Coming Home to the 5th

In the midst of his 111th miracle of the day – the restoration of vitality to a bird that had flown too close to an electrical wire – the archangel Zenzekial looked up suddenly, releasing the re-enlivened bird as he did so. 

“Good Heavens!” he said, wiping his sweatless brow (not being embodied, he didn’t actually sweat, but he enjoyed pretending). “Could it really be sundown? The day has gotten away from me!”

He had a sudden misgiving. “Undo that,” he added quickly. “What I meant to say is that the sun is now setting. Just as a sun should.” He had to be very careful with words, given his instantaneous manifestation abilities – he couldn’t afford to have the Earth spiral into darkness due to a misbegotten turn of phrase.

While it was true that the sun was indeed going down, that occurrence did not necessarily mean that Zenzekiel’s day was done. Being an angel, he was not bound by the laws of the material plane; nor was he constrained by finite amount of ability (or time) to perform countless more miracles. It was not like there was a boss dictating the parameters of his job (though he relished the thought, as it was so novel). Even if God were a Being, rather than Universal Consciousness, Zenzekiel was certain that S/He would not have been interested in being a “boss", as that would be hierarchical (light beings were beyond that kind of limited thinking).

“Hierarchical…!” he said, laughing in delight as he relished this curious thought. “Imagine that!”

Even though Zenzekiel was an angel, being on the material plane did impose certain restrictions on his energy, due to the dualistic nature of the place. As it was filled with beings (humans, as well as human-like impostors from other dimensions) who had chosen to separate from Source, there was a prevalence of scarcity-based thinking which was quite draining. He was a 5th dimensional being, but even he was not fully immune to being influenced by the collective mindset, and he needed to return home to recharge every now and then.

So after he had bidden his flock (the mountain and the flora and fauna upon it, as well as the forest Elementals) a temporary farewell, he began preparations for the journey back to the 5th dimension. Even for an angel, these preparations could prove quite challenging, taking several hours; as such, he tended to go home relatively infrequently. While the commute from 3rd to 5th was quite quick – instantaneous, in fact – it was rather tricky to do if one was still attached to things in the 3rd dimension.

“Attachments,” he murmured. A deer wandering by pricked up her ears in interest; when he appeared to be talking to himself, however, she continued on her way, grazing contently and flicking her tail. “They get you every time!”

It was true: whenever he had an attachment to something in the 3rd, it was absolute hell getting back to the 5th. Attachments could be anything: a passing thought he’d had about a lovely spot in the woods he’d like to return to; a feeling of longing when he saw a human experience an emotion he knew he’d never feel in an embodied state; a feeling of protectiveness about a vulnerable creature he’d helped; a desire for a given human to understand the message he’d imparted. Any of these – innocuous as they were – could develop into full-fledged attachments if he didn’t bring awareness to them right away. And sometimes he was so busy performing miracles, he didn’t take the time to check himself in the moment. In prior times, his delay in checking himself had gotten him into some trouble when it came time to go home: much like a plane delayed for takeoff, he’d been grounded for longer than he’d wanted. It took him several such “groundings” to figure out a system that would reliably serve to “clear him for takeoff.” 

His system was quite simple, and began as a thorough mental review where he cataloged each of his thoughts, examining his motives and desires. The process was similar to the life review that souls of the recently departed get from the Archangels when crossing over – the only difference being that the angel was administering this review to himself. While it was too tricky for a recently-deceased human soul to pull off, Zenzekiel had the advantage of never having been embodied, so the weight of the attachments were significantly less. This allowed him to maintain an objective perspective when reviewing his thoughts.

After completing his thought catalog, the angel went into a deep, meditative state. When an unexpected emotion would arise (as they are wont to do), he would examine it objectively, detaching from any story associated with it. He would then allow himself to feel the emotion fully without judgment, and -– gracefully accepting it as part of his experience – he’d let it go. 

Zenzekiel continued in this vein for quite some time; it seemed that he’d had a particularly desire-filled day. There was the situation with the wind spirits (they’d blown an old-growth over “for fun”, they’d said with mischievousness) that he seemed to still have some feelings about; he’d also found himself feeling trace amounts of annoyance when he saw a human pitch a piece of plastic wrap off the mountain on a hike. There had also been the incident with the baby deer not being able to keep up with its mother; he could see she was on the verge of abandoning it (he really loved the animals, and it was hard to see them suffer). These and other occurrences had created a bundle of unfelt feelings, and it was only due to his angelic ability to be fully present with them that allowed the necessary release.

Many hours later, after the stars had emerged and deepened into the night sky, Zenzekiel came to the end of his review. Opening his eyes, he gazed into the vastness: ocean merging with skyline, blue-black depth speckled with the shimmering light of the stars. He felt a prickle of longing in his chest, and he chuckled to himself.

“I'd better go before I get too attached to this view,” he said aloud. The pine trees on the summit rustled in the breeze, whispering their assent.

He breathed in deeply, allowing himself to be filled with the invisible life force that permeated all things. As he felt his heart expand beyond his non-material form, he formed a single thought: “HOME”. 

And just like that, he ascended.