Solomon's Private File #144
These stories about Stephen and Solomon take place starting in
1950's. Stephen wrote about his life in letters to a penpal, and then
in a secure blog, in case he lost his memory again, in the master
computer in his school for gifted students, which he started attending
in 2016 in a new incarnation, until his death. Now his son Solomon is
attending the same school, and is writing in his own secure blog for
his future incarnations.
All characters are fictitious, even if some of them might have names
that belong to some actual people, or act like people we know.
Solomon is 20 in this story, in the Fall of 2046.
Solomon's Private File #144 "Muslims and Christians in Nigeria"
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There was unrest in Nigeria. Just after the prayers were over in a
Mosque, I ported to where the worshipers were, with my aura visible,
and sat on the floor with them. They knew who I was, and had a mix of
emotions about the situation. I smiled and said, "Greetings." Some
offered the same. I said, "I hear you have some er, difficulties with
the Christians. Please describe them to me." One said, "They attack our
Mosques!" I said, "That they do. Why do you think they do that, which
is very much against their faith?" No answer. I said, "I am being
polite. Am I an enemy, or a guest here?" The leader said, "We would
like for us to be friends. They attack us, because we attack them." I
said, "Thank you for your offer, and for being truthful. They attack
out of anger, and of fear. I think we can all understand that very
well. Who wouldn't fear you, when you want them to?" Some smiles.
I said, "So you are well aware of that. It also means you see the
direct cause and effect. How strange is it that you know you cause them
to attack you, which you dislike?" They looked thoughtful, and then one
laughed almost hysterically. I said to the leader, "Does he do that
often?" Chuckles. He said, "Actually, he does." I said, "I know this
well. My uncle Hawk is the same." They knew about him, and chuckled. I
said, "But he is also a very wise man, which causes him to laugh at how
foolish we can be. He laughs in reaction to his pain for us." They
understood, with some new appreciation of their version of Hawk.
I said, "Why do you dislike the Christians?" He said, "Because they
are not of Islam." I said, "I understand that part, but why does that
cause you to dislike them?" No answer. I said, "Are they not loving
parents to their children, industrious laborers in their employment,
and supporters of good over evil?" They were busy rethinking some
things. He said, "They are as you have said. They are not bad people.
But they do not follow Islam." I said, "That is true. And as it should
be. Would YOU want to join a religion that is causing your people to be
killed? Do you want crazy people in here?" They all looked at the newly
laughing man, and some laughed at him, but some also laughed with him.
I said, "You can't convince people to do what you want by killing
them. Their souls don't stay around for that. Dead bodies are
spectacularly unresponsive to persuasion. Those who are left alive,
become angry. Angry people don't listen very well to other people
telling them what to do, and even less to those who killed their
friends." More loud laughter. I said, "Hmm, I think it was the
unresponsive thing that started him again." Chuckles and nods.
I said, "What does the Koran say about Jesus?" He said, "That he was
a Prophet of Allah." I said, "So those who follow Jesus, are following
a very important Prophet of Allah?" He said, "I have to say it, yes.
But Muhammad is the greater Prophet." I said, "So, you want them to er,
upgrade to the newer, improved one." He smiled and said, "Interestingly
said. Yes." I said, "But until then, they are still deserving of
respect for their beliefs?" He thought some, and said, "That may be
so." I said, "And that respect is the necessary first step in
conversion. Show them the true beauty of Islam. Welcome them into your
hearts and homes. Show them WHY they should WANT to join you. Let
goodness and joy do your work for you. Show them love, not hate, if
that is what you want from them. It will take time, maybe a very long
time and effort, but that makes it even more worthwhile. The easy task
causes no real joy of accomplishment. Share that joy with them, and it
will multiply."
They looked at me worshipfully. I said, "If you would like us to be
friends, I am here for you." I held out my arms. They came to me for
hugs with love. I added some Ki intensified desire to not kill. I said,
"Soon I go to speak to the Christians. Would you like a recording of
this to give to your friends?" They did, and I made a shower of memory
cards to fall to the floor.
I ported to in front of the first pews in the most important
Christian Church in Nigeria, with my aura visible, just as the service
was ending. I said, "May I speak to all here?" The Priest said,
"Solomon, it would be a great honor! Please!" I said, "Thank you. Your
people are having a problem with the followers of Islam. They attack
your Churches, and you attack their Mosques. Will any tell me why some
of you are attacking their Mosques?" One said, "Because they are
attacking us!" I said, "I showed you I know that already. Please answer
my question. Why?" He said, "To make them stop!" I said, "Oh. Well, how
successful has that been?" Silence. I said, "I'm waiting. This is a
house of God. Only real truth is allowed here." The Priest said, "That
is so. Please answer his questions." One said, "It is not successful.
