Author: Administrator

by Kevin Todeschi

Every year, tens of thousands of people – from all over the world – become interested in the life work of one ordinary man. He was an average individual in most respects: a loving husband, a father of two children, an eager gardener, a devoted Sunday school teacher, and a skilled photographer. Yet, throughout his life, he also displayed one of the most remarkable psychic talents of all time. His name was Edgar Cayce.

Daily for over forty years of his adult life, Cayce would lie down on a couch with his hands folded over his stomach and allow himself to enter a self-induced sleep state. Then, provided with the name and location of an individual – anywhere in the world – he would speak in a normal voice and give answers to any questions about that person that he was asked. These answers, which are called readings, were written down by a stenographer who kept one copy on file and sent another to the person who had requested the information.

Today, on file at the library of the Association for Research and Enlightenment, Inc., in Virginia Beach, Virginia, there are copies of more than 14,000 of Edgar Cayce’s readings. These are available to the public and have been filed along with any follow-up reports received from individuals who had asked for the readings. This material represents the most massive collection of psychic information ever obtained from a single source.

Edgar Cayce was born near Hopkinsville, Kentucky, on March 18, 1877, one of five children, surrounded by a large family with grandparents, uncles, aunts, and cousins living nearby. He had a lifelong interest in the Bible, and even as a child his dream was to become a medical missionary.

At the age of six or seven, he told his parents that he could sometimes see visions, occasionally talking to relatives who had recently died. For the most part, his family attributed these experiences to his overactive imagination and paid little attention to them. He found comfort in reading the Bible and decided to read it through from cover to cover, once for every year of his life. At the age of 13 he claimed to have had a vision which would influence him for the rest of his life: a beautiful woman had appeared to him and he told her that, more than anything, he wanted to help others – especially children when they were sick.

Shortly after the experience Edgar displayed the talent of sleeping on his schoolbooks and repeating, word for word, any length of material – even if it contained words far beyond his limited education.

At the age of 16 he moved with his family to Hopkinsville and got a job – first, at a dry goods firm and later at a bookstore. While working at the bookstore on Main Street, he met and fell in love with a young woman named Gertrude Evans. They became engaged four days before his twentieth birthday, and decided they would marry when he was financially able to support a family.

He moved to Louisville to find a better paying job and became a traveling salesman. He sold stationery and insurance at the turn of the century, and he became confident that it wouldn’t be long before he could afford to get married. However, at the age of 23, after taking a sedative, he developed a severe case of laryngitis. He wasn’t really concerned at first but the condition persisted. Doctors were called and later, specialists, but still Edgar was unable to speak above a whisper. As the days turned into weeks, he was forced to give up his job as a salesman and look for something that didn’t require much speaking. He found the perfect job in Hopkinsville as a photographer’s assistant. There he could be close to Gertrude and his family.

At this time, hypnotism and stage shows were experiencing a renewed revival in this country. One showman, who called himself “Hart – the Laugh Man,” brought his comedy and hypnotism act to the Hopkinsville Opera House. Edgar Cayce happened to attend the show and was volunteered as one of Hart’s subjects. Unfortunately, it turned out that Edgar was one of those people who couldn’t be hypnotized, but he offered to put himself to sleep – much as he had done when he had slept on his schoolbooks.

While Cayce was in his self-induced sleep state, he could respond to questions in his normal voice while in the trance state. However, he didn’t take the post-hypnotic suggestion, and his laryngitis returned when Hart awakened him.

The local papers became excited about the case. His parents, however, were concerned. Ever since the first experiment with Hart, their son had lost weight. It appeared as though putting himself to sleep was a drain on his physical body.

The next time hypnotism was suggested, a local man was found to give the suggestions. Al Layne had educated himself. Not only had he worked with hypnotism, but he was familiar with osteopathy as well. The text he tried was quite simple: as before, Edgar put himself to sleep, only this time, instead of suggesting that the young man’s voice return, Layne asked Cayce to explain what was wrong with him and how he could be cured. While asleep on the couch, Edgar described the cause as a “psychological condition producing a physical effect.” The problem could be removed by suggesting to him – while he was in the unconscious state – that the blood circulation increase in the affected areas. Layne made the suggestion, and he and Cayce’s family watched in amazement as the upper part of Edgar’s chest and throat turned a bright crimson red and the skin became warm to the touch. After the suggestion was made that the blood circulation return to normal, and Cayce was awakened, he was able to speak normally again. The laryngitis had lasted nearly an entire year.
The date, March 31, 1901, marked the first time Edgar Cayce had ever given a reading. He had no intentions of putting himself into the sleep state again, but Al Layne had witnessed something extraordinary and had other ideas.

