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May you be uplifted by your burdens.
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I don’t understand.
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Be calm; it will become clear in time. You need to accept before you can analyze.
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What is this? Where am I?
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I don’t know how to tell you. I have your words, but I don’t have your concepts. This is here, and it is very different from your here. You will be confused for a time. Accept this; you are not in any danger at present.
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Who are you?
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You already know; you summoned yourself to me.
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That wasn’t what I meant to do at all - how can I escape from here?
[spoiler]- You need to calm yourself; in exploring this place, you will define it. It might be better if you tell me what you perceive rather than asking what I know.
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I am in motion, but I can’t see anything.
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You are not in motion.
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But I feel myself spinning and turning.
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You are too accustomed to a large, static gravity source. Think of yourself as suspended between almost equal gravity sources which are in motion.
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Am I in space, then?
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Not as I understand your concept of it, no. Also, what I told you was a metaphor; our reality is stranger than yours.
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Am I alive?
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Yes, I think so.
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Why can’t I see?
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You can, you just haven’t learned yet.
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Can you teach me? There’s so much I don’t understand here…
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Hmmph. Try this - imagine yourself.
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I don’t understand.
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Imagine a part of your physical body. Think of it, and learn to see it with your ears.
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With my eyes, you mean.
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No, if you try to see with your eyes, you’ll become frightened. Light doesn’t behave the way you think it does here. Look with your ears; they have no preconceptions about light.
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Aaaugh! My hand! It’s been cut off!
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No! No! No! Calm yourself. Calm. Calm. Calm. Look again.
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But it’s so far away!!
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Flex your fingers. There. See? How could you move your fingers if your hand weren’t still attached?
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I’m so frightened! If that’s my hand, my arm must be twenty metres long…
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Accept it without fear. You are in a different place, with different rules and different possibilities. You are not used to unlimited perceptions.
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Am I mad?
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Not yet. Perhaps never.
Years passed on Earth. The mystic had not eaten, had not died and had not moved from his place at the mouth of the cave. Rain, sun and wind had pummeled him, until his skin looked more like a polished teak statue that a human. His brothers and sisters had long ago passed on - it was their grandchildren who climbed from the village to the cave to see this bizarre sight.
Strangely, though many people would joke about pushing him over, or pouring water on him, or playing any number of tricks on him, whenever people made the climb and sat by his immobile form, they felt a great reverence come over them, and they left him in peace.
- You will return.
It was a statement, not a question. Yet neither was it an order - he was now so thoroughly understood by this other being that she often expressed his thoughts before he did.
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Yes. I have one more task here, though.
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I am frightened.
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Yes, I know you are. Trust me; as you have been my guide here, so I will be your guide there.
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I trust you. It is myself I do not trust.
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I know your power; I know it to be far beyond anything mere humans can control. You will learn far more from sharing my limitations than I could ever teach you. You will suffer, I know. But through your suffering, we can bridge the gulf between our worlds.
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Why would I?
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Because you love me, even as I love you. Join with me.
Their joining lasted a year of Earth time. In that year, harvests were plentiful. The aurora danced in the Northern and Southern skies. There was a year of peace between nations, though none could say exactly why. Houses became mansions, and mansions became palaces. Poets, storytellers and playwrights were all inspired, and the music from that year was finer than any time that anyone could remember.
It was a very good year…
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How do you stand it?
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Most of us do not look beyond our limitations.
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It isn’t your limitations that surprise me. Time flows in only one direction. Light only moves in a straight line. Water only falls and fire only rises. I feel so constrained by your world.
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So what do these constraints teach you about us?
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Somehow, despite it all, you learn wisdom. You learn compassion. You learn to choose your actions. We djinn just use power, without regard for right or wrong.
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Are you tempted to unleash yourself on us all?
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Yes. Well, no; not anymore. I don’t wish to do any harm to any of the humans, but I want to return to my native Chaos. I know you do, too. You no longer belong here.
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You’re right; I don’t. Still, I have one last thing to do here.
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Why do you think it will work?
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Well, it won’t; at least, not for everybody. But if I only make things better for myself, I won’t have succeed. And I wouldn’t be worthy of my guide…
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I’ll wait for you, then…
And so, he stayed. He lived out his natural life as a quiet, simple man. Some called him a teacher; others, a healer. Mostly, what he did was he listened. And as people unburdened themselves to him, they felt less and less like they were stranded and powerless. By choosing what to unload, and what to carry, they gained traction. Their lives became balanced.
While the more of their burdens he took on, the more uplifted he felt, and the closer he felt to a higher power. He was like one end of a balance; the more they placed on him, the more he rose, like a finger pointing at the moon.
When his final day arrived, he joyously rejoined that great love that had taught him so much.
[/spoiler]
Le Ministre de l’au-delà