They attack us more for that." I said, "Is there anybody here who does
not know that?" Silence. I said, "Yet, you continue to attack, knowing
they will kill more of you for that. Please excuse the possible insult,
but how intelligent is that?" Silence. The Priest said, "I will answer
that. Not intelligent at all."
I said, "You attack them not to change what they do, because you know
it won't, because it hasn't. You attack out of ANGER. You attack for
REVENGE. Tell me, ALL of you, is this what Jesus would approve of?" The
Priest raised his arms to encourage them. Most shouted, "No!" I said,
"Is this what true Christians should do?" They said, "No!" I said, "Do
you want them to be Christian?" They said, "Yes." I said, "How can you
cause that to happen, when they see you do not obey the religion you
want them to obey?" Some dawning comprehension.
I said, "Did you know that in the Koran, Jesus is a major Prophet,
and that the followers of Islam venerate him, too? I see you didn't
know that. But you know more of Jesus. Show them. You can't convert
them by force. Dead people have a lot of trouble listening to you. Show
them what Jesus stood for. Be like he would want you to be, if you want
to call yourselves Christian. Only then can you be worthy of carrying
his words to another. Do unto them, only what you want them to do unto
you. If you want their respect, respect them. If you want them to know
your Holy Book, learn their Holy Book, too. Both contain some great
writing and true words of wisdom. I have to admit I'm a little biased
in that, because my father's lives are in them, and some of mine, too.
But there is more. By different names, you worship the same God! Please
don't dishonor Him, for any of His names, and respect ALL His Holy
places. Open your hearts to your brothers in God, and your own hearts
will feel the joy of His love for all."
I said, "I have said similar things to the Muslims recently. They
have recordings. I will leave recordings of what happens here, for you
to share as you wish. On both sides, it is angry young men who are
fighting and killing. Mere words asking them to stop, may not be
enough. Give them your love. Give them good reasons not to fight.
Respect their feelings, and help them to use them for more constructive
goals, but above all, forgive them for what they do that is not as
Jesus would have it. Teach them how to know him better. You can do
this. I think you should. It is your choice what future you want to
create for yourselves and your children. For ALL the children of the
world."
I turned to the Priest, to see his tears. I said to him, "Have you
anything to add to my visit?" He said to his people, "Solomon is wise.
He is a messenger of God. Listen to him, and know what God would have
of us." I said, "Er, I didn't expect that." He said, "Is any of it
untrue?" I said, "No, but the embarrassment!" There were a lot of
smiles. I said, "For all here, I offer my personal love." I opened my
arms to the Priest first. I helped him to sit. I said in the air, "Mom,
a little help?" She ported in, and the parishioners all lined up for my
hugs, and she helped them to sit. When it was over, I dropped a big
pile of memory cards, and Mom and I bowed, and ported home.
I said to the family, "I had to block the doors, or there would have
been a never ending line of them." Mom said, "I wondered about that.
Think there will be any success?" I said, "Just with those two
meetings, not much. Making the recordings known world wide, a little
more. But only after they become noticed, to counter possible editing.
Don't want to seem self serving, with preemptive." They nodded. We
shared love.
I said in the office of the president of CNN, "Something to discuss
in the news. At your convenience." He said, "Now is good." I ported in,
and said, "I spent some time in Nigeria." He said, "We've heard
rumors." I said, "Right. Spoke in a Mosque, and a Church. Left them
recordings. They might edit them." He said, "I see. We won't do that."
I said, "Play the Masque one first, because I went there first. Time
management caused that. Here's the media recordings, and here's a
crystal of them, for convenient review. Would be best if you don't say
they came from me, but just that you obtained them." He read it and
said, "Wow! This is different from how you usually are. Real news.
Going to cause a lot of comment." I said, "And you like that." He said
with a grin, "Absolutely! What will the Jews say?" I said, "I don't
know, but a Jewish Rabbi, meditating between, and showing respect for
their religions, Christians and Muslims, might cause in some of them a
lot of pride, if not a little laughter." He chuckled and nodded in
agreement.
They did run the recordings. The comments were all over. Some
condemned me for favoring one religion, whichever one they disliked the
most. Some praised me for being nice to their own religion, making no
mention of the other. Some expressed shock that I would say those
things at all. I was asked to comment. I agreed to a short show with
Don. He said, "What you did in Nigeria has drawn a lot of comments." I
said, "A lot of comments, yes. But were any of them even relevant?" He
said, "Do you mean for those outside of Nigeria?" I said, "Outside of
Nigeria, yes, but I also mean anywhere. One should ask oneself, why
were any comments made public at all? What was their purpose? Did that
purpose have any good will behind it? Was it meant to help, or to hurt?
Was it political in nature? Was it done just to make public noise, to
achieve some unjustified notoriety?"
