Chapter 0002 Judah

Chapter 2 Judah Professor Zelig, or Professor Z as his students loved to call him, was brought back into the present by the sounds of his students entering his classroom. He had begun writing a novel that he felt compelled to write for the last few years but only now had started to put to paper. For him writing became a deep meditation transporting him to the time and place being written. This felt like an autobiography rather than a work of fiction. But the truth is that as passionate as Judah was about wizards and magic, he had trouble enough manifesting a successful lifestyle let alone transforming the world as he so desperately wanted to do.

Since his marriage to Lindy and the arrival of his over 30 years, which coincided, he had trouble keeping his weight managed, so he was a little heavy. Truth is that he would never see his size 32 waist again. But what really galled him was a growing bald spot. He would never forgive whatever universal power played that trick on him. He had always loved his thick, bushy hair and now the only hint of it was on the side and back of his head having forsaken the top. He was totally unprepared for this event given that his grandfather and great grandfather on both sides of his family died with a full head of hair. His only consolation was the myth that men lose their hair because they are sexually active. Well at least that was his consolation until he had spent the last five years of his life not in a relationship. This was another universal joke he was not laughing at. Prior to this he had seldom gone more than 6 months without either being married or in a relationship.

2 He never saw himself as a handsome man, but he had a certain charm and charisma that enabled him to successfully attract women to him. He had been told many times that his hazel eyes were very captivating. This was also failing him as he approached and now passed his 53rd year. But his voice was still as powerful as ever and his speech students and other audiences loved to hear him speak. Still he felt very incomplete.

There was very little magic in his life except when he was teaching or writing. His students loved taking his speech classes and he was able to get almost everyone to feel comfortable with revealing themselves before their classmates. Today was a milestone for him in several ways. One was the starting of his novel, but this was also his tenth year teaching and his first year teaching a radical new class that he had convinced the college to allow him to offer. It was his design and his passion. He called the class, “The Magic of Positive Speaking.” As the class filled to capacity, he knew the time was right to share this teaching that he himself was only now beginning to understand.

When the students had all seated themselves, he dimmed the lights and began. “Close your eyes if you’re comfortable doing so and clear your mind as much as you can. Focus on your breath. Hear it fill you and hear it leave you. Focus on your chest rising and falling with each breath. In and out. Rising and falling. Like waves lapping against a quiet shoreline. Focus and relax. I am going to ask you to take a journey with me. Some of you may be able to actually see the places I will describe and some of you will only be able to hear the words and imagine the place. Either one is OK. Just relax and listen and imagine whatever your mind allows you to.

3 Imagine that you are the first exchange student to the planet Kyoara. You have just arrived and you are looking around at the beautiful landscape. There are beautiful crystalline structures that radiate vivid colors in the sunlight that seem to dance all around you. The people here look very much like we do except they always seem to smile as if they know some wonderful secret. No one is in a hurry, and almost everyone who passes you stops to chat and treats you as if you were a very special person. The clothes are all very simply made, loose and flowing. But they are not all the same. As a matter of fact, each person seems to have his or her own color and pattern. The air seems to be filled with a very faint hum that is extremely pleasant and peaceful. The smells seem to combine light floral and earthy scents. Everything seems so vivid to the eye and soon you realize that there are no shadows. As a matter of fact there is no sun that you can see, and yet the sky is bright and alive with colors and everything around you is illuminated. You ask your guide how this is possible. Listen for the reply. Remember it.

Now you are in school, but, like everything else, it is nothing like you’re used to. Everyone is excited to be here, and each one takes the time to meet you and make you feel welcome. You may choose your classes, but regardless of what you choose the emphasis will be on how that subject can help you to live a happier life. There are no grades and no tests and no competition, but everyone attends because here is where they learn to care for and understand themselves and others. There are only two levels roughly translated as lifeview and spiritview. The transition is usually, but not always made at age 13. The first level is slightly more structured, but the goal is not to learn what others dictate, but to learn from yourself who you are, where you came from, and what your

4 goals are here. Almost incidental to the process, but still accomplished through it, are communication skills, life skills, and discovery of the world around them. The one class that tends to carry over into both levels is Dreamwork. Dreams are the recreation of choice here, and everyone recognizes their dreams as also their greatest teacher.

