Lamp Black: Second Edition, Disaster, Preparedness, Survival, Awakening (The Gatekeeper Book 2) (23 page)

John wondered why he hadn’t noticed the beacon before, so bright and powerful was its radiance, and so high was its reach into heaven, but he didn’t dwell on it. As he approached the beam, he began to feel the energy of it. The light produced a clean and pure feeling, a feeling of healing. The light was so powerful that it would cast out the darkest of shadows within John.

He put his hands on the light and it began to flow through and around his hands. As it moved through his body, John was filled with awareness and health. He stepped into the light, and was immediately filled with an understanding that was ancient and deep. It felt warm and good, and a desire for further knowledge, a more complete understanding of life, flowed into his mind. The light spoke to John. It spoke to him of learning and insight, of expanding his perceptions and centering his life.

When John was filled, he stepped out of the beam and approached the gate. He placed his hands on the smooth, cold surface of the metal gate and it began to shimmer under his touch. John cocked his head, unsure what to make of the different effect, and moved his hands to a different spot. The gate disappeared before his eyes, but he felt its presence under his hands. It was still there, but it was trying to convince John it wasn’t.

He knew what the gate represented. It was the gate of illusion. And while his hands appeared to rest on nothing but air, the gate began to speak to him. It tried to flatter and persuade John to pass through without delay. But for John the deception was obvious. He felt the gate’s deceit, could feel the trickery, and desire to lead him down a path of ignorance. John felt the impact illusion had on his life, how it inhibited his growth and progress.

Though he never intentionally tried to lead other’s astray, the fact that he offered opinions on subjects he knew little or nothing about, jolted his mind. So too did his words about others, words that shaped
misconception and fomented illusion. John saw how he succumbed to illusion through falsehood, and how he tried to deny its hold over him. He saw how illusion made him weak and vulnerable, and he struggled to break its hold over him.

With hands resting against the transparent gate of illusion, John saw it as a deliberate obstacle to his understanding and growth. He knew only truth and light could defeat illusion, so he reached for the light in the center of the clearing. Illusion had distracted him from truth, blinded him even, and he had walked in darkness, never realizing his weakness. John called upon the light, let light fill him and wash him clean of all illusion. He removed his hands from the gate and it solidified. He then leaned forward and pushed it open.

After passing through the gate of illusion, John closed it and continued up the trail. Early evening had settled upon the mountain as he approached the top. The moon cast long, dark shadows that stretched across the trail. John knew his journey was almost complete, that he was approaching the last clearing, the last gate. He also knew the gates were changing him. In fact, they had already changed him. He felt the change flowing through him. The gates had cleansed and purified him in a way he didn’t fully understand, but he felt the power of it, and was excited to see what awaited him on the other side of the last gate.

The word “enlightenment” came to mind again, and he wondered what it really meant for him. He wondered if that was the purpose of the gates, to become enlightened. He already reached a new level of awareness, but the word “enlightenment” seemed too lofty, something reserved for the spiritual elite. John heard a voice in his head that said, “You are being spiritually awakened, is that not enlightenment?”

John supposed it was, but it still made him feel strangely uncomfortable, like trying on an expensive new suit, and knowing he didn’t have the money to buy it. He wasn’t ready to let go of the fact that he was a normal man; that having spiritual knowledge was not the same as being spiritually enlightened. “Then why did you choose to travel the path and pass the gates?” asked the voice, in reply to his thought.
John considered the question, but didn’t quite know how to answer it. He never before considered himself a spiritual man, let alone one destined for enlightenment. The dreams were one thing, but apparently everything would change after passing through the gates. He knew it was why he was brought here, to the mountain, to the gates.

John was so deep in thoughts of spirituality and enlightenment that he was surprised when he emerged into the final clearing. It was fully dark, but a brilliant light illuminated the clearing from high above. John looked up and beheld the most beautiful sight he had ever seen, the sky was filled with millions of stars. They were as countless as time itself, infinite and eternal in all their glory. They shined from above with such brilliance that John could see the lines on his hands.

