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Thunderbird
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Joined: 13 Sep 2009
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Location: Rising from the ashes
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 Posted: Sat Oct 22, 2011 8:23 pm Post subject: Heavy Metal - Chapter 24: Divine Intervention |
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Heavy Metal
Chapter 24
Divine Intervention
“I know I’m a structural engineer,” a lone man at a bar quipped frustratedly into his earpiece.
No other patrons graced the establishment as the mid-day sun rose high in the California sky outside. Its golden beams shot through tinted windows, revealing glittering dust motes caught in perpetual hover over dilapidated billiards tables.
The low surging hum of a vacuum cleaner played in the background of the man’s thoughts letting him know where to find Roxy, the bartender, if he needed her services further. He had been nursing the same beer for over an hour now, however, immersed more in his thoughts and cell-connected conversations than his drink. As a result, the young single mother had returned to her mid-day upkeep tasks, leaving him to argue in peace.
“Look, Paul… Just because I can work out these designs doesn’t mean I should throw away a stable position at Solatech. I KNOW you have connections in the military that are looking for these kinds of structures! That’s not what worries me! Do you have any idea what the NASA budget has shrunk to these days? For God’s sake, Paul, I’m engaged! Melody is not exactly the greatest fan of risk you know? And neither am I really.”
Roxy paused, stood, wiped her brow as she rested her spine. She glanced over at the man at the counter, shook her head and hunched back into her vacuuming.
“We just bought a damned house Paul! I have a mortgage now! And a kid on the way! Failure is not an option!” The man looked up and took a long drag on a cigarette. His full brown hair framed his youthful features in the most professional manner. “I know the value of what we’ve got but… damn it Paul, it’s a fool’s venture, you know? NO, I believe it could change the world, just like you… hell, I KNOW it would. But there’s so many ways the whole business plan could go wrong, always is with these sorts of things. I guess I’m just tired of seeing money spent on projects that aren’t going anywhere you know?”
Though not loud enough to make out, the volume of the babbling on the other end of the line grew enough for Roxy to hear even through buzz of the vacuum.
The man suddenly slammed his fist down on the bar causing his beer and a bowl of peanuts to jump. An empty peanut shell slid onto the floor. “My DAD has nothing to do with this! He’s just a crazy old guy being a mad scientist out in the desert. That has no bearing on what I’m saying here… Ok, yeah, so I mean, sure, I’ll admit that’s why I just said that about wasting funds, but honestly… can you say we’d be any different? I mean, sure, we aren’t trying to recapture some kind of lost alien technology or anything tabloid-worthy like that but still… it’s going to seem a little ‘out there’ nevertheless you know?”
Calming down, the man leaned in and rubbed at his temples as he quashed his cigarette in an overflowing ashtray. “No, I’m not saying I’m ‘backing out’. No… I’m not saying that either.” He sighed. “I don’t know what I’m saying.”
Nodding, he huffed. “I’ll think about it. No… Y… look, I KNOW we don’t have time to sit and think about whether this is going to happen or not ok! But just… I need to call Melody again… No, I have no idea what I’m going to say to her. I don’t know! I can’t just tell you I’m going to do this. She’ll probably say no. I don’t know what I’ll say. YES I want to do this but… NO I’m not giving up yet. Damnit Paul, just shut up and let me think for a minute. I’ll call you back!”
Roxy cocked her head as she watched him finally tap his earpiece. Shutting off the vacuum, she strode over behind the bar and leaned against the edge. “Need another drink, Ben?”
Tipping his head back to polish off the amber liquid, he nodded absently.
“Thought you might,” she added as she smiled understandingly and rounded behind the bar to pop the top off another bottle. “What are you going to do?” She asked as she handed it to him with practiced efficiency.
“I… I don’t know,” he said as he swallowed another mouthful, pleased at the new cool sensation. Smacking his lips over his teeth, he shook his head in thought. “I’m just going to sit here and let it solve itself I think.”
“It’s a big opportunity,” she reminded.