For years, Layne had been bothered by a stomach difficulty that doctors had been unable to cure. He convinced Edgar to try giving a reading on the stomach problem. With a great deal of reluctance, Edgar finally agreed. Asleep on the couch, Cayce spoke in a normal voice and recommended herbal medicines, foods, and exercises for improvement. After following the sleeping Cayce’s suggestions for one week, Layne felt so much better that he became even more excited about Edgar’s ability. He convinced Cayce that the talent was not to be overlooked, and he strongly encouraged him to try other tests.

Edgar Cayce felt as if he had been placed in a precarious position. On the one hand, this business of readings was very strange to him. He knew nothing about medicine or the diagnosing of illness. Yet Layne argued that he had a moral obligation if his talent could be helpful to people. Finally, after a great deal of prayer, after talking it over with his family, and after looking to his Bible for guidance, he agreed to continue the experiments under the condition that if he ever suggested anything in the sleep state that could be at all harmful to people, he would stop the readings.

One of the earliest readings was for a five-year-old named Aime Dietrich, who had been seriously ill for three years. At the age of two, after an attack of influenza – which doctors then called the grippe – her mind had stopped developing beyond that of a two-year-old. Since that time her tiny body had been racked with convulsions. Her mind was a blank, and though doctors and specialists had been consulted, she continued to worsen.

Layne conducted the reading. The sleeping Cayce said that Aime’s problem had begun a few days before catching the grippe – she had fallen and injured her spine while getting down from a carriage. The influenza germs had settled in her spine because of the trauma, and the convulsions had begun. The little girl’s mother verified the accident. While still sleeping, Edgar Cayce recommended some osteopathic adjustments that were to be carried out by Layne. Layne made the adjustments on the little girl’s spine and got a check reading. The sleeping Cayce told Layne he hadn’t done them correctly and gave further instructions! After several attempts, Layne was able to carry out the suggestions to the exact specifications of the sleeping photographer. Several days later, Aime recognized a doll she had played with as a child and called it by name. As the weeks passed, her mind recognized other things as well and finally the convulsions stopped completely. Within three months, Aime became a normal, healthy, five-year-old girl.

It was soon discovered that Cayce only needed the name and location of an individual to be able to give a reading, diagnose the person’s condition, and outline a regimen of treatment. Cayce continued giving readings without charge, while Layne conducted.
In 1903, after an engagement of more than six years, Gertrude Evans and Edgar Cayce were finally married. In spite of being uncomfortable with the readings, his life was fulfilling. He had a loving wife, a home, a Sunday school class at the local church, and a good job. A year later he formed his own photographic partnership and was able to open a studio.

Meanwhile, a Dr. Wesley Ketchum had recently diagnosed himself as having appendicitis, and he wanted to have a reading to see if Cayce would be able to discern this. However, while asleep, Cayce gave an entirely different diagnosis and outlined a simple treatment. In order to humor the young man, Dr. Ketchum went to another doctor for a third opinion and discovered that Cayce’s diagnosis was indeed correct.

Wesley Ketchum used Cayce’s psychic talent in over 100 of his most difficult cases. In one instance, a wealthy construction supervisor, severely fractured his leg and kneecap in an accident. Several doctors in town said that they could set the leg, but because the kneecap was damaged beyond repair, he would never walk again. Not satisfied with their reports, Dalton consulted Dr. Ketchum. Cayce gave a reading and recommended what was an extremely radical treatment for 1905: Ketchum was to drive several nails into the kneecap to hold it is place while the leg healed. The procedure was unheard of at the time, but Dr. Ketchum, trusting in Cayce, carried it out. The surgery was performed, and several months later Dalton was up and walking around as though the accident had never occurred.

Because the requests for readings continued to grow, Cayce formed a partnership with his father and Dr. Ketchum and began to give readings on a daily basis. He became known as a psychic diagnostician. At the same time, he opened his own photographic studio and spent most of each day inside the “Cayce Art Studio” taking pictures before handling the requests for readings.