Now you decide to visit the home where you will be staying and again you are in for a surprise. Your guide seems to be thinking about something and all of a sudden a bubble appears around you and lifts off. As you travel over the terrain, you notice that there are no fences or boundary markers of any kind. Nothing to show where one property begins and another ends. When you ask about this, your guide tells you that nothing is owned here. All building structures are made out of crystal, which is simply solid light. The crystals can change colors at the tenant’s will. It can go from Privacy mode, which is almost a solid black, to crystal clear in Open mode. Anyone who has attended Spiritview has learned to manipulate light in this way. Everything else that exists is invented or created using materials that are freely supplied and freely shared with others. There is nothing that is possessed individually, but everything is shared. The bubble you are traveling in is also a light creation and it is powered by thoughts. You are invited to take control of the bubble, and you do. Now imagine that you are traveling all over this new world. Imagine some of the sights. Remember.

Throughout your stay here, you can’t help but think that you have other questions, which you cannot ask, but mostly you are having too good a time to worry about it. All of your senses are heightened here. It isn’t until you are almost home that you realize that you

5 never asked about crime or violence. Again you are in for a surprise. The surprise is not that there is no crime or violence, but rather that the reason you couldn’t think about it is the same reason we don’t think about breathing until we lack oxygen. We are normally surrounded by oxygen and so we generally don’t imagine not having it. Positive energy and thoughts surround Kyoarans, and there is no place where that doesn’t exist there. Consequently the negative thoughts or images just don’t exist. When the light is on, darkness is off. If the light is bright enough there are no shadows, especially if the light is radiating outwards. The last question you have for your guide before you are returned here is: How can this happen on my world? Listen to the answer. Remember.”

As the lights came back up Professor Z continued. “For those who can’t imagine this kind of world or the effect that positive attitudes and speech could have, I would like you to try to think of a person you either knew or heard about who radiated love or joy. When they walked into a room, could you feel a change? If you were lucky enough to know such a person, was it easy or difficult to stay gloomy or depressed when you were around them? It is my belief, and the focus of this class that if we can, one by one, change our speech patterns from a mix of negative and positive to a primarily positive pattern, we can change our world. It is my goal to get you started on that path and, like the Kyoarans, to show you how it can make you happier.”

“But Professor,” a young man in the back spoke up. “You can’t truly believe that such a world can exist here. Utopias never survive in the real world. How many communes were started in the 60’s and 70’s and how many still exist. Even in Israel, the Kibbutz

6 movement that was so instrumental and powerful in creating and maintaining Israel’s existence is disappearing as more and more young people are drawn to the allure of city life.”

“You’re certainly right – Steven is it? Although there are still a few of the old communes around, by and large they never survived. Admittedly most of my fellow hippies have either become ‘the man,’ or are teaching about revolution rather than doing anything about it.” The class laughed at this joke on himself. “The idea of a world of peace is not easy to think of as a reality. And those that do imagine it may also see it as a place where freedoms must be sacrificed to achieve it. We will certainly talk more about this as we continue, but I ask you to consider this. Just because a thing has never been possible in the past, is it fair to say that it can never be possible in the present or future? I remember, and perhaps many of you have a similar memory, the first time I tied my shoelaces. I had tried for weeks. My mother and others tried to teach me over and over again, but I just couldn’t get it. Then one day I was in the back seat of our car and I noticed my shoelaces were untied. I bent over and tied them without thinking about it and without struggling. From that moment on I remembered how to do it. We can’t give up trying if something is important to us. Thomas Edison is often quoted as saying, ‘I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.’ So what if four thousand years of trying has not produced a world of peace. Perhaps today is the day.”

7 “Isn’t it like Plato’s allegory of the cave? We’re focusing on the shadows or negative side rather than the light that is creating it.” The woman in the front row smiled as she made this observation.

