Chapter 2
Jehovih spoke through His sons and daughters, His voice came up out of the marsh and down from the heavens above, and the children of men heard and saw, and rose up because of the spirit in them. And they answered to Him, Who is Almighty; and their voices were called Tae, because as it is the universal word of all children born, so does it represent universal prayer of man (humankind).
Tae said: Reveal, O Father, give me light! I see the wide earth, the sun, moon and stars. But the great vault of heaven is as an empty sky. Where is the abode of the dead; the place of the souls of men?
In times past You have quickened seers and prophets, and through them lifted up Your children and proclaimed other worlds! Am I dumber than those in past ages? All the while my forefathers and I have withstood Your mighty Presence.
You have quickened my members by Your own hand, to be dissatisfied with the old revelations, and made me peer deeper into the cause and place of things, and to desire further light from Your holy place.
My manhood (womanhood) has been raised up by Your Power. Only Your Power and Wisdom will appease me.
When I was a child I believed as a child, because it was told to me; but now that I am grown up, I want to know who Your prophets were, and how they attained their gifts and wisdom of words.
The cosmogony You taught in the past was sufficient for that day; but now I am raised up by You to perceive comprehensively the sun and stars of other worlds, and of their travel in Your great firmament. Now I cry out to You, where is the promised heaven? Where is the proof of immortal life? By You I was quickened into life and made conscious that I am. To You I come in the majesty You made me, You, my Father! By You I was made determined to sift all things to the bottom. In You I know there is magnitude to encompass all my holy desires, and answer me.
Give me of Your Light? When I was a child I sought You as a child; now, I call out in the manhood (womanhood) You have bestowed upon me! I will know Your Lords, Gods, Saviors, and Your promised heaven.
I have scaled the mountain; Your myriads of corporeal worlds that travel in the eternal sea of space speak of Your handiwork! I have perceived that all the stars in heaven would not fill the hollow of Your Hand; yes, that Your breath moves the universe! The glory of Your works has inspired me with great zeal to come to Your Mighty Home!
Speak, O Jehovih! You alone can satisfy this soaring spirit that sprang forth from You, inspired. Give me light!
I have encompassed the whole earth, and bridged its nations with assimilative words. My geography is finished. Give me a book of heaven! I have burrowed deep in corporeal knowledge, and seen the drift of all on earth. Where is the spirit world, and land of the dead? Give me light!
Kosmon said: Jehovih heard the voice of Tae, and answered him. He said: Let the angels of heaven go down to the earth. My blessed son calls to Me in wisdom and truth. || And the angels of heaven descended to the earth, for it was in the time of dan’ha in the firmament of heaven, and the angels manifested and proved the immortal life of man.
Jehovih said: Let this day be the beginning of the reign of Kosmon; for it is the beginning of the time when the wisdom of the earth is conjoined in My name.
Tae said: Yet not even half is answered, O my Father in heaven. Since You have proved the immortal life, You have stirred me to my soul’s foundation. Where do these inhabitants of the unseen world come from? Where lies this heavenly footstool of Your majesty?
If I shall see the place when I am dead, is the germ of that sight not already in me? How am I made that I see, but do not see this? Hear, but do not hear this? If I am now dead to that which is to be, will I not then be dead to what is now? Give me light, O Father!
Jehovih said: I gave man a corporeal body so that he could learn corporeal things; but I made death so that he could rise in spirit and inhabit My etherean worlds.
Two senses I gave to all men, corporeal and spiritual senses; nevertheless the two of them are one person. A man with corporeal senses in the ascendancy, chooses corporeal things; a man with spiritual senses chooses spiritual things.
I have made two kinds of worlds, corporeal and es (spirit) worlds. He who desires of corpor shall receive from corpor, for he (corpor) is My son, in whom I am well pleased. He who desires from es shall receive from es, for she (es) is My daughter in whom I am well pleased.
Kosmon said: Because man lives on corporeal worlds, corpor is called son; but because man in spirit lives in the es world, es is called daughter.
Tae said. Because You have sent angels to me, and I have seen them, and talked with them face to face; yes, of my own flesh and kin, and proved them to be the spirits of the dead, undeniably, I know this much is true. Yet I cannot see or hear them, unless they manifest through corporeal things. How, then, shall I know that they know one another?
Hear me, O Jehovih! Am I still a child, and so, need to fall back on angels’ testimony? Have You not given me an inquiring spirit, which impels me to prove things to my own knowledge? Truly, I have seen an angel’s face and stature change to look like another person, even while I talked with him. If these things are thus so subtle, cannot even our own presence mold them to truth or falsehood? Such a witness is of no value. When, then, O Jehovih, shall I find growth for my own members (senses and judgment), so that I may know the es worlds and its inhabitants? I will not be appeased by merely seeing the spirits of the dead, nor by their testimony. They may call themselves God, Christ, Buddha, Brahma, or Confucius, yet I will not rest on them or their word. I will put forward my plea to You only, O Jehovih. I am Your son (daughter).
You have quickened me to know things by my own knowledge; and though it is told me, Thus said the Lord of Your God, yet I will raise my voice ever above them. And though a spirit says, I am your Jehovih, believe me, I will deny him.
You have quickened me to rise up above the tales of the ancients, and to demand knowledge from Your throne. By You my soul is moved to this magnificence, and only Your magnificence can satisfy Your son.
