The beautiful figure who appeared in the light did not speak to Hunter nor did Hunter speak to it, that is, not in the normal sense of speaking.  Instead, they communicated telepathically which Hunter found much more efficient.  The being of light could stream a book’s worth of knowledge in the time it took a person on Earth to form a single sentence.  But then, silence had meaning too.  With the silence came a flood of sensual information, such as the smell of roses or the warmth of a mother’s breast if those sensations happened to be part of the message.  All of the sensual dimension of communication was experienced literally and, thus, did not require symbol, memory, or imagination to grasp.  These sensations happened within the silences between the thoughts.  Thus, “talk,” in that sense, took place on more than one level.

“Did you see Earth?” asked the being.

“Yes, I was just admiring its beauty before you came,” replied Hunter.

“No, did you see her?” he asked.

Hunter turned to look again at Earth.  In a flash, he understood the reason why Earth existed.  She was the beginning of something new, the prototype of something yet to come.  Her innate beauty and reason for being was not to reign as sovereign in the solar system or universe or to self-preserve against all malevolence which might threaten her.  No, in fact, her purpose was quite the opposite.  Her reason for being was to prove the virtue of vulnerability, innocence, frailty: in a word, Love because love is the healing balm for every kind of weakness.  And to prove love she would have to perish in the end.  But oh, how loved Earth was among all of Creation; she was as the most rare and delicate of flowers.  And just to look on her was a privilege.

Hunter then understood that Earth, by nature, was ephemeral and could not live forever.  This struck a blow to his heart because his life had been all about proving himself, competing and winning, and resilience in the face of opposition.  In essence, his life had been about defeating vulnerability.  So it seemed, perhaps, he had missed something big and wonderful about life on Earth.  It had never occurred to him that weakness might actually be of value—something to cherish.  This change in paradigm confused Hunter.

“How can weakness be any good?” he asked the light.

“It can be profitable in two ways,” the light answered.  “In the first, when weakness is seen by one creature who finds it in another (either of his own kind or a different kind) it becomes an opportunity to express love in a wonderfully creative array of acts.  There is great joy in protecting the weak or saving the lowly,” said the being.  “In the second,” the being continued, “the creature who experiences vulnerability learns why love is the First Law which holds together all things.  Thus, vulnerability is the Coin of Wisdom:  One must sweep his own house diligently and find it first before any other truth may be purchased.”

At that answer Hunter did not feel shame but he felt surprise.  It was an epiphany to him but it was only the first of others to come.  Hunter had dozens of questions then burning in his mind but the being of light assured him there would be time for those soon but, for the moment, they should begin their tour.

“I have much to show you,” said the light.  The being turned and pointed towards the stars.

The next few seconds for Hunter were like those he had experienced as a passenger on powerful jetliners as they accelerated towards takeoff.  Except in this case, he and the being of light took a spiral path in order to pass closely to the sun and all the other planets in the solar system.  Apparently, visiting the solar system was part of Hunter’s educational tour, and most of that, as related by the light, had to do with the role each planet played, both physically and mythologically, in the history of humankind.

Two of the more interesting bits Hunter learned regarding the solar system had to do with some ancient human mythology regarding the planets.  The being of light commented that the ancients, without any of the modern tools of science, had, in stories, described with accuracy celestial events that had happened long before the first human being took a breath on Earth.  In one such myth, it was told that the planets talked to one another, told stories and cracked jokes and such, and laughed at each other’s jokes and stories.  Jupiter, according to the myth, was the jolly jokester among the planets who kept all the others rolling with laughter and, in their merriment, the planets would sing together the most beautiful songs the ear had ever heard.

Another myth said that Pluto had once been the most beautiful planet of all planets until he offended the Sun by attempting to steal Earth’s only moon when greedy Pluto already had five of his own.  For this transgression, the Sun banished Pluto and his moons from the company of the planets and ordered him to find a different solar system to hobnob with, if he could.  That decree caused a riff between Pluto and his strongest moon, Charon.  But, in his stubbornness, Pluto disobeyed the Sun and refused to leave.  So now, he is ugly, cold, and dark and remains at the outskirts of the solar system, locked in a struggle for power with Charon.  Pluto harasses the other planets when he can but, otherwise, is ignored by them.

The being of light added that in the eternal plane the planets do have life and purpose in the same way all other beings have life and purpose.  And the planets also communicate with one another and have a type of planetary society among them and enjoy each other’s company.  They also enjoy singing, usually in voices which resemble those of continuous bell tones but have other voices as well.  Hunter himself heard the singing of the planets, in their bell voices, and their intricate harmonies as he and the being traveled across the solar system.