“Yes, Sarah. I see you did remember something from the last class you took from me.” Several in the class laughed remembering her as a bit of a troublemaker in a previous speech class. “For those of you that don’t remember, the idea of Plato’s story is that if the only world you know is a world filled with shadows. If someone comes to you has been outside that world or cave and seen the sun and tries to tell you about it, chances are you won’t believe that there is such light or worse, you may kill the messenger for blaspheming what tradition has taught to be truth. For Christians, the Apostle Paul probably had Plato in mind when he said, ‘Now you see through a glass darkly....’ In Hindu writings we find, ‘In radiant forms of Light art Thou beheld Oh Formless One.’ and the Buddhist poet Chonsa Kim writes: ‘Everything is light and born of light. Even the shadows do not exist without light.’ So what I am hoping to do in this class is help us all discover the true light as a focus rather than the shadows we believe to be real. I will be using examples from many beliefs, but I want to stress from the outset that this is not a class about or endorsing any religion. I believe all religions are also shadows, but we can use them to help us discover the light source behind them. If this is offensive to you, I will certainly understand it if you choose to not continue this elective class. We will spend more time in discussion, but let me give you the outline of what the next few weeks will attempt to cover.”

8 Zelig felt good about the first class. He had seen several times a sight that made this job a joy for him over the years. Faces that lit up with the realization that they were hearing something that might just change their lives were that sight. Judah knew that feeling. When he was seven going on 30 and considering suicide he had a dream of Jacob’s ladder and an angel stopped him from climbing to heaven by saying, “You’re time is not yet, there are many things the Father has for you to do.” This was the start of his Messiah complex and a sense of destiny that drove him from that young age till now. When he was twelve, he felt he got another piece of the puzzle. He had entered a library and when he went to check out his books, the older woman behind the counter said to him, “You’re not from this planet are you?” When he didn’t know how to respond to that, she continued, “No, there is just something about you that doesn’t belong here. There is a meeting at my house tonight of area psychics and I would like for you to be there.” He took the information and would never have gone except for this nagging thought that maybe he was special in some way. He met another woman there that wanted to give him information about some of his past lifetimes. What she told him gave him chills and he knew somehow she was right. She simply said, “The past lifetime that stands out the most were in Ancient Greece where you were a king, well loved and well respected and out of your reign legends came. And there you learned the secret of who you were.” Since that meeting there were many other strange events that fed the fire of his feelings of some higher destiny and yet the truth or manifestation of this destiny kept eluding him creating a life of turmoil and unrest. He went through marriage after marriage losing each one because he refused to settle down into a “normal” life. Something kept driving him obsessively to search for greener grass only to end up back where he started.

9

When Lindy entered his life fifteen years earlier, he thought he had finally found the partner he was searching for in his quest. And indeed it was largely due to her settling and inspiring influence that he made his way first of all to Red Rocks Community College outside of Denver and then to Colorado University in Boulder. She was also instrumental in getting him to begin to write again. But two years ago she was diagnosed with cancer and one year ago, she made her transition. Life again felt unbalanced for him. The classes helped, but he began to lose focus and his wanderlust was beginning to take hold of him again.

“Professor Z.”

“Yes Sarah.” The troublemaker student that he enjoyed so much ran to meet him. “I have been studying Kabbalah and much of what you are teaching seems to come from there.”

“You are absolutely right. I will touch on that in the class. I enjoy what Rabbi David Cooper said about it, ‘Kabbalistic teachings are quite clear on one matter: Things are more than we think they are.’ This world of ours connects on many levels and in many intimate ways with other realms of reality. Every event has a purpose and a deeper message if we ‘have eyes to see and ears to hear.’ Life becomes a vast resource of wealth and joy and purpose in all aspects of our lives if we can penetrate its mysteries. On this

10 level all religions and beliefs are one. The mystical Buddhist, Christian, Jew, Muslim, etc. can discover that they all speak the same language.”

“I also see a connection between the ten Sefirot or vessels that Kabbalah says were instrumental in creating our world and something I saw in a photography class.” Professor Z smiled because he knew where she was going. He too had made a similar connection. She continued, “When you see a four color separation in separate overlays, you see that as each new color is added in layers you get a little more definition, but it is not until the black layer is added that everything in the picture becomes easily recognizable. Like Plato’s allegory, we can only see what we see in this world because we are seeing the shadow versions of it.”

“Excellent Sarah. One of the most powerful teachings of the Kabbala is the Tree Of Life. It consists of ten divisions, often with an eleventh dotted in to represent the belief of some that one or the other division is the correct one. What everyone believes is that these 10 divisions represent ten vessels or urns that were created as filters for Creation’s light. In scientific terms, you might see this as the light or energy created at or just before the Big Bang.