Cayce and Gertrude had had their first son, Hugh Lynn, in 1907. In 1911, Gertrude gave birth to their second son, whom they named Milton Porter. Soon after his birth, the baby developed whooping cough and later on colitis. Several doctors were consulted, but the baby continued to get worse. Cayce never really thought about consulting the readings until the doctors had given up hope. As a last resort, Cayce gave a reading for his second son. The readings offered no hope, and the baby died before it was two months old.

Cayce and his wife went into a state of depression. He blamed himself for not getting a reading sooner – perhaps it might have helped; now he would never know. Gertrude became weak after the baby’s death, and the doctor thought she had contracted pleurisy. As the months passed, the illness hung on, and she showed no signs of improvement. In fact, she was getting worse and was eventually confined to bed.

By late summer, Gertrude’s doctor had changed his diagnosis. He called Cayce aside and told him that Gertrude had tuberculosis and was dying. Everyone expected her to die by the end of the year except her husband, who decided to give a reading.

While in the sleep state Edgar Cayce recommended a combination of prescription drugs as well as filling a charred oak keg with apple brandy. Gertrude was to inhale the fumes to clear up the congestion. Although the doctors claimed that the combination of drugs would be useless, Dr. Ketchum wrote the prescription. After following this treatment for only two days Gertrude felt better and her fever left. By November even her doctors decided she was going to get well. By January of 1912, Gertrude Cayce was almost fully recovered.

That same year Edgar Cayce was investigated by Harvard University and was able to demonstrate the legitimacy and the effectiveness of the readings. He moved his family to Selma, Alabama opened a photography studio and began to live a quite life. However, one day his son, Hugh Lynn, severely burned his eyes while playing with flash powder in his father’s studio. The local doctors recommended removing one of the eyes because of the extent of the damage. The son asked his father for a reading. In the sleep state Cayce gave assurance that sight was not gone. He recommended an additional compound be added to the solution that had been prescribed by the doctors and said Hugh Lynn’s eyes should be kept bandaged for two weeks. No eye surgery was performed, and when the bandages were removed, the boy could see. Local newspapers picked up the story and again, Edgar Cayce’s fame grew.

As the requests for readings continued, Edgar Cayce was faced another problem. Although people were being helped by the readings, many found it difficult to have their doctors carry out treatments recommended by a sleeping man they had never even met – a man who, in many instances, had never seen the people he was diagnosing. Cayce thought the solution was having his own hospital, staffed with fully qualified doctors, nurses, and therapist, who would carry out the treatments recommended in the readings.

Now, he hired a secretary, Gladys Davis, to take down the information in the readings while Gertrude asked her sleeping husband the questions. Until 1923 most of Cayce’s readings were limited to medicine. However, that year a wealthy printer from Dayton, who had obtained successful readings for two of his nieces, asked the sleeping Cayce for a horoscope reading. Toward the end of the reading [5717-1] Cayce spoke the curious sentence: “he was once a monk.” That statement opened up the door to a whole new area of research – the possibility of reincarnation.

All at once, Cayce was faced with a new dilemma. There wasn’t any doubt that the information was helpful and accurate when dealing with health, but the readings matter-of-fact reference to reincarnation seemed foreign to his fundamental Christianity. He prayed about it, did much soul searching, and obtained a few readings. Edgar Cayce found that the concept of reincarnation was not incompatible with any religion. Soon afterwards, the “life” reading developed. It dealt with an individual’s previous lifetimes, as well as the person’s potential for this lifetime.

Because of the helpfulness of the readings, several backers were found to make Cayce’s dream of a hospital a reality. One group wanted to locate the facility in Chicago, another wanted it to be in Dayton. However, time and again, the readings advised that the hospital be located in or near Virginia Beach, Virginia. Finally, a New York businessman agreed to finance the project, and in 1925 the Cayce family moved with Gladys Davis to Virginia Beach. In 1928 the Edgar Cayce hospital opened its doors.

Until 1931 the hospital operated successfully. However, in the midst of the Depression, financial backing was lost. In this turmoil, Cayce incorporated the Association for Research and Enlightenment, Inc., [A.R.E.], that was to serve as a research body to investigate the information given by Cayce in the readings. The organization survived, the hospital did not.

As the years passed, Cayce became more and more psychic in the waking state as well as in his sleep state. He once fled from a room in sorrow because he knew that three young men would not be returning from the war. He had also developed the ability to see auras, which are fields of light that surround all living things. From these auras Cayce could perceive people’s moods as well as their overall physical condition.

