“A righteous man, surrounded by chaos, corrupted by his environment.”
“Exactly.”
“Perhaps you should have built an ark?”
“Yes. Wait… what? Did you say an ark?”
“You’re not familiar with the story of Noah? Noah was a righteous man born during a time of great corruption, only he had to confront difficult obstacles in his life, both in his heart and in the real world. Like you, Noah was far from perfect, but he lived within a world so completely corrupted by avarice — the excessive desire for wealth — that he stood out from all the others. The Book of Genesis calls these people the Nephilim, the fallen angels, men of renown. Giants. Decode the passage, and we gain a clearer picture. To the common man they were giants, not in their physical size but in their influence. They were the equivalent of the power brokers who have corrupted Wall Street and Washington, using fear and warfare to make themselves even richer. That they considered themselves to be on a higher plane of existence defined their arrogance, and by their rule man was corrupted, all to appease their unquenchable thirst for power and possessions. The physical world became a very dark place, void of the Creator’s Light. And so the Creator sought out the brightest light — Noah — warning him that He would wipe man from the face of the Earth unless things changed. Noah attempted to warn the people, but they refused to listen. And so the Creator instructed him to build an ark so he might save his family and repopulate the world with a new generation who would seek fulfillment through the Light… through the act of treating one another with kindness the way God had intended.”
“It’s a nice story, and you spin it like a true psychiatrist, but come on… animals lining up in pairs. A flood that covered the world? I’ve never taken any of those Bible stories literally.”
“The Bible stories were never meant to be taken literally. The entire Old Testament is encrypted, each Aramaic passage revealing a vital truth about man’s existence, the ancient wisdom intended to instruct man on how to remove chaos through transformation by reconnecting with the endless Light of the Creator.”
“How come I never heard of this ancient wisdom?”
“It remained hidden for most of the last four thousand years. Only now, as we approach the End of Days, has the knowledge become available to everyone.”
“And the story of Noah… what’s the hidden meaning there?”
“We could spend weeks on the subject, so I’ll give you the broad strokes that relate to your particular situation. According to the encrypted wisdom, every person who comes into our lives represents an opportunity for growth, salvation, and fulfillment. Noah built the ark as the Creator commanded, but he did so seeking revenge against those who had wronged him. As such, he never attempted to convince God to allow him to save anyone besides his own family. Building the ark was a test of transformation, and Noah failed miserably, accepting the elimination of the world’s populace, refusing to offer the fallen ones an opportunity at redemption.
“The story of Noah happened on two levels. In the Malchut, an Aramaic term that refers to our physical world, there was an actual cataclysm that wiped out the populace. On a spiritual level, Noah’s entering the ark represented the Light of the upper worlds entering the physical universe, the positive energy destroying the negative energy.”
“God wiped out evil, I get it.”
“No, Patrick. The Creator never wipes out anyone. The Light of the Creator can only do good. What determines the outcome is the receiver. Think of God’s Light as electricity. Plug in your appliances, and one renders power to the tools of fulfillment. Stick your wet fingers in the socket, and you can be electrocuted. Either way, the nature of the Light never changes. When Noah entered the ark, the Light of the upper realms destroyed the negativity and greed that had stained the Earth. Those who cared and shared and tried to change themselves into something better were protected. Those who didn’t were destroyed.”
“Whatever happened to Noah?”
“He died, impure.”
“Wait… you just said—”
“The ark was built so that Noah and his family could hide inside a protective vessel when the Angel of Death arrived to smite humanity. The flood lasted twelve months, allowing time for Noah and his family to complete the purification process while the souls of the wicked were sent to Gehenom. But Noah made one last mistake, the same mistake Adam made. The fruit that tempted Adam was not an apple, but a grape, or the wine that comes from them. Wine can be abused, placing man in touch with levels of consciousness that cannot sustain a connection with the Light. When the floodwaters receded, Noah succumbed to temptation, consuming the fruit of the vine in an attempt to access the upper dimensions. Noah was born circumcised. When his son, Ham, the future father of the land of Canaan found Noah lying drunk and naked, he castrated him. That’s why Noah cursed the land of Canaan.”
“That was a bit severe, don’t you think?”
“Again, the story requires a translation. Noah went from being a righteous man to a victim, at least in his own state of mind. He had borne witness to the deaths of every living soul in the world, save his own family, but he never truly understood the root cause of suffering. Noah’s failure was that he built the ark, then, like all victims, assumed his own pain would purify his soul. Because he never felt the pain of those who had suffered, he couldn’t grow in a spiritual sense.”
They continued walking west on Riverside Drive, Shep deep in thought. “I’ve caused great pain, Virgil. How do I seek salvation for my sins? I mean, if a guy like Noah screwed up, what chance in Hell does a schmuck like me rate?”
“When a man seeks to cleanse his soul from difficult circumstances, he must first create an opening in his heart.”
“You’re saying I’ve grown cold. Unfeeling.”
“Have you?”
Shep contemplated his response. “Sometimes cold is the only way to survive. There’s a lot of evil in this world, Virgil. When fighting terrorists, one can’t always be Gandhi.”
“Gandhi said, ‘Be the change you want to see in the world.’ Violence only creates more violence.”
“Fine words, but not very practical when you’re dealing with enemy insurgents intent on killing innocent people.”
“The difference between an insurgent and a freedom fighter is defined by whose side one happens to be on at the moment. Either way, it means nothing to the dead. Life is a test, Patrick. Noah failed his test, his soul denied access into the endless Light of the Creator. Like all souls who fail to complete their tikkun, his soul was redeployed on another mission.”
“Redeployed? You mean reincarnation?”
“The process is known as Gilgul Neshamot—translated as Wheel of the Soul. A soul descends upon the physical world because it needs to make a correction, oftentimes from a sin committed in a past life. If a soul lives one lifetime without fulfilling its correction, it may return only three more times to complete its tikkun, its spiritual repair. Of course, for each lifetime a soul is recycled, it risks exposure to the negative forces that lie in wait.”
“Let me get this straight: You’re telling me that everything I’m going through now is punishment for sins committed in a prior life?”
“It’s possible.”
“No, it’s crazy. I have zero recollection of living a past life.”
“Do you recall every moment of your life, from birth throughout your childhood?”
“Of course not.”
“Yet you obviously lived them. When it comes to past lives, your conscious memory is as limited as your five senses, which lie to you with every passing moment. Accept it or not, every soul that lives in the physical world today has lived before. Who you were is not as important as the tikkun you must complete for your spiritual transformation.”