The Inner Realm, The Place In Between

It has been a month since that odd dream Jeff had and it had become a distant memory. Jeff comes home from his long day at work feeling a bit more tired than usual. He starts a fire in his fireplace and sits down in his favorite worn out recliner beside the fire. Jeff Slowly drifts off into sleep as he watches the flames dance as he listens to the hypnotic and soothing cracking sounds from the fireplace. As his eyes slowly shut and he drifts off he hears the laughter of that almost forgotten old man from that dream from a month before. He finds himself sitting on the ground in front of that same campfire across from that old man Verum Peto. The old man looks at Jeff and smiles then says” I see you finally woke up again”.

Jeff not knowing how to take that statement or how to reply sits quietly looking at the campfire trying to figure out how it got here again. Verum sees that Jeff is still bewildered by it all so he explains to Jeff how that this is more than just a dream, that is the place between conscious and subconscious, the place between the physical and the spiritual dimensions. “Jeff this is the place between all that you know and all that makes it all come into existence. This is the realm of thought, dreams and the border lands to both your physical dimension and the dimension of spiritual or the metaphysical plane. This place has been called many things but the Tibetans came closest with what they call the Bardo plane.

Of course I am referring to the Milam Bardo, the entrance to the in-between state or dimension when one enters the dream state. They hit it pretty much on the head with the Milam Bardo. Pretty much in a nut shell Jeff you are in the white space in-between heaven and earth.”

The old man Verum then hands Jeff a cup of hot cocoa and gently smiles at him. Jeff still trying to grasp and take in all that Verum said just sits silently sipping his cocoa. Just as Jeff takes his last sip of cocoa Verum turns to him and says “It isnt quite time for you to truly awaken yet” and with that said, Jeff sits up quickly and sees he has returned to his old battered recliner by the fireplace and wonders once again if it all was but a dream.

The sun rose from the east like any other morning and like usual Jeff Bartlett started his pot of coffee and readied his self for another tedious day of work. Little did Jeff knew that fate had something a little more interesting for him than his usual trek to work. As he drove down Hwy 143 towards work a strange bright light appeared around his car and then vanished. As soon as the light disappeared Jeff was no longer on Hwy 143, He was in middle of a field of corn. Jeff stopped and stepped out and looked around to see nothing but corn for miles around him. Confused by what just has happened Jeff sat back in the car and smoked a cigarette in a slight daze. Jeff figured if he was to figure out where he was then he should try driving out of this corn field so Jeff cranked up his car and drove slowly through the corn field.

After about ten minutes of driving he finally exited the corn field only to find a hilly grasslands with a few trees spread out along the landscape. “Well this isn’t looking good” Jeff said as he scratched his head trying to figure out what happened and where the heck he was. From behind the vehicle Jeff heard a voice calling out to him saying “Hello” and in he looked his review mirror and saw a old man waving at him. The old man came up to Jeff’s window and said “You look like a man in need of directions”. Jeff looks at the old man through the window and replies “Man that’s an understatement if i have ever heard one”. The old man just smiles and tells Jeff that the directions you want are not the ones you need and starts walking away and before Jeff could even say a word the old man says “If you want directions then come sit with me by the fire” and the old man disappeared over the hill.

Jeff gets out of his car and ran after the old man only to find him sitting on a rock by a campfire beside a small pond. The old man waves at Jeff to come and sit by the fire with him. As Jeff finally sits on the ground by the fire the old man looks at Jeff and says to him “I bet you wonder how you got here don’t you?” “Well don’t worry yourself over that, it isn’t all that important at least not as important as why your here.” then the old man goes silent and plays with the campfire. “Where am I anyways?” Jeff asks with a bewildered look upon his face. “Where are you?, why sitting by a campfire” the old man says wittingly. Jeff’s face begins to turn a bit red from the old mans answer and then the old man stands up and says “I am Verum Peto and you are in the inner realm, the place in between.” And then Jeff Wakes up in his bed at home thinking it all was a dream.

To Be Continued