I’m not sure how we got to where we are. I just know that we stopped before a huge window that reminded me of the dioramas in museums. Except this was a look at Earth people. This particular group was sitting in what looked like a large living room. There was a fireplace on one side, and chairs set up in a half-circle, with a woman in the front sitting cross-legged on a cushioned armless chair. Some in the group sat on the chairs, backs straight as boards, others sat cross-legged on large cushions. They were all silent and motionless, with their eyes closed.
Before I could ask, Counselor explained that we were looking at experienced mediators. They were deeply concentrated. As I looked closer, I saw each one had light rising from their heads like a cone, much like when sun breaks through a cloud and beams its rays to Earth. Only these rays of light beamed upward. Counselor said these light rays were an energy from the mind of each mediator. I noticed some cones were brighter than others, but all reached far up from where they sat. The whole visual gave me a kind of tingle, or buzz in my aura.
“You see how the cones sort of blend together and reinforce each other? And notice how the whole group has a large cone over them,” Counselor said.
“Cones of connection,” Ruth exclaimed. “We can use these cones to send love back to them, can’t we?”
“That’s what they are wanting, and reaching for,” Counselor said. “They’ve come together to live a life dedicated to that Connection, knowing that Love flows through that cone.”
“Is that like becoming one with the One?” I asked. I kept my eyes on the group, wondering if they felt our presence.
“They’re engrossed in whatever Love that comes from Here or from where they are,” Counselor said.
“Have they, then, transcended the body?” Gail asked.
“For a time,” Counselor said. “If they continue with this practice, they will indeed develop a higher consciousness.”
“And still live on Earth and take care of all the duties and responsibilities that humans have, to just live?” I asked. I thought of all the everyday stuff I had gone through, from the time I got out of bed, dressed, bathed, ate, got to a job, worked for several hours, went through another routine before going to sleep. How could one take the time to sit and meditate? Here there is no body to take care of and we move around without a thought about how it’s done or what we have to do to keep it going.
“Earth beings do have a lot of duties,” Counselor laughed, her aura fluttering about her rather like a colorful butterfly. “But as you may have found out, duties get sometimes boring, stressful, and unsatisfying. So, if you want to get our of that state of mind and transcend the body consciousness, then you’ve got to change your routine.”
“Back to the disciplines,” I noted, with a bit of sigh.
Ruth looked over at me. “You hiked the mountains for a high,” she suggested.
“Yeah, for that Rocky Mountain high John Denver sang about,” I added. And never obtained, I thought to myself.
“Well,” Salvador began, “we’re all Here, on this side of that Cone of Connection. Why aren’t we all feeling high?”
“Because you still have Earth desires, Salvador,” Ruth said. “You already know you can’t stay here. You’ve got to go back and try again.
“Well, what the heck. I didn’t do so well last time. What’s make you think it’ll be any better if I go back?”
“Haven’t you learned anything from being with us?” Gail asked, a bit plaintively. “We’ve patiently listened to your stories. We’ve come to care about you, Salvador. Isn’t that love?”
“Well, maybe,” he admitted. “But if I go back I have to leave you.”
“Just this form of us, Salvador. You may meet some of us again, you know, down there,” Gail said.
“You’re going to be with that group at the co-op?” he asked.
Gail looked startled. “Perhaps. I hadn’t thought about it before,” Gail said. Then she looked to Counselor. “Is the group we’re viewing in an ashram? What if we want to go back, but don’t want to be so separated from regular Earth things. I think I’d like to go back and have children again. I loved my babies.”
“You can do that,” Counselor reassured her. “You can have a family and also be part of a group that seeks for that Cone of Connection.” She paused a while and let the air, or space, or vibrations settle around us until we were nearly as still as the group we were viewing.
“The co-op group where Cassie’s friends are,” Counselor said, “also have a Cone of Connection. She didn’t look at me when she said this, but I felt a shiver run up my aura spine.
Then Counselor went on to say, “The group you’re viewing is the group we saw earlier celebrating the return of one who just came from Earth. Their cone of connection is reaching the group that received that being and now, if you notice carefully, the two, one on Earth and the one Here, have joined and the love passing from one to the other, back and forth, are producing an almost permanent tether, much like what keeps you all from getting lost.
My friends? What was she getting at? I certainly did feel the strength of that Connection, and it gave me a thrill that I’d never felt before. But I also realized they had practiced for years and I just didn’t have that kind of discipline. “I could never sit still like they’re doing.” I shook my head aura rather vigorously.” Though I had a certain longing for that great Love passing back and forth, I just couldn’t see myself joining them.
“It is the discipline that frightens you?” Ruth asked.
“It reminds me of the athletes on Earth who trained for races and games and exhibitions. I was never into that either.”
“You wanted to be tough,” she reminded me.
“But not competitive.”
“Except with Louise, perhaps? Or that cousin Gene?”
“You don’t miss anything, do you? I had to be better than Louise,” I insisted. “She was the little sister. That doesn’t count. And Gene wasn’t the same as team competition.”
“Tell her that,” Ruth said, her aura twinkling around her.
