Chapter 5

Settled down with 'cuppa in hand Sally queried my use of the word 'ether' "You often talk about going into the ether Jimmy, what exactly is it?"

"A simple question which is complexity itself. How could I explain the colour red to a blind person or the sensation of touch to someone born without hands? I suppose the nearest I could describe it would be what you would call heaven, though I must be quick to assure you that there is no heaven as religious people believe it. The same as my entity, the nearest you could come to understand what it is would be to call it my 'spirit' then again, there are no spirits as these religious people believe them to be."

"There is a god though, isn't there?"

"The nearest I could explain that there is a supreme being, is to say that the earth itself is the 'Maker' the thought that there is a 'God' is one foisted onto mankind by those who wish to control him."

"So there's no Jesus either then?"

"Not so Jen, there was a person who at that time made his presence felt. He was an outspoken man who to put it mildly 'kicked arse' he threw the money lenders out of the temples and shook up the beggars who were bludging on the others. Ask yourself this Jen, why is Jesus' life chronicled from the time of his birth up to his death?"

"Because he was the son of God, sent down on earth to save our souls."

'That's what the spin doctors wanted you to believe. The Jesus myth is the biggest spin the world has ever witnessed, as far as advertising goes, there will never be anything that could even come close to it. The Roman church needed an icon so they took the life of this ordinary man and polished it up into hero status. They reinvented his life, from the Virgin Mary to the crucifixion; he didn't die on the cross to save us all, he died of tuberculosis, a very prominent disease at that time. They couldn't say he died of TB to save us all, that wouldn't make good script, would it?"

"How do you know all this Jimmy?" declared Sally.

"Because I have live through these times; the world was a much smaller place then, people were uneducated by our standards, the bible talks of parables, short stories to push the church's point of view. Some of these parables were good because the underlying message was to the benefit of the community, things relating to healthy practices. The main reason though was that of control."

"But surely they had enough commonsense to see they were being duped?"

"Ok, why do you believe in God and Jesus Jen, weren't you duped into believing it as the truth?" Jen thought about that for a while.

"If you are a catholic, you go to church and confess your sins, what you are really doing is giving the father a certain amount of control over you. Today people are more inclined to think for themselves, but in earlier days the priest was usually the only 'educated' person in the area. He wrote letters for your family to send to relatives, he read the replies and in both cases put his own interpretation into the correspondence. You confessed your sins and he could, if need be blackmail you into doing what he wanted, and often did, he had control.

"Let's go back to very early times, when the human race was starting to become aware of it's existence. They were a very primitive race of people who were wanting answers to the things around them, why was that great ball of fire rising and setting every day, why did it rain, the list goes on and on. Soon one of the more brighter men decided that there had to be a super being behind all of this, so gods were born, a god for this and a god for that. When things went arse up the gods were angry, someone decided a sacrifice would atone for their wrongs ... get the message? someone had enough nous to gain control with his line of bullshit. Nothing has changed.

"Later in the history of the human race, somebody decided that all these gods were weakening his position as chief honcho. The answer? he comes up with the one god edict. "Thou shalt worship one god etc etc etc. Control for the good of the community is necessary, we need rules to live by, in early times pork was riddled with diseases, even today devout Jewish people still shun it. It was common sense to ban it then, being simple people their leaders made it a religious rule. Today the church is full of these little controlling rules, though their grasp on their flock is weakening as the world becomes more educated."

"What will happen when we die, will we go into this ether you talk about?"

"Yes, but don't think of it as going to heaven, the ether is a void. The law of physics state that nothing can be destroyed, only changed, for example if you burn a piece of paper it changes into ash, you've only altered it's form. Your, for want of a better word, spirit alters into a different form, not as some folk would like to think, a reincarnation, but a different type of energy; something I cannot define for you."

"You say that there's no reincarnation Jimmy, if people are dieing and being born all the time wouldn't your theory of altering form be a possibility?"

"To answer your question with a question Jen, where are all these new babies coming from as the world's population explodes?"

"Ah but as the human population increases the animal population is decreasing."

"Hmm, a logical thought Jen, I must admit I can't refute it. You must understand, that although I've lived all this time I'm not the Oracle, I only have knowledge of what I've experienced.

"I think we should give it a break for now ladies, you have a lot to mull over I'm sure."

"That's an understatement if I ever heard one Jimmy, what say you Jen?"

"That's for sure Mum."

...

Jen and I continued with our lovemaking though Jen seemed reluctant to discuss my marriage proposal with Sally. I didn't push her, but let her decide what to do on her own accord. Bob became a regular visitor to our house, I must say it pleased me greatly as he was a good friend in my past life as Harry. Sally welcomed his attention and Jen wasn't slow to rib her about it albeit in good humour.

With Jen completing her business modules at the university, I introduced her into the business world of the late Harry Parker. I still held a major stake in the clothing factory plus two outlets for the gold smithing business, they both functioned as jewellery stores as Harry's final years showed a slowing down of gold articles; something I now planned to remedy.