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Chapter Forty-one

The hall wasas far as the eye could see

Its walls were composed of what appeared to be semi-transparent stones Correction, jewels Indeed, hundreds upon thousands of diamonds and rubies and eht that were nothing short of spectacular Placed along the hall were many tables, and seated around these tables were lowing Spirits, I realized Those who had recently passed over from the flesh

How I knew this, I did not know Why I was here, I still did not know

My attention turned to the group of five ular table All atching me expectantly All radiated warly familiar

"Welcome," said a voice I wasn&039;t sure who had spoken

"Uain, I had no idea as talking In fact, I didn&039;t see any of their lipsforexperience I had ever had Heck, I never wanted to get up

Anyway, I foundtable To ht were toeless All seemed wise All were beautiful in unique ways And all atchingure

"Where am I?" I asked, and with a start I realized I had not openedtelepathically again I hadn&039;t meant to, it justhappened

"You are in the Hall of Knowledge, Ja?" I asked

"We are speaking to you froenderless voice, and everyone at the long table nodded together, once

"But how do you all agree what to say?" I blurted out

They smiled collectively "We have worked with each other for a very long time, James"

"Am I dead?" I asked

There was a pause "In the physical world, you are very near death, James But as you can see, in the spiritual world, you are very land and you&039;re already dead

"No, Ja hts

"Who, exactly, are you?" But the moment I asked the question, I knew the answer The nize them

"Yes, Jalorious, furious rush Yes, I knew these people I had known the I had known theh h all my lifetimes

"Welcouides "You&039;re always in heaven"

We spent whatmy physical life up to this point We discussed the develop, my many thousands of life choices We discussed my childhood, my influence on others, the ramifications of every choice I had ever hout the world I sa one single act of anger or hate could crush the human spirit I saw that I was on earth to continue , and that I had chosen to come to earth I learned that the council watched over me as similar councils watched over other spirits No one was alone, ever I learned that soress, while others floundered, crushed by circumstances on earth And still others made very poor decisions, choices that hurt others, hurt themselves, choices that actually stunted their spiritual development But no spirit was lost, I learned There is always hope There is always another lifetirow

After rew quiet and I sensed that they had so important to tell me "We do, James," said the One Voice "Your work on earth is incomplete"

"What do you mean?"

Another pause The council members looked at each other, then back to me "We want you to return to your physical body, James"

"Return? Why?"

"You came to earth for a very specific reason That reason has not been coht I was dead"

"No, James You were badly wounded in battle, but you have not died At least not yet"

I felt a mild sense of panic I liked it here It was peaceful here "Do I have a choice?"

"Always"