplete, and the faith in justice is too weak, so the effect is minimal at present."
Luo En rubbed his sore temples and muttered, "If I had known this would be the result, I shouldn't have forced her to handle Hera's divorce lawsuit."
"Why? Do you regret it?"
“Somewhat.”
"Trading a Titan who has lost his power for an Olympian Queen who is at the peak of her powers, the gains are greater than the losses, so you are not at a loss at all."
Athena played with the stylus in her hand and said something to comfort her casually.
"You can't calculate it like that." Luo En rolled his eyes at the half-smiling face opposite him and snorted unhappily, "What I paid for was a partner who can rely on each other, and what I got was a resentful woman who wanted to use me to take revenge on Zeus. Even if she treats me well, I can't expect to wash up every day and lie in bed waiting for her favor, right?"
"I see you're enjoying it?"
"You think I was being forced to do that!"
Loen looked depressed and told the story of how he and Hera met by chance.
After hearing this bizarre experience, Athena immediately covered her lips and burst out laughing.
"Haha, aren't you the best at lying? How did this day come about?"
"Who knows what's going on in her mind. The more I say no, the more excited she gets. She even drags me to Hestia to ask for someone. I can't stop her."
The more Luo En spoke, the more speechless he became, and in the end his face was filled with helplessness.
"Well, there is really no other way, so I thought of borrowing the power of Themis and using the marriage law to get Hera out of the way..."
Athena waved her hand and spoke calmly.
"Okay, you don't have to take Themis's affairs too seriously. She has always been stubborn and her ideas tend to get stuck in a dead end. No one can stop her from making her own decisions."
Then, Athena paused and narrowed her eyes slightly.
"Moreover, when she received your request for help and rushed to the Ares Mountain from the Oceanus Sea, her physical condition seemed to be a little unwell. She always wanted to fall asleep for no reason. It was for this reason that she asked me to sit in on the class in case she could not hold on."
"Sleeping, is it because of Elysee Garden?"
When Luo En heard this, his face changed slightly. He immediately told Athena everything he had seen and heard during his previous trip to the underworld.
This includes his private relationship with the Queen of the Underworld and his secret dealings with Hades, the God of the Underworld.
"【True Dream】? So that's what it's all about? The disappearance of the old gods and the problems with Themis are no coincidence."
Athena nodded thoughtfully, then looked at Lorne with a smile.
"You've told me all these secrets, aren't you afraid that I might do something bad to you?"
"If you wanted to do this, you would have done it long ago. Why wait until now?"
Lorne retorted nonchalantly, then glanced at the pile of legal documents on the table and smiled helplessly.
"Besides, there are some things I should have said earlier."
Athena put down the stylus in her hand and looked at Lorne in front of her with interest.
"So, you figured it out?"
"Um……"
"Just figure it out."
Athena nodded, her deep purple eyes examining her so-called brother, and expressed her long-suppressed opinion.
"Your problem is that you have never fully trusted anyone around you. Even if they are your closest and most sincere relatives and friends, you always keep a sense of defense against them in your bones. You never show your true intentions and true side to others.
To be exact, you are wary of everyone, even the whole world, from the bottom of your heart!"
Hearing this, Luo En nodded helplessly.
That's right, because the soul comes from another world, he is naturally alienated from this world.
In addition, he almost died at the hands of Zeus when he was just born, and then was taken back by the woman Hecate for training, which made him wary of everyone he met afterwards.
Whether it was Medusa and Hestia who believed in him unconditionally, Athena and Themis who shared his ideals, or Thetis and Astraea who fought alongside him many times...
He had never trusted these people completely, nor had he ever been completely honest with them.
He always likes to use conspiracy to achieve his desired results.
But we seldom think about talking about many things openly, telling them about our difficulties, and seeking help from people around us in an upright manner.
"Although I don't know what you've been through and what you're afraid of. But sometimes, there's no need to be so cautious. This is your home, and we are your friends and family. No one needs you to bear everything alone."
The arrogance in Athena's eyes faded away, and a clear and sincere smile appeared on her face.
"We are willing to lend a hand as long as you ask."
Looking at the fingers stretched out in front of him, Loen felt a lot in his heart.
King Minos was willing to die for his advice.
Themis, because of his invitation, faced the most powerful kingship.
In addition to Hestia, Medusa, Athena... Each of them is worthy of his unreserved trust, rather than using conspiracy and calculation to achieve his goals.
Conspiracies have their limits, and for those close to you, sincerity is the ultimate killer move.
Because they deserve it.
As his thoughts became clear, Loen felt relieved. He raised his hand to hold Athena's arm, and with his other hand he pulled off the collar on his chest, activated the Wheel of Hecate, and spoke seriously.
"I think my time may be running out."
(End of this chapter)
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