Fables for Adults: 1) There is a Universe Called Inanis
What do I want to create?
What do I want to write? In what language do I want to write?
I always want to write fairy tales, fables or short imaginary stories…
Shall we just begin?
But can you help me?
The divine force? What do you want to tell the world through me? What kind of contribution do you want me to give?
Why did you use me but not other people?
What are the special gifts that I can contribute to the work which will benefit people the most? Shall I just start and not think about all these things?
Alright…
Once upon a time…
Er…this is very cliché to start with, can I have a better opening?
A long long time ago…
Er…What is the difference?
There is this universe, not the one we are familiar with, but the one no one has talked about before, no one has observed it through the telescope before. Not the one that we could even imagine that exists.
What is the speciality of this universe?
It serves as an immediate layer before birth and after death.
? Oh, I think there are plenty of theories, books, and movies talk about that already.
Just wait patiently, and you will see this is a different one.
It serves as a thin layer where souls will stay after their deaths.
And it serves as a void from where souls will depart before their rebirth.
A thin layer and a void? What do you mean?
Just be patient, I will explain it.
After the souls are dead, they can choose wherever they want to go, may that be “heaven”, “merging with the universe”, “reincarnation”, “dissolution into nothingness”, whatever the souls name them. They can go wherever they believe their souls will go after death.
Oh, wait, wherever they want to go? Shouldn’t there be a destination where all the souls must go after death?
If you believe there is a destination where all the souls must go after death, then you will go to this particular destination you name. And other souls will go to their particular destination where they name. Do you get me?
Er…Somehow…
Ok, let me continue then.
So this thin layer where all the souls will come after their death serves as the stepping stone for them to go wherever they believe they will go.
This layer is so thin that, it is almost invisible and intangible for the souls even to sense its existence. That’s why not even people coming back from their near-death experience can recount the experience of bypassing this thin universe.
Alright, so how come this thin layer becomes a void before souls’ rebirth?
After passing through this thin layer, I said that the souls will go wherever they choose to believe they are going, right? However, it is only one way to say it. They may choose to be “reborn” as a different human being, they may choose to be “reborn” as their original consciousness without a body, they may choose to be “reborn” and “absorbed” into a new form of consciousness without a body…however you name it, they are definitely going somewhere (at least in their own belief), right? So I use a generic term “rebirth” to simplify the complications according to different belief systems, religions, cultures, philosophies etc.
But…I have difficulty with the term “rebirth”. I don’t believe in that.
No problem, just bear with it for the moment. In the meantime, please translate the term “rebirth” into something you are comfortable within your belief, to save me having to state this long name of different translations of “rebirth”.
Alright…
Ok, let me continue. Where were we? Aha, I think this is a very good example! So this is exactly how come this thin layer will become a void. You see, every soul has its own belief systems, religions, cultures, philosophies. So when the souls pass through this thin layer, it also acts as a “converter” to convert the souls from their previous configurations to their upcoming configurations. Just like you translating the term “rebirth” into something you understand better. And in this case, the term “void” is better in describing this “converting” process — something new coming out from nothingness.
So, the term “thin layer” and the term “void” are just different ways for me to construct this universe in a more vivid way for you to understand. In essence, the “thin layer” and the “void” are the same.
I think I have given enough background information. What is more interesting to talk about is this actual universe. Just like every universe, this universe has its own law, environment, inhibited souls, flora and fauna etc.
If you say it is so thin and it is a void, how can any beings live inside it?
“Thin” and “void” are just two human ways to describe it. In fact, this thin layer a.k.a. this void, or I should just say this universe, is infinite.
Does this universe have a name?
Name only exists in the human world. But for the sake of easy referral, from now on, I will call it Inanis.
“Inanis”? What a beautiful name? What does that mean?
Void.
Oh, I see.
So Inanis is infinite, as its name implies.
Infinite numbers of souls are passing through Inanis in every split of a second, if they change their mind of where they are heading to right after death, and they need more time to figure out about that, they can choose to stay. As such, there is an infinite number of souls living in Inanis, pondering their new direction after death.
***
“This must be the Paramatman!” proclaimed a Hindu priest who just died from a heart attack. He was still wearing his white dhoti and sacred ash on his forehead.
