“It was about this time that Panim found his way to the Sea of Galilee and the city of Tiberius, where he learned Rabbi Shimon had just come down from the mountain. When he finally found the Rabbi, he offered the man a small fortune to share his acquired wisdom, but the teacher refused. Realizing he had insulted the holy man, Panim dismissed his entourage, donated his gold and camels to the poor, then denied himself food until the Kabbalist would reconsider. For the next eight days he followed the Rabbi around until he collapsed, close to death. Impressed by the Asian’s newfound sense of humility, the teacher brought Panim back to his home and fed him, instructing his new student to meet him in a cave on the next full moon, where he was teaching the ancient wisdom to Rabbi Akiva’s surviving sages.
“Though the Zohar’s knowledge was intended for all of God’s children, mankind simply wasn’t ready to comprehend concepts involving the Big Bang or atoms, let alone the true purpose of man’s existence in the physical universe. And so the Zohar remained hidden until the 13th century.
“Gelut Panim returned to Asia decades later, a changed man. Convening the Society of the Nine in Tibet, he divided the ancient wisdom into sacred texts, assigning a field of study to each member. The ninth text dealt with the mystical, its teachings defying the laws of physics, tapping into the higher realms to enable mind over matter. So powerful and dangerous was this last subject that Gelut Panim felt it best to safeguard this sacred book of wisdom himself.
“And so the Nine ventured forth, spreading their teachings where they felt the knowledge might do the most good. Plato and Pythagoras called the ancient wisdom ‘Prisca Theologia.’ Aristotle, Galileo, and Copernicus all served time as members of the Nine, along with Alexandre Yersin, the eighteenth-century French-Swiss bacteriologist who received knowledge from the book of microbiology in order to develop a cure for the bubonic plague. Isaac Newton acquired his own personal copy of the Zohar, relying on it as a scientific reference. Albert Einstein used the ancient wisdom to advance his Theory of Relativity.
“The Society of the Nine Unknown Men had hoped to use the ancient wisdom to maintain the balance between good — the Creator’s Light — and evil, which is the darkness brought on by man’s ego. According to the ancient wisdom, when the scales of humanity are finally swayed toward the Light, then fulfillment and immortality shall be had by all. But when negativity outweighs the positive forces, then the Angel of Death shall again walk freely upon the Earth at a time known as the End of Days. According to the Zohar, this epoch of human existence began in the Age of Aquarius on the twenty-third day of Elul, in the Hebrew year of 5760, ushered in by ‘a great tall city, its many towers collapsed by flames, the sound of which shall awaken the entire world.’ The Gregorian calendar date: September 11, 2001.”
Patel felt his blood pressure rising. “September 11 was not a supernal event, it was a false-flag conspiracy, involving lunatics hell-bent on rewriting the map of the Middle East.”
The Elder smiled with his eyes. “That you believe this does not make it so. As brilliant as you are, you remain stuck in the one percent of existence we call Malchut, the physical world of chaos and pain, war and pestilence, dying and fear. In your latest book, you blame September 11 on the psychopath, sweeping their enablers into a big tent labeled macrosocial evil.”
“I am a psychologist. Understanding the root causes of evil is what psychology is all about.”
“And yet nothing changes. Murder and genocide go on, despite the advent of drugs and overflowing prisons. Perhaps you are looking at the roots of the wrong tree?”
Willing himself to remain calm, the professor took a deep breath, then exhaled, flashing a false smile. “Go on, I’m listening.”
“No, you are hearing with your ego. You have formulated a judgment without having heard one utterance. You remain deceived by your five senses, which, in turn, are being manipulated by the opponent… the Satan.” The Elder pronounced the word: Sa-tahn, emphasizing separation between the two syllables.
Patel felt his patience waning. “With all due respect, I did not come here to be lectured by the Buddhist version of David Blaine. From what my teacher implied, your society could help root out corruption by identifying it to the masses—”
“—while seeking justice?”
“Two wars, a trillion dollars, a million innocent lives stolen. What’s wrong with a little justice?”
“Justice will happen for each of us when we leave this realm. What you seek is driven by the ego… the self. You cannot experience justice and true happiness — the pursuit of justice will make you miserable.”
This must be a test… he’s testing me.
Life is a test, Professor Patel. Pain and suffering, chaos and evil all exist to test us.
Patel ground his teeth. “I hate that you can hear my thoughts.”
“That is your ego speaking. The answers you seek are out there, only they have been purposely hidden from us.”
“Why? Why must all the answers be hidden?”
“Because we asked the Creator to hide them.”
“I don’t understand.”
“You will in time. For now, there are more immediate concerns. As I mentioned, when a critical mass realizes that we are all brothers and sisters, then the world will be transformed, and we shall receive immortality. The pendulum, however, swings both ways. There are times when the negative consciousness of humanity becomes so widespread that darkness affects every element of the physical world. When the desire to hate outweighs love, and war trumps peace, the Creator affects a general cleansing. The last time this happened on a global scale was during the time of Noah. We believe another supernal event may be coming soon, perhaps on the winter solstice—”
“—December 21, the day of the dead.” Pankaj Patel swallowed hard.
“My wife, Manisha, she is a necromancer — one who communicates with anguished souls. Manisha has told me things, describing warnings from the spiritual world about the End of Days.”
“But you refused to listen. You harbored doubts.”
“Regrettably, I am a man of ego.”
“It is never too late to change.”
“I shall try to change. As for the Nine… replacing my teacher, I regret I am not yet worthy of this honor.”
The Elder nods. “I remember the day I first met your mentor. It was in Communist China shortly after he was arrested and tortured by the dark forces he would spend a lifetime attempting to shed his light of knowledge upon. He was more than a brother to me, he was a trusted friend. And like the rest of us, he made mistakes.
“There is a saying: ‘May you live in interesting times.’ Some interpret this as a blessing, others a curse. I prefer to see it as an opportunity for great change. Noah lived in interesting times — a time of great evil and selfishness where man’s darkest, most barbaric traits reigned supreme. The Creator made a covenant between Himself and this righteous man, only then did He wipe the wicked from the face of the Earth. Abraham, too, made his covenant, and Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed. The same with Moses. In each generation of evil, a righteous man has been selected and tested, each challenge intended to strengthen the chosen one’s sense of spirituality and certainty, each covenant made between man and the Creator leading to the destruction of evil. Thousands of years have passed, the cycle repeated many times, culminating in this, the End of Days. If there is to be salvation this time around, it can only be found within the Light. Fail, and darkness shall rule the earth, leading to global annihilation and the death of more than six billion people.”