“Yeah… a big opportunity to lose everything,” he grumbled.
“Or gain everything,” Roxy added.
“The question is which is more likely and right now I couldn’t even hazard a guess,” he muttered in a defeated tone.
A long moment of silence passed between the two as she thoughtfully tapped her chin and he peered through the gold bottle at a passing ant.
Finally, she broke the silence, “Well, I know I’m just a barmaid and my advice might not mean much, especially as it may be the last thing you’d expect, but…” she trailed off as if to ask if he minded if she continued.
“But what?” he shrugged with a tired look cast on his features.
“At times like this, I just pray. Now mind you, I don’t pray very often but when I do… it somehow seems to help sometimes. Then again, might just be me imagining it does. I don’t know what to tell you. You don’t know what to tell you. Maybe God knows what to do?”
“Hmph… sure,” Ben scoffed lightly. “Even if there IS a God, I’m pretty sure He wouldn’t give a rat’s ass about what I do from here.”
“Yeah, well,” Roxy nodded, “In the darkest times I often hope He doesn’t care what I do, but when we need a little guidance, it never does hurt to ask.” She smiled at him unoffended by whether he took her advice to heart or not. “Nevertheless, sugar, it’s all I’ve got for ya. If it were ME, I’d probably throw caution to the wind, but then… I guess that’s why I’ve got a daughter to feed and her father in jail.” She winked and began walking back to return to her chores.
Ben took another swig and muttered under his breath, “Yeah, God’s done all he can to make you and your daughter’s life really great, hasn’t He? Naw… I really doubt He’s out there at all. I suppose I believe even less that He’d hear me or care if He was.”
After swishing another mouthful around between his teeth, he finally gulped it down. “But you’re right I guess. Can’t hurt to ask,” he muttered to the row of bottles behind the bar.
Bowing his head, he privately asked aloud, “God, if you’re out there and you hear me then it could really help to get some sort of sign right about now. So what do I do, ‘God’? If you’re listening, tell me! Do I stay with my job or do I throw caution to the wind for what could be the greater good? Well? What do I do?”
Little did Ben know, God was listening.
And so was his Father… in the Heavens.
Though Walt had no body in this fifth dimensional experience behind the curtain of reality itself, he still felt emotion. Enlil, in this experience, an entity Walt could identify himself as being a part of, had guided the old man here to this current moment in time in a backwater bar in Escondido, California.
Walt had been expecting Enlil to surprise him with whomever the deity had chosen to grant divine intervention for, but would never have suspected the subject of such assistance would be his own son.
If Walt were in the flesh right now, having heard and witnessed the things Ben had just expressed, the old man would be trembling, drowning in sorrow and regret. In the void behind all events, he still felt ill nevertheless.
How could he have allowed his Son to feel such self doubt to follow his own dreams? How could he have become the cause for such hesitation? Then again, Walt reminded himself, perhaps what made him different from Ben from the beginning was the fact that Walt would never have hesitated to leap into such a venture, given how Ben apparently valued the potential it represented. Maybe Ben was the wise one for being the more cautious.
He wanted to manifest somehow, scream at Ben to “Go for it!” but wondered if this were how a ghost might feel, helpless and incapable of making a difference in things that matter beyond anything that ever mattered while alive. Perhaps, Walt paused to consider, Enlil had not brought him to witness this so as to change anything for Ben but instead to make a point to Walt of great personal importance.
“Indeed,” Enlil’s thoughts resonated through Walt’s mind, “very little I do is for the purpose of one intended consequence. Annunaki value multiple and overlapping agendas and messages. The concept of killing two birds with one stone is tightly woven into our values. The more birds, the more impressive.”
“What do you plan to do for him then?” Walt asked.
“What would YOU have me do?” Enlil returned with the voice of a patient teacher.
“Make him choose to take this chance!” Walt insisted. “Better yet, go a step further and make sure it goes well for him when he does!”
“I can ‘influence’ how well things turn out, sure. However, it will be his choices that have more to do with his success or failure than anything I can do.