During the height of World War II, sacks of mail were delivered to Cayce with ever-growing requests for readings. Despite the readings’ warning that he should give no more than two a day, Cayce began giving eight in an effort to keep up. Gladys Davis’ appointment book had readings scheduled two years in advance!

In the spring of 1944, Edgar began to grow weak. His own readings advised him to rest, but he felt a tremendous obligation to those asking for his help. Finally, he collapsed from sheer exhaustion, and just as he gave his first reading for himself, he gave his last reading for himself – in September of 1944. The reading told him he had to rest. When Gertrude asked “How long?” the response was “until he was well, or dead.” Shortly afterwards, he had a stroke and became partially paralyzed. He died on January 3, 1945. At the time, no one really understood how ill Gertrude was, yet within three months, on Easter Sunday, she died as well.

Gladys Davis took it upon herself to preserve the information she had taken such great pains to write down, until Edgar’s sons returned from the war. Eventually, Hugh Lynn took over the organization his father had started and was able to encourage interest in the information his father left behind all over the world. When Hugh Lynn died, in 1982, the Association had grown from a few hundred members into one composed of tens of thousands. Gladys finished indexing the readings in 1971, more than a quarter century after Cayce had died! After the indexing, she discovered that the readings covered more than 10,000 different subjects – nearly every question imaginable had been asked. She continued working as secretary for the Board of Trustees of the Cayce organizations until her death, at the age of 81, in 1986.

To learn more about Edgar Cayce and the A.R.E. visit: www.edgarcayce.org

by Richmond West

Feeling hopeless, Rusty, who was sitting on his hospital bed, looked at what he had just written. His blue eyes were tired beneath his curly brown hair. Rusty ran his fingers across the stubble on his face—he didn’t dare use the cheap disposable razors in this mental hospital, which would cut his face up. The newly-sprayed smell of Lysol permeated the air around his hospital bed, for the janitor had been by just half an hour ago. Rusty was thankful the nurses let him have a yellow writing pad, though he wished he could have more than the mere pencil stub that the on-call nurse had given him. They wouldn’t let him have a pen. It was “too dangerous,” they said. But Rusty felt he needed to write, for he was trying to figure out the meaning of the female voice that spoke in his head.
I love you, Rusty, the inner female voice said. …Sodol-kai…I am Diana …
…
Soon, Dr. George Crane, wearing a white doctor’s smock, entered the room. He had long, disheveled gray hair along with a beard, which matched his pale eyes. The doctor was carrying a tiny, transparent plastic cup with yellow and white pills inside, along with a Styrofoam cup of water. “It’s time for your medicine, Rusty….You refused your medicine when the nurse brought it earlier. That is not acceptable.”
“Well, I don’t even know what it is,” Rusty said….He ran his fingers over his hospital gown, above his chest.
“Lexapro, for depression, but the main thing I want you to take is Zyprexa, which is an anti-psychotic,” Dr. Crane said.
“I told the nurse,” Rusty said, “and I’m now telling you: I don’t wanna take any of it. I’ve had a religious experience…”
“Rusty, you are profoundly mentally ill…,” Dr. Crane said.
Rusty turned away and looked out the window. “I feel like I’ve had a profound disconnect with reality.”
“I’m glad you realize that,” Dr. Crane said….
…

