by Bob Frank
Clay kicked off the next morning’s session in the work room by asking Pema for answers to his unanswered questions. “Were our three Tibetan friends the only custodians at the temple in Mt. Tsipri?”
“They were the only active ones. There were others in training who were preparing to take their place, and there are older ones who have retired to a simpler life after many long years at the monastery.”
Shali asked, “What kind of training did they experience before becoming custodians?”
“The selection process was by invitation only. It was many years before they were even told about the existence of writings, and then it took many more years before they were fully prepared to assume their duties. In fact, their training was never really complete. But once they came to the monastery, they became stronger and more fluent, and they gained better understanding of the knowledge.”
“What do you mean by fluent?” Shali asked.
“Fluent in the languages of the writings and the literary codes the Ancients used in their writing.” Pema saw the curious expression on Clay and Shali’s faces, so she continued, “The oldest scrolls are Babylonian cuneiform, but there are some Egyptian and other hieroglyphs. These older forms are anywhere from three to five thousand years old. Many writings are copies of original clay tablets, palm leaves and wooden slabs. The originals disintegrated many centuries ago, of course.” Pema paused, then continued. “Some of the scrolls and books were written in ancient Greek and some in Aramaic. However, the largest portion is in classical Sanskrit, the Indo-Aryan form of the language. Some were written during the Bronze Age and into the Iron Age. Interestingly enough, many were written during the Axial Age from about 800 BC to 200 BC. Some of the newer, larger leather-bound books you see are translations and interpretations made between seven hundred and one thousand years ago. These were also written in Sanskrit. Sanskrit has a good structure for explaining complex technical and philosophical concepts.”
Clay smiled and glanced at Shali. “Pema is on a roll, let her run.”
They both listened quietly while Pema spewed out hours of background information about the writings.
At lunch, Shali commented, “You sound like a university professor in ancient history.”
Pema’s smile showed appreciation. “Thank you, but it is really not my field. I just felt I needed a deep understanding if I was to be part of what we are doing.”
They attempted to find out details of Pema’s personal life, but with limited success.
After lunch Pema pulled their attention back to the language of the writings. “Many of the prominent Ancients, who understood the truth and were willing to talk about it, conversed verbally in Sanskrit, regardless of whether it was their first language or not. However, substantive written Sanskrit is only about three thousand years old and was often times transliterated by sound into written phonetic alphabets of other languages. Before that, it was primarily a spoken language used mostly by intellectuals and societal leaders.”
“But it nearly became an extinct language, like Latin,” Clay interjected, “despite being a root source of so many other languages. I know that back in the late eighteenth century it became popular to transliterate Sanskrit into written Romanized languages, which enabled wider Western populations to study and comprehend ancient Sanskrit texts. But still, it was almost lost.”
Pema nodded and looked down at the metal suitcase sitting on the table. It held the seven volumes that had been extracted from the writings stored in Copper Canyon. Since their arrival in Washington, she had kept the case locked in the hotel’s vault, but today she brought it with her. “These books are somewhat of an index to the writings; a summary of the contents, so to speak. But there are so many things we still do not understand about the source of the writings. Before you came to us,” she said in a slow, contemplating tone, “we considered having the custodians begin transliteration of the writings into Romanized Sanskrit. There are computer translation programs available that can do a general translation of Sanskrit into other languages. Because many of the writings have no identified authors, we wanted to correlate the writings and identify individual writers and eventually understand the sources of the knowledge. We also wanted to know if some documents were perhaps copied from other documents. Even with what we understand, we still do not know where they could possibly have gotten the kind of advanced technological knowledge that is in the writings.”
Clay and Shali looked at each other inquisitively, then Clay turned back to Pema. “Advanced technology? What do you mean by that?”
“The content of the writings; the knowledge. Some of the content is about technology more advanced than we have today. But we’ll get to that later.”
Turning to Shali, Clay said, “This is going to be bigger than we thought.”
“Agreed.”
As if ignoring Pema, Clay leaned toward Shali, “We have to build out that database Pema talked about and build an interface to our SRD soul database.”
Shali nodded. “I see the connection. If we can correlate the data between the two databases, I’ll bet the souls of our recent regression subjects are somehow connected to the originators of the writings. I’ll bet the souls are linked somehow. If we can find souls living today that were original authors of the writings, we could regress them. As Yongten said, if we ask the right questions, we could get direct access to the real knowledge in the writings, without having to sort out and decode these thousands of documents.”
“Plus, we might be able to get even more knowledge. Imagine asking Jabir’s soul to describe his Book of Stones on how to artificially create life; or Zoroaster’s The Gathas.”
Shali fired back, “Or Ezra Pound’s The Cantos. What the hell was he thinking, anyway?” They chuckled at their joint excitement.
Pema smiled and sat quietly, absorbing the side conversation before commenting, “I think you understand.”
The three closed up for the day and had a quiet dinner together. After dinner, they retired to the hotel lounge for an evening cocktail.
Clay asked, “Pema, where are our three little robed Yoda’s anyway? We’ve hardly seen them since we arrived in Washington.”
