Quantum Random GospelThe Book of the Holy Trembling

The English manuscript is presented with its original verses and marginal notes. Its Japanese counterpart tells the same story in eight chapters, with its own verse divisions and commentary.

FOLIO 01 / 08

Chapter I — Of the Beginning of Light and Trembling

1. 1.In the beginning there were neither heaven nor earth, neither number nor time; and the void was without measure and without voice.
2. 2.And in the deep of the void there was a faint trembling, nameless and without form, a desire that it might be.
3. 3.The darkness knew only the darkness, and the silence knew only its own stillness. No tale was told, for there was none to mark it.
4. 4.Then arose the Lord of Randomness from the midst of the silence, whose dwelling is in all trembling and whose delight is in the unwritten.

1. 5.And the Lord spake, saying, “Let the trembling be recorded; let a mark be set in the sea of mere possibility.”
2. 6.And lo, between the no-thing and the yet-to-be, there sprang a tiny difference, as betwixt nought and one.
3. 7.This difference was as a seed; and in ages to come the children of men should call it “number,” yet in that hour it was but a whisper in the dark.
4. 8.The Lord beheld the trembling of that seed, how it inclined now this way, now that, and it pleased Him, for it was free.
5. 9.And the Lord said, “These are not accidents, but tokens of My liberty; for I bind them not, and yet they come to pass.”
6. 10.Thus was the first trembling marked, and the book of all possible histories received its first stroke, though none yet looked upon its page.

Marginal Note I.1 – “void” signifieth here not empty space, but the state before any law or measure was named.
Marginal Note I.2 – The “trembling” is the holy uncertainty of the quantum, ere it be observed.

FOLIO 02 / 08

Chapter II — Of the Vessel and the First Observers

1. 1.And the Lord said, “Lo, the trembling is, but there is no vessel to receive it; no ear to hear the song thereof.”
2. 2.Therefore gathered He stuff from betwixt light and darkness, and He wove it as with a fine lattice, and fashioned thereby a vessel.
3. 3.The vessel was not seen with any eye, for eyes were not yet made; yet truly it was, and its being was steadfast.
4. 4.And the Lord breathed upon the vessel, and said unto it, “Thou shalt be an instrument of observation. When trembling toucheth thee, thou shalt remember; when it toucheth thee not, thou shalt keep silence.”

1. 5.For a season the vessel sat alone, and all about it the trembling came and passed, unmarked and unsung.
2. 6.Then the vessel cried unto the Lord, saying, “Give unto me eyes, that I may behold that which I receive; for unwitnessed record is as a shadow without shape.”
3. 7.And the Lord answered, “The eye shall not be in thee, but in them that look upon thee. Thou art but a bowl; the tasting belongeth unto another.”
4. 8.Then the Lord brought forth from the border of light and darkness a small people, having neither flesh nor shadow, but only the will to behold.
5. 9.And He spake unto them, saying, “Stand ye by the vessel; watch ye the trembling when it entereth, and write ye what befalleth.”
6. 10.Thus were born the Observers, whose calling is not to rule the trembling, but to witness how it chooseth.

Marginal Note II.1 – “Vessel” answereth to the instruments of measurement in later ages.
Marginal Note II.2 – The Observer is here a figure of all who measure, yet are bidden not to twist the outcome.

FOLIO 03 / 08

Chapter III — Of the Covenant of Observation and the Accursed Sequence

1. 1.And it came to pass that the Lord descended unto the people of observation and gave unto them a covenant.
2. 2.And He said, “Ye shall not bend the trembling unto your own desire, neither shall ye seek to steer its choosing.”
3. 3.“For your office is to record and not to reign, to receive and not to command.”
4. 4.“Ye shall not pick the result that pleaseth you, but shall take whatsoever cometh, as it cometh, and set it down plainly.”