There were many other fascinating pieces of knowledge which the being of light gave Hunter and which his mind, during that time, seemed to easily absorb and process.  Hunter marveled at how agile his own mind was during this time.

It felt as if there was no limit to the number of topics Hunter could hold in his mind simultaneously.  One topic which had remained there since first meeting the being of light, was the Earth’s purpose: how she was created to prove the value of vulnerability and the merit of love as the “First Law”.

Hunter contemplated this deeply.  He thought about what the being had told him and it began to make sense why humans were capable of both acts of love and animus, spawned by fear.  Vulnerability could not exist without the presence of danger, he thought, and a fearful human can certainly be dangerous in many ways.  Humans, compared to other earthly creatures, seem considerably more conscious of how their deeds effect other beings, especially other human beings.  So, perhaps, it is this consciousness, or self-awareness, or awareness of others which gives humans the choice of acting with kindness, generosity, benevolence, or love or, instead, acting through the impulse of fear.

But humankind’s overarching obsession with self-preservation, self-replication, and self-security, all would seem to impel him towards fear and animus:  He would naturally view others, also engaged in the struggle for survival, as competitors for resources and possible physical threats.  Thus, the bulk of his actions, one would think, would be geared towards self-preservation and, likewise, hostility towards others.  Hunter remembered several institutions back on Earth which were wholly dedicated to this single goal—to protect themselves, using violence if necessary against those considered alien.

On the other hand, to act with love, the human creature, on some level, has to realize he is acting against his own self-interest and, in the process, making himself more vulnerable to threats against his life, threats that are everywhere.  Boiled down, Hunter realized that when a person acts with love he automatically becomes vulnerable and less likely to survive.  Paradoxically, then, love moves a person towards transience in the physical realm but towards the eternal in the spiritual.  It would make sense, then, that acts of fear and selfishness work towards the opposite outcome, except that the body must eventually die, no matter what, so will never achieve permanence and thus every effort to do so is as Solomon observed—Vanity.

Do some people innately understand this concept of love? Hunter asked himself, and that’s why they spend their entire lives in some hot jungle somewhere trying to better other people’s lives?  It was puzzling to Hunter why he had never thought about love in the cosmic scheme of things, that love might exist beyond Earth, in the solar system or elsewhere.  Until then, Hunter’s concept of love extended no further than his feelings of sexual desire and his desire to provide his family with a prosperous lifestyle.  Oh, he had once felt a fatherly bond with his daughter, Greta, that might have been called love but that relationship had long since dissolved into a maze of misinterpreted signals.  So that was it; that was how he understood love.

Other types of love—love of God or country, for example—were misnomers, he believed.  It was not love they were talking about; it was loyalty and usually misplaced at that.  “Love of God” was more likely loyalty to a religious organization and its doctrines and dogmas rather than a profound yearning after the divine.  And “love of country” was usually loyalty to a political state and its government, not a deep affection for a place and its flora, fauna, and spirit.  The poet Thoreau might have been able to genuinely claim that he loved his country but your run-of-the-mill American certainly could not.  These were a couple of the epiphanies Hunter got while flying the solar system with the being of light.

From the solar system, they zipped across the universe, observing the beautiful and awe-inspiring galaxies, nebulae, and quasars along the way.  Hunter asked many questions of his tour guide as they traveled; the guide answered all of them but did so as succinctly as he could.  The sights of all of these things created in Hunter a stunned amazement.  What he saw was beyond imagination.  What he felt and heard were beyond belief.

There were frozen kingdoms of crystals, singing like symphonies; realms of dazzling arrays of colored lights, stars he supposed, to take your breath away; vistas of endless beauty on purple, gold, and silver planets, orbiting majestic stars in other galaxies.  But there were so many of such wonders.  Humans really have no concept of Creation or Beauty thought Hunter.

“I can’t believe I’m seeing all of creation!” exclaimed Hunter at one point.

“Oh, what you’ve seen so far—to use one of your phrases—isn’t even the tip of the iceberg,” replied the tour guide.

Hunter had never experienced his imagination and curiosity being so stimulated.  He wanted to learn everything there was to learn and explore everything there was to see.  He would have gladly spent a million years exploring that Eternal wonderland if it was possible.

“These are the first creations,” said the guide.  “They have become more beautiful since the beginning.”

“Is there time here?” asked Hunter.

