by J M Leitch
‘Sir,’ Carlos looked directly at Bob, ‘Greg and I have talked round and round for hours trying to grasp a better understanding of what’s going on. But we can’t find a single clue anywhere to help us…’
‘… so,’ Greg continued, ‘we have a plan that we – and when I say “we” I mean the UN – wants to action. I’m raising this with you now, because I’d like you to give it your public commitment and support.’
‘And what’s this plan, Greg?’
‘To carry out Zul’s recommendation…’ Greg held up his hands. ‘Wait a moment Bob, let me finish… recommendation to promote to everyone on this planet the benefits of following a regular meditation practice and to facilitate as many people as possible in learning how to do so.’
‘Goddamit, man,’ Bob exploded, ‘you think I’d support that?’
‘What’s your objection?’
‘I… it’s… well… it’s blasphemy for a start.’
‘With due respect, I disagree. When couched in the correct terms it will appeal to all religions, races and nations.’
‘You’ve gotta be kidding me. Meditation? It’s something that’s not tolerated in my church.’
‘We can equally well call it prayer if you prefer. I assume your church tolerates that?’
‘It’s not the same thing at all.’
‘Again, with respect, I disagree. The pattern of brainwaves manifested by an individual who has entered a meditational state, the alpha state as it’s commonly called, is identical to that manifested by an individual in deep prayer. The difference is only in the nomenclature of the activity, not in the physiological state achieved.’
‘Sir,’ Anita said to Bob, ‘I think the Secretary-General has hit on something.’ Everybody turned to stare at the tiny woman who, up to that point, hadn’t uttered a word.
‘What d’ya mean?’ Bob asked.
‘The situation with Russia and Europe? Who wants that to deteriorate? Imagine a third world war? And if the swine flu hits us again this year? What we need right now is something to soothe us, to unite us. And a prayer or meditation campaign may be just the thing.’
Bob shook his head. ‘Anita, what are you talking about?’
‘Why not support it?’ Greg said. ‘Zul’s message is about individual self-improvement. Isn’t that something we should encourage throughout the world?’
‘Self-improvement or self-empowerment?’ Bob spat back, ‘because the latter’s downright dangerous.’
‘You think it’s dangerous for people to take responsibility for their own actions?’ Greg retorted.
Bob looked around. ‘Someone tell me… what’s the point of this discussion?’
‘The point,’ Greg answered, ‘is that regardless of whether Zul’s a man or an entity of higher consciousness, it can do no harm and in fact will do much good. Service to others? What a magnificent concept. Carlos and I have done extensive research. We’ve corroborated Zul’s claims regarding meditation. It does make a difference. In fact, it’s well documented. So why not make a global push to get this message out to the world?’
‘We don’t have to…’ Carlos added, ‘no… wait… we don’t want to make public any information about the evolutionary shift. We don’t want to tell anyone anything about Zul’s contact: about the e-mails or the holovideos.’ He leaned towards Bob, his arms outstretched. ‘What we want is to introduce the concept of service to others through meditation to all the different cultures and religions in the world.’
‘What exactly is your objection?’ Greg asked.
Bob glowered at him.
Barbara leaned forward. ‘It really isn’t such a bad idea, sir.’
‘It’s something we should have done years ago,’ Greg said.
‘What’s wrong with everyone on the planet striving towards becoming better individuals? It will create clearer understanding and it’ll reduce conflict,’ Carlos added.
‘Why are you all getting so carried away?’ Bob looked to the side. ‘James, back me up here.’
‘Carlos is right,’ Greg cut in. ‘Just look at the mess Europe’s in. Look at the sources of conflict all round the world. Don’t you see? This will help.’
‘I think you’re all being very naïve,’ Bob said raising his voice. ‘There’s no proof…’
‘Oh yes there is,’ Greg boomed back, nodding his big head up and down. ‘An exponential effect is created by a group of meditators that is greater than the sum of individuals meditating. Such a powerful coherence is broadcast that it percolates throughout society, producing measurable positive results like reduced violence and better health. It creates a peaceful, healthy environment that can transform society practically overnight. Believe me. There is proof.’
