#a conqueror destroying the temples and monuments of a people he conquered

[a-god-in-ruins-rises]

some people who try to "rehabilitate" the dark ages are doing too much. it's one thing to say it wasn't as bad as popularly imagined in the past.

but it's another thing to say it wasn't bad at all or that it wasn't obviously a downgrade from the ages that preceded or even that it was actually equal or even /better/ than the ages that preceded it (actually thing i've seen people say).

like look at this "medievalist":

he basically acknowledges that there was a decline by several metrics -- even says this isn't disputed -- but then he still insists we stop using the term "dark age" because of "emotional baggage". lmao.

has the same energy as this:

[huberleo]

Once upon a time there was a strange man stranded in a strange city

Visitors must adapt for they are complete aliens, even if they were kinsmen in a previous life. The host does not feel comfortable with all these aliens and makes them adapt by force. Unless the intruder secures himself by flight, they seldom fail at last to kill or to take him prisoner[1] and make him subject to this new world.

Lenny finds himself in Vienna, dislocated, dispossessed, lost. There is no flock to lead anymore, no divinity to represent. Lenny needs this feeling of power, this machinery around him that listens to his every whim. He craves the fear with which people approach him. He likes to toy with these people. They are not his equal and will never be. Lenny is obsessed with legacy, with power made real. I wish to remain an eternal enigma to myself and to others.[2] Lenny needs to rule over someone. Something. Lenny stands in front of the house. Ludwig is a kingdom. A realm complete in itself, surrounded by a wall. What king did not seat him at his table [3].

Prepare for battle

With him, Lenny has a chair, a throne, the last remnant of his time as god’s representative on earth. A souvenir onto which he projects his ideas of rule. Lenny stands in front of Ludwig. I'm ready to wage a war without end against you.[4] He sees himself as a being of greater glory and importance than his fellow men. He was of so great ability, even as a private citizen, that one who writes of him says he wanted nothing but a kingdom to be a king.[5]

Ludwig likes rationality, Ludwig likes a good encyclopaedia that defines the world and its inhabitants and divides them into categories. Ludwig likes the absolute truth, Ludwig does not want to acknowledge the fact that there might be another absolute truth than his. Ludwig is a house.

But Ludwig cannot explain Lenny. Lenny is an intruder. Lenny sees himself as a conqueror of worlds and Ludwig is his target. Ludwig is Vienna and Lenny is Suleiman the magnificent. Lenny is self- indulgent and he is willing to ignore the fact that history already provided a likely outcome for his quest. Lenny sees himself as beyond the realm of man, he is Genghis Khan and therefore what he invades, he conquers. Lenny likes to place himself in the pantheon of emperors, conquerors, military geniuses and deities. For he is not man, but legend. Humans are mortal; their glory may escape death. [6]

 Lenny is about to enter Ludwig clad in the armour of his extreme perception of himself and his idea of a perfect world. Do they fight to the death? [7] While shutting the enemy in with his siege works he drove them to fall on their own swords.[8] That's the fate of power.[9]  He wants to conquer Ludwig and make him his subject, a being that exists for nothing but to serve its master in his glory. That master being Lenny. Of course. Ludwig prepares for war.

Siege

In the eyes of contemporaries, siege warfare unfolds like a classical drama.[10] You hesitate before entering a new world as an intruder, and becoming an alien. The anticipation of the moment may be more than you bargained for. Or it might be less. The city lives suspended in history, always waiting for someone or something, condemned to remain in precarious balance, always on the verge of resurrection but also a step back from the brink, exaltations following depressions.[11]. Nevertheless, a siege took tremendous organizational skill.[12]

A dog believes his master is at the door.[13] Ludwig is no dog. Ludwig is well read in the art of battle. Ludwig knows what to do, for when the battle begins: here we are plunged into a world entirely mechanical. [14] In extreme conditions, when he was under siege, the gates were closed, the battlements were manned, and the house became the city became self contained for the duration.[15] It is the way Ludwig relates to his surroundings and their history, as a place that withstood siege. Ludwig has a high wall all around him. Ludwig is a fortress. Ludwig has one way in and when Lenny makes use of it he will strike back. Ludwig is armed neutrality, but you shall not escape. [16] Away, run, haste, speed! [17]

War What is it good for?[18]

The threshold

A gate. A door. A void. A place between worlds. Between the two, there is threshold and fiber, symbiosis of or passage between heterogeneities. [19]  It is the momentary realization of leaving and entering at the same time. In a fraction of a certain time that cannot be measured you are both at once, past and future simultaneously without a present. Then you step into another world as another self and leave the alien in its pure form on the threshold, only to assume its form again once you step back into the past.

