It’s hard to describe the environment of this place, since I’m still in the memory of a human form. Everything is light. But light has different degrees, densities. There’s probably a human technical word for it. Something to do with protons and energy. But I wasn’t into that kind of thinking on Earth. So I look out over this vast light-space and see different sized specks of light—almost like light bulbs of different voltages. When there is no real darkness, or shadows, the variety of light brings out color. I wish I could say it better. Maybe in my next life I will get a chance to take some courses in the physical sciences. Does it seem strange that physics is still important in this non-physical world?
In any case, I look into the light-space and notice that there are bulbs of white light getting larger and larger, closer and closer. Then I recognize their colors and sense the personalities in this group coming from these orbs. Salvador is out front with his excited shades and hues of red, yellow, green colors sparking around him. Almost like a Christmas tree all decked out with alternating on and off lights.
“There’s a library,” he shouted, swinging his aura arm up above him as if he were a runner carrying the torch to light the Olympic flame. “It has the whole history of the universe. The history of every human that ever lived. They have a book for each one of us that tells about every life we’ve ever lived.” His aura arms opened wide to make sure we were all watching and understanding what a great thing he had discovered.
“You’d be surprised at all the characters we have been,” he continued, his aura eyes bright and big, their color remarkably brownish. It was as if his aura had condensed into an almost physical form. This seemed to happen when some insight came about. As if our thoughts had become things.
“Not that I looked into you guys’ lives,” he assured us. “I wouldn’t do that.” His expression was sincere, and I had to check another positive in my mental list of his characteristics. I reluctantly realized that my next life would include Salvador and I might as well start dealing with that Here. So I had decided to take note of anything good about him.
“David, here, found out he had several times been a preacher, just like he suspected. And Gail discovered she’d been the Nubian Queen Amanishakhato. She was shown the pyramid where she was buried with lots of jewelry, and writings, all sorts of stuff. And humans on Earth can see this stuff in an Egyptian archeological museum. She was told the pyramid had been destroyed, though, by the treasure hunter who excavated it in the 1800's. Too bad, I’d say. But then, guess it makes for interesting history.”
“And when did she live?” I asked, curious now.
“Around 10 B.C, they said. Right? ” Salvador gave a swoop of his aura arm their way as if handing over the pulpit to Gail.
Gail looked embarrassed, her orbit-light turning pale and pinkish. David, a translucent whitish light that nevertheless stood straight and tall, had a proud smile playing about his aura face. Ruth’s orb had floated off some other place. Maybe she was over helping the new ones in Intake. I wondered if any of them had come closer to when they wanted to re-enter Earth.
“You ought to go take a look,” Salvador suggested to me. “You don’t want to repeat things you don’t need to repeat,” he said as if he had learned something shocking. I waited for him to say more, but he went silent and gestured toward Gail to tell her story.
“I learned from that library consultant, who stood there presenting all this to us, that all that wealth and power made me snobbish and indifferent to people who didn’t have much.” Her orb emitted the palest of colors that were so thin and filmy that it was easy to see through her and see the other many orbs of light moving about everywhere.
“I was downright obnoxious. Arrogant. I don’t think I’ll need to repeat a life like that.” Gail let out a kind of tired sigh. “I saw that in many of my lives after that I was poor, having to do with little food and ragged clothing. I was a beggar. In that life I became aware that there were good people who were willing to give me a few coins and in turn I learned to give a few myself! I was like the woman whom Jesus talked about who put her coin into the church box even though it was her last one. It made me realize how many lives Judas had to work out to be forgiven for his betrayal. If Earth people only knew how their greed and desire for power would come back at them, they’d be more thoughtful! But it’s all very complicated. It’s not just bad karma, of course. People have mixed lives, doing both good and bad things while on Earth. And sometime people living good lives get a lot of bad stuff because they can take it. David, if you’re going to be a preacher again, I hope you understand all this. Do you?” She turned toward him.
David’s orb began to compact into a more solid white-grey form. He seemed to be thinking hard. Perhaps he was weighing what he had done in his act of murder and how he had to pay for it. Was he frightened? I couldn’t tell. But he didn’t answer Gail, just stood there. And then I noticed he was shaking.
I guess Gail had noticed, too, because she went on talking about the lives she had seen in those books. “Those pages kept turning,” she said, “like an account book with the sales and expenses listed in columns. They turned quickly, yet I could understand each one, as if there was still a remnant of memory in my subconscious. I could understand that the bad things that happened to me when I was trying to be a good person were simply opportunities to learn my mistakes and not repeat them. And if I took the bad things with humor or humbleness they turned into what others called heroic. Or admirable. Or a model of how to conquer adversity.” Her orb of light took on the look of pale pink see-through scarf. She seemed embarrassed.
