lamp, the brightness of the temple filled all the surrounding structures and spaces with the same beautiful light that flowed from its sides and point.
The tops of the tall, curved buildings all faced inward so as to better catch light from the temple. Each building seemed to collect and radiate this same beautiful luminescence. The light entered the top of the building and flowed down and then out, bathing the base of each structure-in fact, the entire floor of the city-with its warmth. This amazing living light from the temple permeated every place and passageway in the city, brightening the very bodies and beings of those who lived there.
We were passing through a series of circular streets, and I stopped to marvel at how all the buildings were designed to capture the light and diffuse it so marvelously, so ingeniously. It was like walking through a bright, joy-filled greenhouse. Everything seemed alive! For woven in between the buildings and on many of the lower floors of the buildings were parks and places alive with plants. Everything was bright and fresh and restful, and the fragrance of flowers was marvelous.
As we passed though the streets of this amazing city, Jamal explained to me that this was a settlement on the frontier of the Prince’s Kingdom. It was a pioneer outpost bordering the dark zone, where the Fallen Ones were largely confined, and where also dwelt all of the inhabitants of the Earth. I was puzzling in my mind, trying to imagine what my dimension, Earth, would look like from here. Was there sort of a hole into my dimension or some kind of depression in the floor of this greater world that contained our universe? I couldn’t think what my world would look like if viewed from this place. It was hard to imagine how both these worlds could coexist, since both seemed just as real to me. This new world I was now in was every bit as real, if not more so, than the world I’d just come from. How did these very different worlds fit together? All I knew was that Earth was somewhere “out there” in a region considered by those of this place to be in darkness.
Jamal seemed to be monitoring my struggling thoughts, but here that seemed no invasion of privacy. Participating in another person’s thinking seemed to be just how life was here-very open. “You know, your homeland used to be a most glorious place. It was the Garden of God. It was most beautiful until the corruption of mankind though disobedience, and the subsequent takeover by the Fallen Ones.”
I wanted to hear more, but I could see that Jamal didn’t want to talk further about it now, and I didn’t want to press him. In this place there seemed to be a time for everything, and now was just not the time to have all my curious questions answered. Still, a thousand questions flooded my mind and pulled my interest in every direction. There was so much that I didn’t know, or until now even realized that I didn’t know. I had so many questions I wanted to ask. What is this, and what about that? But for the moment, I knew I must be content with gazing upon all that was before me in great awe, to simply drink in the mystery and the majesty of it all. This reality was beyond anything I could ever have dreamed! Or was this a dream? I didn’t know. Still, dream or not, the light and splendor and beauty of this place made my world seem pale and dark by comparison, full of problems and sorrows, a place of confusion and many miseries.
Jamal knew exactly where he was going. I would love to have a friend like him back home. He was so clever and quick, full of understanding and information, and his smile was as warm as life itself. He had rich olive-colored skin, with deep dark brown eyes, a round face, and rust-colored hair. He was a very handsome fellow indeed.
I paused to look around in great wonder at the people here, at their unusual attire, their cosmopolitan appearance, and amazing style of life. “Come,” Jamal said, tugging at my sleeve, “let me show you more! Just around this next corner you can see the whole temple.”
I wasn’t quite prepared for what I was about to see. Never in all my life had I seen such a sight! No sunset had been so glorious, no dawn so joyous! No experience I’d had could compare with the first breathtaking view of that wonder of living light that flooded out from the place Jamal called the temple. It was not like any temple I’d ever seen before. It was so simple in design, mostly composed of just three beams of light going up and up and forming a point. Between these pillars of light was a shimmering veil of colors, and under and inside this tall pyramid of light was a brilliantly lit place of worship, a sanctuary of celestial radiance and splendor.
Jamal said we could go into the temple for a few moments. We slipped off our shoes and entered. There was really nothing else to this structure than light. There were no pews or places to sit other than the floor; no central altar or objects of worship; no pictures, statues or icons. Ah, but what a great washing of my heart and glorious feeling flooded my soul as I stepped through the veil of light into the inner sanctum. It was like living, joyful, cleansing waters of light cascaded down upon me! Everything within my being cried out in ecstasy! The perfect peace and solitude of the place embraced all my senses, and time and place and every care and question washed away. No moment on Earth could compare to the perfect peace I felt in this place, under the light.
Yet, as the light descended on me, I understood that the doors to this temple are not locked nor hidden from us on Earth. This peaceful place of communion with God, this wonderful time with Him like I had had in the temple, was open by God to every human heart. God’s true temple was a place in His Spirit that each soul could enter silently and secretly any time, anywhere, and find rest and refreshing communion with their Creator. In those little quiet times I took to stop and pray and talk to Jesus while on Earth, I knew I’d found this passageway to paradise, and had been touched by this heavenly light. Though here in this wonderful place it was all so much more real and intense. Here I was in the arms of Love itself, embraced by the Light of God.
I knelt down, lowered my head, and let the Light lift and carry me deeper into itself. It carried me into the City of Light itself, to the throne room of Light, and into the arms of the Prince of Peace. How wonderful it was to be swept up by the Spirit of the Living God in a great current of love. Up and up into the Light I was carried by the pure and eternal fire of His Holy Spirit, up into the dwelling place of God, into the very bosom and being of God. How joyous and wonderful it was to be safe in His everlasting arms! I was so thankful that I existed, that I was blessed to be His child, and in this special place with Him and in His Spirit. What a communion this was with the great Father and Founder of all things, and with His Holy Spirit, and with His Son, the Prince of Light, the first Begotten of God, the Holy One, Jesus, the Lover of my soul, and Author of my life.
I remember reading about St. Paul, who once spoke of being caught up by the Spirit into a place he called the Third Heaven. He didn’t even know if he was in or out of his body, or if it was really him that was there, so wonderful was that place. I was surely in that dimension beyond dimensions, that Third Heaven, or possibly the Fourth, Fifth, Sixth, or perhaps that Heaven above the heavens, the Seventh Heaven, there in the arms of Jesus. I can’t even begin to describe it to you, but perhaps you have already experienced a small touch of this all-embracing love and peace in some quiet moment when you opened the doors of your soul to God.
Oh, what a wonderful moment it was! I could have spent the rest of eternity there, but that time had not yet come. I became aware of Jamal pulling me back down to Tricon. There seemed to be some urgency about all the other things he wanted to show me and teach me and prepare me for. It seemed as though I had more to learn, and Jamal had accepted the job of guiding me through them while here. What a marvelous person he was. I certainly wanted to go back as often as I could, to be in the temple, to be in that special place of total peace and understanding and acceptance with Jesus! What strength was there, what rest, what renewing! What refreshing there was in the place called the temple!
3 - Jamal’s House
We moved along quickly through the streets. Jamal was taking me to his house. Along the way we passed close by a group of people. I’m not sure if it’s accurate to call them people, for though they looked like they might at one time have lived on Earth, they seemed more beautiful, and there was something unique, almost mystical about them, a certain ethereal quality that set them apart from normal people. Their movements were more flowing and they went about their business differently. They had a calm, peaceful orderliness and simplicity about them, and though confident, were most humble and considerate. No one