If you think in terms of a photographer, it does help. I like your example of the four color separation, but here is another aspect to consider. If I’m taking a picture of someone and the light is too bright, that person essentially disappears in the photograph. So a photographer uses a series of screens or filters to add contrast to the picture. In much the

11 same way, it is believed that matter as we know it could not exist if the fullness of Creation’s light were to be released. Therefore, in order for us to exist, screens had to be created. The creation story might be rewritten something like this. Two words of explanation first, though. The wording of the first phrase has been proposed as a more accurate translation of the first line of Genesis by Kabbalists. And the pronoun reference “It” is actually additional to the word translated “Gods.” Kabbalists believe that “It” is unable to be conceived by any name or proper noun. Even “It” is incorrect. So here’s the creation story: In the beginning when It began to create gods, the heaven, and the earth, It knew that space and time must be created, and since It filled all space and time, It must withdraw Itself to allow for this. It then created ten vessels to act as filters for the Goding process and to allow for light and darkness to coexist creating matter. But even with the filters, the final vessel could not contain the residue of the power of God-ing, and the vessel burst scattering the God-energy which then partnered with every unit of darkness allowing the creation of physical matter with its ingredients of space and time. Basically the physical world around us and within us is God-light solidified and given form through the shadows partnered with it. Plato’s allegory of the cave was his attempt to explain this process. The attraction of the positive and negative “sparks” is what keeps the universe, as we know it together. But whenever the power of the negative is weakened sufficiently -- through contemplative processes – the positive charge returns to the more powerful attraction of the other nine vessels. What the contemplative acts also do for us is to bring us closer to these other nine vessels, which also causes the separation of the positive from the negative. Again, according to Rabbi David Cooper, “The way these sparks are raised is through acts of lovingkindness, of being in harmony with the universe, and through

12 higher awareness.” These ten vessels – this includes the broken one, which is actually all of the physical universe – are also representatives of the path to our own enlightenment. We are surrounded by this darkness and it is only by bringing light into the world that we can dissipate the darkness that is now surrounding us. I believe the power of our words will have a great impact on that.”

“I have a friend in Glenwood Springs who talks like you. Someday I’ll have to introduce you.” She spoke the last with a mischievous smile. “But in your creation story you use the word gods. Does that mean that there are many gods and not just one? And why aren’t they involved in this world’s salvation?”

“Ah, now that is the question. My novel is grappling with that one. I think part of the answer may lie in the works of Zachariah Sitchin who believes that the Sumerian mythology speaks truthfully of “gods” visiting this planet from another world and are the ones who actually created or rather recreated most of us through genetic experimentation. My book will follow that line, but with one important difference. The Sumerian myths speak of planets and other heavenly bodies doing battle, and I don’t believe Sitchin gives truth credit in those parts of the myth, but rather sees those battles as records of celestial events. But what if the vessels of the Kabbalah were actually levels of creation? What if there were “gods” created at a lower level than the original creator. And what if stars and planets are actually conscious beings created at a level just below the gods, but above us? And what if those gods chose to visit a certain planet and decided to stay and interfere with its creation power?”

13

“Wow. I can’t wait to read that.”

“I can’t wait to write it, which I am now off to do. Have a great day Sarah.”

True to his word Professor Z began to write again. He was struck by how limited he was by his vision and what a world exists if we could but see it. Perhaps it is only those who choose blindness can truly see. Over the years, he had a sense that the King that he used to be was none other than Theseus. He had read a series of books by Mary Renault about King Theseus and these clinched it for him. He could feel his memories being stirred as he read her words. Interestingly enough he also knew that Theseus and Oedipus of myth had met and according to legend revealed some secret to him just before he died. It was this legend that he would use as a vehicle for Theseus’ enlightenment. He had also been struck recently by writings that indicate that many of the legends of the ancient world especially Jewish myths of Abraham, Moses, David and Solomon may have actually been distorted stories of Egyptian Pharaohs. That would explain why history had such a hard time locating evidence of the great wealth of these Patriarchs. Again this knowledge felt more like remembering than epiphanies. History itself is clouded by those in power when they were written. So it felt just as right to believe one absurdity as another. He chose to make the Egyptian theories truth in his novel.

As he began to write, he once again felt transported to this world that he created, or did he? Perhaps it was just remembering.