Upon my return to base I started digging around trying to find the meaning of "archetype." I must say that this little investigation moved me into some really interesting psychological material. Evidently the word "archetype" has been around since the ancient Greeks, meaning essentially an original image or typos. All this even gets into religious imagery and symbolism. But it was Carl Jung, the Swiss psychologist and protege of Sigmund Freud, who really brought the "archetype" up into a new level of thinking.

Jung felt that the "archetype" involved imagery that is shared by all of humanity, in that it is about universal imagery. Not yet all that cognizant when it comes to Jungian psychology, I think that Jung believed that humanity's evolutionary development slowly created this archetypal imagery (that dwells in our minds) so as to provide both structure and direction in both our societal and individual lives. As a consequence the "archetype" now seems inborn or innate when it comes to the individual. Jung believed that there's a menagerie of archetypal forces that dwells in our mind, but there's always a dominant "archetype" that forges who we are. The success of this process would seem to depend on how conscious we become of this primordial image that rules us.

As for myself, well since a youngster I *knew* that I wanted to be a soldier. Following the thinking about the "archetype," well I figure that I was born with the innate disposition towards being a soldier. Maybe not yet seriously conscious of all this, with hind- sight I can readily observe a refinement of this soldier archetype when I was drawn to the imagery of the knight. Now, having said all this, it seems I am taking this "archetype" one step further, moving into the imagery of the Knight Templar.

Maybe all my so-called archetypal efforts involve projection, as Fr. Dunstan put. But at least I am not projecting unconsciously! Somehow I came to the decision that it was actually good to enjoy the general structure of the Templar imagery, consciously injecting my life into its overall mold. Somehow this process in which I was involved brought me a lot of satisfaction. It gave me a sense of strangely being on-course.

After having worked through all this business of "archetype," of imagery and symbolism, I turned back to my historical pursuit of the Knights Templar.

After St. Bernard of Clairvaux and the Pope gave their blessings, the Knights Templar--as a religious order--grew by leaps and bounds. Aristocratic families all over Western Europe gave over not only money but lands to the Order of the Temple. So over their two century existence the Knights Templar not only made their presence known in the Middle East, with fortresses spread throughout the region, but also with vast estates in Europe which produced sellable products that provided financing for their ventures in Outreemer.

Consequently, the Templar Order took on other personnel who weren't necessarily knights. There were also sergeants, chaplains, scribes, and workers who helped maintain their stables and their estates. The different ranks in the Templar Order wore different colored tunics, but the knights always wore a white tunic with a splayed red cross.

What with their landholdings, the Templars became an exceedingly wealthy organization. They evidently learned to organize and run their land possessions very well. Indeed they must have learned how to delegate responsibilities. There were even Templar properties in the towns, leased out sometimes--but more often run by a Templar associate.

These Templar landholdings--whether a fortress, a castle, an estate-- were oft the site of a unit called a Preceptory. The Templar organization consisted of an overall Grand Master, then Masters of the national groups, like over the Paris Temple in France or the London Temple in England. There were also preceptors who were masters of the smaller precptories or commandaries of the Temple. As an organization, the Knights Templar were literally all over the map.

In Outreemer itself, which for the Templars mainly included Turkey, Syria, and the Holy Land. these warrior-monks served in the front lines of the Crusades. The Knights Templar were not given over to surrender. If at all possible, they would not give up and would fight to the death. Still there was some leeway in that if they were up against an enemy and out manned three to one, they were allow to disengage and withdraw. But for the most part, if captured, they refused to bow or convert to Islam, and they were put to death--usually by beheading. These knights were tough customers!

Like many of their fellow knights in general, most of the Templars were probably illiterate. Still there's some question about at least some of their leadership, as to whether they were a more learned sort. This maybe might be the case, because it had to take some considerable "know-how" to run their vast organization along with all its properties. Beyond this, the Knights Templar also established what is deemed the first international banking system.

