TEACHING POLYWOGS
Short Story
by Duane L Herrmann
“Well, you've finally made it,” Being of Light said to Sam when Sam appeared. “You've wanted to be here nearly all of your life, and the time has come. You have arrived.”
“Where am I?” Sam asked. Sam had just been immersed in water and taken a huge gulp of water while trying to breathe.
“You're about to teach this class of Polywogs,” said Being of Light, pointing to a group of things that were barely moving.
“They're alive?” Sam asked in astonishment.
“Yes, they're just one level up from Rocks.”
“Real rocks? Mineral rocks?” Sam asked bewildered.
“No mineral rocks here,” the Light answered. “But even they have the attributes of existence and cohesion which are the first steps of life.”
“You said I'm to teach?” Sam asked.
“Yes. You are eminently qualified, and they're waiting. Some have waited for centuries.”
“But,” Sam stammered. “I'm new here, what will I teach them?”
“It doesn't matter,” the Light answered. “They know so little, anything will be more than they know now.”
“But...”
“You were a teacher in Life, weren't you?” The Light asked. “Even before you went to school, you were teaching,” the Light went on. “You first taught your baby sister...”
“While I gave her her bottle?”
“Yes, then,” the Light agreed. “But, even before that. And later, you taught your little brother and cousins. Then, when you started school, you really began to teaching them.”
“I remember trying to play school,” Sam remembered with a smile.
“Teaching is just part of your nature,” the Light replied. “You can't help but teach.”
“But, what should I teach them?” Sam repeated.
“I just said,” the Light was patient. “What ever you do, will teach them something. Sneeze and you will teach them about sneezing!”
“It doesn't matter?” Sam was still incredulous.
“Creator will make sure they learn,” the Light replied. “During life they chose not to learn. Here, they will learn, they will be eager to learn. They have no choice here.
“Oh.” Sam was startled. “Free will only exists during Life.” He stated thoughtfully.
“Exactly,” the Light agreed. “Now, go sneeze, or.....something, anything.”
“But,” Sam objected. “I just got here. I haven't been greeted...”
“I didn't greet you?” The Light had a slight disappointment in its voice.
“Well,” Sam stammered. “I thought it would be different.”
“You what?” The Light asked as it grew slightly brighter, more intense, and more serious. “Didn't Bahá'u'lláh teach that this world is so different from that world, the world of Life, that souls could not comprehend this world.”
“Yes.”
“So, why did you “think” you could imagine it accurately?”
“I haven't had my life review,” Sam added, changing the subject..
“Do I need to repeat myself?” The Light asked and became brighter, sterner still.
“Oh.” Regret was obvious from Sam.
“Besides,” the Light added kindly, calming again. “You're still thinking in linear time. Time, which is not time, does not work that way here. You are having your Life Review, you will have your Life Review, you have had your Life Review. It is all the same in Nowness.” The Light paused slightly then pushed Sam kindly. “Go, Teach!”
Sam was instantly in the midst of the slow, oh so slow, moving beings. Closer to them, Sam could now see they were deformed, malformed, unformed, and grotesquely misshapen.
“Well,” Sam thought. “So, this is what happens when souls don't acquire or practice their spiritual virtues during Life. No wonder all the Messengers of God, the Saviours, the Avatars, taught that the acquisition of virtues was the purpose of life on Earth. Those virtues are necessary for functioning after Life. These souls paid no heed, and look at them now.” He sneezed.
Suddenly, the Polywogs before Sam were arranged in almost orderly circles, with each little being facing Sam. Sam could now discern faces that had not been obvious before.
“All because I sneezed?” Sam wondered in amazement. Then Sam coughed.
The circles became more regular and all the Polywogs raised up slightly from their former position.
“This is amazing,” thought Sam, and now all the Polywogs had a new, but similar appendage, a virtue.
“Just my thoughts teach them,” Sam thought in amazement. At that moment all the Polywogs gained another new appendage, another virtue, and similar to each other.
“Kindness is a very high virtue,” Sam thought. The Polywogs again changed with a new feature and began to resemble each other more.
