by Dan Edmund
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I found Harry sitting on the ground, staring introspectively at the fountains at the Resurrection Sanctuary, seemingly at peace once more. A cloth bag, presumably filled with his notes, was by his side. I walked up to him. "I read your message," I said as I sat next to him. "It seems you're planning to leave."
He gave a faint smile. "I'm not just planning, I am leaving."
"To Australia, to meet your mother? That's great, but how?"
"By a person I knew but had never actually met."
"Sorry, I don't understand."
"Neither did I until early this morning. I was told in my dream to meet my guide in a village called Eu Topis."
"You were told in a dream last night?"
"Yes."
I shook my head and frowned. "Oh, Harry, you're talking in riddles again. I wish you would stop that. It was, after all, only a dream."
"Yes, another lucid dream. However, even stranger things happen around here. For instance, giant shafts of light coming down from the sky, people seeing visions, people meeting angels, people being brought back to life. Do I need to go on?"
"No, but only spiritual mentors have those special type of divinely communicative dreams -"
"Or see angels or have visions," he finished my sentence, smiling ironically.
I nodded comprehendingly. "All right. But still, I don't understand what you're driving at."
"Ou Topos are two Greek words, ou meaning 'not,' and topos meaning 'place,' and thus literally meaning 'no place' or 'nowhere.' Thomas More used the two words as a kind of pun for his book Libellus de optimo reipublicae statu, deque nova insula Utopia."
"You're still not making any sense."
"It's Latin, and roughly translated means, 'Concerning the highest state of the republic and the new island Utopia.' More first used those words as a title for his book, which later simply began to be called 'Utopia.' The whole book was written in Latin. In his preface, More included a poem. I had memorized this poem in my former life. A poet called Mr.Windbag supposedly wrote it. This exact poem appeared in my dream last night. In English it reads like this:
'Noplacia was once my name,
That is, a place where no one goes.
Plato's Republic now I claim
To match, or beat at its own game;
For that was just a myth in prose,
But what he wrote of, I became,
Of men, wealth, laws a solid frame,
A place where every wise man goes:
Goplacia is now my name.'"
"I still don't follow. What's that poem got to do with you?"
Harry smiled. "A lot! Let me explain. The word 'Goplacia' in the last line in the poem is another pun on the word 'Utopia,' here using the term 'Eutopia' instead. Eu stands for 'well,' and topis, of course, means 'place.' Therefore, Eutopia can be interpreted as meaning a 'good place,' but the translator used poetic license and translated it into 'Goplacia.' However, it seems there is more to it than that, as the message has a direct application, at least as far as I am concerned. I indeed need to go to that place. Plato wrote his own version of a perfect world, The Republic. There the rulers were to be wise philosophers. However, Mr. Windbag's poem called it only a myth. Thomas More felt he could create a better world, a world where people would want to live, unlike the harsher and more Spartan utopian world by Plato. However, at least some of More's Utopia is written satirically, with names, when translated from the Latin, being like Raphael Nonsenso, or Mr. Winbag, and the capital city on the island of Utopia being Aircastle, which is by the river Nowater." He chuckled to himself. "Despite More's great piety, he was still quite a wag. A letter by Erasmus, his friend and a great scholar who wrote The Praise of Folly, even informs us of that."
"Oh, Harry, I'm afraid you're again sounding a lot like these people called Nonsenso and Mr. Windbag."
Harry stared at me and grinned. "Maybe it sounds that way. However, please let me continue. There is a point to all of this. I still maintain that what More had written in his Utopia was to be taken seriously. At least he took it seriously, although he obviously did use satire, which the intelligent reader in his day could understand. However, it's not like Swift's Gulliver's Travels, which is full of satire. John Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress, on the other hand, is a religious allegory, and makes use of many symbolisms, as does the Book of Revelation. But, of course, you are well aware of that. However, I may be wrong, but it seems to me that this life here also utilizes these same types of literary devices. Perhaps, to some extent, even my other life did as well. Perhaps we are even all just characters in some cosmic story, just a small part of a greater consciousness. I don't know."
Despite Harry's seeming calmness, I felt something was wrong. He again just did not make any sense to me. Therefore, especially sitting up here in the exquisite gardens of the Resurrection Sanctuary, I felt the compulsion for prayer, thus gaining God's guidance on the matter. My suggestion was responded with a grin.
"Yes, if you like. However, I already have."
"You have! You mean, you have prayed already, by yourself?" I asked, truly astonished.
He nodded. "There is no need to tell you that I was never a praying sort of man. However, here in this world, it seems to be the right thing to do, and it brings results. Even spectacular results like this morning."
"Why? What happened?" I asked.
"Last night, the vision and the dream disturbed me because it had left me all confused. So, after waking up, I decided to go up to Anastasis, and then I began to pray for help. I again could feel a great calmness, which still remains with me until now. And after the prayer, I heard a voice that relayed to me an important message that would unravel my confusion." He abruptly stopped.
"A voice?" I asked, confused. "So, what did this voice say?"
"A telepathic voice told me to go to the place called Eu Topis. Of course, I immediately recalled the poem, particular its last line, which was 'Goplacia is now my name.' However, I was now told by this voice that this was indeed a real village about five days west of here. I was then told to simply follow the Deer River until it became very broad. There I would find an island, and a village called Eu Topis. Here I would also meet my guide, none other than Thomas More himself! You can understand my thrill at that message, and, of course, that I was to be guided by him to the place where my mother now resides." His smile even broadened. "It'll be wonderful to see her again!"
