The story of Gadesh, Emmanuel and Uab

Once upon a time there was a strong and accomplished man; his name was Gadesh. He was already 33 years old and had spent most of his life working as the guardian of the king of his people. He had managed to create great fortunes thanks to what he dedicated himself to; he was the strongest warrior in the kingdom. Gadesh considered himself one of the most faithful and powerful knights the land had ever known. This warrior was highly recognized among the women of the town; both the most beautiful and the wealthiest wanted to marry him. Gadesh had it all: power, fortune, beauty, and intellect; but there was something that Gadesh had not managed to dominate: the Ego. Gadesh used to spend time with the maidens he liked the most, but he never wanted to formalize his love with any of them. He was used to women looking for him to eat, walk or just chat. Throughout his youth he had found his being so perfect that he forged an ideal figure of the woman who should accompany him for the rest of his days. Indeed, this woman had not yet appeared after endless journeys that included even the most distant nations. Gadesh had simply learned to live with it and had come to terms with the fact that this person did not exist, that he could achieve absolute happiness without any commitment. He had already found conformity in pleasure, thanks to his seduction and intellect.

One day when he was walking through the main market, he saw in the distance a woman delicately selecting seeds, whom he immediately recognized as "the most beautiful woman he had ever met." This woman radiated a unique aura that she had never found in another person. Gadesh, relying entirely on his popularity and his power to captivate, boldly approached the seduction of the woman by asking her name and taking her for a walk. To Gadesh's surprise, this woman was completely unaware of who he was, she only responded kindly that her mother was waiting for her at home and that she should bring what she had bought. This woman responded with the name of Sofia. Sofia did not seem astonished by Gadesh's spectacular beauty, nor by the confidence with which he addressed her. The warrior insisted on taking a walk any other day that she preferred, but Sofía replied that she was a woman with many responsibilities, she is especially with her mother, who was ill, and that she could not take the time to enjoy with a man while someone whom he loved was in bad shape.

 Gadesh felt anxious; it had been the first time a woman had turned him down for the second try; usually they all accepted very soon. This made Gadesh behave insistently with Sofía, as he wanted her to give him at least one moment of her life to get to know each other. Sofia then replied:

– Do you really want to know me, or just discover the pleasures that I can give you?

Since Gadesh had always succeeded in getting what he wanted, he lied about his true intentions, replying that he really wanted to meet Sophia. The woman did not believe him and after discreetly turning her back on him, she walked among the people to disappear from the scene. Gadesh then felt that he was flooded with disappointment, so he decided to continue visiting the market to meet Sofia again. And that's how every day he visited the site at the same time, the only time the King allowed him to leave his castle for a privilege that only his best soldier enjoyed. Over time he came to meet Sofía on several occasions, who patiently refused to go out with him, over and over again. Gadesh did not give up on his attempts because Sofia agreed to spend time with him; he tried all kinds of courtship, from instinctive to intellectual, without achieving any success.

 Finally Sofía agreed to leave after a desperate attempt to get rid of him, thinking that once he gave her time he would stop bothering her. Gadesh had already offered so much of his life to Sofia, even working for the king, who was beginning to value the hours with her, discovering within himself a different type of attraction than the one his experience had granted him. As the days went by, and as they got to know each other, Sofia discovered that Gadesh was the love of her life, while Gadesh discovered through Sofia a new form of affection. Thus both allowed love to flow in their lives, making the process of recognizing each other slow and unhurried. The warrior no longer had a need to meet other women, Sofia had managed to invoke a different attitude that the warrior had never shown. They were very happy and loved each other in different ways for a long time; Gadesh shared his entire fortune with Sofia, while she had shed even her most sincere tear with him.

So, when more love existed between the two, Sofia decided to give up the sacred integrity of her entirety, giving her husband a new way of life. Thus, Gadesh and Sofía conceived Emmanuel, whom they named after having been anointed with the love that only God could bestow on a couple like them. Despite the kind of life the warrior was accustomed to before he met his woman, a family no longer represented fear or lack of freedom for him. He really loved Emmanuel, just as much as he loved Sofia. He took constant responsibility towards his son and gave him much of his time when he was not caring for the King. They spent long periods of time playing and laughing, Gadesh even helped Sofia change Emmanuel's clothes, feed him and look after him. He had discovered a new way of living through his son, since by contemplating his growth he could live it together with him fully; it was a way of reliving his own history. Emmanuel's entire early childhood was filled with blessings and abundance, both financially and with love and attention.