“Sacrifice is the highest virtue.” Again, the Polywogs became more formed.
Suddenly, Sam felt a great amount of love for these little souls. That love flowed out of Sam and enveloped the Polywogs like a cloud. As the cloud dissipated, Sam saw that all the Polywogs now looked like sweet little children.
“WOW!” More love geysered out of Sam and the Polywogs were even more completely formed and their dim lights were brighter.
Suddenly a Being of Light, or maybe the same one, Sam couldn't tell, swept past Sam and pulled Sam along.
“Did I do something wrong?” Sam wondered.
“Oh, no,” the Light replied. “You did perfectly. Now it is time, which is not time, for some other task. Do you remember that little girl you died saving? Well, she's a grandmother now, trying to raise her four grandchildren, alone, and needs help. Since you know her, Creator wills you to help her.”
“What can I do?” Sam wondered. “How can I help her?”
“You will do all you can,” the Light answered. “You can do no more than that.”
“Well...” Sam began, but the Light was gone and Sam was instantly in a run down house with four small children and an old woman who sat sobbing in a chair. Sam recognized her as that little girl whose life he had saved. Her spirit was the same even though her body was unrecognizable.
“I can't, I can't, I can't!” The woman wailed and sobbed in grief and despair.
Sam noticed a child who could not yet walk, crawling on the floor. The child was crawling toward a hole in the wall. The hole was a new and fascinating thing for the child. Sam willed the child to stretch its little hand into the hole when he reached it. Instinctively, the child's fingers grabbed onto some papers inside the hole and pulled them out. The child looked puzzled, papers weren't very interesting. The child let them go, dropping them on the floor beside him and reached in again, only to grab onto more papers, which he pulled out and dropped with the others. There was now a small pile.
An older sister soon noticed the actions of the baby and walked over to see what he had pulled out of the hole, which she had never noticed before.
“Grammie!” The girl called excitedly. “Muffin found money!!! Muffin found MONEY!!!” She bent down and grabbed some of the bills and ran to show her Grandmother.
“What? What?” Her grandmother asked, confused. This didn't make sense.
“Muffin found MONEY! LOTS of MONEY!!” Louisa announced joyfully and danced and dropped the bills into her grandmother's lap.
“Why. It is money!” Darnella was astonished as she saw through her tears, that it really was money. “Hundred dollar bills?” She asked, stupified. “Hundreds...”
“WE'RE RICH!! WE'RE RICH!!!” Lousia screamed in delight and began to dance around the room. This brought the other two children in to investigate. “WE'RE RICH!” She called out and showed them the money. The three joined hands and began to dance in a circle in the center of the room.
Baby Muffin sat up and looked at the big kids being silly, and smiled with their happiness too.
“Grammie!” Sam heard Lousia shout with amazement as the scene faded, “I just saw an angel!”
Sam hurried on to the next place that was not place, one of learning. This time Sam was among circling rows of people with a Pillar of Light in the center. All were paying ardent attention to the Pillar.
“As you know,” the Pillar was saying. “Self-sacrifice is the highest virtue and can be manifest in varying degrees and ways. Helping people in life realize this, their purpose, is your next responsibility. Many in Life don't know that selflessness is the human purpose. There are many ways this learning can be accomplished. The desire to help can be stimulated. There will always be some internal conflict to overcome. In rising above that conflict, the soul will grow. You can help the soul minimize their own advantage. You will not always succeed. It is the soul's choice and responsibility to respond. You can also bring to their mind examples of the sacrifices of others. Examples are powerful stimulators. In this way, you will be helping the soul realize its potential.
Sam felt very content. This was what existence was all about. This was love embodied. This was the purpose of creation: selflessly helping others. Sam gave thanks to Creator and set out.
Duane L. Herrmann, internationally published, award-winning poet and historian, has work in print and on-line: Midwest Quarterly, Little Balkans Review, Flint Hills Review, Manifest West, Inscape, Gonzo Press, Tiny Seed Literary Journal, over one hundred other publications, over sixty anthologies, plus a sci fi novel. With branches of his family here before the revolution, and a Native branch even longer, he writes from, these perspectives.
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