THE TWO FACES

Diana was going to be a terrifying goddess—that’s all she ever wanted to be as she played on that playground, beginning to create her worlds as a small child. Sodol-kai had passed by and caught sight of her delicious creativity. Yet he was saddened that she would reign with terror. Sodol-kai knew that one day she would grow up, and he remembered her face.
Inevitably, in eons of time, Diana grew better at creating her worlds, worlds where she ruled inspired by terror. Worlds of domination. Worlds of woe.
One day Diana reached the pinnacle of her goddess success. She created a world where all the faces looked up at her in pure terror. Divine and omnipotent was she, to be worshiped, but always feared.
Sodol-kai took a look at her world and was saddened by it, so he played a buddha trick on her to teach her a lesson in compassion. It would change their lives forever.
Sodol-kai entered Diana’s world, born as an infant, and smiled upon birth. He smiled into the sky, where she sat on her throne of terror. She saw his face born on her world, a face that dared smile at her from out of the womb. This enraged her, as she had ensured that childbirth and infancy was a painful process on her world. Her babies were supposed to cry. Sodol-kai laughed.
This pissed her off.
“Oh, a wise guy, huh?” Diana said, knowing he must have come from beyond the stars and invaded her world. An alien. She decided to fix him, and teach him a lesson he’d never forget.
She decided to turn the tables.
In a flash, she snapped her fingers and they traded places. Sodol-kai flew into her sky, where he now saw all the faces of terror below. And she, now below, looked up at Sodol-kai in the sky and leered a sinister smile. Then she changed her face back to terror, the same face Sodol-kai saw on everyone else. For they were made in her image, just the way she liked it.
“How ’bout that one?” Diana yelled up at Sodol-kai. “Zing! Tit for tat.”
Up in the sky, Sodol-kai looked away in sadness, and Diana laughed to herself, never realizing Sodol-kai was planning a trick. She was about to snap her fingers and throw him back from her sky down to her world, putting him in his place. She so wanted to see his smile turn to terror.
Ah, but Sodol-kai, a wise teacher, tricked his new student Diana. Before she snapped her fingers, he snapped his! He turned the tables on her! He threw her back into her sky and took his place again below. She looked back down at him, and he was still smiling, defying her taste for terror.
“Zing!” Sodol-kai yelled, stealing her line. “Tit for tat.”
She was at first terrified by his power in her world, but he kept smiling. He didn’t want power. He simply wanted to teach her.
But in those crucial moments, she fell in love with her teacher, for his smile now seemed so beautiful to her—something so very unique. The consequences of her falling in love would be enormous for them both, though little did they realize this at the time.
“Touché,” Diana said, now smiling back.
For you see, he had changed her life forever….She had wanted to hate him, but he had loved her. And this would bind them together through time.
…

The Moon Parable…
…
We think we can take the moon. We lust for it, and decide to challenge it and take it. Dare there be a limit? We think not. We will conquer it, as we conquer all else. So we reach for that moon. We decide to colonize it in our quest for the stars. We make this plan to take the moon known to God.
God says, “I don’t think so. I put the moon there with my thumb. You gotta have limits.”
“But God, you put the stars there,” we cry. “As if to challenge us to take ’em!”
God says, “If you reach for the moon, you hurt the stars. And the stars, they will respond.”
And then we say, “But we put a god-damned flag on that moon!”
God says, “Back it. I don’t see one there.”
…

“The Pyramid Parable

“Here’s a question that vexes me:
Is there anyone in that eye
at the top of the pyramid, on any dollar bill?

“It could be that,
like Bentham and Foucault’s panopticon prison,
there’s no one in the tower—it’s an optical illusion
meant to inspire terror.

“It could be that there is someone
very sinister and evil
there.

“Or, it could just be your eye.
You could be looking
at yourself.

“Or, perhaps the fourth option,
most bittersweet,
is that maybe it’s God’s eye.
Looking at you from the top of the prison.

…Rusty continued. “God looks at you with love. God will not coddle you. Or cripple you. But God will care for you, if you let God. Urging you toward freedom, freedom from the prison, but you can only make it on your own. Let it be: a new dawn. Kind of takes the terror out of the symbol, doesn’t it?”
…

DEICIDE OF DOOM AS THE KARMA RUNS OUT—THE FINAL DAYS IN “HEAVEN”

