The world we live in is simmering with information which are bombarding us ceaselessly. It is more and more difficult for us to understand what is true, what is important for our life, for a more and more alert and superficial life, focused on the material side of daily survival. From this informational race are not missing of course the temptations related to the prediction of the future. The idea of finding out aspects from the coming or further future is extremely tempting when it appears in a difficult moment or out of a curiosity which cannot be controlled.
`Father, how can some people know the future ignoring the fact that they are specialized in divinatory arts?`
`Let’s take for example the prediction of the future in cards. They are some mere drawn pieces of board, do you think they have any intelligence of their own?`
`Of course not`.
`This means that someone from the invisible world arranges the cards.`
`It seems so. But there are some people who don’t ask for money for something like this. But there is no need because there the exchange currency is not money but the soul. You can`t imagine that the demon stays all your life to arrange your cards and he won`t ask for his payment. And here we don`t refer only at cards. The same rules apply for all these so called divinatory arts. Those who practice this thing may not know to whom they ask help. If they knew that the demons are behind this act maybe they would give up on it. The help invoked in these occult ways comes without doubt but the final payment is a cruel one because the soul is priceless. You would give all the fortunes in the world to retrieve your soul but it might not be possible anymore.`
`And then what is to be done?`
`Who does something like this should throw the cards in the fire, confess and give up for ever at such habits. Anyway the demons cannot prophesy. They don`t know the truth. But they know the situation and having no limit in what regards movement in place, they can find out things faster than you warning you about a certain situation. This is all they can do. On the basis of an experience of thousands years of fight against man they may anticipate some things but not knowing the future for sure the rate of their errors is big. And of course is the same about those who involved in all kinds of forms of prediction of the future. For what they do the people don`t use the term certitude but probable future. If God had wanted He would have created us from steam not from what we are. He could have given us any kind of freedom of movement, of understanding, of finding out what will happen in the future, unlimited qualities. But He wanted to create us the way we are and this was for our protection, for our own good. Let me give you some easy examples. We have a limited sight. Some people after using drugs or practicing some exercises widen their sphere received when they were born. But wherever they look instead of seeing special things they see only horrible things because the astral as they call it is full of demons. That is why we are protected. So they are deluded by what they see. Some have a special hearing and they say is clear and audition. They hear more than a normal person. But beside what a normal person hears this one hears other things which frighten him. We are not prepared yet to hear horrible things. The demon is so ugly that if we saw him we would lose our conscience and we could die. It`s no use to speak about the voice of a demon, you heard recordings with possessed people. And now the people who are discontent about the gift of life as they received it try to access the future risking the salvation of their souls for obtaining some information which in fact may not help them at all. Or they do this thing from the desire to be apart of the others, more evolved as they like to think about themselves.`
`I have never thought about these things in the way you presented them to me.`
`However I can show you the future but you have to come with me.`
`Father, I hope you don`t have such qualities, I hope your charge is not the soul.`
I did not receive any answer to my comment. We left the cell where we were located on the mountainside. It was dark night and I followed the father closely because he knew the way, which was very difficult to walk on. The strange noises of the wild animals us all along our way increasing my fear. But I was also very eager to see what was going to happen. What could the father want to show me? Some minutes before that he had explained to me the hard sin of accessing a world which is forbidden to us for our own good. If he invites me to show me the future this thing doesn`t come in contradiction with what I learnt?` I was to find the answer after some more minutes we needed to walk the distance till what it seemed in the darkness to be a small church.`
`I hope you are not fearful`, the father inquired me careful to see if I could face the situation. He felt I hardly controlled my emotion. In this mood he led me behind the church where he opened a small door which led to a room under the church.`
`Come in`, he said firmly. I followed his urge and stepped in, into complete darkness and a piercing coldness which almost paralyzed me. I heard the steps of the father who was close to me, I felt his breath. Before starting to ask for explanations he lit a candle. The yellowish light cut the darkness and revealed hundreds of skulls which seemed to stare at me. We were in the ossuary of the monastery. Then I understood. This is the future for sure. It`s my future and the future of all the men on the earth.
`As you see, the father said, this is the certain future, not the one imagined by wizards. If you came here daily and see those who passed on earth before you, you would become aware permanently that life is limited and finishes quickly, too quickly to quarrel since you might not have time enough for reconciliation. The awareness of death is a good thing. It doesn`t let you go wrong, it reconciles you with the people, it stops you from sin especially because you don`t know when it comes the end. And then you don`t allow yourself to make mistakes anymore. You don`t deviate anymore from the path of salvation.
I thanked the father for the lesson he has given to me. Any other word would have been useless. I fell asleep that night thoughtful, with the image of the pairs of empty and dark eye sockets lit for some moments by the candle. A testimony of our transitoriness on earth.
Excerpt from the book Down to earth, author Ionuț Riteș.
