[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
another, infinitely more efficient. Perhaps. I couldn't be sure. And for
now I couldn't know.
"I wrapped my arms around these souls. I drew them to me. 'I
want you to come on a journey with me,' I said to them, having spoken
now to each and every one and being completely certain of where
we stood. 'I want you to come to Heaven and stand before God. Now
it may be brief, and you may see Him for no more than an instant,
and possibly He will not allow Himself to be seen by you at all. You
may find yourselves returned here, having learnt nothing, but also
having suffered nothing. The truth is, I can't guarantee what will
happen! No one knows God.
" 'We know,' they aliswered.
" 'But I invite you to come to God and tell Him what you've told
me. And now I'll answer your question to me: I am his Archangel
Memnoch, of the very mold of other Angels of whom you heard
when you were alive! Will you come?'
"Several were astonished and hesitated. But the majority said in
one voice, a mingling of answers that was this answer: 'We will come.
One glimpse of God, the chance of it even, is worth anything. If
that's not so then I don't remember the smell of the sweet olive tree,
or how the fresh grass felt beneath me when I laid on it. I never tasted
wine, and I never bedded the ones I loved. We will come.'
"Several refused. It took a few moments before we all realized it
but several had totally withdrawn. They saw me now for what I was,
an Angel, and they understood what had been withheld from them,
and they had lost their peace and lost their power to forgive in that
instant. They stared at me in horror or anger or both. The other
souls hastened to change their minds, but they wouldn't be changed.
No, they did not want to see this God who had deserted His Creation
and left it to rear up gods on altars all over the planet and pray in vain
for intervention or final judgment! No, no, no!
" 'Come,' I said to the others, 'Let's try to enter Heaven. Let's
give it all our strength! How many are we? A thousand times ten? A
million? What does it matter? God said ten but not ten only. God
meant at least ten. Come, let's go!"
16
IN A FLASH, I shall have my answer, I thought. He will either
admit us or cast us back down with His Might the way He once
threw me to Earth. He might even dissolve the lot of us, for
surely He can make His judgment on my success or failure before I
ever reach the gates of Heaven. What had He said in His Infinite
Wisdom? He had said, 'Come back as soon as you can.'
"I drew these souls to me, tight as I drew you when I took you
upwards, and out of Sheol we rose, into the full blasting light of
Heaven as it came pouring over the walls and the gates. And once
again, those gates, which I had never seen in my early eons, were
thrown open, and we found ourselves, one Archangel and a few
million human souls, standing once more in the very midst of Heaven
before amazed and laughing and pointing and startled and
flabbergasted angels who gathered around us in a great circle, crying to get
the attention of everyone until Heaven finally fell quiet.
"Well, I thought, so far so good. We're inside. And the human
souls! The human souls could see the angels and the human souls
were overjoyed. Oh, I can't even remember this moment without
dancing. I can't remember it without singing. The souls were jubilant,
and when the angels began their great potentially cacophonous
singing of questions and exclamations, the human souls began to
sing!
"Indeed, Heaven was never going to be the same. I knew it. I
knew it instantly. Because this is what took place. These souls
brought with them the same powers of projection which they had
learnt in Sheol, that is to create around them out of the invisible
something of an environment that they wanted, longed for, and to
which they were able to give their full wills.
"And the geography of Heaven was changed dramatically and
instantly and in an infinite capacity. There rose the towers and castles
and mansions which you saw when I took you there, the domed
palaces and libraries, and the gardens, oh, the breathtaking projections
of flowers in all directions, things that angels simply never thought to
bring to Heaven . . . well, it was all there. Trees rose in their mature
fullness; rain came in whispering gusts, full of fragrance. The sky
warmed and colors everywhere expanded or deepened. These souls
took the invisible fabric of Heaven, whatever it is energy, essence,
the light of God, the Creative Power of God and in a twinkling
surrounded us all with wondrous constructions representing their
curiosity, their concepts of beauty and their desires!
"All that they had learnt on Earth they had brought into Heaven,
creating it irresistibly in its most cherished form!
"The commotion was beyond anything I had ever witnessed since
the Creation of the Universe itself.
"And nobody appeared more astonished than the Archangel Mi-
chael, who was staring at me as if to say, 'Memnoch, you've brought
them into Heaven!'