…

Lord Asura became bold. His power had grown enormously, and he could see how Diana’s waned. He sent scouts to penetrate her heaven. Whereas before, Diana’s power would have turned them away with much force, this time they found cracks in her defenses. Lord Asura decided the day was ripe. It was time to take the heavens by storm.
Lord Asura sent a courier to Diana. “Surrender to me now, goddess Diana, and you will avoid bloodshed. For I, Lord Asura, am now your superior in might. So I will take your heaven for myself and add it to my crown. You can walk away and live, or you can resist and be slaughtered. This is your only choice.”
Sodol-kai, upon hearing this with Diana, was alarmed. He said to Diana, “I detest war. Let me meet with him and see if we can avoid this tragedy.”
Thus, Sodol-kai sent the courier back to Lord Asura: “Let us confer under the flag of truce.”
Lord Asura agreed. He came to a foothill at the borders of Diana’s heaven. Sodol-kai sat at an oak table in front of a purple tent, a white flag whipping in the breeze above.
Lord Asura snorted. “There is only one reason I am here. The time has come for you to pay obeisance to me, for I shall soon be your master.”
“I will never pay obeisance to you,” Sodol-kai said.
“Then I believe this conversation is over,” Lord Asura replied. He whisked his purple robe and began to leave.
“Wait!” Sodol-kai said. “I have more to say. This terrible war should be averted.”
“So say the future losers,” Lord Asura said. “For the winners, the war is on.”
“In the karmic cycles, all winners become losers,” Sodol-kai said. “It is a never-ending tragedy.”
“So says the fleeing fly to the wasp,” Lord Asura said.
“You will be a god, but then you too one day will fall,” Sodol-kai said. “For all you know is desire.”
…
“Yes, I was once your father and once her father,” Lord Asura said. “But I was also Diana’s subject on her cruel world, eons ago. Do you remember that? I will never forget the shame! That Diana of yours terrorized me in her ancient goddess world….And now, you wish me to remain subservient to you? Never! Your worlds will be mine.”
“How are you subservient to me?” Sodol-kai asked. “We both have heavens. And we can both have compassion now. We can forget the past and try for a better future together. We both have plenty of heavens. Why do you want them all?”
“I want them all so I can rule them all! It’s called power, you stupid idiot. I want it. And I will get it. I will never be subjected to Diana’s terror again. Now I will be the master. Subject yourself to me or get out of my way. I am going to storm your heaven.”
“Why do this?” Sodol-kai pleaded. “She changed long ago and is no longer terrorizing you. All are beautiful in God’s eyes—the eyes of the God beyond God, the creator of us all. Why covet the beauty of others when you have your own already? Why not claim power without being domineering?”
“Stop lecturing me, you who will soon be my slave,” Lord Asura said. “I tire of your beautiful heaven taunting me. It will be mine. I have said it and it shall be done. And now, this conversation is over. Armageddon will commence…shortly.”
Lord Asura whisked his purple royal robe and departed the tent. It was the last peaceful time Sodol-kai would share in this existence with his former father Titus, now Lord Asura, the man who became a demigod and aspired to be a god. Lord Asura was indeed the deification of desire.

…

“I’m so afraid…I don’t want to lose you,” Sodol-kai said on the beach as he held Diana. The sand, white like the sand of the Gulf of Mexico, felt cold and moist on the bottom of Sodol-kai and Diana’s bare feet. The skies darkened and thunder clouds appeared. A wicked wind whipped their clothes and the smell of salt water assaulted their noses.
“You will never lose my love,” Diana said.
“Are our defenses ready?”
“As ready as they’ll ever be,” Diana said. She closed her eyes and nuzzled Sodol-kai’s shoulder.

…

Lord Asura’s lightning attack was fierce and swift, with blitzkrieg force. Like ants invading a mound of dropped food, Lord Asura’s armies advanced through the heavenly hills. They could not be stopped. They would not be stopped. They were too many to stop. Sodol-kai and Diana ran from the beach and into their chalet as their forces fell back.
After Lord Asura’s armies traversed the foothills and crossed the beach, they charged to their final destination: the chalet on Mount Tara. Diana’s heaven began to tremble at the onslaught of their mighty forces. Diana and Sodol-kai fled again, abandoning the chalet and making their way further up the mountain. Their still-bare feet bled as they ran over some sharp rocks and branches along the mountainside. As wave upon wave of Lord Asura’s warriors advanced, an earthquake began. Soon it was heaven-rending and earth-shattering, indeed. Diana wept. As the earth of her heaven ripped open into a tremendous chasm, flames leapt from the abyss.
But this doomsday destruction mattered little to Lord Asura’s armies. They were prepared for these death throes of heaven. This was, after all, what they wanted: a crumbling earth and sky.

…

Diana was terrified, now certain she would lose her lover. But she grabbed Sodol-kai’s hand anyway as they ran for the highest peak of Mount Tara. As all final resistance crumbled, their chalet was taken by storm.
The other goddesses of the harem, those who had not joined with Lord Asura, now fled to their own heavens and left Diana to die. But Sodol-kai still held her hand as they reached the highest peak of her holy Mount Tara. Their now-calloused bare feet sunk into the cold, wet, fallen snows of the mountain as they trudged upward. The earthquake continued, growing more severe.
“Whatever happens, I will always love you,” Sodol-kai shouted over the earthquake as he held onto Diana. “I’m so sorry it had to be this way.”
“I’m not sorry for anything,” Diana said. “What we shared together was worth every minute.”