But Gadesh also took the little boy's training very seriously; he was still a warrior, a man dedicated to battles, for which he also knew discipline and rectitude. As the boy grew older, Gadesh increased the level of hardness, as it required Emmanuel to learn his own way. Emmanuel, since he could remember, showed an aptitude for the arts, especially for painting and sculpture. These qualities had been motivated mainly by his mother, since the father always maintained a rigid character that only his family had kept hidden in their best times.

 While Emmanuel grew up, Gadesh wanted the young man to become an independent person, because despite having filled him with abundance during his childhood, now he wanted him to seek to earn the goods for himself. Emmanuel only showed interest in things that only he was passionate about, and in fact he was very good at doing what he liked the most. He had become by his 15 years one of the most outstanding painters of the town, who possessed prodigious artistic abilities. This was not enough to satisfy his father, since according to Gadesh, Emmanuel did not appreciate the great effort he had made so that the family had his fortune. Emmanuel only painted and painted, but did not help in any way to help support the family; and it is that for him this was not necessary.

The young artist had learned to love nature and life, gradually became a philosopher and thinker, and differed with his father according to the war. He wanted the world to live in peace and harmony; throughout his adolescence he avoided conflicts with his peers and friends. This way of being took him away from his father as he grew up, since resorting to violence to solve problems did not seem appropriate to him at all. Gadesh was not the same as when Emmanuel was born, because now Sofia also seemed to advocate for her son against the methodology that the father implemented for his education. Gadesh felt that they did not understand the value of his teachings and he thought that they were adopting a rebellious attitude, since they did not seem to understand the depth of the lessons that only through discipline he could give them. This caused the man to spend days losing control in anger. Despite the fact that Sofía was a very strong woman and understood her husband's true intention, there was an innocent and loving side that did not take her away from her husband or her son. The days inside Gadesh's house were gradually filled with problems and strong arguments.

One day, the kingdom's trumpets sounded surprisingly, announcing that a group of Nizaris were invading the city at the cost of taking the king prisoner. The attack had caught the local army off guard, as the Nizaris had developed an elaborate plan that would guarantee them success. Gadesh was already with the king very early, but he was forbidden to go out looking for his family until the danger had passed. The entire territory was being invaded by large catapult projectiles, fire arrows, and dozens of looters. Meanwhile Emmanuel was at home with his mother.

When Emmanuel realized what was happening, he took Sofia by the hand and they rushed to escape. The young man stopped and returned to take some of the paintings that were most valuable to him, since he did not want to lose them among the fire and rubble. When she looked back at her mother, one of the shells had hit the roof of their flimsy home, bringing down a huge weight of rubble on Sofia. Emmanuel then dropped everything in his hand and began to remove the stones from his mother. However, Emmanuel was not a strong man like his father, his physical weakness prevented him from helping Sofia, and among all the panic that the city was suffering, no one took the time to stop to help the boy save his mother.

With an already agonizing suffering, Sofia asked Emmanuel to escape and leave him there, since it would not make sense to lose the life of her son. Emmanuel, as he had never done before, made a decision and left his mother in the rubble allowing her to die. In tears, Emmanuel began searching for his father in the crowd, but as Emmanuel ran, the dangerous Nizaris threatened to finish him off. Escaping was not easy, it was then that a king's warrior recognized Emmanuel when he was running and managed to warn him that it was useless to look for his father, since Gadesh was protecting the King and the fight was taking place at that moment inside the castle. Emmanuel insisted that he must find his father, but the soldier replied:

– You have no chance child, you will die before reaching the castle. Run away and save yourself!

Then Emmanuel, sunk in an almost uncontrollable rage, led his way out of the kingdom, running for his life and hoping that at least his father would survive.