The first door. A gate in a wall. Lenny had expected something massive with at least one portcullis, something he would have to fight his way through. This is why fairy tales often had medieval architectural environments – to house their battles where good triumphs over evil, in a land far away, once upon a medieval time. [20] But it was only a simple door, almost hidden in the fabric of the wall. There was no handle but when he pushed it gave way.

Lenny stands on the threshold, he has breached the wall and the house is his. He will take hold of it, fly his flag and overwrite its mind and being. Ludwig is ready, the door behind Lenny falls shut, stranding possible reinforcements outside. And though he, as the house is the most precise product of modern processes there will be entrenched within it this ancient loyalty invulnerable against the siege of our machines. [21] Every part of Ludwig is ready to fight. To defend itself with a selflessness that creates legends. These assurances produced a degree of calm. [22] It was a dangerous calm, the one that makes you uneasy and dying to leave. Yet both fear the moment of truth when they have to confront each other not only in mind but in body. Lenny takes a step. Leaving any roots he had behind, for this step completely unearths him. The structure of reality has been fragmented, for the abolition of the mythical horizon has destroyed the divine mystery that lies beyond it. [23]

After the breach

The Garden surrounding the house in front of him feels strangely calm, almost surreal. Definitely not what Lenny expected, in his mind the battle to come had amassed to epic proportion but there were no raging hordes here was just a house, surrounded by a garden as calm as the house appeared minimalist to Lenny’s taste. The garden was baroque in geometry, but devoid of anything Lenny would have perceived as an ornament. In front of him, a door. His next objective. It too, was devoid of ornament but appeared more intimidating than the last.

Ludwig studied the strange form in front of him. Ludwig had not expected this. This was not how invading armies presented themselves, just standing in the garden and staring. The unfamiliarity of their situation made both of them uncomfortable, very much so. Both wanted to escape this weird stalemate. It felt wrong and yet there was a fascination with a pull that was impossible to ignore. Ludwig opened his front door.

Entering the house

Lenny enters the house, the door seemed to carry the weight of the entire building.[24] His moment has come, the door was meant only for him.[25] Right behind that door: Hell.[26] Lenny stands on a threshold once again, determined to make this house a home, by any means necessary —a Modification of general features [27]  for a start. Lenny comes from a world where everything revolved around him, he needs everything to be about him. He finds himself in a room, completely bare yet decorated with a variety of doors to go through next. The apparent lack of ornament disturbs Lenny, he wants Ludwig to become this bastion of his personal power far away from Rome, a temple to enshrine himself in, like the emperors of old. The room was not small, neither was it the size Lenny wanted it to be. Lenny wants a room where to put his chair. A throne room. The object of a cult, subjected to varying interpretations, the bearer of many different values, this throne is a memorial, a monument to the glory of Lenny and of his immortal self.[28] No reasoning power, no commandment, no force can override his inclination or his choice.[29] The throne admits not two. [30] Still, Ludwig is a force to be reckoned with.

Ludwig is intrigued by Lenny. That was until Lenny, deeming the present room to small, opens a next door to check the room behind. Ludwig watches in astonishment as Lenny proceeds to tear down the wall separating those rooms. How dare he change proportions Ludwig sees as a product of perfection. But when Lenny goes about the house, his manoeuvre was accompanied by another change. [31] His demeanour evolved from invasive force to reluctant explorer. He opens another door finding himself face to face with a wall. Ludwig’s initial interest in this strange creature has turned into anger. He put the wall there. Retaliation for this act of vandalism. Annoyed, Lenny turns to the next door, only to find it locked. Telling himself, he will have to break it down to show his dominance, his victory over Ludwig, he notices the intricate mechanism that barred him from opening that particular door. A thing of beauty, not comparable with the crude machinery Lenny expected.

Ludwig, suddenly full with pride, unlocks the door for Lenny. Once again interest surfaces. He starts to feel more at ease now that this alien shows a basic appreciation for him. But Ludwig knows he is a labyrinth, and Lenny will get lost.

Dragging his chair with him Lenny gets fully immersed in the labyrinth. With each room Lenny goes through the needed changes are becoming less, becoming smaller, the rooms becoming bigger. If the features change slightly, we can speak of a corresponding change in the fear.[32] Ludwig watches Lenny rummage through his rooms, rearrange his features. With every new room Lenny enters, his presence becomes more familiar to Ludwig.

