Solomon's Private File #153
These stories about Stephen and Solomon take place starting in
1950's. Stephen wrote about his life in letters to a penpal, and then
in a secure blog, in case he lost his memory again, in the master
computer in his school for gifted students, which he started attending
in 2016 in a new incarnation, until his death. Now his son Solomon is
attending the same school, and is writing in his own secure blog for
his future incarnations.
All characters are fictitious, even if some of them might have names
that belong to some actual people, or act like people we know.
Solomon is 20 in this story, in the Spring of 2047.
Solomon's Private File #153 "Ayatollah"
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The President of Iran called me and said, "The Grand Ayatollah would
like to meet with you." I said, "Wants to talk about sex?" He said, "I
don't think so." I said, "Too bad. Could have been interesting. I'll
meet with him, but with my conditions. It is to be a secret. If he
tells about it without my permission, he will personally regret it." He
cleared his throat, and said, "Harm?" I said, "Not physically painful,
but that leaves a LOT of very interesting possibilities. Do you
remember what my father caused the attacking Chinese army in Tibet to
experience, to decide not to continue to fight?" He said, trying to
suppress a chuckle, "I do. You would do that?" I said, "I'm not my
father. My humor is more twisted. Much more, I'm told. Well, after they
recover from laughing. Oh, Hawk has already started." He laughed. He
said, "Would you tell me about some of them?" I told him about the lie
Then he said, "Oh, that's really twisted. You intended that! I see
more. You mix humor and wisdom!" I said, "Sure. Why waste an action on
just one thing? Everything has in it something that can be learned
from. I just make it a little more er, noticeable and interesting." He
said, "That I must believe. Will you give me a recording of this
conversation so I can give it to the Ayatollah?" I said, "So you won't
need to make him angry, yourself? Yes." He sighed, and said, "Please."
I did, and he disconnected.
The next day he called me back and we scheduled the meeting. I ported
to the office of the Ayatollah. I said in Farsi, "Greetings. You asked
to meet with me." He said, "Greetings, Solomon, please let us sit in
peace." We did. I was silent. That annoyed him, after a while. Then I
let a little smile show, and he laughed. I said, "My father was invited
many times to have meetings with people of the Chinese government when
they were his enemy. Much of what they tried to do to him in those
things hasn't been made public. Please assume that I know all of that,
and like he did, would not be unaware of any of those things before
arriving to any meeting, anywhere." He was looking a little afraid. I
said, "All that would indicate that I am here, is not doing that, and
that includes your peoples' perceptions. One more thing. They will not
remember that you told them of this. Now we may have our meeting."
He had a lot of different emotions jumping around in him, and they
were showing on his face. He noticed me studying them, and they became
stronger. Then he said, "Will I be punished?" I said, "To the extant
that you won't have me as a friend, yes, and that alone could hurt you
more than you may ever understand. Other than that, is to be decided at
the close of this meeting. So, please start your er, discussion." He
said, "Would you tell me how not being your friend is bad for me?" I
said, "No. You should assume that I would have, if I had intended to.
Next?" He gathered his wits, and said, "Do you know what happened to
the 12th Imam?" I said, "Yes." He said, "Would you tell me?" I said,
"Not at this time. I see you have realized something. Feeling a little
foolish now?" He said with sadness and self anger, "That is true. Would
your knowledge have been very important to me?" I said, "With your
beliefs, more than I think you know. Hmm, even more than that. No, I
didn't read your mind. People tend to forget that my intelligence is
greater than any living being in this galaxy, and in thousands of other
dimensions. I don't need to read minds to understand a person
completely, and know what he thinks." He couldn't even say wow. I said,
"Even my own group feels the same."
After a while, he said, "Am I a descendant of Muhammad?" I said, "No
more than the millions of others who share a very small part of his
heritage. Please assume that if you were, I would have said nothing."
He had to smile at my grin. He said, "Has the Mahdi returned?" I said,
"That is dependent on particular beliefs. What do you really mean by
return?" He thought a little. He said, "I understand. Reincarnation?" I
said, "There is only one way for me to really know that, and if I did,
I wouldn't tell you." He said, "Would you tell me of that way?" I said,
"You're not stupid. You would know that with some thought." He said,
"Yes. If you were the Twelfth Imam yourself. But could you look into
all now living and see their past lives?" I said, "I could, but I would
not invade their privacy for such a reason." He said, "Oh. Ethics.
Could your father have done that?" I said, "Only for some people, not
all. Yes, I am more advanced. Well, some might think not so in humor."
He grinned. He said, "I would disagree with them." I nodded in thanks.
He said, "Were you Muhammad?" I said, "I will not tell you of any
person I was in the past that I have not already revealed. No, that
isn't part of the lack of friendship. As I have said before, I should
not accept honors or blame for the good and bad I did in past lives,
because while I have learned much from those lives, I am not now those
people, and am not responsible for them." He said, "Wise, but
frustrating." I said, "Wisdom is often frustrating for the unwise." He
said, "True. I know this now more than before." I said, "I've heard
that before." He nodded. He said, "Would it be good for us if the Mahdi
returned?" I said, "That depends on what you view as good, and what you
mean by us. For you and your present desires, it would not be good.
