MATHETΩN

Today as I ate at Taco Bell I observed, passing in front of the window to my right, various persons with crippled limbs making their way slowly to the public housing beyond and, at the table to my left, a father boasting pompously of his son’s sexual exploits at college. These things saddened and angered me, and they put me in mind of the Tripart Survey of the Mathetai.

At regular intervals the Mathetai issue this report for themselves in their work, whether for the world, for a country, or for a small region. Just as their Teacher sent his first followers throughout the Levant to teach, to preach, and to heal, so the work of the Mathetai takes those three general courses; and just as the Works tells us that the work of his first followers turned the world upside-down, so the end of the Mathetai’s courses is to fix the world — to rid it of the sufferings I observed as I ate lunch. And before a thing can be fixed, its breakages must be surveyed.

Thus the Tripart Survey seeks to answer: ( 1 ) Against what lies ought we most teach? ( 2 ) Against what abuses of power ought we most preach? ( 3 ) Against what illnesses ought we most turn our skills of healing?

Some would remark — especially after reading a Survey — that this seems a very scientific approach for men of God. And indeed the Mathetai are practical as flint in their war to fix the world: they feel themselves badly outnumbered and out of time; they are not a bit daunted; they will use any How, Who, or What most effectually to approach the goal.