THIRTEEN

'God became as we are, that we may be as he is.

God is man and exists in us and we in him'

– William Blake

"Who Are You?"

The Doctor looked inquisitively at Martin. "Are you made just of flesh and bone? Are you nothing more than the sum of your memories and experiences? Are you just a brain living inside a body and that is all?" He leaned forward slightly and looked directly into Martin's eyes "Do you believe in the existence of the soul?"

Martin looked puzzled. The Doctor wasn't even looking in the book.

"I thought this was going to be a book of answers, Doctor... not more questions" He pushed himself further back into his chair. "Of course I believe in the existence of the soul after what I've just been through!"

The Doctor looked pleased. "So, for you at least, the existence of the soul is not in doubt... So the question becomes... What is the soul?" The Doctor stared up above his head watching the first stars peaking through the darkened blue sky. "Is the soul something God judges and punishes as he sees fit as some religions would have you believe? Is it something separate from God and therefore somehow unworthy and tainted? Do you think you should fear for your immortal soul if you come to God through the 'wrong' religious path? Should you spend your whole life trying to make sure you are in the 'right' religion for fear of eternal punishment? Do you really think that is what God wants?"

Martin sighed. Hadn't they already had this discussion? "I don't know what God wants... No one does. And I'm not hearing that many answers, Doctor... You haven't even read a word in that book yet!"

The Doctor frowned deeply "Ohhh... Talk about been impatient! We cant just jump right in, you know!" He seemed genuinely hurt and nodded once in Martin's direction. "Blimey, you must be crap in bed" He added still frowning.

"Yeah, cheers, Doctor... Can we just get on with the book?" Martin fidgeted slightly in his seat.

The Doctor glanced down in the book for a few seconds and then looked up, his head tilted on an angle.

"A great illusion about God is that He... and its usually always a 'He'... wants something. Yet what would 'God'... The Universe itself... want?"

Martin shook his head gently. "I've really no idea" he said breathing out as he did so.

"I tell you in a minute..." The Doctor winked "You'll be surprised" He looked down in the book but still didn't look like he was reading it. "It is also a great illusion that God is separate from you and all of Mankind... and all of creation for that matter. As if God is somehow aloof and distant... Always just out of reach... Somewhere... 'out there'..." He craned his neck upwards. "Always out there... And never in here" He pointed to the center of his chest and looked back at Martin. "Yet if I were to tell you that the soul is actually a part of God, would you believe me?"

Martin scrunched his mouth up and picked at one of his fingernails slowly. "Well, if you would have asked me before today I would have said 'no'... But I'd believe you now. I felt my soul exploded back there... And I'm not going to forget that in a hurry."

The Doctor smiled knowingly at Martin. "So if your soul is a part of God that would mean that God is never apart from you. That would mean that every living thing was actually a part of God. So that would also mean that all of the Universe was actually One thing... One interconnected whole... Connected by love... Which, as we've already discovered, is what 'God' is"

Martin leaned forward in his chair ringing his hands together slowly

"Yes... that's what I felt... but what does that mean?"

The Doctor's face was suddenly very calm and his voice light in pitch.

"It means that God is inside of each of us. The soul is an aspect of God... a reflection of divinity in human form. It's how the universe knows itself as an experience..." He drummed his hands gently on the pages of the book "If all of the universe is actually one thing and that thing is 'God' then I'm telling you that 'God' is the energy of life... in fact, 'God' is life itself"

Martin thought back to the conversation he'd had with The Doctor when they first met.

"God is another word for 'life'... and for 'love'" Martin said. He was slowly starting to follow what the Doctor was saying.

The Doctor nodded pointing a finger in Martin's direction "There you go..."

The Doctor breathed in sharply and scratched the back of his neck.

"...Now not all people believe in 'God'... but all people every where believe in 'life'. For they are life itself... been experienced. And most people have experienced love at some point in their life and, in those moments, have become acutely aware of the existence of their soul" He rested his elbows on the book "In moments of love and joy humans experience their remembrance of God... And of the higher part of themselves. They see love reflected in the eyes of another soul and for a blissfully clear moment... They see 'God'...They have an 'At-One-Ment'... Sometimes called an atonement" He shifted his legs around and shrugged his shoulders. "But, the trouble is, there's a whole stigma about the word 'God' within the human experience. For many 'God' is the ultimate conversation killer because... Well, talk about baggage! Ohhhh... The arguments it starts! There's so many different ideas and theologies based around God that you could be confused or bored to death within the first twenty seconds of any decent debate!" He held his hands up in mock surprise "That's why a lot of people 'switch off' as soon as they here the 'god' word... It's become a 'tainted' sound to use... Almost like a dirty word..."

