Tales of the Divine Comedy

by      Thomas Ragazzi   and Dr. Philip A. Pecorino

Chapter THREE

The Contest

 

                Before there was Time, They were.  Or rather, It was, become Them.

                “I am going to do something,” thought/said/communicated one, as speech was invented.

                And at that moment, there was distinguished a Two.

                “What do you mean?” said Two, and there was speech, dialogue, intention and meaning.

                “Make something.”

                “What is ‘make’ and what is ‘something’?”

                One replied, “Not me, not you, not any of us.”

                And with that, the two became aware that they were not one, nor two, but many.

                And one of the many responded back:

                “What do you mean ‘not us’?”

                One replied, “You’ll see…

                There!”

                And in that word, there was a thing produced; a thing of shape, a thing of space and time and not them.

                And the others looked and said, “What is that?”

                And One replied, “I made it.  It is not us, but it is all that is.”

                Then another said, “I would like to make also,” and produced an even larger thing that was not Them.

                And then another produced another thing that was not Them.

                Quickly there ensued a number of makings or creations, each larger and stretched out further than the previous.  What They were making, what They were aware of, had events, set before and after.  Time was part of several of the things being made or created.

                Soon the creations took on great complexity, as one after another the makers engaged in creating these things that were not Them, until it reached a point where They were consumed with the creating.

                And one of Them said, “What is all of this for?” and a search for meaning came to be.

                And one of the makers said, “It is now what we do.”

                “But to what end?” said another.

                “What for?” said still another, and a search for purpose came to be.

                And then came a voice of another, not a creator but an observer, that communicated, “Why not let us examine all of these carefully and see if we can determine them?”

                And there ensued what They called a “contest” to see which of these things being created had the highest appeal or interest.  With that They sought for greatest significance and what would prove worthy of Them Who are not those things, thus creating worth and esteem.

                One after another, They created what was not Them.  Some had Time that lasted billions of what some of the created would call ‘years’, some very few of those periods of awareness.  Some of the creations had beings with consciousness in them, some without.  And They who invented judgment thus became the Judges who looked for what They thought were the most sublime of values and features, and They awarded honors.

                The universe or creation that we who read this are in was among those ‘things’ and ‘makings’ or creations that were submitted for examination.  Their Time is not our Time – each universe had duration – so They, who are beyond time and out of time, examined them all at once.  This universe that we are experiencing, that we encounter one second after the other, making minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years, decades, centuries, millennia, eons of Time, and that we are still in the midst of, was judged in that contest held out of what we experience as Time. 

                And when Those Who were viewing the creations happened across this one, the making or creation in which we exist, They recoiled, shocked.

                One asked the creator, “You have consciousness in your universe?”

                “Yes.”

                “You have consciousness and awareness of pain and suffering?” asked another.

                “Yes.”

                “And innocence and their suffering also?” asked another.

                “Yes.”

                “And poverty and starvation?”

                “Yes.”

                “And Nature pitting animal against animal, man against animal, and man against man?”

“Yes.”

“And ruthless ambition, jealously, even hate?”

                “Yes.”

                “And endless conflict, violence, and war?”

                “Yes.”

                These proceedings continued, and at their end it was determined that this universe of our experience, due to all the things that shocked the Judges, did not even get an honorable mention.  And those beings in this universe that have consciousness and are going through each moment in Time one moment after another, one hour after another, one day after another, one year after another, one century and millennia after another, might become aware, if the story is true, that for now and for the rest of Time, they are in a universe that has lost, and they are all losers.

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© Copyright Thomas Ragazzi and Philip A. Pecorino 2010. All Rights reserved.