“What do you mean?” I stared at Ruth and then it dawned on me. “You mean in a dream?”
“You did it once before. You can do it again.”
“But she has to want that, doesn’t she?”
“Aren’t you curious about what she and Ray are doing?”
“Ray?” First, Salvador asks me if I want to see Ray again, and we go through the possibilities of that happening. And now Ruth is suggesting I send a message to Louise about what...that I wasn’t intentionally competing with her? Or that I’m sorry if that’s what she thought? Or, what? This business of Earth lessons being so important in the whole scheme of things was beginning to push at me harder and harder. The honeymoon of Here as a resting place must be coming to an end. “And Louise? Are they together a lot?”
“Come see for yourself,” Ruth said. “We can change the window screen, and go to the co-op where Ray, Louise, Maureen and others are learning some of the basic elements of how to establish that cone of connection you’ve been watching.”
Before I could answer, the view had changed. I could feel Salvador, David, Gail and Ruth gathering closer to me as if they were just as interested as I. It was amazing how warm their aura energy felt, and yet cool at the same time. How was that possible? Well, this was not Earth, so the same rules didn’t apply.
Actually, it was a scene similar to the meditating group we just saw. A group was sitting, some on chairs, some on the floor cross-legged, with eyes closed and silently meditating. There, too, was a woman human in front of the group. As I looked closer, I could make out the form of Louise and Maureen, sitting next to each other, on chairs near the front. And there in the back, was Ray. I chuckled. The aura around him was like erratic spots of light jumping here and there in the outline of his body. I could feel my own aura responding to his restlessness. If they stayed silent much longer he was going to bolt right out the back door and hit the road. Tha
t was Ray, all right, moving fast with the wind whistling through his hair.
Salvador noticed him, too. “What’s he doing there?” he asked. “You must have a powerful sister to get him into a group like that,” he said without looking at me.
A wisp of jealousy ran through my aura. What were Louise and Ray doing together? Actually, I hadn’t paid much attention to whom she made friends with. I sighed. Maybe I hadn’t been a very good sister. But what would I say to her if I could?
“Have you ever said you loved her?” Counselor asked.
The question startled me. I’m not sure I ever told anyone I loved them. It wasn’t something our family did. We just did our chores, the duties assigned to us, and went about our lives. Isn’t that love? You don’t have to go around hugging people to let them know you care. But did I really love Louise? I couldn’t say that it had really crossed my mind to need to. She just was. I didn’t resent her. Did I?
“What kind of group is that,” David asked, ignoring Counselor’s question.
“We saw them earlier, David,” Gail said. “They’re that co-op group. What you’re seeing is their church service. Cassy, your parents went there a few times while I was still alive. I think I even went with them once. They call themselves a yoga retreat ranch and are trying to raise their own food, and offer courses in how to live spiritually. It looks to me like Ray and Louise have found a common interest there. I think it’s because they both knew you, Cassy.” Gail’s aura moved back from the screen as if to let the rest of us see it better.
“I didn’t think it necessary to say ‘I love you,’” I finally said. “It’s assumed.”
“No one ever told me they loved me,” said Salvador.
“Me either,” said David.
“But you wished for it?” Gail asked.
They both shrugged. “Wouldn’t have believed them,” Salvador said. David agreed.
“Well, that’s sad,” I said. “But you must not have seen love.”
Salvador’s aura suddenly brightened, their greens, reds, yellows, blues mixing like flames that burn hot and fierce. “I just thought of something.” His aura jiggled around like he was laughing. “If Ray and Louise got hot for each other, they might, well, you know...” He stumbled around, embarrassed perhaps, and we waited for him to finish his thought.
“Get married and you’d have a chance...” David started, then, too, got embarrassed.
“Oh, you’re thinking of going back as Ray’s son,” Gail said, then added “or daughter, and cause a lot of trouble by being a mischievous little brat, huh?” She gave him a playful smile.
“Well, wouldn’t that be fair?” Salvador asked, with a sheepish grin to his aura.
“He was kind of responsible for my leaving Earth so early.”
“He didn’t,” I declared. “He wasn’t the one to cause your bike to skid,” I did not want to believe Ray would have done that. It had to be one of his Harley buddies.
“You may want to believe that, Cassy, but Ray was there! He’s not going to get out of that, and if I have to go back and teach him a lesson, I will!”
“And you’ll just create more trouble for yourself, too,” chimed in Ruth.
Counselor said nothing. She seemed to be enjoying this round of assessing possibilities. I wondered how many lives she had led before she was determined not to go back to Earth and get all involved with their problems. I wondered if there were ever jealousies and conflict with the counselors that ran this place. Were they really above all that?
“You mean is it possible to fall from grace in this atmosphere of love?” Counselor addressed me as if she had heard every word of my thoughts. But she was smiling, rather tenderly, like a mother who looks at a misbehaving child and patiently waits for the proper response.
“I guess one could, huh? But the One would still be...” I couldn’t find the right word to express what I sensed.
“Waiting,” Counselor said. “The One is present, always.”
***