Martin interceded "Well, I think that has a lot to do with the religions of the world, Doctor. I think many 'ordinary' people in 'my day' who maybe aren't religious see the contradiction in religions. Not to mention the killing been done in the name of God that's still going on in my day... in this time... and in the 'imagined' future I saw...And in every age since year dot"

The Doctor nodded once more. "Humans have killed each other since the dawn of time because they disagree about What God Wants. They believe that 'their' religion is the 'One True Faith' and has all the answers. They believe they already know what God wants and are prepared to kill and die for it. They believe they have nothing left to learn about 'God' and 'life' because their religion already has all the answers" His face looked sad and mournful "So they shut themselves off from the possibility of 'New revelations' and 'New Understandings' about 'God'... In fact, they have to in order to survive... And, while mankind has evolved in sciences, technologies and psychologies, in the area of religious belief mankind has remained stagnant. Religion has not been allowed to evolve... And evolution is the purpose of all life"

The Doctor paused as if contemplating what could be. After a moment he continued...

"Of course all the different ideas about what god actually wants completely contradict each other. But religions look past this as they think it's everyone else that's 'wrong' and them that is 'right'. This 'righteousness' is their undoing..." He stared off vacantly as if distracted slightly. He shook his head sharply and returned his gaze to Martin. "But do you want to know a real secret here? Do you want to know the ironic Truth in all of this?" He looked inquisitively at Martin. "I'll tell you want God really wants..."

The Doctor then remained perfectly still and silent. His face was calm and relaxed. He sat almost statue like with his hands placed either side of the book and his gaze distant yet transfixed on Martin and remained completely silent...

"Yeah... What is it? What does God want?" Martin had waited long enough.

The Doctor waited a few more seconds and then drew a line with one hand cutting it through the air slowly.

"That's it... Nothing... Zilch...Zero... Didderly squat... Sweet FA... God doesn't want anything. What could God want? God is everything... The Alpha & Omega... The Beginning and the End... God is life itself remember? God wants nothing... Other than to experience itself as a reality and this She does through us... and every living being in the universe"

Martin was taken aback "God is a woman?"

The Doctor laughed gently "No, of course not... But He's not a man, either, is She? If God is life... The Universe... Pure energy... How could it have gender?"

Martin didn't have an answer to that. "But most religions talk about God been a 'He', don't they?"

"Yeah, and who do you think wrote the holy books? Men!" The Doctor laughed again and then became more serious. "And the women in your societies have been paying the price for that for a long time!" The Doctor cleared his throat and lowered his voice slightly. "The Truth is that no one religion has 'The One True Faith'. Do people imagine a 'god' that would let an earnest seeker of Truth face eternal damnation because they got into the 'wrong' religion? Can you imagine a 'god' more cruel than that?" His eyebrows were raised once more as he stuck out his jaw line and placed his elbows back on the book. "The Truth is there is no 'eternal damnation' as some of your fear based theologies would have you believe. For who would God punish if all of life is One? And how would God measure the 'goodness' of one against the 'evilness' of the other? What is 'good' and 'evil' anyway? Surely every one and everything is a combination of both?" The Doctor paused again and took in a lungful of the fresh, clean air. "Would a mass murderer be forgiven on his death bed if he prayed in the 'right' way to the 'right' God? Would a Buddhist who had spent his life working to better the lives of others be sent screaming into hell because he was worshipping the 'wrong' God? Or what of the two-year-old boy who dies of cancer and who's parents are devout atheists? Because the boy was never ordained into the 'right' religion... what ever that is... Does that mean his soul than cast into infinite torture or cast into some non-descript 'limbo'? Do you really believe that a 'God of love' would have the nature of the after life set up in such a way?"

Martin shook his head "No... I cant believe that a God that is Love would do that"

"Good..." The Doctor put a hand through his hair and relaxed his posture "Yet these are the questions that mankind must ask itself before it assigns the role of a jealous, condemning judge to an 'All Loving God'..."

A thought struck Martin "Are you saying that there's no judgment?... At all?... For anyone?"

The Doctor nodded calmly "There's no judgment in the way your fear based theologies have described. All souls return to Heaven... The realm of the Absolute... for that is where they came from... and where all return"

Martin was puzzled again "The realm of the absolute?"

The Doctor's voice suddenly became light again "Yeah...That's where God is. We're in the realm of the Relative right here. We're experiencing everything that God is not..." He said matter-of-factly.

"You've totally lost me, Doctor..." Martin sank back down in his chair.

"I can see we'll have to start at the beginning. I'll explain to you... In fact, I'll read to you... how creation really happened... Oh, you're gonna love this..." He started pointing down at the book.

"Well, I hope so" Martin crossed his feet and got comfortable again in his chair. "Because you haven't read word from that book yet!"