"But before he could get those words out, and as the souls still
stood together, only beginning to realize that they could shift and
touch the angels and touch the things they envisioned, there came
the light of God Himself En Sof rising and spreading out from
behind the figures of the Seraphim and Cherubim, and very gently
and considerately falling down upon these human souls, filling each
and laying all secrets of each totally open, as angels are open.
"The human souls cried with joy. Anthems rose from the Angels.
I began to sing with my arms outstretched, 'Lord, Lord, I have your
souls, worthy of Heaven, and look what they have brought to
Heaven, Lord, look on your Creation, look on the Souls of those you
evolved from the tiniest cells through flesh and blood and Sheol to
your very Throne. Lord, we are here! Lord, it's done, it's done. It's
happened. I have come back and you have allowed it.'
"And having said more than enough, I fell down on my knees.
"The songs had reached a frenzy, a sound no flesh-and-blood
human could endure. Anthems rose from all quarters. The human
souls were growing denser, more visible, until they appeared as
clearly to us as we did to them and to each other. Some of them were
locking hands and jumping up and down like little children. Others
were merely crying and screaming and the tears were flooding down
their faces.
"And then the light swelled. We knew God was about to speak.
We fell silent, en masse. We were all the bene ha elobim. And God
said:
" 'My Children. My beloved Children. Memnoch stands with his
Millions, and they are worthy of Heaven.'
"And the voice of God ceased, and the light grew stronger and
warmer, and all of Heaven became pure acceptance and pure love.
"I lay down upon the floor of Heaven in weariness, staring upwards
into the great firmament of beautiful blue sky and ever-
twinkling stars. I heard the souls of the humans rushing hither and
thither. I heard the welcoming hymns and incantations of the angels.
I heard everything, and then, in imitation of a mortal, I closed my
eyes.
"Did God ever sleep? I don't know. I closed my eyes, and I lay still
in the Light of God, and after all those years and years in Sheol I was
safe again, and I was warm.
"Finally, I realized that the Seraphim had come to me, three or
four of them, I didn't really notice, and they were standing over me,
and looking down on me, their faces almost unendurably bright with
reflected light.
" 'Memnoch, God wants to speak to you alone,' they said.
" 'Yes, at once!' I sprang to my feet.
"And far from the jubilant throngs, I found myself standing in
silence, in quiet, without companions, my arm up over my eyes, my [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl freetocraft.keep.pl
another, infinitely more efficient. Perhaps. I couldn't be sure. And for
now I couldn't know.
"I wrapped my arms around these souls. I drew them to me. 'I
want you to come on a journey with me,' I said to them, having spoken
now to each and every one and being completely certain of where
we stood. 'I want you to come to Heaven and stand before God. Now
it may be brief, and you may see Him for no more than an instant,
and possibly He will not allow Himself to be seen by you at all. You
may find yourselves returned here, having learnt nothing, but also
having suffered nothing. The truth is, I can't guarantee what will
happen! No one knows God.
" 'We know,' they aliswered.
" 'But I invite you to come to God and tell Him what you've told
me. And now I'll answer your question to me: I am his Archangel
Memnoch, of the very mold of other Angels of whom you heard
when you were alive! Will you come?'
"Several were astonished and hesitated. But the majority said in
one voice, a mingling of answers that was this answer: 'We will come.
One glimpse of God, the chance of it even, is worth anything. If
that's not so then I don't remember the smell of the sweet olive tree,
or how the fresh grass felt beneath me when I laid on it. I never tasted
wine, and I never bedded the ones I loved. We will come.'
"Several refused. It took a few moments before we all realized it
but several had totally withdrawn. They saw me now for what I was,
an Angel, and they understood what had been withheld from them,
and they had lost their peace and lost their power to forgive in that
instant. They stared at me in horror or anger or both. The other
souls hastened to change their minds, but they wouldn't be changed.
No, they did not want to see this God who had deserted His Creation
and left it to rear up gods on altars all over the planet and pray in vain
for intervention or final judgment! No, no, no!
" 'Come,' I said to the others, 'Let's try to enter Heaven. Let's
give it all our strength! How many are we? A thousand times ten? A
million? What does it matter? God said ten but not ten only. God
meant at least ten. Come, let's go!"
16
IN A FLASH, I shall have my answer, I thought. He will either
admit us or cast us back down with His Might the way He once
threw me to Earth. He might even dissolve the lot of us, for
surely He can make His judgment on my success or failure before I
ever reach the gates of Heaven. What had He said in His Infinite
Wisdom? He had said, 'Come back as soon as you can.'