He ran until little by little the smoke caused by the destruction of the town could be seen in the distance; he ran until he gradually disappeared into the horizon aimlessly. Emmanuel's lack of experience did not allow him to consciously decide where to go. Emmanuel continued on his way to the east for three days, in which he only drank water and ate some fruits that he had found on the way.

Then on the third day he met a traveler and his camel, who asked the young man where he was going:

– I don't know yet, I am from Alhabad and I am looking for refuge, because the city has been invaded and I have been saved. I've just followed the dry river to wherever it takes me.

- You must eat something. These are not my lands, I must return to the east; Give me your name and tell me a little about your family. You can accompany me to my village where you will be safe from the Nizaris. – replied the walker.

Thus Emmanuel met Saúl, an Arab shepherd who had a family of nine members, his two wives, three children he shared with each, and himself. Saul took Emmanuel to the town of Ut-Haar, where he gave him refuge and offered to work with him in exchange for food and shelter. Saul was not only a shepherd in a peaceful village surrounded by nature, but he also possessed a wisdom that he evidently had not acquired in Ut-Haar. Saúl not only became Emmanuel's tutor at the age of 15, but he was his mentor in various aspects of his life, beginning with the intellectual, including even the spiritual. Emmanuel learned to listen to himself, he discovered himself in a profound way, learning to face many of his fears. As Emmanuel grew in age, Saul took him on various journeys and journeys in search of wisdom. They came to visit the Hindus and discovered transcendental teachings with some monks from Tibet.

Emmanuel had acquired a very interesting power for his 18 years: he could communicate with his deceased mother. She caught glimpses of him through her dreams, and from time to time, they would talk in reality. Much of the light that illuminated Emmanuel in his day to day life was thinking of his mother as his spiritual guide. However, since he never knew his father's story after the invasion, he never managed to develop this ability with him. This was reason for the boy to think that his father was still alive. In addition to this power, Emmanuel had grown into a brilliant young man, both intellectually and spiritually. He was much loved by the inhabitants of Ut-Haar, and through painting he embellished the town to the best of his ability. That made him maintain an additional income apart from the shepherding he did with Saul.

But there was a thought that overwhelmed Emmanuel's peace constantly. He had managed to understand his father's personality, making him an example to follow in many aspects; and yet there was discomfort and an apparent level of repudiation towards certain teachings and methodology that his father had used against him and his mother. Emmanuel did not understand why his father had changed so much from his childhood to his youth; He asked himself over and over again: “Knowing the kind of man my father became when he met my mother, why did enlightenment cease to exist? Wasn't my father in control of himself? Was it necessary to be so strong during those last years?

Then one night, without warning, the spirit of Gadesh appeared in his son's dream. Then the image of the warrior appeared sitting on a large stone from the river. Emmanuel could appreciate him from afar, where the western sun, about to hide, gave a black outline to the singular silhouette of Gadesh and illuminated the water, reflecting the warm rays to Emmanuel's eyes. When the young man realized this, he began to get closer, he walked until he came face to face with his father, who looked as young as Emmanuel remembered him in his childhood. Gadesh then got up and extended his hand to his son saying: “So much time has passed and I have finally learned, my heart lies next to yours until you decide to return to me. Come and find me back in the Mediterranean, let's be father and son again.

Upon awakening, Emmanuel told his dream to Saul, who immediately warned the boy about the dangers that this trip would present. Emmanuel wanted to make sure that this call was not from a deceased spirit; he had to see his father with his own eyes and confirm if he was still alive. It was then that he said he was ready to undertake his first journey in complete independence, in which he would also have to show the wisdom acquired during the last years of apprenticeship with Saul. So, after receiving the blessing of his current family, Emmanuel set out on his way back to the Middle East, which would last at least half a year.

The first days of the trip he concentrated on meditation, a technique that allowed him to eat less food and resist adverse climates. Emmanuel traveled with the mentality of learning from each and every one of the new people he met, so every time he arrived in a town he invested some of his time in chats and conversations with strangers. Thus he acquired new knowledge and wisdom, which paved the way for him on his way to find his father. As the days went by, he began to appreciate new details, with greater clarity and better critical perception.