“No, not like you understand time.  Many of your sages and wisemen have wrestled greatly with this concept of time which, here, plays no important role.  We have no master clock.  All things have clocks of their own which operate in different ways and those ways are innumerable.  They are something like functions in calculus.  Are you familiar with these?”

“Only a little,” answered Hunter.

“So when you say, ‘time’ I must ask: Whose time? and What kind of time, exactly?  In your vocabulary there is not a word for the concept I wish to mention but the closest word you have to understand this concept is development.  Here, there is development which in the sense I speak of has both expanding and diminishing qualities.  Do you understand?”

“I think so,” said Hunter.

Hunter realized that the information available in the Eternal sphere would take a normal human mind probably a billion years of study to even scratch its surface.

“But you said that these were the first creations which suggests some reckoning of time, it would seem, at least in terms of order, wouldn’t it?” said Hunter.

The guide laughed.

“Yes, but they are also the last creations, too.  Now, I must tell you that we have come here for a reason.  There is something very special you have been given to see.  Not many see it.  But I must tell you, it will change you in a profound way.  Do you wish to see it?”

“I—I don’t know,” stammered Hunter.  “How will it change me?  I mean, I don’t even—”

“Each soul is different, so each experiences a different change.  All I can say is that it will draw you closer to the Eternal.  And it will change your life should you decide to return to your calling on Earth.”

“Am I going to return to my calling on Earth?” asked Hunter.  “I didn’t know that.  I thought that—you know—all of that was over because I’m here now.”

“No, we don’t make that decision.  You do.”

“You mean, I decide whether or not I return to my life back on Earth?  I decide that?”

“Yes,” answered the guide.

“But why?  I’m just a—a guy, you know.”  Hunter began laughing in disbelief.  “I’m not a god.  I don’t make the rules, or anything.  Why should I decide?”

“Because that’s the whole point of becoming human,” answered the guide, “choice.  You decided to become human to do precisely this: to make choices and, in the process, develop your soul and thereby contribute to the development of Creation.  You are much more than you realize.  But as I like to say:  That’s just the human talking.”  The guide laughed at his own joke.

Hunter understood that the joke was directed at his display of disbelief in himself.  Obviously, he was not fully aware of his own place in the present situation.  He had thought of himself only as a tourist, a passenger on the bus, gadding about the cosmos on R & R, taking in the heavenly sights.  It had not occurred to him that perhaps he was playing some central role in the drama unfolding.

“So do you wish to see it?” asked the guide.

“I need to know what I’m seeing,” said Hunter in a more serious tone.

“The Void,” said the guide.

“Hmm,” mused Hunter, “sounds kind of dangerous.  And it will change me, permanently, I suppose.”

“I will be with you so, no, it won’t be dangerous.  And, yes, it will change you permanently but it will be a profitable change, one that will add meaning to your quest should you choose to resume it—”

“On Earth,” Hunter completed the guide’s thought.

“Yes, on Earth,” said the guide.

“By the way, when do I make this decision about returning to Earth, or not?”

“Later,” said the guide.  “We have other places to visit, first.”

“Right.  Of course,” said Hunter.  “But right now The Void is next on our travel itinerary.”

“Unless you prefer to skip it.”

“What the hell,” said Hunter, “how often does one get to visit The Void.  Apparently not often, so I’m told.  So why not!  Yes!  Let’s do it.”

The guide laughed.

“Are you sure?”

“Yes, I’m sure,” said Hunter.  “I’m ready for The Void.”

Hunter and the guide began accelerating until they reached a very high speed.  It seemed they were ascending towards what Hunter thought was deep space.  He looked below him and saw all of the galaxies shrink into tiny dots then disappear.  At the same time, above him were only a few faint stars, or what appeared to be stars.  Hunter and the being of light sped towards one of these weak stars and it grew larger but not brighter as they came closer.  Then Hunter became aware that they were traveling through a tunnel, a dark tunnel, though he could see that the tunnel was cylindrical in shape and definitely had walls.  The walls looked like a thick membrane which was illuminated from within by blacklight.  As they traveled the tunnel, the being of light, Hunter’s guide, turned an iridescent emerald-green color but was still sparklingly bright.  But the light emitting from him seemed to be getting sucked ahead of him into the tunnel.  Hunter surmised that they had entered a black hole but his guide said, no, that it was not a black hole; it was, in fact, the entrance to The Void.

The farther through the tunnel they traveled the more warm and comfortable Hunter became.  It had a “womb” quality about it: safe and protective.  Hunter felt no fear.  At last the tunnel opened into a vast cavern.  There was no light except that which came from the guide and his light was quickly absorbed by the utter blackness of the space.  They were still moving but soon decelerated and came to a rest.

