\u201cHow bad is this?\u201d, Azazel asked Lord Shiva, looking worriedly at his wife, who seemed not to be taking this well.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s bad\u201d, Shiva nodded, lost in thought. \u201cI\u2019m trying to understand the repercussions, but the short of it is that Sanat Kumar now has a true bridgehead in the real world. The game no longer ends with the loss of his control over the Jewel, which was contractually defined and which used to be a given. We thought this game had a known endpoint in time. This is no longer the case\u201d, he mused.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is all my fault\u201d, Kay whispered.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo\u201d, the Great Lord denied decisively, and came to embrace the girl. \u201cYou just did normal things that made sense and served a legitimate purpose. This in itself wouldn\u2019t have resulted in any harm. However, combined with several other factors that weren\u2019t known enough to predict for, we got this problem. It\u2019s easy to be smart in hindsight\u201d, he ruffled her hair and looked her in the eyes. \u201cIt\u2019s not your fault\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cThank you\u201d, she smiled weakly.<\/p>\n
\u201cBut how is this even possible?\u201d, Azazel went through his hair with his fingers. \u201cI thought the Throne of God was the force that kept the worlds in existence. Wouldn\u2019t removing a world from beneath the Throne of God have resulted in that world\u2019s removal from reality whatsoever?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cOnly metaphorically and in the perspective of Eternity\u201d, Shiva shrugged. \u201cThe Throne of God means alignment and harmony with the Will of God. It\u2019s the answer to that prayer Christ formulated \u2013 \u2018thy kingdom come; thy will be done\u2019; if a world is under the Throne of God, his kingdom is<\/i> here, and his will is<\/i> done. It means that something is part of the Absolute\u2019s eternal plan and Will. It is also optional, because free will does exist. God\u2019s reign is optional. Consequences aren\u2019t\u201d, he sighed. \u201cLiving according to the Will of God, in the Kingdom of God, has consequences, and they are, well, the two of you\u201d, he managed a smile. \u201cThe two of you are an excellent example of beings who chose to live the Will of God and became perfect, which is why we all love you so much, and which is why, for instance, your wonderful bride is so distraught now, because she thinks she somehow did something against the Will of God, and it resulted in a disaster. This is not so. I see the Will of God shining very brightly in her, which means it was the Will of God for this to happen as it did, so that the events might proceed in a certain way, leading to a resolution that will put everything right, but on a higher level of goodness; so, don\u2019t be sad, sweetheart. Instead, let\u2019s think about what this means, what were the required conditions of it happening, and what conditions need to be met in order to put it right\u201d, Shiva kissed the jewel on her brow and she finally smiled I earnest.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, let\u2019s see how this could happen in the first place\u201d, Azazel nodded. \u201cFirst of all, there are sub-planes with worse people that are still under the Throne of God. There\u2019s a hell with fanatical murderers, inciters of murderous mobs, gangsters, rapists, torturers and other villainous souls that could rightfully have been destroyed outright, but were instead preserved in case an opportunity arose later on, where they could possibly be redeemed. So, why are they still here?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a very valid question. It would seem that committing vile crimes and being a monster would remove one from the Reign of God, but apparently it is not so, which is what makes this case particularly interesting. So, let\u2019s see what those godless souls were. You are saying that you created that sub-plane for souls that were born on Earth, through the process of nucleation, or bubbling off, the way water vapour is released from boiling water?\u201d, Shiva frowned and scratched the back of his neck.<\/p>\n
\u201cYes\u201d, Kay nodded. \u201cIt was a sub-plane for the souls newly created on Earth, that were completely godless and had no sense of transcendence, or any concept of God other than Sanat Kumar\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo why did this sub-plane not remove itself from under the Throne of God once the first such soul was put there? Wouldn\u2019t this technically meet the requirement of all inhabitants being godless?\u201d, Azazel looked confused.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s the easy part. The overall energy of the souls inside would have to outweigh the energy invested in creation of that sub-plane, and<\/i> they would all have to be godless\u201d, Shiva nodded. \u201cThe problem didn\u2019t arise immediately because you needed a serious mass of spiritual energy to counter the Will of God inherent to the structure itself\u201d, he waved the thought off.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhy do some souls created on Earth get to be worshippers of God, while others grow to be godless?\u201d, Kay wondered.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt seems to be related to the conditions they developed in, initially\u201d, Shiva offered. \u201cFor instance, if a soul is created when a human being is exposed to some religious or intellectual system that is devoid of transcendence, but requires lots of thought and emotion, it seems to catalyse genesis of souls, but those souls are not really what we are used to seeing here\u201d, he shrugged. \u201cThey have consciousness, intellect and emotions, but they lack transcendence and the sense of belonging to it. If a soul is born out of the mutual worship of the Gods, it wants to return to that state and it drives its evolution. Also, if a soul nucleates on Earth in the presence of one of the major sources of spiritual light, this determines its nature and goals, and it wants to return to the state of fullness of this\u201d, he nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd if you put lots of godless souls somewhere, the ideal of existence they will try to achieve is godlessness\u201d, Azazel nodded.<\/p>\n
\u201cExactly. And apparently, the worst criminals in that other place are better than this, which seems to demonstrate that godlessness is worse than murder and hatred, because hateful murderers can still have a spark of something that wants God, somewhere inside them, which makes them redeemable, while the godless souls don\u2019t\u201d, Shiva finished grimly.<\/p>\n
\u201cAren\u2019t we better off without them, then?\u201d, Kay shrugged. \u201cI mean, they wanted to be done with God; now God is being done with them, and they will eventually perish in time as they are separated from Eternity, and basically good riddance?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt would be as you say, if not for one thing\u201d, Shiva agreed. \u201cThe world they occupy is connected to the rest of the astral world by its fundamental reality, and Sanat Kumar can now use it to make another, astral Earth there, that will outlive the one generated by the Jewel, and outlive his authority to use the Jewel. It will likely outlive him as well. Every godless thing in that sub-plane came to be because of his designs, and so his evil lives on, and it just jumped planes, from illusion to a lesser reality. This means it\u2019s actually a big deal and we have to figure out a way to restore that sub-plane back to the Throne of God\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat would it take?\u201d, wondered Azazel.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s one of those almost impossible things that eventually come up and then someone like Lord Vishnu usually takes care of it by thinking of a solution nobody else could figure out. But essentially, you would need to have a legitimate inhabitant of that plane, not merely a visitor, but someone condemned to be there, who would at the same time be spiritually powerful enough to call to the Throne of God directly, or, alternatively, call for both myself and my wife to manifest there in power, which would allow us to form the Golden Fire and thus reclaim that world for God\u201d, Shiva smiled. \u201cBasically, you would need to have a person that\u2019s holy enough to invoke me and my wife both, and be condemned to the world of the godless souls for some reason, which is close enough to the requirement of something being wood but also iron\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cOh\u201d, both Azazel and Kay looked wilted.<\/p>\n
\u201cDon\u2019t worry about it, we\u2019ll figure it out\u201d, Shiva laughed. \u201cAfter all, if we could make a demon into a God, we can make wooden iron easily\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cHow bad is this?\u201d, Azazel asked Lord Shiva, looking worriedly at his wife, who seemed not to be taking this well. \u201cIt\u2019s bad\u201d, Shiva nodded, lost in thought. \u201cI\u2019m trying to understand the repercussions, but the short of it is … Continue reading