"Rabbi, I'm from the tech-support division of Heaven, inc., and my buddy here is from marketing. You've made contact with us previously and we're here with a business proposition."

It was going in real slow. Yes, I had been thinking about souls and angels a lot lately, but mainly about why I couldn't see any such things. So now, suddenly, I was seeing angels. I thought, maybe this is my crazy imagination gone wild. But I knew there is no way I could have imagined this.

Marketing Angel:
T452, this is totally awesome. If you weren't here, I'd be sure my crazy imagination's gone wild again.

Tech Angel:
It's really not so nuts, M835. Everything from our realm is here. Just collapsed.

MA:
Sort of like a mathematical model of reality in only three dimensions.

TA:
That's kind of it. Every concept of our world exists here in analogous spatial representation. Take that object there...

They were gesturing at a rock I use for paperweight on my desk.

TA:
That's one of the thoughts generated by H2905.

MA:
I always knew that angel was a little inert.

TA:
His thoughts are, too. So, here, they look like this. J265, on the other hand, has thoughts like that one there. A little more dynamic.

Now they were pointing at the potted plant by the window.

MA:
And whose thoughts are those ugly critters?

I knew they'd get to the cockroaches at some point. Very embarrassing.

TA:
You don't want to know, M835.

MA:
Totally Cool. Each thought, laid out, distinct and separate from the other.

TA:
And there are creatures here, conscious ones, to whom this is reality.

MA:
You mean they get to see all our thoughts? Right out in the open like this?

TA:
They have no clue what they're looking at! They think these things are just here and that's it. That's what he contacted me about: He called it "physical."

MA:
Which means?

TA:
I figured out what that means. It means when you see just this highly resolved representation of an idea, but you can't see the idea behind it. So you're left with this highly fragmented, super-static... well, this stuff.

MA:
Hey, I'm an angel and I also can't see what's behind it. How do you do that? How did you get the simulation so real-like?

TA:
That's the whole trick. That's what these goggles and all the gear are all about. They block out all the depth of the signal and provide only the final, resolved, outer stimuli.

MA:
What a trip! Space becomes so awesomely heavy. You have to pass through it one place at a time. And time trudges forth step by step. Hey, look at this!

Now he's waving his hand slowly in front of his eyes. Then the other guy starts doing it. I'm telling you, these angel characters...

MA:
Whoa! KEWL! First it's in one place, then in another, then in the next...

TA:
This is what I wrote about in my thesis. Discrete time-space. Extreme-resolution of both velocity and position.

MA:
That was a thesis. This is for real. I'm telling you, T452, this is going to be the next big wave in angel tourism.

TA:
But we need someone at this end. The tour guide.

MA:
So we got this mind-directed entity here. But isn't he stuck in the same protocol? I mean, how could anything possibly think down here?

TA:
No, there's mind there. I mean, he managed even to contact us. Looks like there's something there transcendent of...

By now, I got the clue that they were discussing yours truly. And they weren't being very nice about it.

Me:
Hold on, gentlemen, this is my office. And if you're going to be making visits to this place, you're going to have to learn a little of earthling protocol. Like proper etiquette. Like about talking about people to their face...

MA:
Wow! Willful consciousness. Even some personal sensitivity.

Me:
You guys don't get it, do you?

TA pulled something out of MA's mouth gear. MA fluttered a lot, not very happy.

TA:
Rabbi, please excuse my co-agent here. This is all very new to him. Actually, we're very sensitive to...

Me:
Let's get past the excuses. Now, just explain to me what this is all about. What's the deal? And what's it going to cost me?

MA grabbed that piece of hardware back and was now able to talk again.

MA:
Umm. TA, how do I explain this, TA?

TA:
The space travel line.

MA:
Right, space travel. The deal is like this, rabbi. You know all about space travel. You do that all the time, with-umm-how many wings does this... never mind, we know you do that. You can basically move about any direction at will, right. T452, you better have provided clean data here. Now, how about time travel? A little more locked in, eh? Most of the time, you go only one direction. It takes a lot of work to jump in and out of the various time frames and...

TA:
No! I told you, they're stuck in the causal-linkage mindset here! They don't do time-travel because they think it's linear and all!

MA:
But you told me they think, right?

TA:
Just get on with the presentation.

He's back to me now.

MA:
But the biggest challenge has always been ontological travel. I mean, at least with time, you move somewhere. But in realms of reality, it's just so static. You're projected by the Cosmic Mind into a realm of being and you're just stuck there throughout that phase of existence. No upwards, no downwards, just stuck. Now, here I don't know, but where I come from, we know there's something beyond and below. I mean, where I come from, angels are just dying to get out of there. Hey, T452, dying to get out of there! Hey that's a pun if I ever heard one! Dying...

TA:
The guy's standing there, waiting for your pitch...

MA:
He's cognizant, right? Do you think he's getting this?

Me:
I'm getting the whole thing. Let's get down to business...