“And you would have me force his hand? What happens, then, to ‘free will’? Again, I can give him a nudge perhaps, but who am I to say what he should or should not do?” Enlil’s voice asked Walt’s conscious presence in the room.
“You’re GOD, aren’t you? You can see to it that he has a good life! Or is he right about you? Do you not care?” Walt asked.
“On the contrary. I care more than you will likely ever understand. I must admit, however, I did choose this particular soul because I saw that you and I could stand on even ground in regards to our degree of compassion for the subject. My connection to the source fills me with love… fills me so full it becomes painful to exist. How my Father, An, endured it for as long as he did is a mystery to me, though I do recognize that such love does compel me to persist as well.”
“Well that remains to be seen in my opinion. Ok, so you’ve asked me what I would do, and as I expected, whatever the Human has to say isn’t good enough. So what DO you mean to do for my Son?”
“No matter which way I push I would only cause an equal and opposite reaction. If I try to ‘help’ him, an equal force will arise in his life to harm him. Look, see for yourself,” Enlil invited. Suddenly, Walt could see down two different future roads, as if gazing down twin tunnels that overlapped the image of his Son, dual screens displaying Ben’s possible futures.
Down one, Enlil seemed to psychically ‘push’ Ben towards taking the risk and joining the venture. This one Walt was sure represented the better path so he took the time to really gaze down that road in curiosity of what would come.
Images flashed in front of him, successes, failures, divorce, and pennilessness. Ben eventually loses his home as the venture struggles to get off the ground while looking moderately promising at all times until crushed by a sudden economic collapse. Ben ends up miserable, struggling to survive, renting out an apartment until… “I cannot allow you to look any further. For down the road beyond lies too much uncertainty for the world as a whole that plays into his fates,” Enlil abruptly ended the vision.
Walt felt he’d seen enough though and felt a bit sheepish that he’d been so sure that would be the best route for his Son. Maybe Enlil had brought him here to humble him? Curiosity arose regarding the route of caution. Would staying the safe course and maintaining his current job serve his Son better than the risk?
Gazing at the other screen, Walt once more watched flickers of Ben’s future. It too filled with successes, failures, a feeling of being burdened by his family as his stable job became a victim of ‘cutbacks’ in the face of a nationwide economic collapse. Strapped by two mortgages, they fought mightily to save their home from foreclosure until, “Again. That is as far as I shall allow you to see for too much hangs in the balance to view any more with certainty.”
“You see,” Enlil summarized, “neither path is perfect. Both lead to some positives but many negatives. Both are rewarding, yet depressing in their own ways.”
“Truly then,” Walt thought back, “the boy NEEDS divine intervention.”
“You expect me to wave a magic wand and just make it all better for him? You saw it for yourself. The problems aren’t what he chooses to do but rather what will take place around him that is independent of his choices. Sometimes, that is just how things are. You should feel as much for a deer trapped in a forest fire.”
“Then why did you bring me here!?!” Walt shouted into the void of the non-existence behind the paused scene of the bar. “If we can’t help him, what good are we? We MUST change things for him!”
“There are reasons for the coming events, Walter Jared Steele. If I could ease the suffering of Man to bring about the changes necessary to improve things for them all, I would. But it is like removing a thorn from the ear of a dog. You, as the dog, may not wish to allow it to take place because it is painful. The pain is easy to understand and readily present and all that is obvious. You do not understand the big picture of what you resist. If the thorn remains, it will fester into a wound that may eventually kill and will lead to great torment in the meantime. For the betterment of all, the economic collapse you see ahead cannot be averted.”
“Doesn’t anyone do just fine despite those problems to come? I mean, Dad didn’t do too bad during the Great Depression. Surely Ben could be granted the ability to succeed despite those circumstances, could he not?”
“This is where you may not be capable of understanding my perspective, Walter Jared Steele. I must consider the best for ALL, not just one. He must navigate that period for himself and come out where his soul takes him.
