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.It reminded him of a prison.Nocomplaints, he thought.Just do what she says.He dropped his knapsack on thefloor and sat on the cot."All right.Let's get going."Sophia moved restlessly around the room, picking up pieces of broken concreteand flicking them into a corner."I'll run through the basics first.Allliving things carry around a special kind of energy called the Light.You cancall it a `soul' if you want.I don't worry too much about theology.Whenpeople die, their Light returns to the energy that surrounds us.But Travelersare different.Their Light can go away and then return to their living body.""Maya said that the Light travels to different realms.""Yes.People call them `realms' or `parallel worlds.' Once again, you can useany term that makes sense to you.The scripture of every major religion hasdescribed different aspects of these realms.They're the source of allmystical visions.Many saints and prophets have written about the realms, butthe Buddhist monks living in Tibet made the first attempt to understand them.Before the Chinese invaded, Tibet was a theocracy for more than a thousandyears.The peasants supported monks and nuns who could examine the accounts ofTravelers and organize the data into a system.The six realms aren't aBuddhist or a Tibetan concept.The Tibetans are simply the first people whodescribed the whole thing.""So how do I get there?""The Light breaks out of your body.You have to be moving slightly for theprocess to happen.The first time it's surprising even painful.Then yourLight has to cross four barriers to reach each of the different realms.Thebarriers are composed of water, fire, earth, and air.There is no particularorder to cross them.Once your Light finds the passageway through, you'llalways find it again."And then you enter the six realms," Gabriel said."So what are they like?""We're living in the Fourth Realm, Gabriel.That's human reality.So what isour world like? Beautiful.Horrible.Painful.Exhilarating." Sophia picked upa shard of concrete and tossed it across the room."Any reality with kingsnakes and mint chocolate-chip ice cream has its good side.""But the other places?""Each person can find traces of the realms within their own heart.The realmsare dominated by a particular quality.In the Sixth Realm of the gods, the sinis pride.In theFifth Realm of the half gods, the sin is jealousy.You need to understand thatwe're not talking about God, the power that created the universe.According tothe Tibetans, the gods and half gods are like human beings from anotherreality.""And we're living in the Fourth Realm.""Where the sin is desire." Sophia turned and watched a king snake movingslowly down a conduit pipe."The animals of the Third Realm are ignorant ofall others.TheSecond Realm is inhabited by the hungry ghosts who can never be satisfied.ThePage 167 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlFirstRealm is a city of hate and anger, ruled by people without compassion.Thereare other names for this place: Sheol, Hades, Hell."Gabriel stood up like a prisoner ready for a firing squad."You're thePathfinder.So tell me what I'm supposed to do."Sophia Briggs looked amused."Are you tired, Gabriel?" Its been a long day.""Then you should go to sleep."Taking a felt-tip marker out of her pocket, Sophia walked over to the wall."You need to break down the distinction between this world and your dreams.I'm going to show you the eighty-first path.It was discovered by theKabbalist Jews who lived in the northernGalilee town of Safed."Using the marker, she wrote four Hebrew letters on the wall."This is thetetragrammaton the four-letter name of God.Try to keep the letters in yourmind when you start to go to sleep.Don't think about yourself or me orsplendida.Three times during your sleep, you should ask yourself, `Am I awake or am Idreaming?' Don't open your eyes, but stay within the dream world and observewhat happens.""And that's all?"She smiled and began to walk out of the room."It's a start."Gabriel pulled off his boots, lay down on the cot, and stared at the fourHebrew letters.He couldn't read or pronounce them, but the shapes themselvesbegan to float through his mind.One letter looked like a shelter from thestorm.A cane.Another shelter.And then a small curving line that looked like a snake.He fell into a deep sleep, and then he was awake or half awake he wasn't sure.He was looking down at the tetragrammaton drawn with red-colored sand on agray slate floor.As he watched, a gust of wind blew God's name away.***###GABRIEL WOKE UP covered with sweat.Something had happened to the lightbulb inthe dormitory and the room was dark.A faint light came from the corridor thatled to the main tunnel."Hello!" he shouted."Sophia?""I'm coming."Gabriel heard footsteps enter the dormitory room.Even in the darkness, Sophiaseemed to know where she was going."This happens all the time.Moisture seepsthrough the concrete and it gets into the electrical connections
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