Story & Conversation

Writing 7

Conversation. Five.

(Very often during the times I set apart for this communication I wonder: 'Who needs this story, even if I tell it well?' This uncertainty flows from a not particularly noble source. I'm a person who is chronically impressed by the wisdom and eloquence of other people. And I know that scores of people are intrigued by the mysteries of our human existence and by life in general. Many can speak or write about it in such an interesting, sincere and often personal way that I feel like a has-been who never started.)

"Well," She/He said, "do you have misgivings about Me being here with you?"

I looked at Him/Her, looked at the empty chair. I should say, "Yes! Of course I'm full of doubt! Isn't this a charade, talking to You as if You are really sitting there?"

(By all earthly standards, if it were true that I speak with THE God, it would make me an instant celebrity. Or even if nobody would know about it, wouldn't I privately float on cloud nine, to say it modestly? In a simple perspective, isn't the bottom line that I entertain a quite innocent, old-fashioned delusion?)

I said, however, "No! I don't argue with the reality of You sitting there. This is real for me. You are present. Our talking is genuine. You allow me to be with You personally. I not just believe that this is happening, I even grasp somehow why and how that is possible.

Yes, I feel dumb compared with other people that have deep insights about living on this isolated planet as human beings. I do feel inadequate but still I continue this with You, if only because I notice that it brings together many pieces of my own life's mysteries!"

She/He left me alone with my own thoughts for a while.

Then He/She said, "You're ahead of most other people in understanding this part of the real reality. You're even ahead of people that seek Me more intensely than you do! You taste something of My realm that's not happening to many but, please, realize that at the same time, you're behind many people in understanding and experiencing other aspects of My reality. The contamination of all human thinking on your planet is total. You're no exception."

She/He said with a smile: "You, with your theological background should understand My emphasis on the 'last' and the 'least'. It's only from the position of empty-handedness and empty-headedness that your mind can choose to open up to hitherto unheard things.

Looking back at your life, you distinguish paths leading up to this. Are you therefore more special to Me than any of the other trillions of people? No, my friend! I am fully accessible for you, as you see. I've all the time in the world for you. But so I have that for each and every other creature that ever came into being. Please, understand that I'm not just talking about human beings. Of all that exists, I am the ultimate source and center. In all that exists is My presence. You now experience that even on your isolated planet My closeness can be personal."

To hear this is incredibly comforting.

Beyond that, it gives me a wonderful sense of being a legitimate, a needed, a wanted part of life's totality. It's simple, clear. I do fit in, somehow.

I want to hug Him/Her. I do.

It's because of these moments with Her/Him that I will continue with the story. Whatever happens with it.

Without explanation, He/She picked up the story where it was left.

"You see, first, a whole new galaxy needed to be prepared for the mission of the newly created human beings. The already-existing realm with their sentient self-aware entities wouldn't do. They were too close to Me, you could say. Why would they want to change or even jeopardize their full and immensely satisfying existence? Human life, like all of creation, was endowed with the freedom of choice. The first humans gladly accepted the challenge to live at the far side of the expanding cosmos, in its most external realm; an area not yet charted, to use your term.

Nothing 'negative' was present in them or their environment.

The second generation human beings, similarly endowed as the first one, nevertheless experienced something new - the gender separation. We discussed this. Despite the separate embodiment of the feminine and masculine principles, the sense of the attractive and nurturing oneness remained. They were worthy successors of the first generation.

The third generation, which you call the children of the twins, came into being by the desire of the human beings to see if and how they could re-create themselves, with the intriguing question how they would react to life. From their own genetic material, they were able to produce humans like themselves. These possessed all the external features, powers of mind, intelligence and spiritual qualities those had.

The novelty was that the third type of human beings did not have the direct endowment of life from Me. It meant they had to learn about who they were and what their status and position was. That understanding didn't flow directly and spontaneously from Me into them."

"The generation you are going to write about today, came into being 'millions' of years 'later', when the desire arose to experiment more drastically with themselves. They wanted to find out if and how they could produce self-aware entities, similar to themselves, of human stock, so to speak, but otherwise of their design. This would include that those new creatures would be more in a position to consider choices about how to relate to Me and My world.

But that is your story now. You talk."

STORY. FIVE.

The twin's families prospered. When the children grew up and started to establish their own households, the twins decided it was time for some future planning. As occasion they used the anniversary celebration of their arrival in this new world.

All the twins' twelve children, some having grown-up children themselves, came over to be with their parents at the original homestead. They decided to do business first and then have the folks from back home come over for festivities.

