RESURGENCE

CHAPTER 22

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

An hour later, they sat in the same conference room as before. Gordon had reclined his chair and looked ready to doze off. Nick stood behind Robert’s chair and nervously toyed with his phone. Michelle stood by the door with a glass of wine in her hand. Stuart had disappeared midway through dinner to answer an important phone call and never came back. Nick had got a text from Stuart to be back at the center as soon as they were done. They had been patiently waiting for him for over half an hour when Stuart entered the room.

“I can’t get anyone to pick up the phone,” said Stuart. “A plane crashed at our private airport, and I’ve been trying to contact the security at the Hamilton Life Center. I’ve tried calling the police and the fire department. I’m getting the same thing. No response.”

“Did you try the big city next to Hamilton?” asked Gordon sarcastically.

“I talked with San Francisco’s chief of police,” said Stuart. “He’s worried, too. He’s sending over some units to check out what’s going on in Hamilton.”

“It sounds like there’s nothing more you can do about it. Let’s get back to the matter at hand,” said Gordon.

“Sure,” said Stuart.

“Robert,” said Gordon. “What do you think about Paula’s afterlife experience?”

“There is very little that we humans understand about the origins of the universe,” said Robert, “the existence of God, and the purpose behind our existence on earth. The answers to these questions form the backbone of all known religions. If you take a step back and objectively look at different religions, you’ll find the same pattern in each one of them. All religions promise a prophetic knowledge contained in a holy book or a way of life. Each religion assures answers to the universe’s mysteries through practice of rituals. We humans are a complex species—advanced enough to coexist but primitive enough to be criminals. A famous atheist scientist once told me when I asked him about his view on God, ‘The idea of God is important for the ones with a weak mind to stop them turning into animals. If people were to stop believing in God or heaven or hell or the final judgment, soon most morals would go out of the window as well.’ I am very happy today that the scientist was wrong. Paula’s experience, however disturbing it may have been, has shown us that this is not the end. Life doesn’t start and end at earth. There’s life after life. It has given me tremendous hope and strengthened my faith. Everyone must know about the discovery of resurrection.”

“Paula had a pretty horrid time after dying I would say,” said Stuart. “If that’s what’s in store for me, I'll rather never see the life after life.”

“What’s in store for us after we die is a question full of curiosity,” said Robert. “The concept of hell and heaven is based on the answer to this question. How did the concept of hell and heaven come into being? I wrote two chapters about it in my latest book. If you have read it, you’ll know. I’ll give you the scientific point of view first: I’m sure all of you have heard of a story about a person dying and then half an hour later magically coming back to life—it’s called a near-death experience. Now, imagine the first person to have experienced that in human history. Whatever that person saw or felt was unique, unknown to all. So, over the course of human history, the people who had such near-death experiences, helped form humanity’s beliefs about hell and heaven. Not the beliefs itself but the idea behind the beliefs. The religious view is that the divine knowledge was passed on by avatars to us mortals. What you want to believe is your choice.”

“Are you trying to say Paula was in hell before being resurrected?” asked Nick.

“It’s possible,” said Robert. “And it’s very disconcerting to me as well”