“The Void,” said the guide and opened his arms in a Voila! gesture.

The weird thing about The Void to Hunter was his perception that it contained both absolutely nothing and, at the same time, absolutely everything: that it was both full and empty of matter and energy.  The image Hunter later used to describe it was that it was like a huge ocean filled with water—water a hundred times heavier than normal water—but, apart from the water, there was nothing else in that ocean.

“This is the Beginning,” said the being of light, “or to put it in terms you might better understand:  This is the Brain of God.  It is utterly silent but contains all that can ever exist.”

Hunter also felt that whatever he imagined there, inside The Void, could suddenly materialize before his eyes because it was so charged with raw creative energy.  In that place, every fiber of Hunter’s soul pulsated with an electric anticipation.  It made him feel—holy.  It was a type of feeling he had never experienced before.  And though it was impossible to feel any negative emotion there, such as guilt or shame, Hunter thought about how inappropriate his response had been to the being of light when he had first invited Hunter to visit The Void.  Hunter’s flippant comments seemed particularly crass after having experienced the sacredness of that unusual place.

“The Void is at rest but we must not stay any longer.  A new work is in preparation,” said the guide.  Hunter was about to ask: What new work? when the guide added, “No, I cannot tell you more because I do not know more.”

As Hunter and his guide traversed back from The Void across the universe and towards the Earth’s solar system, Hunter asked the being if The Void was God.

“In your present form,” the being began to answer, “you are still a human soul and thus you have human comprehension.  When you fully return to the Eternal then you will regain all of the knowledge which you had before becoming human.  When that happens, then I can answer your question.  But for now you are limited to what a human may understand.  At present you are incapable of grasping the nature of the Eternal so my answer to your question can neither satisfy your understanding nor reflect the Truth.  But I will tell you only this:  The Void is similar to the Meditation of the Eternal.”

“So the short answer is: no,” said Hunter.

“The short answer is: no and yes and always and never,” said the being of light.

It was then that Hunter knew he did not want to return to Earth, that when the time came and he was allowed to decide whether to return to Earth or remain in the Eternal, he would opt to stay on the Eternal plane.  He was certain of it.  He had already made up his mind and nothing would cause him to change it.  He was finished with Earth and its infuriating limitations.  He was tired of feeling pointless, like his life had no purpose.  That’s it! he thought.  My life on Earth has been pointless!  It has no meaning!  I don’t even know why I’m there.  So he asked the being of light why he was sent to Earth in the first place.

“You were born into human form because you chose to become human and because, as a human being you would receive freewill, and freewill develops the soul and you sought development.  The significant lessons of having freewill can only be learned on Earth and in human form.  For the rest of your questions on this matter they will be answered soon because we are going next to the place where your answers are.  We are on our way to Hyaleah which has been written about and known by many names throughout human history.  But to us, it is Hyaleah.  There you will make your decision.”

Just then, Hunter and the being re-entered the solar system.  The planets were singing again, only this time their voices did not ring like bells but like human voices, singing in a language that was not English, possibly French or Russian or a combination of both.  Hunter listened to the planets’ magnificent harmonies and realized that each planet and its moons had multiple voices with which to sing and that was how they achieved such rich and complex music.

Hunter was eager to get to this, so called, Hyaleah and sign up as the newest resident of the Eternal.  Though the being of light had answered so many of his questions already, he felt an insatiable hunger for knowledge which he knew could not be filled on Earth.  Plus, in the Eternal, he felt whole and at home.  This place, he then understood, was his natural home and he realized too that he had never felt at home on Earth: he had always felt out of place there.  He thought about Mandy and Greta and his mother and others back on Earth.  But they seemed so remote to him, as if they had existed in some life which had happened a hundred years in the past.  He also knew innately that if he stayed in the Eternal they would be fine; they would go on living without him; and they would not be harmed in any serious way by his departure.  The choice before him was clear-cut.

But the being of light seemed to be taking the scenic route to Hyaleah.  The being and Hunter were again spiraling through the solar system, past all of the planets.  But this time, Hunter noticed other things he had not seen the first time.  For one, he noticed other beings traveling between the planets, seemingly making visits from one planet to the next, some by themselves and some in groups.  Then he noticed there were cities, towns, and villages on every planet to which these other beings traveled.  When asked about this the guide said that each planet was a center for learning which specialized in certain kinds of knowledge and souls traveled from planet to planet, as necessary, to gain the particular knowledge they needed.  Thus, each planet had a function in the advancement of the soul’s development.

