“To explain how Lucifer could come to be, I must remind you of our discussions regarding energy; it is the building block of all things.”
“I recall. I can’t possibly forget the orb of gold created from nothing.”
“The raw material from which it was produced was hardly ‘nothing.’ As I explained then, the amount of energy just in the space between my two hands was more than sufficient to produce an orb of a much greater magnitude. Indeed, I could have produced a ball the size of the Earth with what was available just in that small area. This ever-present energy is absolutely essential to life. Not only is everything created from energy, but it continues to require energy to exist. And all energy is in balance. For every unit of positive energy, there is an equal unit of negative. This is true throughout the universe.
“In my first attempt to create a cadre of angels for Heaven, I utilized only positive energy. The result was the creation of the beautiful and loving beings to whom I have referred before, beings who possessed, for lack of a better concept, no free will. In my attempt to vary this creation, I created another. This new being, Lucifer, was made from negative energy, and I immediately realized my error.”
“He was evil?”
“No. Not at all. It was a purely physical phenomenon. Negative energy is not inherently bad or evil. However, when a negative electrical charge encounters a positive on Earth, the effect is neutralization. As Lucifer, my newest creation, came within the proximity of another angel, the contact sapped him of his life force. Had I allowed them to connect, the result would have been the annihilation of one or both. I had no choice but to find another home for Lucifer. Since all of the others were from the positive side, his very presence in Heaven was destructive.”
“Why not destroy him then?”
“As I have said, I loved him as I loved the others of my creation. At that time, there was no evil within him. He was simply toxic to the others. If you had a child who was healthy, yet was the carrier of a disease which would kill your other children, would you destroy the child or simply quarantine this threat to the others?”
“So Earth became the quarantine?”
“It did. And on Earth, Lucifer, through humans, accomplished something he could not have attained on his own; he achieved independence…free will, in a manner of speaking…because of the symbiotic relationships he has had with mankind. His hosts have provided the ability to create, to deceive, and to surprise. His hosts have provided the mental and emotional framework he did not possess…which has caused him over these many years to resent me for casting him out, a conclusion he could not have reached without the perspective of mankind.”
“We taught him to hate.”
“Yes.”
“Why Earth? Why not another place in the universe?”
“It was my love for Lucifer which caused me to put him here. This was the place where I was to spend so much of my time and devote so much of my energy. It was this planet I intended to populate with my new creations – creations not born of purely positive energy, and therefore not endangered by his very fabric. Since he was barred from spending his eternity in Heaven, I believed it was only right that he shared in my work on Earth.”
“When we spoke of Lucifer before, You said if he changed his ways, he could return to Heaven?”
“No, my answer was that he could be forgiven. If he would forsake his ways, he could be redeemed.”
Thinking back, Reese recalled the discussion. “That is true. I do recall that now. You mentioned that his relationship with us is symbiotic. I understand that without us he would have no senses, no input. What do we gain from him in the relationship?”
“Energy. All things, including man, require energy to continue to exist. The nature of man is such that he may utilize energy from either pole, positive or negative. Lucifer is a conduit. As men allow themselves to become his vessels, they gain an easy access to this energy.”
Reese stared at Elohim for a moment, struggling to understand. “We need to recharge like a battery?”
“Yes.”
“I’ve always thought that the body satisfied its needs with food, drink, and sleep?”
“You are correct. Your body obtains all it needs from nutrients, water, and oxygen. It is your soul which requires this energy, your life force, your essence…that which lives on after your body expires.”
“My soul?”
“Yes. And if your soul does not, as you describe it, recharge during your lifetime, it will be lessened by the time your body dies. That is why it is so necessary to feed your soul throughout your life…for it may be much weakened after your time here is done.”
“How do we feed our soul?”
Elohim hesitated for a moment before saying, “This is a poor analogy, but think about the automobile. It has a battery which is required for the engine to start. Once started, the battery is not needed until the next time you turn the key. While the engine runs, it powers the automobile, as well as the lights, air conditioning, radio, and other devices. In addition to performing these functions, it also recharges the battery so the next time the engine is turned off, it can start again. However, if, as the engine runs, so much is demanded of it that it has nothing left over, no surplus to devote to recharging, the battery will weaken.
“This is so with man. Your body is the engine. It provides the mobility, the brain, and the senses. By eating, breathing, and sleeping, you fuel your body so that it may continue. This process, when functioning properly, converts the fuel into energy, most of which is utilized by the body. The surplus energy created by the body recharges the soul. If a person leads a life filled with conflict and struggle, if he or she is incessantly distracted by the negative or the evil of the world or simply becomes hedonistic and narcissistic enough to devote all of the available energy to self-gratification, there is then nothing left for the soul. And so it fades.”