“Your Father approached the Great Depression with the right mindset. What Benjamin Raymond Steele will struggle with during that time is his own emotions. And this, his outlook, is something I cannot force him to change. To do so would be to violate the one rule I maintain, the one rule that makes any of these experiences worthwhile to you as humans while I watch over you as your God – the rule of free will.”
“I’ve never really understood what that was all about,” Walt shot back scouring. “Priests used to try to explain that one to me but it just doesn’t make sense. It seems terribly hypocritical to me. You, confirmably, can easily see what our fates are, yet you allow us to choose to condemn ourselves to Hell? How is THAT to our benefit? How is THAT love?”
“If you cannot fail, there is no value in success, Walter Jared Steele,” Enlil stated simply, allowing the words to resonate for a time in Walt’s thoughts.
“Ok, so why here and now then? Why offer to ‘intervene’ at all? You’ve made a great case as to why you don’t often, or perhaps ever, act on our behalf. What did you bring me here for? Just to defend your right to being a lazy and apathetic ass? No wonder our world is falling apart! Our God does nothing but watch!”
Enlil’s reply was far more patient and understanding than Walt had expected from a wrathful God. “Remember, Walter Jared Steele, that you are the authors of your own lives. All have this power. You, yourself, can override what I may do for or against you with the slightest exercise of your own true WILL.
“I am connected to the infinite consciously. But each and every one of you is equally connected to the source, whether or not you understand and choose to exercise that connection voluntarily. And often, when you try, you bring to it such bitterness and anger at your lack of control over your situations in life that you corrupt your own efforts.
“Only in LOVE can you change anything for the better, and love cares no more for the self than it does for all others. Thus any appropriate solution to any problem must be balanced against the entire web of happenings in and around you.”
“Hmph,” Walt mentally grumbled, “More riddles.”
“No,” Enlil ensured authoritatively. “This time you understand but refuse to accept. The principle I just expressed is exactly what I’ve brought you here to show you in action. Behold, Walter Jared Steele. Observe how I bring improvement to your Son’s life, and to the world he is a part of.”
Suddenly a film was lifted from Walt’s awareness. Everything he could sense in the bar was suddenly vibrant and alive. “You are seeing the life energy in things. Annunaki are taught this is the substance of the emotion you call Love. It is not an energy, it is THE energy that, as a result of, all things are manifest. If Creation did not care for a thing to be, it would not exist, thus all things are made of Love, raw and pure, translated into the stuff you call reality itself.
“See how it surrounds, permeates, becomes Benjamin Raymond Steele. The quality of the energy he is now wavers. This is his uncertainty, his self doubt. Look closely at how the energy ties itself in knots, where they bind and slow like cars on a freeway during rush hour traffic, to put it in a way you may understand.”
“Yeah,” Walt said, still overwhelmed; in awe of this new way to see the world. “It goes dark in the middle of those bind up points,” he observed further.
“Yes. Like black holes in the universe, these are the leaks in his soul. They drain him, make him tired, depressed, unhappy, feeling as if he cannot achieve his dreams. They are the reason he feels incompetent despite his obvious gifts.”
“Do I have these kinds of internal black holes?” Walt asked incredulously.
“Of course you do, Walter Jared Steele. But this is about your Son right now, not you. Or is it? Do these ‘traffic jams’ look or feel familiar? Don’t they resonate with you at some deep level too? They tug at your soul don’t they?”
“Yes… all too recognizable. Even where they exist in his body… I feel week in those areas too. Just under the heart, in the temples… Is there a genetic component to these?”
“Genetic? There are some genetic factors at work, yes, but remember that even the genes are a reflection of the love that gives them form. More importantly, these particular holes mostly stem from what he’s been taught.”
“By me?” Suddenly memories of the arguments he’d had with Ben, the resentments and struggles he had as a Father who felt distracted from his life’s mission by the demands of Fatherhood began flipping through Walt’s mind’s eye. Every hurtful word he ever uttered to Ben echoed in his mind, every time he’d brushed the boy off in his self-absorbed thoughts, every complaint Ben had delivered that Walt had cast aside as unimportant. Painfully aware, the old man suddenly became, of how he had helped to weave these self doubts into the fabric of Benjamin’s soul.