…

Lord Asura, looking above and seeing Sodol-kai and Diana on the peak of the mountain, ordered their execution and goaded his armies to advance to that highest peak.
There was little time left. Diana, sobbing, took a terrified look from the peak at the realms of woe below, knowing she would soon fall into them. Her good karma was gone. She was facing her end, the termination of her time as a goddess. Her heaven’s absolute cataclysm continued as fire fell like rain, pelting and sizzling upon the snow of Mount Tara and scorching their skin when it hit them. Sodol-kai sensed Diana’s doom was upon her, though he, as a would-be buddha and not a god, would be safe. This heaven was a result of her karma, not his. But Sodol-kai tried to save her, too.
“The way to liberation is letting go of our desire!” Sodol-kai yelled over the tumult.
“Until death do us part, my buddha husband,” Diana replied.
“I can’t be a buddha if I still desire you!” Sodol-kai shouted.
“And I can’t be a Goddess without you.”
Sodol-kai yelled even louder over the sounds of the massive earthquake and tempestuous torment: “I want you to achieve enlightenment and be saved! Worry not for me. Pine for me no more… I love you and can’t bear to see you suffer. For this reason, you have to let me go!”
“No!” Diana exclaimed.
“You have to let me go!” Sodol-kai screamed in agony over the thunderous earthquake. “You will suffer! Let me go!”
“I will NEVER let you go!” Diana screamed back.
Boulders jutted forth from the mountain and lava gushed forth. Sodol-kai could hold her no longer. Diana’s hand slipped from his grasp due to massive earthquake rumblings. She fell, tumbling into an abyss of entropy, into samsaric realms below. Their eyes never left each other as she fell further into chaos, flames lapping upon her. Sodol-kai tried to reach down for her, but there was nothing he could do. The flames were too hot for him, the rumblings of their crumbling heaven too great. Nevertheless, Sodol-kai dove into the abyss of entropy, trying to catch Diana. He flew down toward her, but the flames incinerated her in front of his tearful eyes long before he had a chance to grab her.
The other beautiful goddesses who belonged to his harem, as he belonged to theirs, rushed down to Sodol-kai to keep him from harm.
…
But Sodol-kai refused to be comforted. He said only this:
“I want war in the heavens no more.”

…

But wherever he searched, he could not find Diana. He looked for her, but she was not there.
Jennifer, sad for Sodol-kai, came to him one day and said, “…I can show you the way toward a real heaven, a real nirvana. One that is eternal. But for me to do that, Sodol-kai, you would have to let her go. That way she can let you go one day, too. You have to end the cycle.”
“That I cannot do,” Sodol-kai said, sorrowful, “for now she is suffering.”
“Then less than a buddha you’ll be,” Jennifer said, with a sad yet knowing smile.

…

Sodol-kai found a solitary spot. He knew that here ended the story that would begin yet again…A compassionate being, he could never leave samsara. Not while Diana was suffering. And so it was for her too, he guessed. Perhaps she had been his buddha, many ages and ages ago, past his memory. Now he was suffering, in deep desire for her. They could not let go of their desire for each other as they cycled through infinite time.
Jennifer walked up to Sodol-kai’s solitary spot, and placed her hand on his shoulder. As he wept bitter tears, Sodol-kai said, “How can she, or I, ever be saved? We are in perpetual desire. I am bound to her for infinity.”
Jennifer did not answer. There was only one last thing Sodol-kai could say, through his tears:

“I will never be able to let her go.”

…

Such is the way of things, when a buddha falls in love with a god.

Richmond West has taught philosophy at Fresno State University in California, Red Rocks Community College in Denver, Jacksonville State
University in Alabama, the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, and South University in Montgomery, Alabama. He has always been
fascinated by the study of religion and philosophy, his interests including philosophy of religion, world religions, and environmental ethics. He also
once served as a minister in the North Alabama Conference of the United Methodist Church, but he was never ordained.
An empath and a loner, nothing really felt right in West’s life until he began writing, and now he can’t imagine what his life would be without exercising
such creativity. He has been writing since December, 2004. He is currently single–the love of his life is his yellow lab, Heidi.

To learn more about Richmond West visit: www.richmondwest.net or www.myspace.com/richmondwest