Starlight filled the clearing with such magnificence that he stood spellbound by the majesty of it. Desiring a better, more comfortable view of the stars, John laid down in the middle of the clearing and laced his fingers behind his head. He looked up at the stars and saw they were as countless as the grains of sand on all the world’s shores. Their radiance and heavenly presence spoke of order and authority. He knew they were not random or accidental, and that they fulfilled a grand and marvelous purpose of creation.

John understood that the stars were governed by heavenly authority and energy, the very same heavenly authority that governed all life in the universe. A divine energy, perfect in its purpose and flawless in its execution, as timeless, perfect and complete as the stars themselves. The stars spoke to John of love and trust, of joy and happiness, of unity and cooperation, of hard work and accomplishment. They spoke to him of his life’s story, a story that was written in the stars.

John sat up and spotted the gate. After a considerable moment, he stood and walked over to it, curious about its purpose, about what would be a counterbalance to the magnificence of the stars and their heavenly design and structure. When he approached the gate, he saw nothing unusual about it. It looked like all the other gates. Without
delay, John leaned forward and rested his hands upon the gate. He was immediately filled with the weight of his earthly attachments.

He didn’t consider himself to be overly attached to earthly things, but he knew he wasn’t entirely free of them either. When he thought about it, John realized that he was actually very much attached to earthly things, such as his body, his family, and even his home. Strangely, the feeling he got from the gate was different than all the others, it was more subtle but very probing, as if the gate was searching for some hidden compartment within his mind. John felt the gate talk to him. It was telling him that it was OK if he didn’t pass through to the other side; that he could stop where he was and still feel pretty good about his progress; that he could still feel enlightened; that he wasn’t really expected to go beyond the boundaries of his earthly existence. John tried to push those feelings away, but he couldn’t disconnect himself from the probing quality of the gate.

He knew the only way to break the connection with the gate and release its seal, was to first understand the conditions of his earthly attachments. He had to let them go, but his mind filled with desire for all things physical. A desire to own many things and achieve great wealth. He wanted to possess and control. Thoughts of cravings, addiction, and dependency filled his mind, and anchored him to his body.

John realized his physical body demanded such attachment, and actually craved pleasure in all its forms and functions. The gate whispered to him, telling him that his physical body would never be free of earthly attachments. His physical body was natural therefore it was filled with natural desires, and the need to fulfill those desires, to indulge himself, was also perfectly natural.

The gate continued to speak to him of entitlement, self-gratification and domination, and it weighed him down; made John feel heavy, lost and desperate. The need to satisfy his hungers and appetites for earthly attachments built up to a point where John thought it would literally consume him. As the allure of earthly attachments continued to grow within him, he began to surrender to it. He saw how earthly
attachments made him weak and vulnerable, how they denied the stars and the heavenly authority, but he was powerless to resist. He fought to suppress his feelings of attachment, to clear his mind of them, but their hold was too strong, too deep. His family, his desire to return to them, now seemed to work against him, rather than for him.

Just as John was about to surrender to the power of the gate and accept his failure, he looked to the stars. He saw how his family, his physical body, and everything he possessed, was a gift from God; that he had been entrusted with those gifts for a purpose. John saw that a balance existed between his earthly attachments, and how he used them. A balance defined by responsibility and accountability against excess and false-worship. A new awareness began to settle into him, and he saw his earthly attachments in their true and proper perspective.

As soon as he accepted the new awareness, eight crystals appeared on the gate in front of John. They formed in a single line down the center of the gate, with the top crystal at the top of John’s head, and the remaining seven crystals aligned perfectly to his body. He immediately recognized the crystal pattern, for it matched the pattern he had seen earlier while resting on his journey up the trail.