“I’ve grown up with a freak for a father and I’m not going to take part in your craziness anymore! You’re nothing but a sad, senile old man and I’m ashamed to call you my… Dad.” Voices of the past echoing once more in Walt’s mind.
Walt felt like quivering jelly collapsing into a puddle in his emotional surrender to the pain of self-loathing.
“Don’t take full blame for who your son IS, Walter Jared Steele. That is yet another selfish and self-absorbed act. You aren’t the only force in his life, but you are a very powerful one that weighs on his thoughts almost daily.
“You should remind yourself that you became the man you are for many reasons as well. Much of what you are suddenly taking all blame for can be just as easily passed along to the generation that raised you and the generation before that and so on and so on all the way back to we Annunaki ourselves.
“So know that we take some responsibility for these painful things too. These sorts of bind-ups in energy flow are like diseases. They can be passed between people, taught by one to another. In most cases, they create defense mechanisms, but at a horrible and ultimately undermining cost to the soul, the true author of your experiences. In short, without a vulnerable heart, you will never see a beautiful world.”
“So… Can’t we heal this in him?”
“Once again, he maintains these self-impediments by choice, whether he understands them as choices or not. I can’t just take that away from him. This power to self-determination is his divine right.”
“So once again, you’ve shown me nothing but just enough to torture me further.” Walt felt on the verge of tears once more, though he still currently had no face with which to cry.
“And again, Walter Jared Steele, watch and observe. I will now intervene. I have analyzed his futures and have heard his pleas and I choose, now to aide your son, both as a gift to you for your impetuosity in defying all the boundaries to reach me, and as an act of love for Benjamin Raymond Steele as well, who is, as you can see, unduly suffering, trapped in painful indecision.”
Walt calmed his mind, wondering briefly if it were even his choice to do so, and just observed as he had been told to.
Just as he began to wonder what he should be looking for, the light that was filling his senses, the fabric of love that all things were made of, suddenly began to brighten, like a bulb being fed more and more electricity. His son began to glow blindingly, not eliminating the energy holes within, but dimming them, filling them, satiating their hunger.
“I increase his connection to the infinite,” Enlil intoned, “feeding him with the love that fills me and spills over wherever I choose it to focus. Humans can do this for each other, and do to a lesser degree whenever they pay attention to one another.
“What you are watching requires practice and raw power but humanity can attain this ability with minimal effort. It’s always been my hope to teach you this skill, but you tend to be more interested in stealing energy from one another than giving it to one another.
“Such selfishness that undermines you is an outlook I find myself incapable of guiding you away from. But for Benjamin Raymond Steele, at least, today is a new day.”
“How, exactly, does this change things for him?” Walt asked as he watched in wonderment as his son suddenly seemed to strike upon a more positive outlook, a look of peace quickly gracing the young man’s face and a crafty smile breaking out on his lips.
“It fuels his soul into a powerful position of self-determination. This energy I’ve filled him with is the very energy we all use to consider things, to plan, to cognize with. And when one is charged as your son is now, the soul sees its own futures and may navigate its own path as a master strategist, knowing just where to plot out its sacrifices to gain the desired future positions.
“Ben now knows exactly what he must do, but behold! His soul cries out and bends the fabric of reality yet further to verify this for him beyond the shadow of any doubt!”
A little blue light blinked at Ben’s ear as a tear suddenly struck down the young man’s face and a breath of air filled his lungs with an ease he’d forgotten. What just happened? the young man wondered, struck by the sudden ‘religious experience’ that he could not explain. It was as if… a feeling had just filled him, love? God? Pulling himself around he realized his ear was vibrating gently and had been for a few moments as he sat in stunned recovery.
Reaching up he tapped the device, “Paul? I think I have your answer, Buddy!” he exclaimed excitedly.