‘Even if there is, why should I back this initiative?’
‘Because,’ Greg said, ‘when we take a look back through history, we see that mankind’s typical tactic of employing force and shock and awe to try and resolve conflicts categorically does not work.’
‘I wouldn’t go that far…’ the General muttered.
‘So what do we have to lose?’ Greg continued. ‘The United Nations is going ahead with this campaign, regardless of whether you give your support or not.’ Bob opened his mouth but Greg raised his shaggy brows and lifted a finger to silence him, ‘and your population of three hundred million people may be more than a little upset if they’re not given the opportunity to be part of it.’
‘Sir,’ Carlos said, ‘whether you personally believe in it or not, it can’t harm you or your nation. It can only benefit all.’
‘Mr President,’ Anita said. ‘I agree this is a worthwhile initiative that can have positive results all over the planet. My recommendation is that we support it.’
‘Who’s gonna finance it? Huh? Rolling this out isn’t gonna be cheap,’ Bob said, latching onto another objection.
But Greg was prepared for that question. ‘Authorise settlement of just one fortieth of your nation’s debt to the UN, the amount you already had budget approval to pay in December last year, and we’ll pledge it to fund the initiative.’
CHAPTER 6
‘Wine, Carlos?’
‘Sí. We must celebrate.’
‘You’re damn right we must,’ Greg nodded. ‘That meeting couldn’t have gone any better,’ and he extracted half-moon reading spectacles from his jacket pocket to peruse the wine list. ‘I especially got a kick out of being in charge on the alien front,’ and he peered over them at Carlos. It was like looking into the face of a mischievous schoolboy rather than the elder statesman and leader of the UN, Carlos thought.
‘You did a fantastic job,’ he said leaning forward, ‘and did you see how Bob was just waiting for me to jump in and take over talking about Zul?’
After the meeting, Carlos and Greg had decided to celebrate at Busboys and Poets on Fifth and K, after which they both had to head to the airport: Greg for a flight to New York and Carlos to return to Vienna. When Carlos mentioned he’d promised to meet Joseph for lunch, Greg suggested they invite him along too.
Greg requested a table on the mezzanine floor and as they sat waiting for Joseph, they watched the tables below filling up as the lunch crowd began to pour in.
‘Can I get you gentlemen a drink?’ the waiter inquired and Greg ordered a bottle of Pinot Grigio.
In less than ten minutes Joseph arrived, brushing the rain from his short curly hair.
‘Sorry to keep you waiting,’ he said, as he pulled out a chair and sat down.
‘Have either of you been here before?’ Greg asked and both Joseph and Carlos shook their heads. ‘It’s the third Busboys and Poets restaurant in DC,’ he told them. ‘I just love the concept – food, poetry and activists – a fascinating mix. And look here,’ Greg put his spectacles back on and pointed to the owners’ mission statement printed on the menu. ‘See? They want this to be a place “where people can discuss issues of social justice and peace”. That’s why I wanted to celebrate here. Can you think of a be
tter spot to christen the UN’s latest initiative?’ he chuckled.
‘Looks like it went well,’ Joseph said. ‘You both seem very pleased with yourselves.’
‘Fantastically well! We got exactly what we wanted.’
‘Anita surprised me,’ Greg said taking off his glasses. ‘She’s the one who swung it.’
The waiter brought a third goblet for Joseph, uncorked the wine, and poured a splash into Greg’s glass for him to taste.
‘A toast!’ Greg announced, ‘to the successful implementation of our new global initiative and to achieving outstanding results. Carlos, Joseph… cheers.’
‘¡Salud!’ Carlos replied, as the waiter buried the bottle up to its neck in a shiny bucket of ice.
‘Carlos told me about your plan last night. It’s impressive.’
