Chapter II: Servants of the Lord
We rested like that, the Creator and his creation, arm in arm, embracing, for eons, both of us completely content to remain so. Our joy was enough to sustain us forever. He, requiring nothing to continue, and I, needing only His love, which I received without limit, were content to remain together.
But eventually, we both recalled that He had created me with some purpose. I was not to be His only creation, no, not at all. Instead, I was to aid Him in the production of a number of other entities.
The first, He explained to me, is a race of beings like you, but not like you. They will share your shape, your identity, and to an extent, your powers – although you will always remain more powerful than they, and you will, of course, retain your free will.
"Of course, Lord."
They will not. They will be my Angels. A race of beings independent of the physical worlds we will create, but able to influence them at will. They, like us, will have the ability to assume whatever shape they please, including physical form – although that carries with it some danger, of course, as they are then somewhat in danger of mortality and all that comes with it.
"Will they not be able to readopt their celestial bodies at will?"
No. They will be limited in that way. Once they have adopted mortal form, their essence will be contained within that frame. They will retain some of their powers, but they will not be able to abandon that shape, because that body would then suffer and die – and I cannot allow that, not blindly. Though humans may suffer and die at their own hands, I will not allow my Angels to cause it.
"I understand."
They will be able to deny the laws of physics, to render them void for a time, in order to achieve some goal in the physical realms. The Angels will be our arms in the worlds, our messengers and warriors, our helpers, so that we may remain outside looking in on it all, and see everything at once.
"Why, Lord? Why do we need them? In the worlds you create, should not everything go well?" For a moment I was afraid that He would think I was questioning His wisdom, His motivation for creating His Angels the way He proposed. But almost as soon as the fear hit me, I felt a wave of reassurance wash over me; He knew that I asked the question out of true curiosity, not incredulity.
Because the world will not be perfect, Lucifer. I could feel the sadness in His words; He knew it would happen, that given the nature of the world we were going to create, it would be impossible for pain and hardship to be completely avoided. He knew all this, and the sadness that filled Him passed into me, and I cried for decades. Just as we shared in the joy of my creation, we shared in the pain and sorrow of the worlds' misfortunes.
Then, ages later, He continued. For the world will contain billions and billions of individuals. And although I will not grant free will to all my Angels, I will grant it to the higher forms of mortal life, when they are ready, because I want them to know the fullness of all the joys of life. But although I want them to enjoy life and all it's wonders, some of them will be bad.
"Bad, Lord?" I asked, unsure what He meant. I knew that I had had the potential to be wicked, but surely I had powers far beyond any that the mortals could ever possess; how bad could they possible become?
Yes, Lucifer. Worse than bad; some will be truly evil. For we will not interfere, because to do so would be to deny their true will.Again, I felt Him grow sad. They will kill themselves and each other. They will murder, rape, and destroy their own lives. He paused, then whispered, They will destroy their worlds. All that we create will someday be destroyed by our own creations.
I was horrified. The very idea of creating things that we knew would eventually self destruct baffled me. I could not comprehend the purpose behind doing such a thing.
It is simple, Lucifer.I was unaware that I had formed the thought into words, but knew that I must have, for the very gift that would condemn reality, free will, would not allow God to reach into my thoughts. Recall the utter joy that we reveled in when you were created. Feel again all the love that we have felt for each other, all the elation that we share in our very coexistence. The mortals will feel the same, on a massive scale. For all eternity, mortal parents will give birth to mortal children, and with every birth they will feel the same joy that we have felt. They will not be able to enjoy it for nearly as long, for their bodies will not sustain them for more than a few decades, but that will just make the joy even more intense. In their short lives, they will not have the opportunity to experience much, but this bliss will be a lasting memory, and one that they will all have the opportunity to experience. But without free will, this experience – the experience of life itself – will mean little. They must be able to choose for themselves how to live, how to embrace the opportunities they have; if they are forced into it, it will mean nothing.
He sighed. Unfortunately, granting them any free will means granting them will over everything. If we grant them the ability to choose some things but not others, they will instantly become aware that they are being coerced into certain actions.
"How do you mean, my Lord?"
Oh, Lucifer, you really can't comprehend, can you? He laughed, amused despite the gravity of the situation. Remember when I first created you? I told you what I would have you do, but then I offered you the choice of whether or not to accept this appointment. Do you recall?
"I do, Lord."
And how did you feel? Did you feel that the choice was truly yours to make?
"I did, Lord. I knew that I had the ability to deny You. I had the potential to create my own alternate universe, but I didn't, because I chose to remain faithful to You."
Exactly so, my friend, exactly so. You felt you had the option. Had you been a body without free will – like the other Angels, for example - you would never have even considered any option other than blind obedience. Once a race of mortals becomes intelligent enough, I will grant them free will, but imagine if that will is limited. They can choose when to reproduce, who their mate is, how to raise their child - but they would be unable to fight, kill, destroy. Do you think they would fail to notice that some – many, in fact - of their actions are being limited by a higher power? The instant they make that observation – and they will, because they must be intelligent before I grant them free will, and any intelligent creature will be able to notice that hindrance – they will lose faith in life, because they will realize that everything they have founded their existence on isn't really theirs.
I wept again, knowing that although mortality would enjoy more wonders than tragedies, the tragedies would still exist, and would hold a place in the forefront of their minds. God and I would create entire worlds, and races within those worlds, and those races would torture each other. We knew that, but we would do it anyway, because on the whole, our creations would experience more good than bad. But still, I wept for those who would bear the terrors of our actions by suffering throughout their lives. We would do it all for goodness and joy, and doom uncountable numbers to pain in the process.
But that is work for another time, Lucifer, my friend, my son. Before that, we must work to create our helpers. We shall do it together, this time. We will create our Angels. Now, observe yourself.
I envisioned my essence, as much as was possible. It was impossible, of course, to truly form a mental image of myself – in all actuality, I had no "self". I was as formless as God, just a self-conscious force in the ether. I did my best to form a mental catalogue of my various traits and abilities – all the qualities that it would seem God would want to replicate in his Angels.
Now, remove the ability to choose their own actions, as well as their ability tocreateordestroyanything – they can only change and shift things, they cannot cause anything to come to or cease to exist.I did so. Even as I removed these traits, I knew that the list no longer defined me. The very qualities that God had asked me to remove were the ones that were most important to my sense of self.
Now…envision other entities like that. Thousands of them. Millions of them.
"Should I name then all, Lord?"
No, that is not necessary. They are identical; should we need one, any one will do.
"But if they wish to speak with each other? Surely we should allow them a sense of community?"
God paused, thoughtful. I had not considered that, Lucifer. A good recommendation, though. Well done! He laughed, and my soul bubbled over with joy at his pleasure.You truly will prove to be an asset to my creation, my friend. Hmmm…allow them to form their own names, I suppose, to their liking. They will serve us, but they will still have their own consciousness. In fact…allow them this: they shall have free will to do what they please, except when directly asked to do something by either of us. That order they cannot deny.
As I set about imagining these new creatures, a thought occurred to me. "Lord, what if our orders should someday conflict? Whose should they follow?"
There was complete silence in my mind. God had entered such deep thought at the suggestion that I was scarcely aware if he was still there. "Lord?"
I'm here, Lucifer, He said. There was another moment of silence. Allow them to choose who to follow. Although I don't believe that they shall ever have to make a choice such as that.