The voice on the other end took his breath away. It wasn’t, as expected, his business partner. “Ben? Is that you? Oh, my dear boy I just love the sound of your voice! Oh, Ben I love you so m...m… I’ve missed you so much!” The elderly woman on the other end of the line broke down sobbing.
“MOM?!?” Ben shot to his feet, the barstool tumbling to the floor behind him. “Wow! Is it really you? I had no idea when I answered the phone it would be YOU on the line! I… I love you too Mom! I mean, it’s been so long! What? Three or four years now at least right? More?”
“Too long, Ben. That’s all I can say,” Betty affirmed through sniffles.
“How… how is… is he still?,” Ben couldn’t figure out how to pose the uncomfortable question. “I feel really awful about how things went with… with Dad. I said a lot of things I shouldn’t have said…”
“The old coot wanted me to call you Ben. He told me to see if I could come out and live with you but I’m not sure what’s going to happen now,” she said slowly and carefully, herself unsure of how to approach… something.
“Live with me? Mom… I’m… I’m engaged!” He tried not to make this sound like he couldn’t have his Mother living with him, especially as he missed her so, and how evident that was in his voice. Warm tears were streaking down his face and the sobering thought that she might be calling to come live with him brought him back to realizing this fact. It really had been too long, and too much guilt borne throughout all that time, fear of even trying to make things right. He wiped at his cheek, shocked to find his hand so moist in return.
“Engaged? I’m so happy for you Ben! And… Not to worry, I don’t think I’ll be having to move. You know how Walt can be so… overreactive at times.”
“What… about what though? Why did he even suggest it? Wait… WAIT!” he seemed to suddenly realize what she must be insinuating. “MOM,” he shouted, “Dad’s not… not… he hasn’t gone and killed himself has he?” It’s that damned ship! he thought so loudly Walt could hear the sentiment echo through the 5th dimensional void.
“Well…” Betty hesitated, “We’re not really sure you see. We lost contact with him a few hours ago and we’re just not sure what’s going on to be honest. But I called because I thought you should know. “
“Know what Mom?”
“Ben… It worked Ben. It worked exactly like he said it would. He flew off into the sky like a glorious angel taking wing! I’m so proud of him Ben,” soft sobs choking through her words.
“Oh my God,” Ben said stunned. They both cried together for a moment and Ben finally added, “I really never thought it would even work, let alone… but then… he could be dead now you’re saying?”
“Ben, listen to me,” Betty sniffled and pulled herself back together. “If your Father doesn’t make it back, I want you to remember it as a victory, you hear me? NOT a loss. He was ready to sacrifice himself to let us all know what could be done, to show us all that we can all reach for the stars with the expectation that we can succeed! You be proud of your crazy Father, Ben! You be proud of him, you hear? No matter what!”
Ben could say nothing but nod, overwhelmed with the profundity of what his Mom was saying. It couldn’t have been an accident to get this message, not right now! That fact was not lost on the young man and his face wore the look of a stunned guppy. “I understand Mom. And you’re right. So… you wouldn’t be… you know… sad? You know… if he doesn’t… come back?”
“He’s one victorious son of a bitch, Ben and don’t you forget it? I’m proud of my husband and I’ve been sitting here thinking… I don’t think I ever realized what it’s meant to him until now. Somehow, it just all makes sense, you know? I don’t know if he’s coming back, Ben. But the only thing I’m even remotely upset with him for is not taking me with him. But oh,” she laughed through a tint of sorrow, “I don’t think my heart would’ve held out. Just watching him fall into the sky it skipped so many beats I couldn’t count.”
“Wow,” Ben said stunned and not knowing what more to say. “Wow,” he repeated.
“Ben, there are men here… monitoring everything. They are telling me I need to get off the phone. But I just suddenly thought about you in the strongest way, and I absolutely HAD to let you know what your Father has achieved. It’s real, Ben… always was. I’ll call you again soon and we’ll have to get together and visit, talk more about this, and make up for a lot of lost time.”