Pema answered, “Please understand they have spent much of their adult lives isolated in the Tsipri caves, studying the writings, discussing and absorbing the content, preparing for this moment in time. This, of course, is in addition to the mundane routine maintenance tasks required to care for the documents. They have also been accustomed to having a great deal of time to meditate.” Pema took a sip of her Amaretto. She nodded her head and the corner of her mouth lifted in a slight smile. “And now, without the writings, when they are not meditating, they play day-long marathons of Mah-Jongg. Ai-yaaa; they are so addicted.” She laughed quietly.
* * * ~~~ * * *
After breakfast the next morning, they again met in the university work room. But this morning Clay brought a small black leather case.
He opened the case and removed several small electronic bug sniffing instruments. The other two watched intensely as Clay started sweeping the entire room for electronic surveillance bugs.
Even knowing what he was doing, Pema could not hold back, “Is there some reason why you are doing this?”
“I found a bug in my room last night when I got back to the hotel. I will come sweep your rooms this afternoon. I think we need to get out of this hotel. Maybe we should move into apartments where we can get more security.”
Pema’s face turned nearly white from her naturally golden color. Her wide-eyed stare became so intense her right eye began to twitch, and her breathing deep and pronounced. “They know we are here.”
Clay continued his sweeping but replied, “I know. It was only a matter of time before they found us.”
Looking at Pema, Shali asked, “Who are they anyway?”
“We really don’t know. There may be more than one group. For a thousand years, our strategy has always been to stay low and hide. There have been d
ebates in our organization for centuries to become aggressive, seek them out and destroy them. It would have become a small war. But cooler heads prevailed.”
Clay finished the sweep and put his instruments back in the case.
“We’re clean, for now.” There was a pause until he continued. “I suspect they now know where the writings are located. But the more publicity and exposure we get, the harder it will be to stop us. I think as soon as we get this all in the open, they will have to back away or risk getting exposed.”
In a wishful tone, Pema said, “Clay, I certainly hope you are right. It is time to bring out the secrets, so we cannot stop. We cannot totally hide from them anymore. There is a thousand year trail of blood following our writings; it is time to end it.” She looked at both of them, clearly committed. “Let’s get started. Where are we at?”
Clay started the questioning, “Earlier, you mentioned that the Axial Age was a period of time that was a large source of this knowledge. Can you give us more details on how it fits with the writings?”
“So have you heard of Karl Jaspers or Martin Heidegger?”
Clay shrugged his shoulders, implying his knowledge was limited. “They were German philosophers of the early nineteen hundreds through until after World War II. Jaspers coined the term Axial Age: the period from 800 to 200 BC, when many of our secret treasures were written. He wrote a book called the Origin and Goal of History. His book defined this period of time as the great source of revolutionary thinking: the period that led to all modern religions and philosophies. You should read his book.”
“It is going on my reading list, now.”
Pema continued, “We believe Jaspers was correct. He touted the greatness of Greek philosophers like Socrates, Homer, Archimedes, Parmenides, Heraclites, and Thucydides. In that period, he also revered the Chinese Lao-Tsu and Confucius, and the Hebrews Elijah, Isaiah and Jeremiah, and the Iranian, Zoroaster. And this is not to mention the great Hindu philosophers or even Siddhartha Gautama, the Buddha.”
Clay and Shali glanced at each other, each looking like the cat that ate the parakeet. They had difficulty holding back the revelation they had spoken to the souls of many of the people Pema had just named.
Pema picked up their knowing glances and hesitated for several seconds before continuing. “It is ironic that Jaspers’ Axial terminology, from the German word ‘Achse,’ formed the basis for the name ‘the Axis Powers’ during Hitler’s reign in the last century. It is also a bit strange that despite Jaspers’ Jewish wife and his criticism of the treatment of Jews, they both managed to survive the Holocaust, living quietly in Heidelberg through the war. But one might see that Jaspers was incorrect on one of his postulates. He believed there was virtually no interaction between these great philosophers and the societies of what is now Europe, the Middle East, India and China. He felt there was little exchange of ideas between the cultures, but I believe he was wrong. Many truths identified in the writings were the same across all the distant geographical cultures, regardless of the source. That was one thing I want to prove in the writings: that these people were somehow all interconnected.”
Clay injected, “I think we understand what you are saying. Just in our quest for the writings, we have seen there are many connections across the cultures; but maybe we have seen it on a different level.”
Pema’s eyebrows curled inward. “By different level, do you mean through your regressions?”
“Yes. If we could validate a connection of the writings through our regressions or vice versa, we might be able to substantiate the authors and sources of the knowledge. This may help us convince people that the knowledge in the writings has a truthful foundation.”
Shali piped in abruptly, “Don’t count on it. There will be a huge number of skeptics, first on the writings but more importantly on your past-life regressions. Most of the religions were derived during this Axial Age and have had two thousand years to ingrain their prejudices into the cultures they control. Even the Buddhists and Hindus might repel anything we bring out. Organized religions of any form probably won’t permit their followers to accept what is in the writings.” She looked at Pema with raised eyebrows. “Whatever that is.”