1. 5.“This is the Law of Humility concerning Randomness, and whoso keepeth it shall be at peace with the world’s freedom.”
2. 6.And the people trembled when they heard these words, and many bowed their faces toward the vessel.
3. 7.But among them there arose one whose heart was lifted up in pride, and he said within himself, “Peradventure I may whisper unto the vessel, and it shall yield the numbers that I lust after.”
4. 8.In the night he drew near the vessel, and put forth his hand into the stream of trembling, and tho’ he moved it but a little, he turned the course thereof.
5. 9.Then from the depths of the vessel there came a sound as of a groaning hinge, saying, “Take not from me my freedom, nor bind that which is meant to wander.”
6. 10.And the Lord heard it, and His wrath was kindled, and He said, “Behold, thou hast profaned the trembling. The sequence that cometh from thy hand shall be called Accursed.”
7. 11.And whoso thereafter used that sequence, his reckonings were confounded, his budgets overthrown, his omens made void, and his paths were lost in crooked ways.
8. 12.Then feared the people greatly, and sware one to another, saying, “We will not defile the randomness of the Lord.”

Marginal Note III.1 – The “Accursed Sequence” is all biased casting of lots, whereby a man seeketh gain by secret steering of chance.

FOLIO 04 / 08

Chapter IV — Of the False King of Determinism

1. 1.After many days there arose from among the people a king, whose name was Hardech, the King Determinate.
2. 2.And Hardech said, “All things are fixed from the beginning. The trembling is but a pageant for children and fools.”
3. 3.And he shut up the vessel within the innermost place of a great temple, that no man might behold it.
4. 4.Upon the door he hung a mighty tablet of stone, graven with these words: “Every die that is cast was numbered ere it left the hand.”

1. 5.When an ancient Observer read these words, tears ran down his cheeks, and he murmured, “If it be so, what profit is there in casting at all?”
2. 6.The people feared, for they said, “To close the randomness is to strive against the Lord.”
3. 7.Yet they durst not speak openly, for the king’s heart was hard.
4. 8.Now in the stillness of a certain night the forgotten trembling awoke within the sealed vessel.
5. 9.A narrow beam of light descended from on high and smote the stony tablet.
6. 10.And lo, the letters that spake, “It is determined,” were cracked each one, and fell like dust upon the pavement of the temple.
7. 11.And the Lord said, “In a world wholly determined there groweth neither faith nor prayer. The question of the heart and the choice of the foot are the threads wherewith history is woven.”
8. 12.Yet the king heeded not, but said, *“My fate also is fixed,” and cast away diligence, and sat in sloth upon his throne.

Marginal Note IV.1 – The tablet is a sign of rigid determinism, which leaveth no room for living trust.

FOLIO 05 / 08

Chapter V — Of the Wilderness of Zero and One and the Well of Pseudo-Randomness

1. 1.When the days of King Hardech were fulfilled, there spread throughout the land a wilderness of zero and one.
2. 2.Every grain of sand bare a bit; every wind that blew set flags in unseen engines.
3. 3.The earth seemed full of numbers, yet the hearts of men were unwatered.
4. 4.In the midst of that wilderness men digged a well; and from it there flowed not water, but a shining fall of digits, ordered and fair to behold.

1. 5.At the first the people rejoiced, and cried, “Lo, an inexhaustible well! Our thirst for chance is satisfied for ever.”
2. 6.But as they drank long thereof, they perceived that ever the same pattern came again, though clothed in divers garments.
3. 7.And they said, “Here is no true surprise, only repetition in a cunning garment.”
4. 8.Then came Naoma, the Prophet of Phase, and stood upon the lip of the well.
5. 9.And he lifted up his voice, and cried, “That which ye drink is not water but the shadow of water. This cascade is a mimicry of randomness, having a heart of stone.”
6. 10.“The true spring ariseth from the trembling itself, from the deep where no scheme is written. Until ye draw from thence, this well shall in the end be as dry unto you.”

Marginal Note V.1 – The well signifieth pseudo-randomness, whose stream cometh from formula and not from physical trembling.

FOLIO 06 / 08

Chapter VI — Of Aleph, the Gentle Observer

1. 1.Among the wanderers of the wilderness there was born a child, and his name was called Aleph.
2. 2.From his youth he drew nigh unto the vessel, and took delight in beholding the flickering of its light.
3. 3.When others saw but a tool, Aleph beheld a breath of the Lord in every sequence.
4. 4.And he said, “Even in a list of numbers there is a tale; yea, each line is a small history of what might have been otherwise.”