“What is Paramatman? Isn’t this heaven?” replied a devoted Christian woman who just died from breast cancer. She was still wearing her violet pyjamas as she died on her own bed at night.
“Paramatman is the Supreme Self, the Brahman…Wait a minute…Paramatman should be selfless…But obviously my “self” is still here…” The priest looked at the chestnut hair woman on his left and asked, “Sorry madam, where are you from? And what did you say about heaven?”
“I am from the U.S., you can call me Elena.” Elena wanted to shake hands with the Hindu priest and she asked, “What is your name?”
Instead of shaking hands, the priest drew his both hands in front of his chest as a prayer sign and said, “Namaskar, my name is Satchitananda. Madam, may I know what you said about heaven.”
Although Elena thought this 5 syllable-name Indian man was a little bit rude by not shaking her hand, due to her civilized middle-class upbringing, she still answered him politely, “Heaven is where all Christians go after death…” Elena paused and asked, “Are you a Christian?”
“No madam, I am a Hindu.” Satchitananda was still keeping his both hands in front of his chest, and smilingly looking at Elena.
Elena frowned and asked, “What did you say about the pa-pa-er…razzi? What is the self thing and the selfless thing?”
Satchitananda put down his left hand by his thigh, but still keeping his right palm on his heart, “Paramatman madam. In Sanskrit, Parama means supreme and Atman means individual self. We are all Atman, and the ultimate goal is to merge with the Paramatma. In Paramatma, there is no more distinction of the individual self and the supreme self. There is only One.”
“So do you mean this pa-ra-er-man” is God?” Elena asked out of pure curiosity.
“You can say so, madam.” Satchitananda waved his head from side to side while answering Elena’s question.
Then there was the silence between Satchitananda and Elena. They were both looking at the space and lost in their thoughts.
***
As such, they became good friends and discussed God, Heaven, Death and Reincarnation etc day and night. And an infinite number of souls like them chose to live in Inanis until they figure out where they want to go!
Interesting! Do souls ever fall in love in Inanis?
Yes, they do!
***
While pondering about where to go next, Jean wandered into the Chinese garden to get inspirations. He drifted towards a red pavilion, meanwhile, he saw a beautiful lady with long silky black hair and a pair of big almond-shaped eyes sitting by the lotus pond.
He changed his direction and started walking towards this beautiful Asian lady.
He threw a stone to the pond, and it broke the tranquil pond into ripples. The Asian-looking woman looked back at him and smiled shyly. Taking it as a signal. Jean stepped forward to introduce himself.
“I am Jean, from France.” He was ready to kiss her on the cheeks. Instead, she stood up and retreated a few steps. She thought, she hadn’t interacted with men for a while since she had died, so she felt a bit awkward and not really behaving like her usual cheerful self. She looked down to the ground and said, “I am Moon, from Hong Kong.”
Sensing that Moon was feeling a little bit uncomfortable with his presence, Jean put back his hands in his jean’s pockets and tried to say something else to make her feel more at ease, “Moon? Such a beautiful name! Your parents must be poets.”
“I gave myself the name Moon.” She looked at him for a split of a second, then she immediately sat back down again by the pond.
Jean followed and sat next to her. This time, Jean had learnt, so he sat about a foot apart from her. He inquired, “How could you give yourself a name?”
“We all do that in Hong Kong. My parents gave me the name yut, it literally means ‘moon’ in Cantonese. So I go around as Moon.”
With the angle of the sunshine, Jean suddenly saw something shining on Moon’s right hand… “A ring!” Jean thought in disappointment. But he still cheered himself up and thought, “Maybe her husband is not dead yet.” So he asked Moon, “Where is your husband?”
Moon looked surprised, but then she raised her right hand and looking into her ring. She lost in her thought for a while, then she painfully said, “He had gone from Inanis.”
“I am so sorry to hear that.” Jean felt relieved.
“It’s okay.” Moon regained her composure and smiled again, “I am happy for him because he knew definitely where he was going. But I am still in doubt…And you? Are you still pondering where to go next?”
“I am just enjoying Inanis.”
Jean was being very open and receptive, so he continued, “Women here are so beautiful, as we have all died, there is no more responsibility like in the human world. I am not sure if I want to go anywhere else.”
What Jean said aroused Moon’s interest, so she asked, “What do you mean by there is no responsibility?”