MA:
Tour guide. You.

Me:
20% commission. Stock options. Benefits package.

MA:
We can guarantee supernal revelations of the first order delivered to your consciousness after three successful tours.

TA:
Hold it! We can't talk business yet! There has to be a basic understanding of how the system works! T452, what happened to your standard line of marketing ethics? "Our job is education, not sales." You enter a lower realm and the ethics are out the window, eh?

Me:
Tell me, can we do this in reverse? Can I get humans up there with this device?

I must have said something real bad. They looked pale and fluttery. I thought I saw sparks.

MA:
Oy.

TA:
Rabbi. No. Please. You could overcharge. That's ugly. You don't want to. Rabbi, let me explain the whole thing and you'll understand why.

Me:
If I video-tape this, will it come out?

I started setting up the camera while he was talking. Never did get an answer. The tape is real weird. You can watch it.

TA:
It's really not so hard, because we can provide an analogy from your own psyche. You see, in fact, you are doing ontological travel all the time-whenever you speak, in fact. Or any other form of congruent expression.

MA:
He does that. It's true. He talked, for example.

The digital zoom on the camera was doing weird things.

TA:
You recall our conversation. That your perceptors are stuck in an extreme mode of resolution. From this arises this phenomena that you first contacted me to discuss. You call it...

Me:
Physical.

TA:
Right. Actually just a highly discrete description of reality. Problem is, with such hi-definition, all meaningful context is lost and your entire world may appear void of inner expression. As though it's just autonomously here. All on its own.

MA:
Hey, yeah! It's just like that! Like it's just here. All on its own! Excellent description!

TA:
Unless you have the code.

MA:
We have the code. You sign the NDA and we can throw that into the deal.

TA:
Now, the interesting thing is that human beings such as you are capable of decoding these things. If you've ever read The Adam Files, you'll know what I'm talking about. In fact, we only have the code because we've built on that original work of the first human being, Adam.

Me:
You mean, the Hebrew language?

TA:
We're getting side-tracked. The point is that you have a mental protocol by which you can re-conceive these hi-definition percepts into abstract concepts. And you can also work in reverse, translating abstract concepts and emotions into discrete language and words.

At this point, there was a screen up in the room. I remember that for sure. Okay, it doesn't come out in the video. But it was there.

Specifically, your mind is constantly traveling back and forth through five distinct realms, each separated by a quantum leap of reality. They are:

1. Articulated Words | The World of Events

2. Speech | The World of Formation

3. Thought | The World of Creation

4. Emotions | The World of Emanation, Main Floor

5. Intellect | The World of Emanation, Top Floor

Me:
I need an example.

TA:
Here's an example: Take a single word. Like "dream". Say it over and over...

Me:
dream, dream, dream...

TA:
Until it becomes just a sound.

Me:
dream, dream, dream...

Me:
Because that's all it is. No meaning, just a hollow event.

Me:
... dreamdreamdreamdream...

Me:
Something like your world.

MA:
Just seems to be here. And that's it.

TA:
But when that sound is in the context of speech, whoa, then it gets meaning. It becomes part of something greater. It becomes a word, a message. Like an angel — angels are messages from above.

Me:
So speech — that's like the world you come from?

TA:
Sort of. It's what you were looking for when you asked to see the soul of things. In your world, you see just the end results. In ours, you see the consciousness behind them.

Like, say, a chemical reaction.

Something popped.

TA:
Or an electric current.

Something zapped.

TA:
Or a plant growing.

The plant blossoms burst out.

TA:
Or the neurological processes of one of these ugly creatures walking across your table.

Something v e r y weird... never mind.

TA:
Down here, you just see what's happening. In our world, we see a consciousness, an idea. Because of that idea, the electrons know where to move, the plants know how to grow and the little bugs know how to crawl. We angels are all absorbed in the idea, so much so, we don't perceive this artifact you call the physical body.

Me:
So how do I get there?

TA:
But there are higher worlds. Like there is something higher than speech.

Me:
Thought? But thinking is hard.

TA:
Yes, thinking is harder than speech, but on the other hand, speech is very frustrating compared to thought. Because, in thought, words aren't so distinct one from the other. You hardly feel the words at all, because the context and meaning is so clear up there. The words are like letters carved out on shiny jewels — you can't see them for the light that's shining. And that's what makes them so, so much more powerful. A thousand words of speech can never express what a single word of thought has to say.

Me:
So, before I make a speech, I'm supposed to think about it? They didn't put that in my contract.

TA:
Once they get down to words, they have to resolve clearly. Each word has to have its particular meaning. It has to be this and not that. The context, the light, it all gets lost.

Me:
You're saying that I'm supposed to think about it, but I'll never be able to really say what I was thinking. So I'm doomed to be misunderstood.

MA:
Listen, we're not doing a toastmasters session here! This is about worlds, remember. He's trying to explain to you the World of Thought, i.e. Yetzira.