One of the lessons that marked him the most was a discussion he had with a merchant, who accused Emmanuel of having stolen merchandise. He was innocent, but the merchant tried so hard to blame him that it led him into a physical fight. This led him to see the world as a wilder place than he imagined. Another very valuable lesson he learned was when he fell in love with a very attractive young woman. This happened when Emmanuel was peacefully resting on a sidewalk on the outskirts of a town; The young woman approached and captivated Emmanuel with her immense beauty. He found an immense resemblance between this young woman and her mother, for which he fell in love in a unique and unrepeatable way. As the days went by, the young woman turned out to go out with more men from the town and Emmanuel felt that this love no longer belonged to him. Then he learned to discern more deeply in love. Another of the reflections that most marked his trip was when he decided to correct those mistakes that he repeated about his father, and even better, when he got to know his father more and better through this, both the good and the bad. Then a deep desire to become a father and father a son was born in Emmanuel. The new apprenticeships made Emmanuel forge himself as a mature man. Reality used to press heavily on his morality and his judgment of the truth; It made him question his own spirituality.

Emmanuel was getting closer to his destination, Alhabad, and the desire to discover who his father had become hurried him anxiously. So, with less than 100 leagues to go, Emmanuel decided to cut a path between the mountains to save himself a good part of the total distance. Taking this turn, Emmanuel was forced to enter a narrow path at least 6 cubits in distance that led him to get completely lost; then night fell accompanied by fog. Several days had passed since Emmanuel had not eaten food, so he was also facing death, with whom he had never been so close before.

In the middle of the desert, and from between the mountains, a man dressed in black appeared, with long beards and slightly stooped, holding his step with a tree branch as a cane. Emmanuel could not believe his eyes, the apparent old man seemed to emanate a light that could not be seen with the naked eye, but only perceived.

"Emmanuel, I've been waiting for you," said the old man with a calm voice and incomparable temperance.

– How do you know my name? Emmanuel replied.

– I know your name and that of all the people in the world. But that does not matter now, it only matters that you are here and that you will learn what you must learn.

- Who are you? –

– I am the wizard Uab, and I own these lost lands.

The old man then asked Emmanuel to come to him. Uab showed immense peace, and the starry sky seemed to shine around him, as if he and the cosmos were one. Then Uab, in a soft and very friendly tone, asked the boy:

What is the question you most want to know the answer to? I will give it to you, but you will have to trust that what I say is the Truth, regardless of whether it will be to your liking or not, so think about it carefully.

– I want to know what will happen to the human being at the end of time.

Uab then gently raised his hand and placed his middle finger between the young man's eyebrows. Emmanuel felt a strong pull towards the sky and began to rise towards the stars at an unimaginable speed. Emmanuel watched the world turn faster, and observed the human being in all its evolutionary stages. Then he saw man expand through the solar system, then through the galaxy, until he found similar beings around the universe. Then the universe began to accelerate at a much faster rate; then everything around him became a fireworks display. I saw how the worlds were devoured by stellar titans, just as the light was consumed by superior forces. He witnessed the colossal explosions of the largest stars, as well as the violent collision between immeasurable galaxies, all at the precise speed to measure eternity. Little by little he saw that the universe became homogeneous and he found himself in total darkness. Then Uab's voice was heard from nowhere:

– The man reached as far as the last ray of light shone; man became light.

Then Emmanuel began to notice that all his experience would have to find itself in the opposite direction to take him to the beginning, the moment when Uab lifted his finger from between his eyebrows. By that time the first rays of dawn were slowly peeking over the horizon. When Emmanuel looked back to appreciate the moment, the old man had disappeared without a trace.

Emmanuel continued walking, now more lost than the day before, following the direction he himself had drawn, not sure if he would find a way out of that valley in which he found himself. The young man then walked all day with no apparent direction, not even with the help of the Sun. Fortunately Emmanuel no longer suffered from hunger, so he had enough energy to continue the journey. Later, Emmanuel arrived at a place between the mountains that had a large river and abundant vegetation. Emmanuel stopped his step here to quench his thirst and look for food. Due to his extreme exhaustion, the boy fell asleep among the trees and woke up just before the sun went down. Then he heard the voice of Uab calling him from the river and he followed him; Emmanuel arrived at the place where the call came from and found the old man sitting on the shore. Then Uab, with a voice now more countenance and firm than the day before, said:

– Today I will tell you a truth that you do not want to hear, but that you need to transcend. – Uab made a short pause prostrating himself totally stoic, and continued. – What you think is your mother is an illusion; since she died she is no longer here. He was completely gone and what was left of his consciousness was gone away from you and this earth. That connection that you have developed with her is nothing more than an interpretation of a supreme truth: inner strength. So your mother's strength has come from yourself all this time. Your mother ceased to exist.