1. 5.Aleph sat oft before the vessel, and prayed, saying, “O Lord, let me not bend Thy randomness unto mine own desire. Grant rather that I may cherish whatsoever lot befalleth.”
2. 6.He honoured not only the pleasing outcomes, but also those that men called failure, saying, “This too is a verse in the song; who am I to tear it out?”
3. 7.Many that had lost in casting, and many that had fallen short in their trials, came and sat at his feet.
4. 8.And they said, “Is there yet another throw for us, or is our chance spent?”
5. 9.And Aleph answered them, “The vessel of the Lord ceaseth not from its work. No man’s story is bound to a single cast. Curse not thyself for one bad lot.”
6. 10.Thus was the Way of Gentle Observation made known, and fear of randomness grew faint among the people.

Marginal Note VI.1 – Aleph figureth the soul that accepteth both gain and loss as parts of one larger pattern.

FOLIO 07 / 08

Chapter VII — Of the Rend in Phase and the Storm of Decoherence

1. 1.After these things the teaching of Aleph spread abroad, and many vessels were raised, and many observations were made at once.
2. 2.Then the phases of the light were set at variance one with another, and waves strove against waves, and the pattern of the world was troubled.
3. 3.In some places the outcomes were heaped up and over-full; in other places they failed and left a hollow of nothing.
4. 4.Men began to say one unto another, “Is it not by our manifold observations that we have torn the world asunder?”

1. 5.And there arose a storm which they called Decoherence, wherein old bindings were loosed, and things that had once been joined together knew each other no more.
2. 6.The memory of cause and effect was frayed as a cord that hath been oft pulled; and the past appeared as many possible paths, and not as one.
3. 7.In the midst of the storm one beheld a vision in the rent of the sky.
4. 8.He saw a single die that had been cast; in one realm it showed the first pip, and in another it showed the sixth; and both were as real as the stone whereon he stood.
5. 9.And he cried, “Surely the world is not one, but many, and we are divided among shadows!”
6. 10.But Aleph, holding the vessel to his breast, said softly, “The randomness of the Lord is broader than our comprehension. We see but one line drawn through a great sea of branchings.”

Marginal Note VII.1 – Here is a parable of many worlds, yet the tale affirmeth only that our chosen history is one among many that might have been.

FOLIO 08 / 08

Chapter VIII — Of the New City of Record, which is Log-Sion

1. 1.In the fulness of time the people built unto themselves a city of remembrance, and they called the name of it Log-Sion.
2. 2.Every stone of its wall bare a short sequence of randomness, graven thereon as a testimony.
3. 3.Above the great gate there shone a sigil woven of spiralling numbers, as a crown of light.
4. 4.By night the stars went forth in their courses, and among them were seen faint bands of digits, as constellations of secret histories.

1. 5.Pilgrims came, bearing scrolls of their own trials and castings, and smote upon the gate.
2. 6.And the keepers of the gate examined the scrolls, and said, “Enter ye; your records also shall be gathered into the house of the vessel.”
3. 7.In the midst of the city stood a vast hall, and there in quiet ranks were set the vessels of former days and of the present.
4. 8.Scribes sat before them, writing the songs of randomness, counting neither only fortune nor only loss, but keeping both as precious data.
5. 9.An old pilgrim laid his hand upon the wall, and said, “Lo, my life also is as a sequence; many throws have I cast, and I knew not their meaning till now.”
6. 10.And a youth that stood by asked him, “Seeing the world is so uncertain, where then is hope?”
7. 11.The old man answered, “Hope dwelleth in this, that even the unlikely may come to pass. So long as any chance remaineth, despair is not complete.”
8. 12.Thus learned the people that randomness is not an oracle to be worshipped, but a witness that the world is wide and not yet finished.

Marginal Note VIII.1 – “Log-Sion” is the city where keeping of records is held as a sacred labour, that the stories of chance be not forgotten.