PART III
Jacob is gone.
Jacob is perched on the edge of a crevice. Theree are rocks all around him – and below him is a canyon. The wind starts to scream – and beasts start to howl. And the cold blasts his features. And the snow begins to fall…
Jacob begins to weep, perched on this ledge. He cannot move. Fear tears at h is limbs – ties his muscles in hard knots. He tries to hide on this rock-form. He thinks only of dying…
He hears the thrashing of beasts in a thunderous fight. An animal is being gored. It screams madly – and then whimpers…
A black bear emerges at the crown of the gray rock. It has blood on its shoulders. It roars, approaching Jacob.
NO! Jacob cries. He tries to squeeze himself flat against the stone-work. He cannot hide. He is sick with his fear. His body trembles and aches. He has no strength to sustain him…
A man in a white robe sits on the edge of the cold ledge, smiling at Jacob. The moon is full. The man says: YOU HAVE SO LITTLE FAITH, JACOB.
Jacob cries; THERE’S A BEAR BEHIND ME WHICH APPROACHES TO KILL ME!
The ghost of Baha’u’llah laughs. I THOUGHT YOU WANTED TO DIE, he says. BUT THERE IS REALLY NO BEAR, JACOB.
Jacob turns and looks behind himself. There really is no bear.
Baha-u-llah says: YOU FEAR THINGS WHICH ARE NOT REALY, JACOB. THEY ARE THOUGHTS CLOTHED IN TERROR. THERE IS NOTHING TO FEAR HERE.
He hands quaking Jacob a tattered package of papers. It is a manuscript, entitled: A Journey Through the Seasons of Hell. He says to Jaoc; WHEN YOU RETURN TO YOUR OWN LAND, TAKE THESE TRUTHS FOR A NEW DAY.
Jacob opens the charred manuscript:
TRUTHS FOR A NEW DAY:
- The Oneness of Humanity.
- Independent Investigations of Truth.
- The Foundation of All Religions is One.
- Religion must be the Cause of Unity.
- Intuitive Knowledge supercedes that of Reason.
- All Living Things are Sacred.
- Equality Between Man and Woman.
- Prejudice of all Kinds must be Forgotten.
- Individual Responsibility Leads to the Welfare of All.
- There must be:
- Universal Peace.
- Universal Education.
- A Spiritual Sollution to the Economic Problem
- A Universal Language
- An International Tribune which Truly Governs the World.
Code:
Baha'u'llah puts these truths in a back-bag. Then he puts this back-bag on the frail back of Jacob, saying: THE COURSE OF EVOLUTION OF ALL LIVING THINGS FOLLOWS THE UPWARD PATH OF A SPIRAL LEADING IN TO HEAVEN. NOW, GO AWAY FROM HERE. AND SPEAK THE WORD OF TRUTH IN YOUR LAND TO THE MASSES WHICH GATHER TO HEAR YOU.
Jacob is gone.
Jacob is standing in a vast, eerie desert. He is alone. Streams of sand rund around his feet. All is shadow and silence.
He sits beside a purple cactus-plant to think. He is hungry. And tired. His thoughts wander. He closes his eyes to rest…
A dream comes to join him.
There are three women in black who approach an old well. Three bricks are missing from the base of the well. And the rope has been broken. The bucket lies in the sand. The largest of these women holds an abalone shell. She wears a veil on her face. Laughter seeps from out of this cloth. Insane laughter. She mutters something in a violent tone. Jacob does not understnad what she is saying. The other women laugh – and point their fingers at Jacob. The middle-sized woman pours marbles from a bowl. They splash at the bottom in the water in the well. But the bowl is never empty. The more she pours, the more marbles she has. The smallest of these women holds a fist of cherries. She squeezes the cherries until the blood runs out. Her other hand holds a wadding of palm leaves. She sings a foreign lament. And then wipes the blood of the cherries on the thigh of her frock, saying; COME LOOK IN THE WELL, JACOB! THE WORLD OF THE REFLECTION LURKS AND LEAKS ITS ESSENCE THROUGH THE SPRINGS OF THIS WELL!
Jacob approaches the well. He looks down a tthe water. Thereis an old man lying in bed wrapped in white sheets. A doctor stands beside this bed. A woman dressed in scarlet holds the dead man’s hand. She is weeping; and she is frightened.
WHO IS THIS MAN? Jacob asks the women.
IT IS YOU, JACOB HEIMKREITER! the smallest woman cries. CAN’T YOU SEE THE WEB-LIKE SCAR ON HIS HAND?
A camel walks past the garden of trees. A pock-marked man rides on the back of the camel. It is Killian, the doctor. He cries, as he rides: YOU SHOULD HAVE TAKEN BETTER CARE OF YOUR HEALTH, JACOB! BECAUSE NOW YOU AR DEAD! AND THERE’S NOTHING I CAN DO FOR YOU!
Clearly, Jesus studied religions of the world, Judaic, Egyptian, Hindu; Buddhist, which was an attempt to reform Hinduism, as Jesus attempted to reform Judaism. He disappeared for many years, apparently to study in India. He clearly did not reject all doctrines but the Judaic. Jesus is the sumtotal of all the religious wisdoms of the world.
New religions sythesize the religious wisdom that came before; they do not reject the old religions, they update them.