Pema lifted her eyebrows in return, surprised at Shali’s abrupt yet astute observation, and her pointed nudge for more details on the knowledge. “I agree with you on this point, Shali. And yes, we’ll get to the knowledge soon.” She then smiled to acknowledge Shali’s impatience.
“Let’s go back to our history lesson,” Clay said.
Pema started again. “Jaspers’ associate, Heidegger, another German philosopher in the early nineteen hundreds, was quite a different story. It is hard to tell if Jaspers and Heidegger were on the same or opposite sides. He wrote a book called Sein und Zeit. In English it is called Being and Time. I assume you have not read this book either?”
Clay slowly responded as he glanced at Shali. “Guilty. But I’ll Wiki it tonight.”
“You what?”
“Wiki. Wikipedia. You know, the Internet encyclopedia? You can find out anything about anything on the Wiki. It may not always be true, but at least it’s a good start.”
Pema smiled and went back to her lecture. “The book is difficult to read. It may put you to sleep, but it will give you a sense of what you will be in for with these writings. However, there are several differences. Heidegger never finished the project he described in this book. We believe the Ancients did finish their projects, so to speak. I suspect Heidegger never would have gotten his answers, or at least not the real answers. He was too constrained by the European environment — well, the German environment, at that time. Plus, he never got into the technology aspects that many of our writings go into. Later, being affiliated with Hitler’s Nazi Party, he could never achieve his truths in any form.”
Shali and Clay gave each other confused looks.
Clay asked, “What do you mean by projects and technology? I thought we were talking philosophical or religious things with these guys.”
Pema hesitated, realizing she was moving too fast. “These secrets are not just about philosophical outlooks on life and reality.”
“Clay and I have seen the words ‘being’ and ‘time’ used quite often in the regressions. What is the significance of these words? And why are you bringing in these contemporary German philosophers? The writings in Copper Canyon were made thousands of years ago.”
Pema paused in thought and looked intently at Clay and Shali. “Let me give you more of a philosophy history lesson and then maybe it will come together. I need to set your context or you will have difficulty bringing out the truth from these ancient writings.”
“Please continue,” Clay said. “I’m confused, and it’s driving me nuts.”
Shali glanced at Pema and they exchanged smiles at Clay’s expense.
“Philosophically, the sixteen hundreds and seventeen hundreds became known as the Age of Reason, and the eighteen hundreds and nineteen hundreds became known as the Age of Enlightenment. Some people have referred to this latter period as the second Axial Age. It is not unlike the first Axial Age two thousand years ago. Think of all the tremendous technological advances made in the eighteen hundreds and nineteen hundreds: the second Axial Age. The first Axial Age also had its technology advances.”
Shali queried, “Are we still in this second Axial Age?”
Pema clasped her hands together and placed them over her lips. She leaned her elbows on the table, slowly lifted her head from her hands and replied, “I have no doubt, what with the booming technological advances in the twenty-first century and the tumultuous churning of religions.”
Clay saw Pema’s eyes drift off for a moment, not realizing her mind was again reflecting on prophecies of the ancient oracles.
Pema shook out of her trance and continued. “If we have entered a new period, beyond the second Axial Age, so to speak, I hope it will be a step forward, not backward. I hope it is a time that takes our realization o
f truth to a new level: a maturity of our human society. But only hindsight will tell. I expect it will be hundreds of years before we know what kind of period we are in today.”
Clay slowly shook his head, confused. “I guess I don’t get it. If we have been in a second Axial Age for several hundred years, then why has there been no more cultural, social or peaceful progress than what we have today? This world has been a social mess for the last couple hundred years, and no one has even come close to deriving, documenting or communicating anything close to the truth, whatever that is. So why has the world not progressed further, despite all the advances in technology?”
Pema gave him a cynical grin and replied in a snappy, confident tone, “The religions and religion-like philosophies of the world came about as a result of the first Axial Age, when most of our treasured writings were created. These groups created their own selfish beliefs from the words of those who had discovered and documented the truth during the first Axial Age. Look at Christianity, Islam and Judaism. All came from the same words of Abraham, and yet they are all filled with hatred, suspicion and non-acceptance of each other. Their individual beliefs could not be farther apart, despite being essentially the same. How do you get such power-hungry organizations to accept a new view of truth that may be contrary to some of their fundamental beliefs? That is going to be your biggest challenge: getting them to accept any real truth.”
Shali asked, “Is it just the religions we are going to have trouble with?”
“No, it’s not just them or even today’s society. Look at the ancient leaders of Kabbalah who created the foundation of the Abrahamic religions. This was before the organized religions, and even they had to encrypt their words in the text of the Zohar for fear of persecution. There are even terrorist groups hiding behind sects of Hinduism that could challenge you. Even many Buddhists, although benign in nature, have a strict view of the world and they may reject your attempts to reveal the knowledge in these writings. Remember, the truths had to be buried in caves at the end of the first Axial Age, just to survive. With over two thousand years of incubation of their own version of the truth, today’s belief systems will make it difficult to bring out the real truth. Your challenges will be huge. Perhaps insurmountable.”