17. Language and Power

The deep ken saw power and meaning in the word “Jesus” itself, as that word consonated with Jesus himself. Where the plain ken understood the meaning of a word as accidental, the deep ken perceived its meaning hardwired into the fabric of the universe. The best way to fathom the deep-ken power of “Jesus” is to watch the cult develop around the name itself, most successfully promoted by Bernardino of Siena. More broadly, the name “Jesus” was applied to a variety of people, places, and things: A number of “Jesuses” governed the Ottoman empire; the largest “Jesus” had two masts and shot iron darts. Sometimes Jesus language not only harmonized with the universe, but was understood to have the power to manipulate it. Studying the ways cultists used “Jesus,” often in conjunction with relics and mathematics, to maximize their spiritual and material well-being illustrates the deep ken's logic of language.