I was likewise thrilled for Harry, although surprised that all of this was not made clear in the Divine Light last night. It had not really surprised me that his mother, nor even Thomas More, had been resurrected. I knew from Harry that Thomas More had been a good man, and that he had even authored such a book as Utopia showed to me that he was searching for a better world, a world that I knew Paradise could offer to him. However, I was surprised that Thomas More was the one that would be Harry's guide to the place once called Australia. After all, I asked myself, how would he know? It was a question that would still be left unanswered. However, right now, it was far more important for me to see Harry happy, in stark contrast to last night.
"So, Harry, why were you so miserable last night? You had the visions, like everybody else, and then you were even told of your mother's resurrection. I can understand your concern about getting to her, being so far away. But surely you should have realized that things would be clarified for you somehow."
He nodded, then smiled coyly. "Perhaps, but you have to remember that last night, after the vision, I was in a state of shock. I not only saw the Revelation visions, but many other things. And they were not just symbols."
"Like what?"
"Such as seeing myself dying, although not actually seeing myself as being dead!"
The statement stunned me. "What do you mean by that?"
"Exactly that, as you will also find out for yourself. Anyway, it was like watching a three-dimensional film. It had been Friday, and Roger and his wife had come to our home late that
afternoon, then stayed for an early dinner. He again had mentioned his paranormal research, and now wanted to know more about my lucid dreams. I wasn't in the mood and told him so. Therefore, we talked about the weather, our family, our classes, the economy, and the continuing trouble in the Middle East. It was pleasant enough, although they left early, knowing that neither one of us were feeling up to par. I had pains in my chest, and my wife had another one of her migraines. We both had an early night. I saw myself saying good night and giving her my usual formal peck on the cheek. We then went to our separate beds. In the darkness, I could still see myself mulling over the day's affairs, and the lectures I would prepare over the weekend. However, finally I saw myself going to sleep." He suddenly paused. "Then I saw myself seemingly dying of a heart attack. Other things also happened, which I will not tell you, but in the end I found myself standing where you saw me on Mount Anastasis."
I reached out towards him, trying to comfort him. "Oh, Harry, so that's why you don't remember...." I let the sentence fade.
"Dying," he whispered. "According to the vision, I had a heart attack whilst dreaming. Or did I dream I only had the heart attack?" He gave me an ironic grin, as if playfully teasing me, I think. There was then a long, poignant pause before he added, "I also saw a lot of other things, the Light, then things which I don't understand."
"Like what?"
"I don't know. Perhaps let Dante speak:
'While sight was unconsumed; and, in that depth,
Saw in one volume clasp'd of love, whate'er
The universe unfolds; all properties
Of substance and of accident, beheld,
Compounded, yet one individual light
The whole.'"
He gave a faint smile. "Perhaps Dante did not really understand either, but his words capture something of the infinite, don't they?" He shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know, but to me it seems there is another world beyond the Light, perhaps a whole new universe, or universes, much of it exceedingly beautiful, more beautiful than even this world, which I now also believe to be real."
"That more beautiful world is heaven," I said.
He smiled gently at me, then added softly, "Ah, yes, heaven. However, 'there are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy.'" He then shook his head in confusion. "And that quote is even more applicable to me!" There was a long pause, with neither one of us saying anything. We were both too immersed in our own thoughts. Finally, Harry broke the silence. "That time when we were also alone on this mountain, when you thought I was going to be destroyed, but instead I was immersed in the Light, I then felt a great power of love, but only a glimmer of my ignorance. However, last night, the full sensation of my ignorance became truly manifest. Now I truly realize that I know nothing! I now feel like the character Job after he too was seemingly shown his ignorance and puny power when contrasted to God."
He then recited the following words from the Book of Job:
"'I know that thou canst do every thing,
and that no thought can be withholden from thee.
Who is he that hideth counsel without knowledge?
therefore have I uttered that I understood not;
things too wonderful for me, which I knew not.'"
I placed my arm around him, and with it, my fondness and love. We were no longer mere acquaintances; we were brothers now. "Let me come with you, Harry, at least as far as Eu Topis."
He remained silent, letting the request hang in the air for a seeming eternity. Finally, he smiled. "No, David, it's something I must do myself. You have fulfilled your mission already."
"But will you be all right?"
He now also entwined his arm around me. He again did not answer, but instead we both sat next to one another, letting the mystical, sublime and even subliminal beauty that surrounded us soak into the innermost recesses of our souls. Finally, he reverentially said, "In a world such as this, how can I not be all right?" He then stood up. I likewise got up and there we embraced each other once again. "Farewell to thee, my noble friend. Till we meet again," he said. Although the words may have seemed theatrical, they were nonetheless filled with warmth and sincerity.
For a second, I wanted to cry. Then another miracle happened, one both of us saw and felt. A soft radiant light came down upon us, entwining us even further, filling us with the peace and love of God. Then, above us, I saw the angel, John. Another smile, and John was gone. The Light then lifted and we finally loosened our embrace.
He gave me a final, gentle smile. "Once more, I say farewell. Till we meet again."
This time tears did well into my eyes. "Farewell, 'Thou art a scholar.'"
His eyes displayed a look of pleasant surprise. "Ah, perhaps you do know Hamlet after all." Then grinning, he continued with another quote, "'How now, Horatio? You tremble and look pale. Is not this something more than fantasy? What think you on't?'" His grin then turned into the softest of smiles. "You are 'like softest music to attending ears.' From Romeo and Juliet, my friend. I shall truly miss you and your beautiful music, but do not despair, thy true love will soon be here." His grin even widened. "And that message came not from Shakespeare, but from the angel that is still standing here!"
He then picked up his bag and departed, and all I could do was watch.
