You may call me a bit sentimental, but there are brief soul inspiring moments that take place in our our daily lives that oft go un-noticed by the general public simply because we’re far too focused on getting just a nose ahead of our peers, or busy grinding our malevolent axes for someone we’ve decided to despise.
I can certainly say, the meeting I had with the absolute dearest elderly gentleman reminded me once again that there really are genuinely good and loving people living in North Iowa. Each time I’m in his presence, he’s usually got another touching page of his life story to tell. Unfortunately I didn’t have time to ask for another tale from his younger years, but I did promise to play catch-up with them the next time we get together. For some special reason, he knows how much I like him which then makes him more comfortable in freely telling me his stories.
When I walked out I said, “Without a question, I’m absolutely positive that if there’s a Heaven above, you won’t have to pass GO to get there.” He shook his head and said, “Oh come on now, I’ve sinned right along with the rest of us.” I laughed a little and then said, “If you’re so sure about yourself, then there are going to be a whole lot of others standing double deep and a days walk behind you waiting to get in.” At least I did get a chuckle out of him.
Since I happened to bring up the subject of Heaven with him, while driving back to my office the memory of something a bit creepy someone said to me a number of years ago came to mind. That long ago and far away conversation started unfolding in my mind’s eye. The thrust of what she said was that people have this skewed belief that Hell is filled with unquenchable fire. She insisted it’s not hot, but rather a near pitch black place that’s filled with a burning cold where the soul/spirits of deceased humans are sent should they not be clean or pure enough to return to their Source which we call Heaven. There they are to remain frozen in time and space.
So I asked, “How long do those poor souls have to stay in that un-moving state of deep freeze?” She then said, “They stay there until they’ve sorted out all the good and bad they’ve done in their lives and have come to a full understanding of, and be truly sorry for the pain and suffering they’ve caused others. “So then what happens to them?” I said. Wide eyed she glared and me and said, “They’re sent back to continue on their paths of learning and understanding, and usually placed in circumstances or positions that are opposite those of their previous lives.” Curious me couldn’t stop with my questioning by saying, “So my take on what you’re telling me is that all the wrongs we’ve knowingly committed against others, will follow our soul/spirits into the cold zone, and from there after however many months or years, we’ll be sent back in another body to atone for them?” She said something like, “Looks like you’ve got a pretty good layman’s understanding of the whole process.”
After remembering that long ago conversation, and thinking about the state of today’s world that’s filled with so many all-about-me people who justify every greedy, selfish, hateful, money-loving, consumption oriented, and to the devil with everyone else, they darkly nurture those pitiful mini-me’s they’ve created within their own families, while the rest of our world pays the price—including Mother Nature. Cryptically speaking, I do believe all our world’s evils share the same shoe size.