Me:
Okay, so that's the place I want to get to. That's the deal. Don't call your lawyer and I won't call mine.

TA:
So, there are worlds of thought. Where things barely know that they exist. But then, there's something even higher than thought. The place where those thoughts are coming from. The inner structure of the psyche. Not what it's doing, but what it is.

MA:
Why are you so hung up on going up to those higher worlds?

Me:
It's just a gut feeling. A yen, deep inside. It's who I am.

TA:
Right. Emotions are where words come from, but there are no words in emotions. It's a whole different reality there. And the same with emotions compared to intellect.

MA:
He hasn't a clue what you're talking about.

Me:
Not true. I'm getting it. It's like the sound of the word "dream" compared to the sentence "I had a dream" compared to the whole thought that you get when you hear the whole speech, compared to the powerful emotion behind that speech, compared to the whole mindset it took to come out with that speech. Five levels of reality.

MA:
I'm impressed.

TA:
Four worlds. The last two are in the highest world. Atzilut.

MA:
Whoa! ATZILUT! WHAT A HIGH!

Me:
You have angels up there, too?

MA:
What a riot! Angels in Atzilut! This guy's for real isn't he? I love it!

TA:
No angels anywhere in proximity. Atzilut is pure G‑dliness. I mean, that's The Source. Only neshamot come from there. Most step down somewhat as they descend. There are those that don't even do that. But even when they do descend, it's not like with angels. They retain that transcendent Atzilut quality in their descent.

Me:
Neshamot? That's what I was calling to ask you about...

TA:
You called to ask about why you can't see spiritual. Which means you know what that is. So your perceptors are here, at what you call physical, but conceptually you can perceive the higher image. The soul inside each thing.

Me:
Like my neshamah?

TA:
We're not talking about neshamot now. That's atzilut stuff. We're talking about spiritual. The soul inside each thing.

The marketing guy got really impatient and pushed his cohort aside.

MA:
All he's trying to get at is that you'll be the perfect tour guide. Because you can connect the different realms, see. Now, for the benefits package, I can work out an eternal life scheme...

Me:
But the neshamot bit — you didn't get to that...

TA:
Neshamot don't fit into this whole scheme.

MA:
No, we won't be bringing any neshamot into this. No need. They travel back and forth, free of charge all the time.

TA:
Neshamot are different. They come in as a supplement. There's a being there already, with its own soul, and then the Cosmic Master breathes into it. Direct. And then that body starts acting with this different type of consciousness. Entirely transcendent. Traversing all worlds.

MA:
That's why we don't have to bring those here.

Me:
But I have a neshamah.

There was a pause. I was honestly thinking maybe they had come unplugged. Then the marketing guy talks real slow and softly:

MA:
He --- says ---- he ---- has ---- a ---neshamah....

TA:
I didn't tell you about that?

MA:
I'm outa here.

TA:
Heck, don't worry! It's a real stepped-down signal. It's not like we're talking about some tzadik or something. He's really pretty out-there.

MA:
He's got a neshamah.

TA:
That's what makes him a tour guide, see? He can traverse — at least conceptually.

This was my chance. I grabbed it.

Me:
That's right. You guys can come down here, and you haven't even got a neshamah. Just funny goggles. I have a neshamah and I want to go up there. And that's the deal.

MA:
But look what you've got down here! You gotta be crazy! This is the ultimate trip!

Me:
That's nonsense!

TA:
No, it's true! You may be missing a lot of contextual data down here, but you have the Divine Mind in hi-definition, kinetic-tactile...

Me:
The ultimate trip is what you guys are describing, up there. Worlds of Speech. Worlds of Thought. Higher Being and Consciousness. I want it and I want it now!

TA:
But, rabbi, it'll blow your little consciousness to pieces! You won't be able to return to your corporeal state! You're just not ready!

Me:
Who needs a corporeal, anyway?

MA:
We do. For a tour guide.

TA:
The Supreme Consciousness. He wants you to have one. And He's the Boss. We can't do anything to abrogate our contract with Him. You know what would happen to us? I mean, if we would even think about such a thing, we would immediately...

Those were the last words. I know it wasn't a hallucination, because the whole building had a power-out when they — whatever it was that happened to them. Don't make me describe it. They were gone.

Okay, I blew it. Maybe I pushed too far. Maybe I haven't really gotten to the bottom of this soul stuff, either. There's a lot of mainstream, scientifically accepted stuff already out there. Like Sir John Eccles and David Chalmers and others — do a search and find out for yourself: Human Consciousness Research. As for what I've written here, you'll find the basic idea in Likkutei Sichot, volume 6, pages 109-118, in Tanya and all throughout the Chassidic writings.

But ever since those angels left, the world doesn't look quite the same anymore. I haven't squished one of those angelic ideas on my desk since. Funny, though, how one of them just turned over and died the instant that marketing angel flickered out...