“At least I got past the need for all that,” she continued. “Then I spent some wonderful lives being a mother, and a teacher, just caring for other people. Maybe next time I’ll take my turn caring for older people, those who are at the end of their lives and need some help in passing over. That’s kind of what I’m thinking I’ll do. I’d probably want to work with those who have had a little insight into the possibilities an afterlife provides. Not those older humans who have become bitter and fearful of losing everything that had meaning to them.”
“But they’re the ones that need help the most,” I exclaimed. “Like me,” I added, suddenly remembering that before I died I hadn’t considered any possibilities. I had died totally ignorant of an existence that was immortal. And if I went into Search and Rescue next lifetime, I would be doing it to help extend life, not help anyone pass over to Here. I wouldn’t be able to take on that role. It’d have to be someone more experienced in those transitions. Someone who remembered the two worlds, although I wasn’t sure how that worked. I felt my aura heating up and its light dancing about like little drops of water on a hot burner. Then I decided that Gail, too, was going to have a role to play in my next Life plan. Interesting.
“And the ones who don’t know they need help, and won’t accept any help.” Gail retorted. “They’ll just have to pass on to Here and let somebody like Counselor try to enlighten them.” She blushed apologetically, and looked toward Counselor who laughed.
“Ah, yes,” Counselor said. “Those who try to keep building their boat, or their business, or their military army, or try to order others around Here. They don’t get very far, do they?” She was smiling a kind of genteel, patient smile, and raised her aura eyebrows.
It must take a lot of patience to be a counselor Here. I do remember the man whose boat kept disappearing on him. It was rather funny. And David didn’t get anywhere with the two girls he had murdered, who simply turned their backs on him. No wonder he was shaking. “So how do you develop the patience?” I boldly asked. Counselor’s laughter tinkled like the bells when a door was opened to alert a shopkeeper.
“We were once the same way,” she said. “So it took a while before we understood the workings of Earth and Here and how they were different. You will learn,” she said confidently, than added, “especially when you see that connection of everything and in particular, your connectio
n, to the One.” Then she lifted her arms and spread them wide as if blessing us all with her love. It was like a cleansing wave washing over us, and I noticed that David settled immediately as the wave came over him. He so much wanted Love. He had so missed it in that life he’d just lived. And I knew David, too, was going to play a role in my next Life. He was going to get some of that love he needed.
“One odd thing about Here,” David said, his aura now exuding a touch of pale robin-egg blue. We all turned toward him expectantly. What could be more odd than having no time, no space, no fear, no hunger or thirst? “There are no games played. Haven’t you noticed? No races. No teams competing one with another. No speakers trying to sell you something. No politicians. No tests. No comparisons. No one bragging about being the best. There are no cheerleaders. No sermons. No one is trying to tell you what to think or how to behave.” His aura was as relaxed as I had ever seen it. He must have come to some decision about his next life .
“Yeah. We don’t need all that,” Salvador agreed. “We don’t have physical bodies that need food and stuff. We don’t have any use for clothing or furniture or boats. Don’t even need a Harley Here. We can go as fast as any Harley ever did. Don’t have to worry about a road, or running into objects cause we can’t break anything.” He laughed, his bright aura jumping about in a most amusing way.
We all joined in with his exuberance, our auras spilling out into the so-called space like colored clouds forming and reforming in the wind of my remembrance. Those days in Colorado when one half the sky was blue and the other half had moving clouds was entrancing. Nature down there could be very lovely, and exciting. Oh, yes. Even the storms that came up, with their rain, snow, hail, dangerous and thrilling. What would it be like to never have all that? to always know there was no death, no danger, no risk, all harmonious, loving, peaceful, blissful. Always the same. No change. You’d think it might get very boring. Yet all that I could see Here in the Counselors was that they were perfectly satisfied with it all. They didn’t appear at all bored.
“There’s plenty of things to see on Earth,” Counselor noted. “All that change you mention? Never does the beauty last. Never does the peace. Never the contentment. It all comes in a brief moment that passes into anxiety, pain, fear, grief, embarrassment, and all those other emotions that make the body sick and sad. Why would you choose that over ever-new joy? Once you’ve experienced that you don’t want to go back. But,” she nodded, “none of you have experienced it yet. So you will go back. And there’s nothing wrong with that. You all make for interesting viewing.” She stopped. Someone from afar waved to her. It was Ruth.
***