When they were seated for dinner on the first day of the family gathering, Twinhe, with his sister sitting next to him, asked for attention. While he cleared his throat, he realized he was imitating his Father on the day of their farewell dinner long ago. The speeches of Father and Mother that day had become classics, known by heart by all family members.

With Twinshe, he had prepared an extensive document about where they saw their families going from here. It was meant to be delivered as a formal presentation.

All at the table fell silent. As father, father-in-law, uncle and employer, Twinhe was very much liked and respected. Everybody looked with fondness at him and his sister. He looked around, very much like his Father had done. He put his hand on his sister's shoulder and started with, "Mother and I...."

That was as far as he got. A roaring laughter filled the room. Twinshe wanted to crawl under the table out of embarrassment but thought better of it and joined the hilarity. Twinhe himself doubled up from laughing.

They hadn't laughed so much in years. Finally, the uproar subsided, the tears were wiped from the faces and they waited for Twinhe to deliver his speech. Which he never did. To this day, nobody knows if he erred by calling his sister 'mother' out of nervousness, or deliberately started that way for comic effect.

The result was that there was no end in telling the story of Twinhe's aborted speech to the rest of the family back home.

Another result was that all the issues of the future of their communities were dealt with informally and without much discussion.

The consensus among them was that the two expanding families would branch out to the surrounding islands. Some of them had done that already.

The twins and their spouses would stay where they lived now and dedicate their time to further research and experiments. Nature could always be made more beautiful.

When Father and Mother, aunts, uncles and cousins arrived for the celebration, they were welcomed by a happy, grateful and lively bunch of relatives that bubbled with excitement.

Everybody had a great time, although Smart Boy, having been shown around, grumbled, "You're all workaholics here. I guess that comes with having moved away from us."

After the festivities, things were peaceful. The moving on of the twins' children went smoothly.

The days were filled.

The living was abundant.

The tomorrows inspiring.

Yet quite a few of them had their mind on a new approach to shaping the future. One day, they brought their ideas to their regular joint meeting. It instantly became the talk of the town. At first, their thinking was just shared, but soon it became a proposal: "Why don't we try to cross the Great Current and explore what's there?"

Actually, there was more to it. The proposal implied, "Why don't we see if we can settle there? We could build there, from scratch, a truly new world."

It was a mind-blowing idea.

The little bit of information they had about the other side came from their Grandparents. When pressured, those ventured that the lands there were not that different than here. "It all depends how you approach it," the Grandparents several times had added, cryptically. The twins' children interpreted this as meaning that surviving there would be possible.

'Why would we want to go there and start a whole new way of life?' was the hot question, asked in private and publicly every time they met. One reason the idea caught on was that the envisioned outcome of the adventure seemed so rewarding. If they were successful, it would mean the emergence of a society inspired by the philosophies and principles by which their family prospered, but also based on their free choice and ingenuity. Wouldn't that be a splendid tribute to the old folks that had given them this chance? Everybody would be so proud!

Another reason also sounded logical. It came from a desire to expand. It was in their blood!

The Grandparents always appreciated the discoveries they shared with them.

Now, however, they could offer a result that would stand on its own feet.

Not as a mere improvement, but an innovation with their name;

A new creation in its own right: their unique contribution!

There also was a third motive. It wasn't immediately

recognized by all, but the theme kept popping up.

'What if we, having arrived on the other side,

allow some of our children to grow up

without them telling about our past

or the source of our knowledge?

Let's see how they develop

Without our influence.'

Some skeptically joked, "Isn't this what all children dream of,

when they want to get their parents off their back?"

"Oh, no, we really are serious," others insisted.

"We let them approach life open-minded,

"dd not burden them with our ideas.

"This may lead to discoveries

"surprising our parents!"

"So, come on, let's move!" they urged the hesitating minority.

It happened. They bundled their research with this goal in mind.

Their parents, the twins, didn't get involved, absorbed as they seemed in their own projects. The few times they saw the cousins from back home, interest in each other seemed to wane. This was mutual, although the twins' children didn't mind taking the blame, knowing that, indeed, they were preoccupied with the crossing plans. They did hear comments, though, from their uncles and aunts. Smart Boy raised the issue whether it was scientifically proper to keep exploring just for the sake of it. He questioned the validity of their motivations.

The oldest uncle sort of warned that they shouldn't go overboard. "Excitement and extremism share a thin dividing line," he stated.

The older sister promised a shipment of the latest line weatherproof clothing for the journey.

And the Grandparents? Mother simply restated that they could take with them her love, to wherever they would migrate.

Father, equally calm, said that they should do what they had to do.

Still, all felt what some of the younger ones openly said and the older ones didn't deny: change is in the air!"