John raised his finger to touch the top crystal, and it immediately assumed a violet hue. He did the same for the remaining seven crystals, lighting each one up with his finger. Each crystal was of a different color, and from the top down the eight crystals were violet, indigo, blue, green, yellow, red, amber and orange. When the last crystal turned orange, John stepped back to examine the display. He expected the gate to open when the last crystal was lit, but it didn’t. He pushed hard against it, but still it didn’t budge.

Thinking he had missed something important, John began to reflect on the image he had seen while sitting on the trail, how energy had flowed through the eight points of light on the body. With a finger, John traced a line from the top crystal to the bottom. Though slightly delayed, a line of light followed John’s finger as he traced downward, connecting all the points of light.

When John reached the last crystal, he stepped back. As soon as the line of light reached the bottom crystal, an entire diagram of light appeared on the gate before him. John saw that the greater flow of energy traveled along the center line between the points of light, but that energy also flowed around the entire body outline, in a continuous loop through the limbs and along the core, to connect at the top and bottom crystals. Light traveled in one continuous flow of energy around the outline, and it was beautiful to look at.

The gate winked out of existence, but the crystals and energy lines remained. John knew that he was to pass through the lights, so after carefully aligning his body to the diagram, he stepped forward through the open gate. The crystals, and all their corresponding points and paths of light, became a part of John’s body as he passed through the opening. They filled him with such peace and fulfillment that he fell to his hands and knees after stepping through the gate. The feeling was like nothing he had ever experienced before. Unrestrained and uninterrupted, energy flowed freely through his body. John felt reborn and he wept with joy.

While on his hands and knees, John looked up. Someone was standing on the trail up ahead. He rubbed his eyes and saw a man, older than himself, but it was hard to tell because his true age seemed to be covered. The man was dressed in several layers of cream colored robes, which also seemed to mask his status, as is the robes were some kind of concealment, or maybe protection. He didn’t know, only that the man was presenting himself in a subdued manner. The man’s face was kind and wise, full of loving tenderness, but strong and powerful, like all the stars of heaven.

When he rose to his feet and approached the man, John saw that they were of the same height. The man’s hair was longer, and swept to the right side of his forehead, but he radiated wisdom and love. John neared the man and recognition immediately filled his heart. He ran to him and yelled, “Father!” as he fell into his arms. John wept openly while in the familiar embrace of one so kind and dear to him.

“There now, my son. You have been on a long and tiring journey,” said Father, as he patted John’s back tenderly.

“I’m sorry I didn’t recognize you more quickly,” cried John.

“All is well. I thought it better to meet you here than to have you come to me. To see me in all my glory would have been too much for you given all your recent activities. But yes, I am here. It’s good to see you again, my son.”

John went to his knees and bowed his head. “Father, forgive me for not honoring you more properly.”

“Nonsense, stand up my son. You have honored me greatly by being here, right where you are, right now. Come, let us walk together,” said Father, as he lifted John to his feet. They walked silently together, and in a blink of the eye they were walking along the shores of the same lake where John began his journey through the gates. It felt like months since he had started on the path, and years even since he saw his family. But he was happy, filled with light, and talking to his Heavenly Father. John looked at Him and smiled.

“So, what did you think of your gates?” asked Father.

“You’re asking me what I think of them?” asked John, confused and surprised.

“Yes, of course I am. Your counsel has always been held in high regard up here. You helped design the gates. Do you not remember that of yourself?” asked Father.

“I do not remember that. No . . . I do not remember my past . . . my pre-mortal life,” said John.

“You will, with time,” replied Father, “but for now, just know that you have served me valiantly, and you will continue to do so, even.” He finished, his voice warm and loving. It filled John with reassurance and confidence. “You were the first to travel these gates alone, as was designed,” said, Father, with a wave of His hand toward the mountain. “The first who did so with a physical body. Many have sought the same path of enlightenment, John, but so very few actually achieve it.
But your solo journey was not without assistance. I did give you a little hint, just once,” smiled Father.