"Well" He drew that word out again, "I've already read it, Marty... I was sort of giving you an overview" He looked over at Martin's slightly concerned face. "But don't worry, I'll read it to you now, ok?"

Martin nodded as a sense of 'deja vu' swept over him. The Doctor put the tip of his finger inside the book...

"Right then..." He cleared his throat, "From the start then..."

The Doctor began to read out loud:

In the beginning all there was, was 'love'... and there was nothing else.

Love was all that existed and all that could be. This 'Energy'... this 'One' primal force... was the first fragment of existence.

Yet for 'love' to know itself as something that could be 'experienced' they had to be something that 'love' was not.

So in a blissfully Eternal Moment 'Love' exploded with joy and created all that was not love... For 'love' knew that every opposite must exist if 'love' (which some of you call 'God') was to know itself as something that could be 'experienced'.

This was the greatest gift 'love' every gave itself

In the Eternal Moment of Now 'God/Love' created relativity... The possibility that 'this' and 'that' could exist. 'Here' and 'there' became a reality as the Universe itself literally exploded into being and the realm of the 'relative' was created.

The Doctor paused and looked up at Martin.

"Are you enjoying it so far?" He said smiling gently.

"Yes... Yes I am. I'm actually starting to follow what you are saying... It's all slowly starting to make sense. Please don't stop now... Carry on... Carry on..." Martin waved his hand at The Doctor in an effort to speed the process up.

The Doctor grinned warmly at Martin and returned his gaze to the book:

Suddenly 'time' was created, for a thing was first 'here' and then it was 'there' and the period it took to get from 'here' to 'there' was measurable.

In rendering the Universe as a divided version of itself, 'Love/God' produced, from pure energy, all that now exists... Both seen and unseen.

So not only was the physical Universe created, but the metaphysical Universe as well.

Pure Love exploded into an infinite number of units smaller than the whole.

These energy units you would call spirits or souls.

There is only one way for the Creator to know itself experientially as the Creator... And that is to create. And so 'Love/God' gave to each of the countless parts of itself the same power to create.

The Doctor paused again. "That's why some of your religions say you were created in 'The image and likeness of God'. It doesn't mean physically, of course, it means you are a creative being... You have within the power to create your own life. And this you all do... whether you are conscious of it or not"

The Doctor looked at Martin's confused face.

"But we're rushing ahead there aren't we?" The Doctor added hurriedly.

Martin said nothing. He just pointed at the book.

The Doctor got the hint and carried on reading:

But for all the countless souls to know themselves as the pure creative spirit they are... First they had to forget.

On entering the physical realm... The realm of the relative... Each soul relinquished it's remembrance of itself.

This allows each soul to experience itself as being at total choice.

It is in the remembering of 'God/Love' in which the soul delights.

You are, have always been, and always will be, a divine part of the divine whole.

Your 'job' in the physical body, therefore, is not to learn (because you already know), but to remember Who You Really Are.

And to remember Who Everyone Else Is. And then to remind others, so that they can remember also.

This has been the 'job' of every Spiritual Master who has ever lived in the Realm of the Relative.

It is their sole purpose... Their soul purpose...

The Doctor stopped reading once more. He looked at Martin who was sat almost mesmerized by The Doctor's words.

"How's it going, Marty" The Doctor asked quietly.

Martin raised his eyebrows "I'm fine, Doctor... I'm loving it actually... It sort of makes sense... Although it opens even more questions really... Does that mean..."

"Ah ah ah" The Doctor raised his hand, "You can't expect every question to be answered within a heartbeat, Marty. We'll get there... But first I have something really important to do" The Doctor stood up and placed the book down on his chair.

"Where are you going, Doctor?" Martin asked perplexed.

"Well, I really need another coffee... and a hobnob!" He said slowly making his way towards the TARDIS doors. "Plus, it's starting to get a bit nippy... I need my jacket... And..." He looked almost embarrassed "I really need a pee! I wont be a minute... Then we'll crack on with the answer to life, the universe and everything!"

Martin mumbled 'It's 42, isn't it?' as The Doctor disappeared inside the TARDIS. Martin sank back in his chair, the words from the book swirling around his head...

Not far away from where Martin was sat a man with light brown skin watched with interest. He'd sat calmly listening to The Doctor's words and thought about interrupting at one point but then thought he'd see how the whole thing played out. He took some bread from inside his long garments and divided in two. He popped a piece in his mouth and sat back on a large rock. He'd speak up soon but, in the meantime, he'd just listen and observe...

'You are given the gift of the gods;

You create your reality according to your beliefs.

Yours is the creative energy that makes your world.

There are no limitations to the self

Except those you believe in' -

'The Nature of Personal Reality', Jane Roberts