I said, "As a research psychologist, I'm very interested in those
things, and what it says about the people who make them." He said, "Do
you do it for that reason?" I said, "No, I don't act specifically and
only to cause people to er, expose the natures to me, with my published
actions, but I WILL learn from that, which I do with everything I
experience. I suspect that others will, too." He said, "Have you
received thank you notes from other psychologists and sociologists for
some of these things?" I said, "To my surprise the first time, yes, I
actually have received thanks from psychologists and sociologists for
er, stirring the pot of public reaction for their research. Some of
their notes were amusing. No, I'm not going to expose them." He
chuckled. I said, "Public comments of support are appreciated, and can
make my work more effective. Those comments opposing my work, are
unwelcome, because they show the negative aspects of humanity. I work
to enable greater understanding and love for all people. Those who
oppose that work, obviously don't want that to happen. In making that
position public, they help those of us who work for good, identify the
opposition, which is helpful in a different way, which is a good thing
that they might not appreciate." He looked at me in admiration as we
went to commercial.
Off air, he said, "Wow! An actual threat!" I said, "Not really, but a
warning, yes. You can't attack without inviting effective reprisal you
expose yourself for. I just showed them that vulnerability. That will
motivate some to stop, and some to do more of that, further exposing
their inhumanity, and achieve for that effort, more condemnation from
other people than they might expect." He was almost shocked. I said,
"Good or bad comments, or even none at all, I win. I make everything
work to my advantage." He nodded.
Back on air, he said, "The Mormons and the Vatican have praised what
you said. So have some Islamic leaders." I said, "I've noticed that.
What interests me most, are those who want to publicly support my work,
but for political reasons, remain silent, and those who want to oppose
my work, who don't want to be public about it, for fear of losing their
own political prominence. Interesting conflicts there." He said, "Do
you know who they are?" I said, "I know who some are, yes, and some of
them know it, and if they are listening now to this, their neighbors
might be able to identify them by the noise of their teeth grinding."
He had to laugh. He said, "Jewish leaders like that you did that, but
some have said they wished that you had at least mentioned Judaism." I
said, "Then I do it now. Judaism is at the very core of the history and
beliefs of both Christianity and Islam. It is therefore right and
proper that a Rabbi should help them to value and love each other." I
signaled the end. He said, "Thank you Solomon for helping to us to
understand this." I said, "It's my duty as a teacher. You're welcome."
Off air, he said, "You were amazing! I couldn't have expected any of
this." I grinned and we said together, "Good!" He said, "This shows
that you are something your father was not, a true statesman." I said,
"My past lives include that, more than his did. And we had different
tasks to perform. He led by force. I lead by being me." He nodded and
said, "Well said. I have to agree. You don't seem embarrassed. Is that
a change?" I said, "Have I ever actually clearly said that I was
personally embarrassed?" He reviewed things in his mind. I said, "Well
greased mental gears you have, or I'd be hearing a lot of noise. Oh,
that sent Hawk over the edge!" He laughed. He said, "So your
embarrassment was a tactic to make you look more human, which you
really are, and to try to keep a lot of what you do secret, so we don't
come to depend on you." I said, "Yes. A public person's image is made
by who manages it best, but because of that, and it's so limited
because of the short attention span and memory of the public, it can't
be who the person really is. I try to make it close, though, but I'm
very complicated, so that takes a lot of work to stay on the public
personality message, most especially when I have to work outside of
it." He said, "I've seen that. Amazing, all the same." I said, "Even
fooled my Mom." He said, "Wow!" I said, "She almost said that after I
let her see that I was consciously managing my image as young as
eleven. But even before that, I was creating the personality I knew I
would need to have for the work I would be doing. I'm not a natural
leader. I was thrust into the role, and I've had to learn to be that
kind of person. I'll never like it, but I will do my best, as always."
He said, "You said some of your lives were in the Bible, but you've
only gone mostly public with two. Will you ever reveal the others?" I
said, "Maybe. One of my lives was VERY important in a key Biblical
event, but was never mentioned in the Bible, because those who wrote it
never knew what I did, or even that it was done as it was." He said, "I
can't imagine what it was. Does your family know?" I said, "No. I think
you can assume they are expressing a lot more interest than you are, at
this time." He grinned and said, "I believe that! Going to tell them?"
I said, "I haven't decided. When there happens to be the right time and
place, I do reveal a past life. I save them for when they will make a
positive difference. Can only reveal one once. Then it's er, history."
He nodded. I stood, and he did, and we hugged with love.
At home, Mom growled at me, and we hugged and kissed with love, while
Hawk was laughing, and Galya was laughing at him. Then Mgambe, who is
from Nigeria, ported in and hugged and kissed me with love, too.
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Grant
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