They hadn't forgot their earliest duty, which was to protect the pilgrims visiting the Holy Land. The Knights Templar developed a system wherein pilgrims could pay out a certain amount of money at a Templar post, usually in Europe, then given a promissory note that they could cash at another Templar unit stationed in the Holy Land. Standing behind all this were secret codes, which might be reminiscent to our modern day PIN numbers. Essentially, this gave the pilgrim a more heightened sense of security as he was traveling. So--what with all this fairly sophisticated activity, there surely had to be some literate Templars at the helm.

The myth of the Knights Templar certainly lingered, even after they were forcibly disbanded. In our own world we have been engaged in a long crusade. Even before my birth there was the "Crusade in Europe," where the American Office of Strategic Services (O.S.S.) was involved in a clandestine war against the Nazis. Interestingly, I read that some of the O.S.S. referred to themselves as "Knights Templar."

Following the very tragic killing during World War II, almost immediately the Iron Curtain foretold of another crusade. This time it was the West against the Soviet Union and Communism. Although there were terrible outbreaks in Korea and Vietnam, the greater portion of this crusade was called the "Cold War." It remained cold, mainly because of the advanced weapons involved. Sounds strange, but true. Long- range missiles outfitted with multiple nuclear warheads served to thwart a major outbreak of "hot" war. Both superpower sides realized that if these advanced weapons were ever used, it could spell the end of life on Earth. These special weapons could destroy the planet some fifty times over.

So, back at White Sands, I pondered over these different crusades: the historic ones in which the medieval Knights Templar took part, and the Crusade of the Cold War in which I was an integral part. Both crusades involved military commitment and smart thinking. So I have little doubt that the medieval Knights Templar organization included some considerable brain-power for them to have survived for two centuries, just as we modern crusaders stand on the edge of technological advances when it comes to weaponry that stems the desire for a hot war between the superpowers.

Yet there seemed a disparity when it came to the medieval Knights Templar, in that they were not only warriors but also monks. This disparity was like a strange schism that somehow didn't seem to make much sense. Nonetheless Templar history shows that when these warriors weren't fighting, they repaired to their preceptories and stayed true to their monastic vocation.

It wasn't easy, but over time I acquired most of the Benedictine books that were on the list that Fr. Dunstan had provided. Long delinquent from church, I probably was reading into these books more from a mechanistic approach. At the time I was mainly interested in the functions of a monk. How did he live? What kind of duties were involved? What was his underlying purpose?

The prime duty of the Benedictine monk would seem to be given over to God. And the subsequent duties were about becoming a mature Christian. It was about *conversio morum,* a steady conversion towards a more Christ-like life. And the other major duties tended to support this conversion, being obedience (to the abbot) and stability (to a place, i.e., monastery).

Well, these Benedictine duties could easily correspond to military duties. The overall duty--as an officer (or a Knight Templar)--was to become an ever better officer or knight, duly sworn to obedience to his superiors. As for stability, that would involve allegiance to the organization. Maybe not a monastery, but a modern Army officer or a medieval Knight Templar was always "in place" within his military organization--no matter where he might be stationed.

So it was fairly easy to transfer these monastic duties unto a military outfit. On the other hand, the most difficult of these monastic elements would be that of the prime duty to God. The Knights Templar were first the "Poor Knights of Christ," and they presumably remained God-oriented. As for the U.S. Army, well God is not the prime directive. Rather it is more about the Defense of the Nation.

Being mainly un-churched over most of my adult life, I was walking on very unfamiliar territory. I hadn't given over to Religion, but I decided that it might be useful to have some more talks with the base's chaplain- monk, Fr. Benet. He surely helped me understand a little more deeply the mechanics of Benedictine monasticism. Indeed, he seemed delighted to do so. I suspect the "monk" side of his profession was a bit lonely. As for God, well he probably realized that I was nowhere close to being religious, so he wisely kept God as a kind of generic universality that didn't rattle my chains very much.

My White Sands assignment went on for a long while, but in the Army there's always looming change--eventually. Over the course of my various assignments, I had moved up the officer ranks. Promotions had come smoothly, maybe in part because I had become a specialist in advanced weapons development. So it came as no surprise when I received the news that I was to report to the Army War College, located in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.