All the hostility built up over the course of the siege slowly disappears until there is none left. Their intricate battle plans, strategies reliant upon battles past, become obsolete. With every threshold Lenny passes the alienation of a new room, a new world is like a blow to him. With every threshold Lenny leaves something behind. A trail consisting of fragments. Like an animal shedding fur, Lenny sheds hostility. Ludwig develops the need to accommodate Lenny, not as a guest but as an integral part of himself. For Lenny did not just leave parts of himself behind, he also infused Ludwig with them. And so there would be neither accord nor conflict here,[33] but growth. With every new room Lenny enters while Ludwig watches they grow closer, they get to know each other. They lay bare their soul completely.

Lenny stands on a threshold, before him a room as grand in proportion as he imagined, a throne room. He places the chair in the middle of the room. Ludwig watches Lenny wander around the full extent of the space. Ludwig doesn’t know where this room came from, it just felt as if it belonged there. It feels like an essential part of him. Ludwig watches as Lenny starts to move towards the wall nearest to him. There is no fear of destruction only wonder as Lenny starts to paint the walls, telling of a mythical battle of great proportion, a mighty hero, banished and dispossessed, conquering a new realm and installing himself as the divine ruler. The design of the History was very much an expression of his mind; he hopes it may stand, not unworthily, as a monument to his work. [34] The story sounds familiar to Ludwig. Life and growth went on.[35]

Lenny, absorbed in his retelling only notices the door when it gives way once he starts painting on it. Like a hidden servants door in a palace it appears completely invisible. Standing at the threshold of the house he looks over the whole garden.[36] Neither the parterre nor the surrounding groves show any original features.[37] yet they do not feel different, they merely feel just as they should be.

Change is evident. [38] But not in the individual. There is no winner because there was no battle.

Hortus conclusus

Enclosed space, a walled world, a wall around your own paradise/ hell/ purgatory – eternal state. Every time the being that occupies this safe space ventures into another, it is as if it travelled to another realm of reality. As soon as it enters the new space it becomes alien from the old one. Therefore the hortus conclusus has to adapt to accommodate the changed needs of its resident every time they come back to what they perceive as home. It is a place of personal refuge. A place of dreams, longing and desires made real.

Lenny steps into the garden. It is his garden. It is also Ludwig’s garden. A perfect refuge with no need for change whatsoever. It is neither the geometrical, minimalist place it was not is it the heavily ornamented representation of power and fame Lenny wanted it to be. Still, to both it is just like paradise. Even to the most prosaic it always holds something of a promise of the peaceful and pleasant place that lies within. [39] Together they walked toward the garden.[34] And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.[40] Their very own hortus conclusus.

How great a resemblance of a holy and virtuous soul is a calm, serene day. [41] Lenny has become Ludwig. Ludwig has become Lenny. The one cannot be without the other for they have achieved symbiosis. Their need for the familiarization of the unknown has merged them into a single being. Together they have become god of their own universe. Both have become new versions of themselves. Same but different. And for this reason, whatever was uncertain among the ancients has now attained the most assured calm, and no source of indecision has been left. [42]  they are blessed, serene, and rejoice in their splendour.[43] The evening was extremely calm and beautiful.[44]

A door in a wall

Lenny opens his eyes and sees a single door in the wall. What lies beyond that door is the alien of Lenny’s former self. The outside world. Waiting for his former occupant to step over the threshold and resume his old life, but Lenny is no longer familiar with that, what used to be. He has become completely alien to the world outside of the garden walls, his garden walls. Still, he takes the step. Thus a door has been opened to invent ‘design worlds’. [45] These worlds were once Lenny’s. Not anymore.

He didn’t go out through a door? [46] Once you leave your creation there is need to revert back to what you were before. Your own universe has become strange to you and the process of making it yours has to begin again. Now the same thing can’t be both known and unknown. [47] A perpetual state of rebirth on the threshold. They eagerly seek the agent of this metamorphosis, and hasten to his door. [48]

Lenny stands in front of a wall, he is ready to make whatever lies beyond his. Ludwig sees a possible intruder standing in front of his wall. How, indeed, was it possible for it always to fight and struggle against new enemies? [49] Ludwig prepares for invasion. Thus the struggle goes on. [50]

Here we go again. [51]

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