THE GREAT GOSPEL OF JOHN
VOLUME 5
Jesus' Precepts and Deeds through His Three Years of Teaching
Jesus in the region of Caesarea Philippi. (cont.) Gospel of Matthew, Chapter 16
- Chapter 182 -
The creative power of the human soul in the dream.
Thus John began and said, "My friend Hiram! You had this night something you called a dream of light and claimed to have seen all of us along with the ship arriving here, and your present admission stated without being demanded that we were the same whom you had seen in your dream of light. Now explain to me according to your wisdom, which in its own way is not at all to be despised, how that was possible! For if we only have bodies alone and no souls which in the end could love on without a body, how could we possibly as souls of those awake and active souls in your dream have been able to show ourselves in this bodily sleep of yours, while these bodies of ours at that time were still very secure in the upper vicinity of Caesarea?"
2
Hiram says, "Yes, quite well! But if those were seriously your souls which, free from their body, had already swarmed into this bay of ours in advance, then I would like to know as well whether your ship also has a soul! You see, my friend, then we are back to the same old somewhat contentious point at which my friend Aziona already wanted to have an explanation, but was instructed by you to patience. But now I am very curious to hear how you will answer this strongly prickly question!"
3
At this John takes the jug and says, "Friend, you are thirsty, I see it in your face! Take this and drink, and only then will we talk further!"
4
Hiram says, "Is this perhaps an Indian magical drink, from which one becomes intoxicated and then enters all the foolishness of mankind?"
5
John says, "Aziona is standing next to you; ask him whether this is a magic drink from India!"
6
Aziona immediately says, "Just take a drink, you will immediately feel better for it!"
7
Hiram says, "It is your responsibility, brother!" Then Hiram took the jug and took a few very powerful and generous draughts from it, since he was also a very powerful and strong man. When he had quenched his thirst, he said very amazed to Aziona, "Ah, just look there! From which spring did you take this magnificent water then?"
8
Aziona says, "I already told you that in your hut! That is the same water that was changed into wine by these miraculous friends from my spring which is already very well known to you!"
9
Hiram says, "Well truly, I would also like to know this art; for such a drink could really spice up this passing life for the likes of us a little from time to time. Truly, that is the very best wine that has ever flowed over my lips. Such a wine could be drunk for a thousand years without the person ever getting tired of it! Go on, let me take another few draughts!"
10
Aziona gave Hiram the jug and he took more very great draughts, next he thanked John and then said, "That, dear friend, truly went down very well; whether it will go so well for you however with the proof of the soul for the ship is another question!"
11
John says, "Dear friend, much more easily! But first you must know that every already spiritually perfected soul more closely united with the spirit of God is also a little bit omnipotent, and therefore it is a very easy thing to create a ship in a moment and to show it to a foreign soul if needs be as a product of its creating power also as if existing in nature. And behold, that was the case in the previous night, and so you as a soul were able to see also a ship carrying us without our ship needing to have any sort of soul. You saw us thus clothed as we now are to be seen here before you in nature; our clothes would therefore also need to have a soul! But these are only a somewhat temporal, created product of the soul standing in close connection with the spirit of God.
12
Thus you obviously saw us as we are with the spiritual eye of your soul in your dream, and we knew well that you, as the most stubborn of your faith, would have to see us, and we also wanted this, in order to have something in advance through which your eyes could be opened a little; for if we had never been in the world or ever anywhere at all "truly, you would never have got to see us in a dream no matter how clear! But because we are and we exist, and indeed according to the spirit in God since eternity, this was also a very easy thing to awake your soul for this already long-awaited purpose for some moments in this dream night of yours, so that it could see what will come in the great light in advance. Can you also call that a game of the great nature?"
13
Hiram says, "Dear friend, you must not hold it against me if I speak in my usual way just as I think! You see, from your very first words I already knew that you were in your own fashion a great wise man and a master of speech! It is an easy thing for your talent of speech to make a bear out of a wolf, as the saying was and is among us.
14
I have told you my dream that I really had very truly and openly, and you have now an easy task to do with it whatever you wish. Do you know, to make a prophet afterwards is truly not such a great art; for one can as a good speaker use all the circumstances very finely and thus, as they say, create an idea off the bat from the air, which in its own way does not leave anything to be desired. Frivolous, shallow-thinking people equipped with little experience would get stuck there and caught; yet the very cold, calm common sense devoid of all passion and fear of a much-experienced person needs more than just an excellent speech by a young and certainly also very eminent, talented person.
15
To be honest, what you have said to me about my dream is not at all to be rejected, and it is very much worth the effort to consider it more deeply; but I will contradict you with something from my many experiences and knowledge. If you can explain it to me in a satisfactory way and means, then we will be able to soon become able to deal with one another!"
16
John said, "Wait, friend, in order to convince you some more of the inner spiritual life-force of the soul in the human body, I will now tell you in minute detail, taking it from out of your soul, what you just wanted to tell me as a contradiction to the claim I made to you and as an, in your opinion, hard-to-crack explanation of your vision! For every untrue word you can quite cheekily give me a slap around the ears!"
17
Hiram says, Then tell us! Truly, I would be highly curious, however without the slap around the ears that you suggest for incorrectness; for all such justifications and chastisements are foreign to us and have never been ours, except in cases of the most urgent defense! Tell me therefore with a very good and cheerful mood what you know about my secret experiences and adventures!"