"I drew these souls to me, tight as I drew you when I took you
upwards, and out of Sheol we rose, into the full blasting light of
Heaven as it came pouring over the walls and the gates. And once
again, those gates, which I had never seen in my early eons, were
thrown open, and we found ourselves, one Archangel and a few
million human souls, standing once more in the very midst of Heaven
before amazed and laughing and pointing and startled and
flabbergasted angels who gathered around us in a great circle, crying to get
the attention of everyone until Heaven finally fell quiet.
"Well, I thought, so far so good. We're inside. And the human
souls! The human souls could see the angels and the human souls
were overjoyed. Oh, I can't even remember this moment without
dancing. I can't remember it without singing. The souls were jubilant,
and when the angels began their great potentially cacophonous
singing of questions and exclamations, the human souls began to
sing!
"Indeed, Heaven was never going to be the same. I knew it. I
knew it instantly. Because this is what took place. These souls
brought with them the same powers of projection which they had
learnt in Sheol, that is to create around them out of the invisible
something of an environment that they wanted, longed for, and to
which they were able to give their full wills.
"And the geography of Heaven was changed dramatically and
instantly and in an infinite capacity. There rose the towers and castles
and mansions which you saw when I took you there, the domed
palaces and libraries, and the gardens, oh, the breathtaking projections
of flowers in all directions, things that angels simply never thought to
bring to Heaven . . . well, it was all there. Trees rose in their mature
fullness; rain came in whispering gusts, full of fragrance. The sky
warmed and colors everywhere expanded or deepened. These souls
took the invisible fabric of Heaven, whatever it is energy, essence,
the light of God, the Creative Power of God and in a twinkling
surrounded us all with wondrous constructions representing their
curiosity, their concepts of beauty and their desires!
"All that they had learnt on Earth they had brought into Heaven,
creating it irresistibly in its most cherished form!
"The commotion was beyond anything I had ever witnessed since
the Creation of the Universe itself.
"And nobody appeared more astonished than the Archangel Mi-
chael, who was staring at me as if to say, 'Memnoch, you've brought
them into Heaven!'
"But before he could get those words out, and as the souls still
stood together, only beginning to realize that they could shift and
touch the angels and touch the things they envisioned, there came
the light of God Himself En Sof rising and spreading out from
behind the figures of the Seraphim and Cherubim, and very gently
and considerately falling down upon these human souls, filling each
and laying all secrets of each totally open, as angels are open.
"The human souls cried with joy. Anthems rose from the Angels.
I began to sing with my arms outstretched, 'Lord, Lord, I have your
souls, worthy of Heaven, and look what they have brought to
Heaven, Lord, look on your Creation, look on the Souls of those you
evolved from the tiniest cells through flesh and blood and Sheol to
your very Throne. Lord, we are here! Lord, it's done, it's done. It's
happened. I have come back and you have allowed it.'
"And having said more than enough, I fell down on my knees.
"The songs had reached a frenzy, a sound no flesh-and-blood
human could endure. Anthems rose from all quarters. The human
souls were growing denser, more visible, until they appeared as
clearly to us as we did to them and to each other. Some of them were
locking hands and jumping up and down like little children. Others
were merely crying and screaming and the tears were flooding down
their faces.
"And then the light swelled. We knew God was about to speak.
We fell silent, en masse. We were all the bene ha elobim. And God
said:
" 'My Children. My beloved Children. Memnoch stands with his
Millions, and they are worthy of Heaven.'
"And the voice of God ceased, and the light grew stronger and
warmer, and all of Heaven became pure acceptance and pure love.
"I lay down upon the floor of Heaven in weariness, staring upwards
into the great firmament of beautiful blue sky and ever-
twinkling stars. I heard the souls of the humans rushing hither and
thither. I heard the welcoming hymns and incantations of the angels.
I heard everything, and then, in imitation of a mortal, I closed my
eyes.
"Did God ever sleep? I don't know. I closed my eyes, and I lay still
in the Light of God, and after all those years and years in Sheol I was
safe again, and I was warm.
"Finally, I realized that the Seraphim had come to me, three or
four of them, I didn't really notice, and they were standing over me,
and looking down on me, their faces almost unendurably bright with
reflected light.
" 'Memnoch, God wants to speak to you alone,' they said.
" 'Yes, at once!' I sprang to my feet.
"And far from the jubilant throngs, I found myself standing in
silence, in quiet, without companions, my arm up over my eyes, my [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]