‘I am very, very excited,’ Greg said beaming. ‘Let me tell you something, the reason I joined the UN was to make a difference. But as the years rolled by, I became more cynical. When you see what I see travelling around doing my job, it’s hard not to.
‘I’m always asking myself what are we doing that actually helps? And the longer I live the more I fear that the poor and the abused will always be with us, billions of them, regardless of what we do.’
The other two men were silent.
‘But now, after talking to Carlos, I believe his idea to introduce the practice of meditation on a global scale round the planet, could be the key to making a difference.’
Greg took a sip of wine.
‘Do you believe Zul is what he claims?’ Joseph asked.
‘No.’
‘Do you believe it’s possible he is what he claims?’
‘No. I’m sure Zul is a human acting out a part.’
‘With what agenda?’
‘Joseph, I’ve given it a lot of thought over the past couple of days and until any other motive is revealed, my theory is that the person acting out Zul represents a group that genuinely does want to start a global initiative to help people. But, for their own reasons, they want to remain anonymous.’
‘Jesus!’ Carlos said. ‘I never thought of that before.’
‘But why contact Carlos?’
‘For the same reasons Zul gave.’
Joseph and Carlos exchanged a glance. Was it a feasible explanation? Neither of them felt very convinced.
‘If the message is to encourage meditation, why mention the 21st December 2012? Why tell me some people will evolve and disappear, while the rest will relocate to another planet?’
‘Relocate to another planet?’ Joseph cut in.
After glancing at Greg, who gave an almost imperceptible nod, Carlos turned to Joseph and said, ‘That’s what Astraea came to tell me… what’s going to happen on the 21st December 2012.
‘She said the people ready to evolve to the next density will continue existence as pure consciousness while everything physical, including the dead bodies of all those who made the evolutionary leap, will be transported to an identical planet in a parallel universe where they’ll continue their physical existence until the time comes for future generations to try and make the evolutionary leap again.’
‘Remember,’ Joseph said ‘what I said last night? About all those websites and blogs talking about the end date of the Mayan calendar?’
‘Sí.’
‘That’s what some of them predict too.’
‘It’s a hard concept to accept … horrible and fantastic,’ Carlos said.
‘And what was Bob’s reaction?’ Joseph asked.
‘We didn’t tell him. What’s the point?’
Joseph glanced at Greg. ‘And how do you fit all that into your humanitarian hypothesis?’
Greg shook his head. ‘I don’t know. Perhaps they said it to scare us. Or perhaps it’s what they really believe.’
‘But you still don’t believe it could be true?’ Carlos asked.
‘No! You know I don’t. Life after the 21st December will carry on exactly the same as it was before. I guarantee it.’
‘But unless we prove Zul’s lying, there’s still a chance it won’t, however unbelievable that might seem.’ Joseph said, leaning towards Greg. ‘What if we do wake up on the 22nd and the planet is covered with bodies? Don’t you think we should be prepared for the possibility? And not just mentally prepared, I mean prepared on a practical level.’
‘But…’
‘Imagine how you’d feel? Knowing all this for months and doing nothing about it? It wouldn’t just be foolhardy – it would be grossly irresponsible. If it does happen like Zul says, how could the few left possibly manage the logistics of disposing of all the dead without a comprehensive plan in place? Imagine it? There’d be who knows how many thousands – what am I saying? Millions… no more like billions of bodies littered round the planet, which if left would pollute fresh water supplies and cause terrible disease that would end up killing even more people… or even wipe out everyone that was left.’
‘No,’ Greg said, shaking his head so hard his jowls quivered, ‘no. That’s not going to happen.’
‘Greg,’ Carlos said, ‘I agree with Joseph,’ but the big man didn’t answer.
‘How many people have you told about this? About what Astraea said?’ Joseph asked Carlos.
‘Only Greg, and now you. Have you told anyone?’ Carlos looked at Greg, who shook his head again.
‘Seriously Greg, the UN should form a focus group. Have it develop a contingency plan. Because I believe it will happen,’ Carlos opened his arms. ‘In fact, I know it will.’