“So, living a conflict-free life, a life where we are removed from evil distractions, a life devoted to our loved ones, is a life which feeds our soul?”
“Essentially, yes. Even your description has its pitfalls. It is possible, if you are a person who places your children’s needs above your own and you find yourself with an intensely hedonistic or narcissistic child, your attempts to please and satisfy and protect this child will also sap you of your energy, leaving nothing for your own soul.”
“I understand. It just sounds so New Age, or so 1968 San Francisco hippie.”
Elohim smiled and said, “Every movement, every philosophy contains some kernels of truth.”
“And Lucifer takes advantage of our need for energy?”
“He does. He, as any other angel, can tap into the energy around him and channel it. If a person allows him in and becomes his vessel, what the person receives in exchange is a recharge of his or her soul.”
“A recharge with only negative energy.”
“Yes. That is the only energy into which Lucifer may tap without damaging himself.”
“I know You said humans begin with our energy in balance, that is what allows Lucifer to interact with us without the catastrophic effect on him that touching a positive angel would have. But what happens to our soul if it is repeatedly recharged by only the negative?”
“What occurs is what you have already guessed. Your soul eventually becomes negatively charged. After a certain tipping point, your soul, like Lucifer’s very being, would prevent you from joining me in Heaven.”
“Elohim, I can’t believe I haven’t asked this question before – what is the soul? Is it consciousness? Do all living things have one?”
“No, all living things do not have a soul. It is a gift to mankind. The soul is also not consciousness. Although the soul is exclusive to man, consciousness is not. Many animals are conscious and aware. Your brain, your mind, mutated prior to that glorious day I described when Adam swam the river, to create what you call consciousness and what I call free will.”
“Then, what is it?”
“I’m honored.”
“Let’s simply say that you are both worthy as well as capable of understanding.” Elohim leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table, and said, “As you know, on Earth the primary driving force behind all biological life is to reproduce.”
Reese nodded, also leaning forward, sensing the import of what he was about to he told.
“That is a trait shared by all life, everywhere. It is not restricted to only the biological.”
“What other life forms are there?”
“The first life form in the universe contained no material components; it was purely energy – a discreet energy form with consciousness. That life form, in fact, preceded the existence of the physical, or material, universe. It was that life form which created the universe consciously…deliberately, by manipulating the energy to bring matter into existence.”
Reese’s mind raced as he grasped what he was being told. “It was You?”
“It was. And it is.”
“You are not what I see in front of me?”
“I am what you see, just as you are what you see in the mirror. I am that I am. This body, this form, is my home; it is my environment. It is a part of me…I am a part of it. Its mind is mine. Its thoughts influence me. By choosing to be a combination of what I was and a person, I have become what you see.
“And I was also driven to reproduce. It was this desire, this basic urge, which first caused me to create the angels which were a pure replication of my original form. Yet, because they were created by me, rather than the genetically influenced offspring you so take for granted on Earth, they were essentially a clone with no distinction other than the singular polarity, as I explained before. It was not until I completed the laborious process of aiding and nurturing the evolution of biological life that I found a suitable host for my own offspring.”
Reese was thunderstruck. Grasping for words, he managed to say, “Our souls are Your children?”
“They are.”
“Aren’t they also clones, without any real differentiation from You?”
“That is the beauty of mankind – the wondrous variability of each of you. For you see, upon the conception and birth of each child on Earth, I infuse it with a soul. That soul is my progeny. The two grow and develop together, one influenced by the other, and both becoming something they would not become alone, the whole becoming more than the sum of its parts. As with any true symbiotic relationship, both man and the soul have evolved together as well, until they reached a point of interdependence. Although the human body can physically survive without the soul, it becomes something less than what you would call a human. Without the soul, it lacks curiosity, it lacks a desire to live beyond the moment, it possesses no empathy. It is purely need-driven, self-absorbed, and hedonistic. The soul without a body, as I have explained, lives an existence of darkness and silence. It does not even possess the ability to sense. It can only think.”
As Reese considered Elohim’s words, the picture in his mind began to clear. So many questions he had carried with him since his early days in school found answers. “It finally makes sense to me. It’s the missing piece to the puzzle.”
“The missing piece?”
“The creation of the universe and the cultivating of mankind solely for the purpose of keeping You company never quite rang true to me. But now I understand. All life wishes to reproduce; You are, of course, correct. From human to the most basic or bizarre life forms, the lengths to which they will go to reproduce are phenomenal. You began as an energy form. You were able to split off from Yourself as does an amoeba, creating separate chunks of energy. Yet, unlike the amoeba which possesses DNA, You discovered You were not reproducing; You were merely segmenting Yourself.”
