The Golden City

32

Gabriel sat with his father on a balcony near the top of one of the towers. That morning they had wandered up the slope and picked some green berries from one of the hillside plants. Matthew boiled water in the solar oven and used the berries to brew tea. The tea had a sharp citric taste, but it seemed to go well with the cold mountain air and bright sunlight.

After days of conversation, the relationship between father and son had reached a certain equilibrium. They were both aware of each other in subtle ways, and complicated emotions could be expressed with a smile or a quick movement of the eyes.

Gabriel’s father reminded him of the figures created by Alberto Giacometti. The Italian sculptor used wire and clay to make a horse or a dog or a human being, then slowly cut away every unnecessary detail until only the elemental form remained. Matthew Corrigan had gone through a similar transformation. His face was thin and bony, and his clothes hung loosely on his body. Like Giacometti’s statutes, he was spare and unencumbered. He had lost the vanity and pride that others wore like armor in the Fourth Realm.

Matthew picked up a pot that was carved from a dark green stone and poured some tea into his cup. “You look very serious this afternoon.”

“I’m trying to figure out why these parallel worlds exist. Are there only these six realms?”

“Of course not. They are only a reflection of our human world.”

“And what if there was another form of life in the Alpha Centauri system?”

“I would assume that those beings would have their own six realms. The parallel worlds are infinite.”

“So what about the gods and the half gods? Did they create everything?”

“They don’t have that power. The creator goes by many names, but Aristotle called it the “Unmoved Mover”-that being that is eternal and indivisible. The half gods in the Fifth Realm are something else. I see them as ‘bad angels,’ and the ‘good angels’ were living here.”

“So why did these good angels build the golden city?” Gabriel asked. “Someone designed these buildings in a particular way.”

“Tell me what you felt when you walked through the first building.”

“At first I thought it was a trap, and then I realized it was empty.”

“Yes. It’s like an immense museum without guards-or visitors.”

“I looked around a little bit, but there didn’t appear to be any short cuts or hidden staircases. So I walked through every room until I reached the second terrace.”

“And then you entered the next building…”

“It was the same thing. There was only one way to go.”

“Did you examine the various wall paintings and the displays?”

“I looked at a few of them. But after awhile I just wanted to get to the next level.”

“That was my also my reaction,” Matthew said. “But then you entered the third building.”

“The staircases and corridors went off in every direction. There were dead ends and windowless rooms. I got lost a couple of times.”

“It was frustrating.”

“Definitely.”

“And frightening?”

“Sometimes.”

“Did your frustration and fear make you wish you were back in the first two buildings?”

“Not really. Maybe I was lost, but at least it wasn’t boring.”

Matthew held his stone cup with two hands and stared at the surface of the tea. The soft drone of the wind blowing around the towers reminded Gabriel of the lowest note on a wooden flute.

“During my stay here, here I’ve tried to understand this world using the theories I learned when I was studying physics. I think that the buildings are a lesson for anyone who finds their way to this world. The first two buildings show us a universe where our destiny is predetermined. There’s no freedom of choice; there’s only one direction for humanity. The entire structure has been set up by some all-powerful architect, and we are children forced to trudge through the rooms in the same direction.”

“And the third building?”

“It’s a model of the chaotic nature of reality. You can take this staircase or another, get lost and wander back the way you came.”

“You sound like Maya talking about her random number generator.”

“Quantum physics shows us that you can’t predict the position of subatomic particles. An electron or a photon of light is never in a particular place. It’s in a sort of super-position of all possible places at the same time. It’s only when something is observed that all these possibilities collapses into one actuality. What this means is that all options are possible and there are an infinite amount of pathways. We don’t live in a deterministic universe.”

“Okay. Fine. The universe is random and chaotic. But knowing that isn’t going to change anything.”

“I disagree, Gabriel. Religions and governments that follow a determinist model have caused the deaths of hundreds of millions of people. The strangest aspect of this rigid view of history is that the founders of every major religion believed in free will and made choices throughout their lives. Moses decided to lead his people out of Egypt, Mohammed decided to preach in Mecca, and Buddha sat down beneath a Bodhi tree. For me, one of the most significant aspects of the Passion story is that Jesus made a choice to enter Jerusalem and be crucified. The deterministic view is added on by followers after the founder’s death. When people decide that a certain way of faith is destined and inevitable, hatred and intolerance follow. Instead of saying ‘the Light is within you, choose the Light,’ the message becomes ‘agree with our version of history or we’ll kill you.’”

Gabriel frowned and shook his head. “That’s what the Tabula believe.”

“Their views are shared by many governments and political parties. The two failed ideologies of the twentieth century-Communism and Fascism-both advocated a deterministic model of history. Communism was supposedly a ‘scientific” theory that predicted the inevitable collapse of the capitalistic system. And Adolph Hitler believed that the so-called ‘master race’ was destined to take over the world.”

