A billion faces of forever
A vision
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An exact, full-scale replica of the Parthenon exists in Nashville, TN, built in 1897. The Parthenon,
This essay begins with a poem, followed by a quote, and then shares the poem’s vision in a first-person narrative. It ends with a video, capturing the same notions.
NOTE: If you want to study and journey deeper and deeper into consciousness, in my opinion it’s important to just take things as they come. Not to judge. It comes with being a monastery. Even if the only monastery in sight is you.
A billion faces of forever
There is a door
to find it… (relax)
an open mind, an open heart
it opens into…
a large white room
with a billion stars
for a roof
on three sides
are millions of beings
facing
a white stage
and center stage
…set back from the edge
radiant, bright
a Being of Light
a huge bright
glow
too bright
to see ‘in’
and from the crowd
three ancient beings
move forward
and fall prostrate
just below
the steps
and a single person
appears
entering the stage
through a door
and peers into
the Light
he stares,
and a thought forms
“Who are you?”
Instantly
before the question is finished
an answer
is shown
a flash of a
thousand million faces
flipping
like a deck of cards
and everyone’s face
all the faces from forever
are shown
yours
mine
waves
undulate through…
the vast sea
of a billion, trillion souls
as each individual
reconciles the answer
“Always chanting my praise, steadfast in their devotion, they make their lives an unending hymn to my endless love.
Others, on the path of knowledge, know me as the many, the One; behind the faces of a million gods, they can see my face.”
from “Bhagavad Gita: A New Translation,” 9.14–15, by Stephen Mitchell
A real-time vision or experience
I was in a state of deep relaxation but fully aware of my surroundings. I remained fully conscious and aware of my surroundings for the entire duration of this experience. No drugs, alcohol or substances of any type were involved.
I was laying on my back on a therapeutical massage table. It was covered in a crisp clean sheet, and my head was resting on a fresh pillow.
My brother was across the room, sitting in a chair. We were in his quiet, studio office in Virginia. Surrounding his secluded home were lush Virginia forests and meadows, all within sight of the famous Blue Ridge Parkway which could be seen meandering high up in the distant mists.
Immersed in nature, it was perfectly quiet in his study.
My eyes were closed and I was describing what I was seeing to my brother.
I was in a large outdoor space. A wide white portico stretched before me, with tall white outdoor columns holding up a vast roof. At the top were grand doors that entered the great building. The building’s style was that of traditional Greek architecture. Everything was white. There were a few people milling about here and there.
Off to the side was a modest single door. I had a sense that something significant was beyond that bland door. In a way, it made no sense for a door to be over there. There were no apparent walls or buildings. But, there was no doubt that a simple door was standing there.
I came out of my state, and recall pausing as I collected myself. I was ready to get up and leave his office. But then somewhat impulsively, with my eyes still open, I said to my brother,
“There is a small door there. I don’t think there’s anything keeping me from going in. I’m going back.” I recall saying or thinking at the time that there was something significant beyond that door. Something significant within my reach, and all I had to do was simply open a door.
And with that simple statement, said so spontaneously and matter-of-factly, I re-closed my eyes and the door instantly reappeared in front of me. I promptly entered.
The Room of a Thousand Faces
Instantly, I was in a vast open area. It was bright, yet above I could see stars stretched across the great dome of sky. I was coming in from stage right (which would have been from the audience’s left), and I was on some kind of shallow raised dias or stage. The raised area was very wide, but shallow. Shallow in the sense that it was elevated only a few steps above the main floor. Three, maybe four or five. And the steps, like the porch of the white Greek building from earlier, traversed across the entire width or length of the stage area.
Facing the stage I could see millions of people or beings. Vast and uncountable. They were all standing. And emerging from the front of them came three figures who, once they approached the bottom step, fell in unison to the ground, side by side, bodies and faces turned down, spread-eagled in what could only be termed supplication. Their arms were stretched out over their heads. And they gave the impression of being older than anyone else there, ancient even.
And in that moment it seemed strange to me that everyone was staying back, and that the three ancient beings were prostrate. Yet there I was, having come through some kind of door, standing there inexplicably undisturbed, untouched on the stage with no one telling me to leave.
On the center of the stage, immediately to my left, was an incredibly bright light. Too bright to see into. It was round and large, and seemed to be two or three stories tall and perhaps 20' to 30' across. It conveyed a clear sense of being alive, and it was equally clear that the three beings and all the other beings standing out there were all facing and focusing on that great light. There was a clear sense from all of them that they were at a minimum highly respectful, but truly it felt like they were in awe and worshipping. And maybe waiting.
Standing as I was, I was very close to that great light. Close enough to touch. I peered in, trying to see some definition, some distinguishing feature of any kind, perhaps something that would remind me of a face or something resembling some kind of human figure. I felt at the time that if I my eyes could sustain the intensity, that I could see someone sitting or standing in the light. But the light was far too bright for my eyes to accommodate to be able to pick out any detail within.
And so, being immediately made aware that the light was too bright for my eyes to penetrate, I instantly had a thought occur.
And as the thought formed and began to be a thought, which was, “Who are you?” an answer was already forthcoming. That is, before the thought finished (which eventually it did) the answer was already being shown.
I saw what appeared as a series of faces coming out of the light, some recognizable and some not. And the faces were stacked, like one beneath another in a deck of playing cards. And the ‘cards’ were being rapidly flipped, so that a hundred or a thousand or a million faces could be shown in rapid-fire succession. And while the firing rate was far too rapid to register each face individually, each face somehow did impossibly register individually.
All of this occurred within a split second or so, and while the faces were flashing I had no time to think, I could only see or sense, yet somehow from somewhere an unprovoked thought came into my mind. More like an implication. That ‘this’ is who I am. I’m you, I’m everyone.
And as the question was asked and the answer was revealed, great waves undulated through the vast throngs of people in what seemed to be a response, and the waves stretched and stretched as far as the eye could see and beyond. Rippling and rippling.
And suddenly, there was a disturbance. Something coming from the far, far distance. At first just a sense, an implication, but then very, very quickly a motion. Way out through the crowds, beyond sight. And the people parted, and this great whirlwind of energy — which was a person — came rushing in like a powerful wind. And he stepped up onto the far side of the stage, and stepped into or behind the light.
And a great event occurred, which I was asked not to reveal.
To be clear, I’m not claiming in any of my accounts that some kind of ‘miracle’ took place. While I’ve witnessed inexplicable phenomenon, that’s just what it is: a bit inexplicable.