Elohim nodded, smiling.
“You needed something which would take this piece of You and turn it into a distinct being, related to You, springing from You, yet different, just as each of our children possess our traits, yet vary from us. You found that ability, that mechanism, in humans. Mankind became both the incubator and the school. Using mankind as a surrogate came with a price. In exchange for performing the service of the development of Your offspring, we became a part of the package, an integral part.”
“Reese, you are making it sound cold and harsh, yet your understanding is correct. It is not as cold and harsh as you describe because a very long time ago, when I realized the human form was inextricably linked to my children, I took one as well – the form that you see now. My original intent was only to be as were my children. I did not wish for there to be a difference which would separate us. As with any parent, I not only wanted to love them, I wanted them to love me. I realized that in their human form, which soon became apparent would be their permanent form, they would not be able to love an abstract field of energy as they would love a fellow person.”
“What form did You take? I mean, how did You choose one?”
“The choice was a rather obvious one. My search for the suitable biological partner for my children ended as Adam swam the river. It seemed only fitting to me to choose him as my permanent home, although I did not move in, so to speak, until the eventual end of his life on Earth.”
“You’re Adam?” Reese asked incredulously.
“The form you see before you is the man who once swam that river so many years ago.”
“But it isn’t, wasn’t an empty shell? Adam’s thoughts, his dreams, his loves…weren’t they all still in there?”
“Yes, they were. I explained that he has had an effect upon me. The person who was Adam is very much a component of that which I am.”
“I have a number of questions. One of the obvious questions is what became of Eve? Unless I misunderstood, she did not possess the skill necessary for free will, yet she was Adam’s…Your…mate and the mother of so many children who became the core of Your cultivated future generations. Is she in Heaven?”
“She is. And you are correct. She did not, and to this day does not, contain the skill. She has yet to surprise me with any act, any word, any thought.”
“But I thought….”
“You believed I would only bring into Heaven those with the skill?”
“I guess, yes.”
“You have attributed a profound pragmatism to me in the past. Implicit in that accusation is the belief that there can be no decisions based upon emotion. If that is the criterion, I fail. There have been times when I have acted as a result of great rage. There have also been moments when I have acted out of pure love. It was love for Lucifer which caused me to allow him to continue his existence. It was Adam’s love for Eve, as well as my own, which caused me to bring her into Heaven to live at our side.”
“I see. So, when it is said that all of the people on Earth are God’s children, it is literally true on, at least, two levels. Their souls are the offspring of, and actually segments of, what I guess I’ll call the original God. And their bodies are a direct descendant of Adam whom You have become.”
“That is true.”
“Are there any people on Earth who have not descended from You, from Adam? I mean, as You described, there were others at the time of Adam, others without the trait. Did any of their bloodlines survive?”
“Many of their bloodlines survived, but only by mating with an offspring of Adam and Eve. All of the others, those who did not join with this lineage, were simply out-competed and are gone.”
“With Your help, I’m sure.”
“Actually not. There was no need. The advantage of the trait…call it the ability to surprise, call it unpredictability…was significant. As Adam and Eve’s children proliferated, the competition for resources or mates became amazingly one-sided. And you must remember, they not only possessed the trait, they carried a soul.�
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“The soul made a survival difference?”
“It did. Without a soul, man would have never successfully banded together. Villages would not have been created. Societies would never have come into existence. States and nations would not be here today. It was the soul which first infused man with the urge for morals and ethics. It also promulgated the ability to empathize, which happened because of the connection felt between all souls. Since all souls come from me, a kinship exists between all people, making the entire human race brothers and sisters.”
“So, You’re not a subscriber to the current scientific fad that the evolution of morals and ethics is an inevitable, logical, and practical conclusion and that no God or no soul is needed?”
Smiling, Elohim said, “You’ll notice in what I said a moment ago that the soul infuses an urge for morals and ethics. Your social scientists are correct. Morality and ethics would eventually be discovered by mankind. The problem arises when morality and ethics are viewed as innately equal to any other philosophy. At that point, as you have mentioned in your books and lectures, being moral or being ethical becomes just another situational choice. If something is gained by being such, then being such is what you will be. If a situation occurs in which abandoning your morals or your ethics brings a gain to you, the abandonment of them is mentally easy – easy because, after all, morality and ethics constitute just another philosophy, not superior to any other.
The Harvest Page 61