“Yes, Mom. I agree completely. Let me know when you get in contact with him again, ok?” She had just begun to reply when the phone connection went flat.
Ben was lost in a daze, overwhelmed with his experience. He looked over towards Roxy who had stopped vacuuming and had been staring at him for some time now. “You prayed like I told you to, didn’t you?” she asked with a ‘told you so’ look on her face.
Nodding, Ben could say little more than, “Uh huh.”
In a whirl, Benjamin grabbed his windbreaker, slammed some bills down on the bar and stormed off to the door, tapping at his ear madly, “Call Paul,” he shouted into the receiver. “CALL PAUL!!!”
~
“What happens to him now?” Walt asked, hoping Enlil would once again open up the future pathways for him to see. A spiritual smile would have been plastered across the old man’s face, radiating a joy he’d rarely ever experienced in his life.
“I’m sure you know. Now that he goes forward into his venture without doubt nor hesitation, with his soul aligned with the cause, success will be found easily for him. He’ll have trials and tribulations, like everyone else, but he’ll find them easier to take and to navigate. He’s been blessed and that will last for a long time until he unravels its effects with his own feelings of low self-worth. Over time his belief that he didn’t deserve to be so successful may be his undoing. All this, however, is not certain – nothing ever really is, since new and unexpected decisions may yet be made.”
“Does this mean he’s in a ‘higher frame’ of existence then?” Walt asked referring to Michael’s philosophies.
“Something like that, yes. Or perhaps it is better to think of it as, YOU are. I was not the only one giving him the attention needed to fill him with love. We give to ourselves to give to another. Do not worry too much about what Michael explained. It can be too confusing for the human mind to wrap its linear thoughts around the duality of many existences. Getting lost in these can deprive one of life’s meaning and thus lead to depression.
“Suffice it to say, we have helped your son today, and that is what you should take from this experience. And that we have done so not by taking and subverting his will but by empowering HIM to do so for himself.
Walt spent a moment in a pleasantly peaceful void-like place, considering all he’d seen here, filled with joy and hope. But eventually, he had to ask, “So what now? What’s next?”
“That, Walter Jared Steele is up to you. Have you found what you were looking for? Have you learned what you came here to find? Is your soul sated and ready to return? Or is there something more you sought?”
Unlike the question being posed may suggest, the DP here is not exactly will he go or stay. Walt IS about to be returned but he’s being given the opportunity for some last minute questions or requests. What would those be? Or do you feel he’s experienced all he came for and more?
_________________
      
 CHAPTER 25: Near-Light Speed (NEW CHAPTER! (12/4/2011))
Zephyrrr! And...  
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Muaddib
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| Posted: Wed Oct 26, 2011 9:14 pm Post subject: |
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You know what? I think he's about done here. He can finally reunite with his son, he's completed his lifelong dream. I think it's about time to return.
Also at the risk of sparking a religion debate. I'd be sorely disappointed if I die and find out that there's a father-figure supreme being. I'd much rather become one with the Force. Or even better, if there was absolutely nothing after death wold suit me just fine.
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Tikanni Corazon
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Joined: 25 Oct 2009
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Location: Running through the plains of my mind, my wolf spirit at my side (but doing so in the UK!).
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| Posted: Thu Oct 27, 2011 3:16 am Post subject: |
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Sorry for the delay in getting to this, TB. I've not been well, so not really been around much. I'll comment asap. 
_________________
.... there is no religion without love, and people may talk as much as they like about their religion, but if it does not teach them to be good and kind to man and beast, it is all a sham....
Black Beauty by Anna Sewell, 1887
 
 
  
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Thunderbird
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| Posted: Fri Oct 28, 2011 8:24 am Post subject: |
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| Muaddib wrote: |
Also at the risk of sparking a religion debate. I'd be sorely disappointed if I die and find out that there's a father-figure supreme being. I'd much rather become one with the Force. Or even better, if there was absolutely nothing after death wold suit me just fine. |
I don't think there's any problem with risking a religious debate here - as if the author hasn't already done so! lol.