Remember, he was a child when he disappeared. If he remembered that
life today, it could possibly be only of childish things, which would
mean very little to a modern person, who might not now remember that
life, or even be of Islam. Oh horrors, what if he were Sunni?" He had
some conflicting emotions. I said, "Yes, God has a sense of humor, and
He has told me He loves mine." He whispered, "What if the Mahdi were
Jewish?" I said, "Even more interesting. But in reality, most of us
have had many past lives where we were of a lot of different
religions." He nodded, and said, "I have a belief now." I said, "I
know. I request that you do not share that. Your people would be
confused and divided, even more than they already are, and we must
assume, with increased violence. You might not survive that." He said,
"You care?" I said, "I do." He had some tears.
He said, "Why did you become Jewish?" I said, "Keep a secret?" He
said, "I will!" I said, "Like my father, having been in all religions
when they started, and knowing God directly, I believe only in God, and
not the self serving words of man created religions. But for my group,
for after my father died, I felt we needed a religious leader among us
other than my sister, for legally private counseling and performing
marriages. This was before I was twelve, and I did not remember past
lives then. I researched the major religions, and visited their
services. The Jews were the most welcoming of me, not knowing who I
was, and they were the most open and tolerant of other religions, so I
chose them, and for other reasons. They had no central authority to
command me, and they were not in serious conflict with their different
denominations. I became a Rabbi, as I had planned, and I have acted as
one many times, even in defense of those of Islam." He said, "You have!
I remember. New York!" I nodded, and said, "In my group, we have people
of many religions, including Shia and Sunni."
He said, "Oh! I should have expected that. I should not have been
thinking of you as an enemy. I was foolish." I said, "I understand. You
felt threatened, and in a way you were correct to feel that way. Who I
am, as the world sees me, IS that way to you, and to some of what you
do. You wish to attack other countries. You know what would happen to
you if you did. But you need your people to believe you will, or at
least want to, to maintain your control over them. That is unethical in
a leader. Would Muhammad approve of the images of you and your
predecessors, gigantic images, that are all over your country? You know
he would most definitely NOT. Would he approve of your words and
actions against other religions and different groups of Muslims? NO!
Would Ali? I say this from my own personal knowledge, he would NOT. You
know this, yet you ignore that knowledge in favor of personal and
national power. Do not assume that God is with you in that."
He bowed his head, and said, "I expected you to say that, but not
with such a background before it to make it more real." He looked up
and said, "Were you, oh, you won't say. My apologies." I said softly,
"Better for you that if I were, you didn't know." He said, "From this I
know, because of how careful you have been because you don't lie, that
you were at least one very important person in Islam." I said, "When I
said you weren't stupid, did you really have to believe me?" For a
moment he was confused, and then he laughed in reaction.
I said, "I think now we have reached the end of this, our first
discussion. If you wish to be my friend, well, such people don't say
and do what you have been known for. You have choices. I would not
interfere with the free will of another. So, I will give you a strange
gift. One of my group was, in a past life, the Prophet Muhammad, and
some time after that, a Pope of the Catholic Christians. Yes,
interesting. No, none in my group knew this, and they are really making
noise in my head about that." He had to laugh. I said, "And it's going
to get much worse, because I won't tell them any more than that." He
said, "I feel bad for you, but why won't you?" I said, "We feel the
emotions of each other, and can see all of us, inside and out. The only
real privacy we have is in our minds, and little even of that, with our
monitoring of each other. So, for us, past lives are not pushed for,
for our privacy." He said, "A strange existence." I said, "Absolutely!
Full of love, though."
He said, "I wish to be your friend. I will try to deserve it. What
that means for my future, and the future of my country, I don't know.
Or how much I can change, or be permitted to." I said, "You know of my
danger watches on some politicians?" He said, "I do." I said, "I have
one on your President, and it was needed. I offer that service to you.
It doesn't invade privacy." He said with tears, "I accept!" I said,
standing, "Would you accept my personal love?" He came into my arms,
and I gave it to him, enhanced with Ki. After I helped him to sit, I
said, "Another controversial gift. The Eleventh Imam was poisoned by
one of his wives, while in partial captivity. The Twelfth ran away in
fear of his life, with help, for all the politics and intrigue that
caused that death. He lived the rest of his life mostly as a popular
story teller. Some of his stories are now well known and loved, some,
in part, for the wisdom they contain." He said in surprise, "I did NOT
expect that!" I said with a grin, "Good!" He laughed. I ported home.
I was mobbed. A lot of pokes. Mom said, "You won't tell us who?" I
said, "Which one?" She said, "Prophet and Pope." I said, "Just that
it's not me, and the person doesn't remember those lives. That will
have to be all." She said, "I agree. We should accept that. But that
story teller. You'll never convince me that you weren't him." I said,
"I wouldn't try." She growled, and so did some others, but there was
still a lot of love flowing all around and through us.
The President of Iran called me. He said, "Your meeting. It went
well?" I said, "I required of him that it be secret. To be fair, it
should be that way for me, too. It's been that way for the private
meetings of my father and me, with other religious leaders." He said,
"I must respect that. Thank you. He's not going to be made naked in
public?" I said, "Hmm, should I tell him you requested that?" He said,
"Oh God, No!" We laughed. I said, "No, not from this meeting." He was
happy with that, and I think, a little disappointed, too. He wasn't the
only one.
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Grant
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