Is there a way back from Hell?
My eyes closed, and I was falling through the floor and then the earth, and then I was in another place. My eyes closed in one dimension and opened in another.
This place is desolate. I am aware of my nakedness, yet I also know I am no longer alive on earth; I am elsewhere.
Cold. I have no idea where I am, but loneliness is present. Where are the people?
Then he appears. He looks like me, almost my twin.
Who are you?
“I am your shadow. Welcome to my world.”
What world is it?
“You have held it in your mind as much as heaven.”
Hell?
“You see, you know more than you know. Now that you are here, you will see your own hell. It is very specific, all your fears become real, all your darkness is revealed.”
Am I feeling fear? Then I hear the father,
“You belong to me; they cannot take you, but this must happen. Face it, for in facing it you will be cleansed of its power.”
The shadow takes me underground, and as if I am viewing prisoners in dungeons, I see animated scenes from my life, the dark ones.
In the first scene, another is crying. I am twelve. I have caused the tears. The power of forgiveness comes to me. It is connected to my death in letting the other live despite his hate towards me.
I see a set of keys, but they are around the neck of a rat that runs in and out of the scene. I fear rats. If I am to get the keys, I am going to have to catch the rat and take the keys from it. I watch, there is no time, the rat runs in and then out. I am faced with either getting the keys to unlock this scene or remaining in fear of the rat. I sense I could be here forever.
Father, what am I to do?
“Replace the fear with faith and grab those keys.”
I put out my hands, and the rat dissolves in them, leaving only the keys. I take the keys and instinctively place them in the lock. Once unlocked, the scene dissolves, the power of forgiveness. I then see several other dungeon scenes. They are interspersed; in one, I am the perpetrator, in another, I am the victim. In each, a rat runs around with a key. Knowing the power of forgiveness, I grab the rats, they dissolve, and with the keys, I free the others and myself.
I see others looking at their own dungeons. I shout to them that forgiveness is the key. They shout back that they are afraid. I tell them to replace fear with faith and grab the fear that stands between them and freedom, not only for themselves but for others. Some do, others seem powerless. There is wailing and gnashing of teeth.
“People, we have waited too long; now that we have our freedom, let’s get out of here.”
But how do we get out of here?
“Get the people who are free back to the surface, the place where you first met your shadow.”
I begin running back the way I had come, shouting, “ Ok, people, follow me.”
By the time I reach the surface, there is a throng of us. Shadow is standing with me. Impulsively, I grab him and hug him into myself he dissolves into me.
“Tell them to remember a time when they knew love.”
I am struggling to remember myself now that I have passed on from the other side. But then comes a picture of my daughter and the love she brought to me. In loving her, I had loved myself.
Some of the people cry out that they can’t remember being loved. I turn to those who found love and say, “After 3, grab one of those who are unloved and share the love you have found.”
1, 2, 3, we run towards each other, we embrace, and in that moment, it is like an explosion occurred, we are resurrected into the world we had left. I find myself in a garden, dazzled by the beauty of the flowers. This is going to be different.
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