“Why have humans on Earth not seen these civilizations or cities, whatever they are, which are apparent on all of the planets?  Surely these civilizations would be visible through human scientific instruments,” Hunter asked the being.

“Humans on Earth don’t have the interface to see them,” answered the being.  “To view the spirit realm, one must have spirit-vision.  At this point in their development, humans on Earth have lost, through disuse, much of their spirit-vision, as well as their perception of the natural Earth.  For this reason, humans live in profound darkness which, I’m afraid, may last for some time.”

Hunter also noticed that the souls he saw traveling about vibrated at a frequency that he could feel more than hear.  And they vibrated at different frequencies.  The being of light explained that all beings of every kind vibrate and that it is the Primary Vibration’s purpose to hold together the Universe and everything in it.

“Is this Primary Vibration, you mention, part of God?” asked Hunter.

“The short answer is: it’s a special type of energy and, yes, it is part of what you know as God.”

Those comments by the being of light only added fuel to Hunter’s desire to stay in the Eternal realm.  There was so much he wanted to learn.  But the being of light, at that moment, spoke to Hunter about his desire to learn:

“You want to learn here because this is the place of learning.  This universe is, so to speak, our university, our place of knowledge.  But there is much more than learning that is profitable.  There is also play.  And there is service, too, and there is rest and making language: all are profitable.  And these are only some of what is useful; we have places for all of these pursuits as well.  But here is where learning and knowledge and wisdom are found so you are stimulated by them and want their fruit.  But do not ignore the others.”

“You said, ‘making language.’  What did you mean by that?” asked Hunter.

“Oh, I think on Earth you call it poetry, storytelling, or mythology, something like that.  It is one of the most important of all activities.  All heavenly beings are wonderfully fond of it.”

“Oh,” said Hunter, wishing his tour could have been more comprehensive.

Having spent as much time as he had in the bright light of his guide, Hunter found it easy to look at the sun.  He saw it as it was: a roiling ball of fiery explosions which seemed to tear the ball into ragged shards momentarily, until it fell back into its spherical shape.  Looking at the Sun had the same attraction for Hunter as staring into a fire, in a hearth, on a winter’s day.  Then they passed Mercury, then Venus, and on towards Earth but on a different course than they had taken the first time.  What he saw next surprised Hunter greatly.

There was Earth, looking about the size of a tennis ball, a beautiful blue sphere with Van Gogh-like clouds decorating its surface.  It spun on its axis at a steady rate.  Then there was also the moon, an iridescent pearl, orbiting Earth.  But farther from Earth than the moon but equal distance from the moon was a second Earth, the same size and color as the first.  This Earth was what the being of light identified as “Hyaleah”.  It appeared to also orbit Earth, just like the moon, but farther out than the moon.  It, too, spun on its axis but it spun in the opposite direction as Earth.  The moon passed halfway between the two planets in its orbital path.  In its path around Earth, Hyaleah seemed to always stay in Earth’s shadow.  So from the point of view of a human living on Earth, Hyaleah would remain in the night sky, behind the moon.  But, as with the civilizations existing on the other planets of the solar system, Hyaleah was a spiritual habitation which required spirit-vision to see.  It was, therefore, invisible to almost all humans on Earth.

Hunter saw a great deal of soul traffic between Earth and Hyaleah.  Other souls like his were being escorted from Earth to Hyaleah by beings of light.  All of the souls leaving Earth, in comparison to their escorts, had seemingly low levels of vibration.  The being of light explained that the reason this was true was because a soul had to have a greatly reduced vibration in order to fit into the clothing of human form.  There were souls also departing Hyaleah and traveling to Earth.  These were not escorted by beings of light; these traveled to Earth alone.

“Why do souls travel to Earth alone?” Hunter asked the guide.

“They are the souls of those being incarnated; they are those to whom the opportunity to experience a watch on Earth has been granted.  They study the way of love so to advance their souls and Creation.”

“What do you mean by ‘advance Creation?’” asked Hunter.

“Souls play a most important role, a unique role, in this creation project which is still under construction.  They gather the practical knowledge of how freewill and love work together.  The knowledge they obtain is then stored in the Great Light Repository and used for the perfection of this and other creations.”

“Wow!” exclaimed Hunter.  “So souls are like worker bees, in a sense.”

“An apt comparison; very good,” said the guide.

Copyright by Dale Tucker.  All rights reserved.