Seldom is there time to wrap psychology, society, and self in the opulent art of fantasy, fable, and family. The Attestant 6000 BCE is such a chance. David Marshall weaves his genius for illustrating the unimaginable with an insightful humor for the hubris of mankind. He does this in a tale that anticipates, even predicts, popular spiritual thought. All the while, he leaves behind cairn-like lessons on what becomes a surreal human journey. Philosopher Carl Jung famously said, "As far as we can discern, the sole purpose of human existence is to kindle a light in the darkness of mere being." Marshall has done that with The Attestant, drawing parallels for the plights of four mythical Archetypes and the challenges of today's world, where he claims we all struggle to "form a bridge from what is to what could be." His Archetypes - the King, the Magician, the Warrior, and the Lover - together comprise a "soul fixed deep inside each human.

" But Marshall doesn't let his fellow humans off so easily; his villain, Final Enemy, tags people as "nasty carbon bags of unpredictable filth with no chance of survival." Sounds like a nice guy, but even the King's sidekick, Agaford, would think little of humans, noting, "when given a chance to act with grace and love, they react in the shadow side of all that is evil." The Attestant 6000 BCE is a timely treatise for our divisive society today, bringing fantasy, faith, and history to bear on an all-too-real world. We can only hope that Book Two will resolve the anguishing travails of the Archetypes while it restores some level of faith in our society. "In all chaos there is a cosmos, in all disorder a secret order," said Carl Jung. In The Attestant, David Marshall masterfully reveals some of these secrets - and carefully lays out some of this order.