As the liberated souls cautiously ventured out of the gathering hall into the darkness of the night, they were again overcome by sheer beauty and expansiveness of the heavens that stretched out before them.
If they strained their eyes, they could make out some of the ramparts of the Boundary in the distance.
The mixture of awe, excitement, and what felt like fear where hard to differentiate.
"Where is Ado?" someone asked.
"I saw her quietly slip into the darkness with Jude," replied another.
"They looked like they were heading back to the Caves."
As the peered through the darkness, someone shouted "Over there!"
Sure enough, just beyond the reach of the light from the hall were the figures of Ado and Jude.
Their positions were like those who were in motion and hurrying, yet they were perfectly still.
A few members of the group cautiously approached them.
"Joe? Ado? Are you guys ok?"
Silence. And stillness.
A woman touched Ado's hand and shrieked. It was a cold and hard as stone.
They gathered themselves and looked closer. It was stone! Joe and Ado were literally petrified.
The group ran back to the others, exlaining in bits and pieces what they had seen, and the whole assembly came tumbling back into the hall.
"Be at peace," we encouraged.
"But Joe and Ado! They are frozen outside! excaimed the woman who had touched Ado's hand.
"Yes, we know. We felt the pain."
"There is so much to explain, so much about this place that it is so hard to understand, and can only be learned by experience. You will have many such surprises ahead."
"The key is not to be afraid, and to understand that even if you do not understand what is happening, and even if it appears to be sad or cruel on the surface, it is all happening for a Reason, according to a universal Logic, or Logos, and it is All for the Good of All. It only appears frightening and cruel on the outside because we do not yet understand the Logic of the System. There are consequences and effects to everything. Joe and Ado's petrification is as natural and expected as getting burned if you touch fire. It is indeed painful for us all, but it would be far more cruel and unkind for us not to experience the pain of burning, because it saves us. The pain of the fire prevents us from being unconsciously consumed by it. The pain protects us from the fire. Thus it is not cruel, but Good. In the same way, petrification is protecting Joe and Ado from being consumed and destroyed by a return to the Caves."
"We will explain in greater detail as we make our Way out towards the Boundary and pass through the Warnings. For now, just understand that those who taste Freedom, Reality, Life, and Light, and out of fear of the New or lust for the Old choose to turn back and hand themselves back over to the Guards of the Caves, would exist in a perpetual state of torment if they successfully returned. They would be chained back up, drugged, and forced back into the trance, however their Minds, having once tasted Freedom and Light and Reality, could never again be at peace. Innocence, once shattered, is not easily pieced back together, and certainly can never be restored by the evil intentions of the Guards. Deep inside they know this. They understand that they are betraying us, betraying Truth, betraying Reality, betraying Light, betraying Life, and most importantly betraying their own Soul... and they are petrified. It is actually a far more Loving and Just feature of Reality that they would turn to stone, than that they would willfully return and resubmit themselves to the underworld. There is still something of the One alive in them. The faint flicker of Spirit that previously awakened them is still there. When enough of us have passed through the Boundary and tasted the New Light and New Life, they may yet again awaken and join us. Until then, there is nothing we can do to save them but to strive forward, so we must continue on through the Milestones that mark our Way towards the Goal."
Forward to 1.23 Choosing The Flood Back to 1.21 Organizing and Federating Sovereign Vessels Back to table of contents The Book of Lionsberg