‘If you’re reluctant because you’re scared of creating panic, come up with another reason for it.’
‘Like what?’
Joseph shrugged. ‘A killer pandemic?’
Greg sighed. ‘Last year during the swine flu scare we put something together along those lines, but nowhere near on the scale this would…’
‘There you are!’ Joseph interrupted. ‘You’ve done the ground work already.’
‘Sí, build on that,’ Carlos lifted his hands. ‘You’re crazy not to. Joseph’s right, it’s not just stupid to ignore it, it’s irresponsible.’
‘Perhaps you do have a point. I’d never forgive myself if it happened and we weren’t prepared.’
A waiter appeared to take their order but they hadn’t looked at the menu, so they just got a second bottle of wine.
‘And you’ll inaugurate the initiative at a Special Session of the General Assembly and then roll it out publicly?’ Joseph said to Carlos.
‘Sí. Like I told you last night.’
‘You know,’ Joseph said, taking a breadstick from the basket and breaking it in half, ‘I’ve been thinking about that.’ He took a bite and chewed. ‘Although many leaders of countries and religions, many of the politicians and heads of state you hold sway with Greg, may publicly support it, what about the bigots on the gravy trains below them? And what about the countries controlled by vicious dictators and religious zealots?’
‘The first hurdle is to get support from the members,’ Carlos said.
‘I’ll do the canvassing for that myself,’ Greg replied.
‘Another thing,’ Joseph added, ‘how you present your launch at the Special Session is crucial. It will be the focal point that your awareness campaign will build up to.’
‘Hey, it’ll be like any company launching a new product into the market place. We have to position what we’re selling just right to make sure we get optimum results. Greg and I already talked about it.’
‘You’ll have to make it attractive to the top dogs, of course, but you’ve got to make sure it appeals to the masses too. And you don’t want a polluted or diluted message getting out. The media’s fickle. You can’t trust them, especially when they’re in the pocket of some government or religious leader.’
‘We have our own TV station,’ Greg began. ‘I wonder…’
‘Greg, that’s a fantastic idea. We’ll cover the launch in-house. The UN news department can write th
e commentary, dub it over footage of the Special Session and beam out a satellite broadcast that can be relayed around the world simultaneously. That way there won’t be any language problem, because we can use a computer automated real-time translation system. If we do it like that, the message can’t be influenced at all.’
‘And to top it all, we’ll provide the service gratis,’ said Greg.
‘If you play this right, you’ll end up with the biggest initiative to ever hit the planet.’
Carlos grinned. ‘I can’t wait to get started.’
‘And I can’t wait to eat,’ Greg said. ‘Let’s order.’
***
‘Hi mate! How’re you doing?’
‘I’m good. Thought I’d give you a call because I’m back again. Got in Tuesday afternoon.’
‘You’re building up some frequent flyer miles.’
‘They called me in to work on the great mystery of the messages.’
‘Ah ha! You’ll know more about them than I do then.’
Joseph laughed. ‘It took a while, but I worked out how they came in. If it wasn’t for the Americans recording every element of our friend’s communications, they’d probably still suspect him. But now they’ve got nothing on him.’
‘You mean they won’t be trying to listen in on us any more?’
‘That’s right.’
‘Thank God for that. So, who sent the e-mails?’
‘That, my friend, is still a mystery.’
‘Is Carlos okay?’
‘He’s more than okay. He’s buzzed. Just like he used to be. But listen, the real reason I’m calling is to tell you it may take a while longer, but he’s starting to come around. About you, I mean.’
‘What makes you say that?’
‘We talked. He told me he’s trying to deal with what happened. That he’s trying to put everything negative behind him. He means it, I know it. And since I’ve seen all the communications, I now understand the impact they had on him. He believes in them completely and he genuinely wants to become a better person. He’s even committed to helping others improve themselves. He’s going to spearhead a global UN initiative.’