BEYOND THOSE HORIZONS (~Chapter One~)

*THE FIRST SKY*1

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The sky was at my feet and I was not a bit afraid. The angel was with me.3

The angel held my hand and I was overwhelmed. I was able to fly.4

I was happy and content with joy overflowing the cup of my soul.5

I was thankful to the angel for the bliss he had thus bestowed on me. I addressed the angel with careful words- “Dearest Angel, you came down to me and that was my destiny, my good fortune. You lifted me above my miserable world. You made me experience the bliss of life, which I never knew existed. For all this and more, I am grateful. And I am falling short of words to describe the sincerity of my feeling.”6

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The angel looked at me and smiled. The reply was full of warmth. The angel said, “I came down to you and that was your destiny, your good fortune. You welcomed me in your miserable world and that was my destiny, my good fortune. I have done nothing to make you experience the bliss of life, which you never knew existed. For all this and more you should not be thankful to me but to yourself. You need not find any words to describe the sincerity of your feeling though. For I understand that. But here is just a thing I would like you to understand: ‘when you give in, you get even more. When I came down to you and asked you to give in your life to me, you did. As a reward for the honor you had thus shown towards me, I have brought you here. Nobody but your own self is responsible for your own rewards.’ Keep that in mind and thank yourself. Do not thank me.”8

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The words of the angel were astounding. I thoughtfully agreed and said- “Often I had heard the statement, ‘Angels can fly because they take themselves lightly.’ Now I know the truth of it. Now I know many things and more and also that in the first instance, I was able to fly as you held my hand because you had but… taken away my ego from me with your magical touch! You had made me light just like yourself… with total loss of ego!! You had in fact made me angel-like the very moment you made me fly!!! And I am deeply grateful. But you do not seem to accept this gratitude of mine and you do not even seem to accept the fact you made me fly. You do not seem to have a bit of ego but… alas… a lot of self-respect, when you do not accept my gratitude. What do you say?”10

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The angel was quick in response. He said- “I will say only this much: my self-respect does not allow me to accept anything for that matter which I do not deserve. Why should I accept even a word of thankfulness from you when I did not for you a favor? In fact I have done for myself a favor by making you fly, as you say, or to put it more appropriately… by bringing you here. And I did for myself this favor when… I did only maintain space for my self-respect when I brought you here! And that because you had…but deposited an honor so heavy at my soul (remember? when you agreed to give in for my sake!) which was hard to carry and even harder to hold with the weight of self-respect that preoccupied my soul!12

And I do not really wish… to compromise ever with this self-respect of mine because this is the one and only thing I have known that does not allow me to have an ego. And which makes me fly!”13

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After a long silence, I finally spoke- “I am sure of one thing. If you had an ego, you were not an angel… full of self-respect. Ego demands gratitude from others, self-respect does not even recognize it… from others. Is there any need to state: what you demand is what you do not have and what you are loaded with is what you do not even care to recognize.”15

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The angel caught my words and added- “So, a grateful soul is always full of self-respect. Right? Well, that makes you an angel in your own right of course, because you are grateful no matter what, full of self- respect! Yes, an angel full of self-respect. No different from me.”17

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I could only say ‘thanks’ to the words of the angel.19

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The angel laughed a sober smile and said- “Yeah! You are able to fly with me but just because you have the willingness and the ability to. I have only provided the sky!21

And because you have honored me once again by flying on the sky I provided you with, I will once again provide you another sky, a second sky. And not to mention for maintaining once more this self-respect of mine, which so covers my soul that it would not even accommodate an honor bestowed on it.22

So, as I provide you with this other sky, do not say ‘thanks’ to me. Instead, just fly… if you will.23

So, will you fly? Are you ready to fly to the other sky?? Are you ready to ascend to a place where this sky, the second one above you, will be at your feet???”24

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I boldly answered YES.26