Jean explained, “In Inanis, we have no physical body, so there is no physical sex. No physical sex means no baby will be created. But we could still have sex, sex in the sense that it is more like an energy exchange, I would say that it is the real communion between two souls.’
Moon was really amazed by what Jean said, she exclaimed, “I didn’t know that!”
Jean felt really excited and his eyes shone brightly, he couldn’t believe that Moon didn’t know that. So he said, “Do you want to try with me and Michela?”
“Michela?” Moon looked alarmed.
“Yes, one of my lovers. She is the best.” Jean couldn’t suppress his excitement, so he was just being totally who he was without hiding anything.
“One of your lovers? How many do you have? Er…And are you suggesting a threesome to me?” Moon was horrified but curious at the same time.
“Yes, why not? You have died already, you can break free from all the conditioning you have from the human world.”
Moon pondered in silence. She thought, what Jean said was true. Of course, she could move on as her husband had already gone from Inanis. But, from a traditional one-to-one marriage relationship jumping into an open relationship and threesome sex? These was a lot to digest at once.
She knew she could not do it right now. But she was deeply intrigued, so she decided to interview Jean, “You have opened my eyes up. I really want to know more…Can you tell me more about your relationship? How many lovers do you have? And how do you relate with different women simultaneously?”
Jean opened himself up as wide as the sky, “I haven’t counted…um…Michela is the most stable one, like a girlfriend, and there are other regular ones like Jasmine, Tracey and Marie…Also, there are many one-off lovers whom I may not see again.”
“Oh mine, won’t your girlfriend jealous that you have so many lovers?” Moon could not cover up her bewilderment and she had a thousand more questions to ask.
Jean cheerfully replied, “No, she also has her army of lovers.”
“What?” Moon’s jaw dropped wide open. “Don’t you feel jealous?”
“Not at all! I am happy for her! She doesn’t belong to me, she is free to choose whoever she wants.”
As if he had forgotten to say something, Jean remarked, “However, we can ask each other to terminate any relationships with any lovers, if we really feel jealous. This is our only agreement.”
Upon hearing this, Moon felt a little bit uncomfortable, and she felt this was not so fair to the terminated lovers, “Why? Because you feel threatened by the new lovers? But why don’t you just let each other be completely free by not having this agreement?”
“It is what it is. We adopt what works for us. Actually, even without this agreement, we will still be with each other, because it is so rare to find such a compatible partner!”
Moon increasingly found this idea interesting and she was curious.
Jean seemed to read her mind and said, “Why don’t you try with me?”
In Inanis, one couldn’t really lie, so even though Moon was still pondering on the idea, Jean’s energy had already come close…
“Wasn’t it amazing?” Jean asked Moon.
Indeed, Moon thought, this was something she had never experienced and something she couldn’t really describe in words. This was really not like any sex in the human world. What was the closest experience she could compare in the human experience was that state sometimes she dropped into in deep meditation…
Bliss. That’s all she could say without degrading the experience with too many words.
She also felt a profound love for Jean. Did love exist on Inanis? It seemed so to her so at the moment. As it was getting darker, so she asked Jean, “Can I see you again tomorrow?”
(In Inanis, there was no sun, but the cosmic light. There was no definite time neither, but as Inanis also orbited around other universes as a planet does, there was the intermittent light and darkness as well. For Inanis’s habitats, as they all came from the human world, so they were still using their familiar terms like today, tomorrow and yesterday etc.)
Jean said lightly but seriously, “Sorry my dear, I have a date with Tracey tomorrow.”
A complex feeling was aroused inside Moon, what was that? Jealousy?
Anger? Disappointment? Heart-broken?
At the same time, she thought, “Like what Jean said about Michela, shall I be happy for him because that’s what he wants? But…wait a minute, Michela can terminate our relationship anytime if she doesn’t feel comfortable…” Before she could even integrate her own mixed feelings, Jean said, “It’s okay, it takes some time and it takes practices to become non-attached.”
“Non-attached? I don’t even know what that means.” Moon was further confused.
“It means loving to the fullest but without a string attached.” Jean got up and started to fade away, leaving only these words behind, “It also took me a long while to understand it, but once I understand it, life is absolutely liberating.”
Moon had never imagined that her Inanis death life would become so much more complicated than her life in the human world.