Since I have seen the spirits of the dead, I wish to know their abiding place, how they live, how they travel, their manner of growth, their food and clothes, and how they spend their time; whether they labor or live idly, and above all how far, and in what manner, their corporeal lives had to bear on their spiritual happiness in heaven.
Give me light, O Jehovih! Not by word of mouth. I will have my members quickened so that I can comprehend within myself. Yet not me alone! Rather let it be given, or the way taught, to all mankind. For if one alone, he would become a God among men. Jehovih, forbid this!
Jehovih spoke, through His sons and daughters, and:
Kosmon said: Hear me, O man, I will speak in wisdom. Follow my counsel and be wise. What, then, have you learned in all the time of your existence on earth? Can you tell why the grass is green, or why one rose is red and another white, or the mountains raised up, or the valleys sunken low?
Do you know how all the people of earth clothe themselves, or travel about; why a man was not to fly as a bird, or live in the water like a fish? Where did the thought of shame come from? You do not even comprehend yourself, nor know, of your own knowledge, the time of your beginning. You know three times three are nine; and even this you cannot prove except by symbols and images. Nor is there anything in your corporeal knowledge that you can prove otherwise, except your presence; and even that which you see is not your presence, but the symbol and image of it, for you yourself are only as a seed, a germ of the Father.
Be wise, therefore, in knowing your own knowledge, and to a certainty, right the matter from the side of the es world (i.e., be sure your knowledge is true from the spiritual, soul perspective).
Tae said: I will reason with You, Jehovih, for all my knowledge shall be based on science and truth. From Your own perfection I am inspired to this end, and pursuing the exact sciences of all known truths shall strengthen my talents. Neither will I put away my own judgment, nor accept as truth that which is at variance with Your established laws.
You made both the seen and the unseen. Are they at war, or in harmony? My corporeal body is made of earth (flesh), stone (minerals, bone) and water. Is the spiritual body, then, not made of air (oxygen, hydrogen) and imperceptible dust?
The angels You have sent have feet and legs! For what reason? Do they walk on the air, or wade through it? They have no wings, they cannot fly; they say they have not seen the illustrious angels who have long been dead. Must I also go into the es world simply to meet my neighbors, and never salute the wise of the past? Give me light, O Jehovih!
Something within me makes me anticipate the light and glory of what I have not seen; but I must have it tangible and demonstrable—the pure truth!
Then Jehovih answered through His daughter Esfoma.
Esfoma said: Hear me, O Tae; I will speak words of wisdom and truth, and you shall not depart from my word.
Science is that which the ignorant look up to, but do not see. Is a ship, science, or a stone arch, or a machine? Surely not. Is the idea of these things, science? Can an idea be science, or a multitude of ideas?
Is the man who finds the vertebra of an insect, not said to be scientific? But he, who finds the backbone of a horse, is a vulgar fellow. Another man finds a route over a mountain or through the forest, and he is scientific! Why, a dog can do this.
Another man finds a new way to solve problems, and he is scientific. But the pupil after him who does the same thing is nothing. Who, then, are the scientific? For have they not all borrowed, compiled, and only added a little? Really, then, what is science? Is the sand-glass (hourglass) not more scientific than a clock? What, then, do you mean by science? Is the sum of it all (science), nothing but a figurehead, undesignable and without foundation? Yet all your life you have heard of science, and so have your neighbors, and you understand one another, though not one understands himself.
Esfoma said: Hear me further, O man, for this, of all things, should stand high in your soul. Take now, therefore, the chalk, and write ten for me. Tae took the chalk and wrote 10, saying: That is ten.
Esfoma said: I will now convict you so that you can plainly see that you have uttered falsely. You have written only two marks, and called them ten. Esfoma wrote | | | | | | | | | | . Yet, do not be surprised, O Tae, for, because I have deceived you, I will now also convict myself. I said I would show you ten, and immediately, I made ten marks; but I should have written the word “ten.” Now you are wise! No, hear me further, for all I have spoken is false; for have I not tried to persuade you that the one uttered word TEN, was ten? Instead, I should have uttered ten utterances.
Pursue your studies, O Tae, and you shall find that supposed exact science is nothing, and that supposed truth is only falsehood compounded and acquiesced in. Find the time the sun will rise tomorrow, and you are scientific; but deviate the ten thousandth part of a second, and you are not scientific; no, you are a falsifier before Jehovih.
Yet do not be discouraged about the exact sciences, or of finding the truth according to your judgment. You are wise to desire to attain knowledge that is your own, and not to accept, either from man or angels, on belief merely. But, where does your self begin and end?
Have you not robbed the tree of its fruit in order to feed the body? And the field of its wheat, and the young corn that was growing? Give to them their parts, and what remains of your corporeal body that is your own?
Yet of your own judgment, you have less than that. You are only the fragment of an entity in all you know of your own knowledge. Nine parts of ten are the gleanings of your surroundings.
How, then, do you expect to know the laws of earth or heaven! Understand my words, and be wise in your proceedings.
Is it not a law of the earth that earth substance shall fall to it? Yet you see a tree come up out of the ground, ten thousand corporeal pounds, and stand erect in the air. Has Jehovih made one law to pull one way, and another in another way? How do you know there is any law about the matter? Do you know by your own knowledge?