“Maybe they failed, but we’re still fighting with each other.”

“People don’t believe they have power. Because they’re scared, they want magic spells and secret passwords. It takes some bravery to accept the implications of free will and negative consequences. But we can’t solve our problems with surveillance cameras and tracking programs.”

“A member of the Tabula would say that the world is a dangerous place. We need safeguards to protect us.”

“I’m not going to deny that there’s pride and anger and greed in the Fourth Realm. We can find those negative qualities in our own hearts and see them in others every day. But the Panopticon is a system that automatically assumes that everyone is guilty. It can never conquer fear. It actually makes people even more suspicious and frightened because it ignores the inherent connections between us.”

“Are you talking about our spiritual connections?”

“I’m always wary of calling anything spiritual, Gabriel. It’s such a fuzzy, vague word. What I’m saying is that we really are connected to each other, and that the Panopticon tries to ignore this particular reality.”

Gabriel laughed. “I don’t think you can prove that with physics.”

“Perhaps we can. When I was in graduate school, we studied something called the EPR Paradox. In the 1930’s, Einstein and two other physicists had come up with a thought experiment that attempted to show the illogical nature of quantum theory. Physicists knew that electrons and other subatomic particles revolve like two kinds of tops with their axis pointing up or down. Often one of these particles paired up with its opposite so that their up and down movements cancel each other out and became zero.”

“So what’s the paradox?”

“The three physicists described an experiment where an atom was blown apart and two paired particles flew away from each other at close to the speed of light. If one particle was spinning down, then quantum theory predicted that its lost twin had to spin up. Einstein wrote that it was ‘spooky’ to believe that something that happened at one point of the universe influenced another point light years away.”

“Of course. That’s impossible.”

“It might sound impossible, but a number of experiments have shown that Einstein was wrong. French scientists measured paired photons several kilometers apart and discovered that the particles were still linked together, joined by their wave function, acting in response to each other. The entire universe is a strange sort of spider web connected by gossamer strands of energy.

“These theories both describe and explain what we see in reality. The walls of the Panopticon cannot last: freedom is the essence of our lives-not surveillance and control.”

Gabriel nodded his head. “You could be right. But I haven’t met any gods here who actually know the truth.”

“Maybe their departure was a gift to mankind. The human race is clever enough to make its own choices. The ultimate power that created the realms will always exist, but perhaps our good angels are telling us: ‘You’re not children anymore. Stop making excuses and accept responsibility for the fate of your own world.’”

Gabriel stayed silent for awhile and finished drinking the tea. He thought about Maya and all the problems waiting for him back in the Fourth Realm.

“I’ve come up with a plan to stop the Tabula,” he said. “But I don’t know if it’s going to work. Only a few hundred people are committed to the Resistance. According to Michael, we’ve already lost.”

“And do you believe that?”

“I have one opportunity to get past the barriers and speak directly to a great many people. I wanted to find you because I didn’t know what to say. I think you should come back and make the speech yourself.”

“You said that the Tabula have my body locked up in a room.”

“I’ll talk to Maya and we’ll find a way to get you out.”

Matthew turned away from his son and gazed at the mountains. “I know that I’m sitting here with you and we’re talking and drinking this tea, but I don’t feel completely human anymore. I’ve been away too long and I’m not attached to our world. If I spoke to people, they would sense that my heart has lost its connection to their hopes and desires.”

“But what about your physical body?”

Matthew shook his head. “I’m not really connected with that either.”

“What are you telling me, Father? Are you going to die?”

“That may happen fairly soon. But this is just one stopping point of our eternal journey. Every human being has the power to send their Light forward to another world, but they only discover that when they pass on.”

Gabriel reached out and touched his father’s arm. “I don’t want to lose you.”

“Don’t worry. I’m still here for awhile. The gods have vanished, but this place is a suitable residence for a questioning mind.”

“I’m the one who has to leave,” Gabriel said. “I’ve got to return to our world.”

“I understand. You love someone in the Fourth Realm, and you’re worried about all those people who are losing their freedom.”

“So what do I tell them?” Gabriel asked. “How can I convince them to step away from the Vast Machine?”

“Unlike me, you’re still connected to their lives. Instead of ‘telling’ them what to believe, try to answer the questions that are in your own heart.”

“I’m not one of the gods. I don’t have all the answers.”

“That’s a good start.” Matthew smiled broadly. At that moment, he resembled the father who had made kites for his two sons, then watched these fragile creations rise up above the trees. “Look outward, Gabriel. This city is beautiful at sunset. The golden towers don’t have their own energy, but they do reflect the light…”