The author most certainly does NOT intend to presume to have a clue what will happen after death. These segments are meant to weave theoretical premises and 'standard ways' of viewing the subject in with new layers of considerations. In other words, its all really just meant to be food for thought.
If we think of Enlil as being little more than just a very powerful being, something that say perhaps a massively advanced meta-human could even achieve equality with, then we imagine such a meta-human interacting with a more primitive people, even modern man, it would be easy to see how such a being could present him/itself as 'God'. Not just a God, but the God. And perhaps in a sense of only slightly slanted logic, could validate that claim.
It may not play well into what you would expect, as the concept of the God father figure seems irrational to you, but to many, perhaps to most, such a character would not just fit the mold of what their preconceptions would be, but would have their trust and faith by presenting himself to be exactly what you or I would least trust, a cognizant force that can be engaged in rational discussion and has an even vaguely human presence.
For those of us who find this character irrational, we must ask ourselves... why is it that so many would find him completely rational? And would we continue to after being shown all that Walt has been shown? At what point would it suddenly seem to make sense? And what other implications might it have for the rest of our belief and political structures? Not just for us, but for the world as a whole?
Lots of food for thought I hope.
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CHAPTER 25: Near-Light Speed (NEW CHAPTER! (12/4/2011))
Zephyrrr! And...
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Muaddib
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| Posted: Fri Oct 28, 2011 8:53 pm Post subject: |
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| I just don't buy the concept of omnipotency. Also I find it hypocritical that followers of today's religions speak condescendingly about Roman/Greek/Egyptian deities for being too simplistic and for behaving too much like humans when their own supreme beings clearly have the virtues of jealousy, wrath etc.
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Thunderbird
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| Posted: Sat Oct 29, 2011 9:23 am Post subject: |
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| Muaddib wrote: | | I just don't buy the concept of omnipotency. Also I find it hypocritical that followers of today's religions speak condescendingly about Roman/Greek/Egyptian deities for being too simplistic and for behaving too much like humans when their own supreme beings clearly have the virtues of jealousy, wrath etc. |
Amen! You're going to like some of the next few chapters I think...
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CHAPTER 25: Near-Light Speed (NEW CHAPTER! (12/4/2011))
Zephyrrr! And...
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Tikanni Corazon
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| Posted: Sun Oct 30, 2011 2:34 am Post subject: |
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Hey TB!
Sorry it took me so long to get to this. I've been really under the weather just recently, and just haven't had the energy to get through anything on IF really.
It never fails to stun me just how all of this stuff, complicated as it is, all fits together, and makes a strange sort of sense. It's only too obvious how...completely you've thought this through, and how much research you've done into the subject as a whole, and it's really paid off. Though I enjoy the chapters with a little more action, the ones with Walter always leave me thinking about the concepts you weave into the tale, and I think that it a very valuable talent to have as a writer, to make people ponder and debate even over your work. Means that the information is really being taken in by the readers.
For the DP...I can't see how Walt can question Enlil further, to be honest. He's been given so much information already, and now also been privy to the 'Power of God', as it were. Possibly he could ask something about himself and his own future? Maybe how the recent events will have an impact on his remaining life, and that of his wife. I don't know. But I do want him to get back to Betty as soon as possible. It was very touching how proud she was of him, when really she could have been resentful of the position that his plans could leave her in.
Another fab chappie, TB! Looking forward to the next one!
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.... there is no religion without love, and people may talk as much as they like about their religion, but if it does not teach them to be good and kind to man and beast, it is all a sham....
Black Beauty by Anna Sewell, 1887
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Lupaviola7
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| Posted: Sun Nov 13, 2011 12:59 am Post subject: |
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I love how everything that doesn't seem can fit together actually flows very nicely in your story...I very much enjoyed reading it 
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| Posted: Sat Nov 19, 2011 2:43 pm Post subject: |
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Thanks Lupa! Any suggestions on the decision point? Any favorite characters yet? I'm about to put up a poll on the last chapter so be watching for that.
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