A Gift From the Grand Council of Souls

It was cool, crisp, and dry in the night air of the desert outside Scottsdale. He’d been traveling to this place any time he wanted to think since he was thirteen. First on his bike and more recently, since he’d been able to save enough burger flipping cash, in his beloved ’92 Ford.

He heard the noise before he actually saw anything, a low rhythmic hum that varied in pitch at roughly one minute intervals. It was not loud. In fact, he felt like he had to strain to hear it above the desert sounds and yet it seemed to be coming from all directions at once. Rod forced his attention away from the stars and looked around, squinting to see the full landscape in the star-lit sky. There was a fuzziness in the air just to the north. As he focused in on the shimmering air, a sharp, thin line appeared like a straight, dark scar that rose from the ground to a point about ten feet high. Rod watched as the line expanded to a perfect, black, rectangular shape and then, to his astonishment, solidified into a three-dimensional box that looked something like a high-tech elevator entry in a modern sky rise but without the rest of the building.

The elevator door opened revealing an intense turquoise light with a depth that extended as far as Rod could see and two tall figures that looked surprisingly – just like people. They walked slowly from the structure, moving about fifteen feet from its door. One of the figures, a man Rod thought, bent down and placed a small, turquoise box on the ground. The second figure, with the apparent shape of a woman, motioned to Rod to come to them.

Rod rose from his camp chair and began to move toward these creatures. He wasn’t forced but felt absolutely compelled to follow their instructions. Logic, he knew, demanded that he turn and run, seeking help. Yet, the overwhelmingly content, trusting feeling that engulfed him just couldn’t be ignored.

The man said, “Rod, we are so pleased to have arrived and so thankful that you made the trip this evening from your home to meet us. We are emissaries, representing the Grand Council of Souls and it is our greatest honor to present you and the people of earth with this gift.”

“I… I don’t understand,” Rod stammered. “A gift? The Grand Council of Souls?” Rod had no doubt this was all really happening. The reality of the situation was clear. But it was so overwhelming, he was having trouble processing.

For the first time, the woman spoke. “Rod, on April 12, 1961, your people first stepped into space, triggering our sensors and setting in motion a blessed chain of events that has occurred millions of times before with other people and other worlds since the Great Beginning.”

“We began our journey immediately and it has taken us this long to arrive.” This, from the man again. “Even without the constraints of physical matter, our distance is so great. Today is a wondrous, spiritual day for the people of Earth.”

“So what is the gift?” Rod asked. He was staring at the box lying on the sandy ground in front of him. It was no bigger than a deck of cards. Turquoise and slightly glowing as if some hidden energy was contained within, struggling to be freed. On its surface, a single, gold button was blinking, the only break in the otherwise clean lines of the box.

“Rod, when you push the button,” the woman said, “your physical world and your people will be instantly destroyed. There is no pain or agony, of course. The energy contained in this precious tool instantly sends every atom of the earth scattering back to the unorganized source material that fills the galaxies.”

Now Rod was scared. “What?” He exclaimed incredulously. “I thought you said this was a gift. You want me to destroy the world?”

“Don’t you understand?” said the man, a compassionate look on his face. “This is the natural pathway of a people. Your physical world will not last much longer. Already, the temperature of your planet has risen, altering the delicate ecological chain that sustains your life. You’re seeing earthquakes and unprecedented weather patterns.”

The woman picked up where the man had left off. “Rod, the natural state of a people is not to exist in the physical world. The energy of the soul, unconstrained, is the harmonious, infinite way of the universe. This is nothing to fear. Our gift, given to earth as has been given to so many others, provides the beautiful road to the inevitable maturation of every people.”

“But why me?” asked Rod. “How could you expect me to make a decision like that? It’s not my place. It’s too much to ask. This is all just too much.”

The man continued. “This message is not new to your world, Rod,” he said. “It has been with you for over two thousand years. In every culture, at a certain point in a people’s growth, we send a message that this time and our visit will come. The story translates differently with different people, depending on the language and the culture but the message is always the same. It educates people that the physical world will end and that one unique soul will make the blessed decision to release their world from its limited, narrow existence. Rod, you are here talking to us because you descend from the one who carried that message and the others before him that date back to the Great Beginning. We did not choose you randomly.”

Rod crouched down to examine the box more closely. He did know this story. Everybody did. What the creatures were telling him made sense and yet, he just couldn’t comprehend that it would all happen, all end like this. Did he even have a choice? His finger moved over the button, where it hovered, hesitantly.