Emmanuel then noticed his racing heart and breathing; somehow, the fact that the magician had said it weighed immensely on Emmanuel's judgment. Just when the young man was about to renege on what he had said, Uab disappeared and left him alone along with his conscience. Emmanuel then produced anger like never before, he was really furious and would finish off the old man if he showed up.

Emmanuel invoked the witch, challenging him fiercely, questioning the reason for having said those words; he did not stop cursing and throwing a tantrum, hitting stones with stones and shouting wildly at nature. He simply couldn't conceive of the idea that his mother's spirit wasn't real; this feeling began to destroy him little by little. After a while he began to ask himself if what Uab had said was really worth considering as true. It took him a long time to realize that, although what the old man had said was absolutely real, he had been able to create a reality in which everything that happened had the meaning he preferred. He didn't need the truth from Uab for his mother's miracles to continue to happen. It was just a choice to give credit to his mother over him. In addition, this new way of thinking also made him reflect on how much he could do by himself, awakening a new power that he had never known before: the power of the symbol.

   Then he went from fury to immense joy, and he thought how hard he had been with Uab. The whole night had already passed and finally the magician appeared, shortly before the new dawn.

– Now that you have learned to give meaning to your life regardless of the truth, you must continue walking along the river throughout this day. Ahead you will find a lake, where I will see you for the last time and you will receive the greatest teaching.

That was how Emmanuel continued walking as Uab told him to do. Fortunately, he did not suffer from hunger or thirst, because that river harbored life in abundance. However, the lake took time to appear until sunset of that day. Arriving at the site, Emmanuel approached what appeared to be a pier. Approaching the shore, just before stepping on the pier, Uab appeared at the end of the road. Emmanuel ran towards him, full of eagerness to know what was the greatest teaching he had to learn; Well after last night it was hard to imagine what this experience would be like.

– Your father, Gadesh, is still alive, but you cannot see him before you meet him. To know it, you need to stop being yourself and become a mirror. – Then Uab asked Emmanuel to see the reflection that the lake was projecting. He also asked him to focus on the oldest memories he might have of himself. Emmanuel then looked at his own reflection and began to go back in time to his memories. When Emmanuel visualized a scene in which he was playing with his father at the age of four, the ground began to shake and the pier and the water took shape from the memory. Emmanuel then was able to continue seeing his reflection, and it is that he found himself as a spectator from another consciousness; he could see himself because he saw himself through his father's eyes. Then he saw himself playing with himself, enjoying as if he were Gadesh, the blessing of having a child. In fact, Emmanuel could enjoy it as much as Gadesh had, he could feel pure and deep love, the most innocent he had ever experienced.

When he was enjoying the moment the most, suddenly the memory faded, leading him to experience again the day Emmanuel entered the school. So, through his father's eyes, he listened to the conversation he was having with his mother, Sofía, in which Gadesh said – It is very hard for me to accept that he will no longer be the same… After this, Emmanuel will be a mixture of what we have taught him and what he What will you learn from your teachers and peers? I know that it is as it should be, but I fear that by removing him from my guardianship, he may choose to go astray. – Emmanuel then understood the fear that his father had about the influence of society on his son. He as a warrior knew the reality of the world that was happening at that moment.

From there the scene changed again, this time taking them to a scene where Emmanuel had escaped with his friends from school. "That time was when the problems began" Emmanuel thought. He was able not only to see what his father saw, but also to feel what he felt; so at that moment he experienced a deep fear. The fear was due to the fact that Gadesh feared that his son would find himself in trouble, since he did not yet believe that the boy was ready to handle difficult situations on his own. Emmanuel then realized that despite the magic that innocence gave him through enjoyment, this freedom could cause suffering in others as it did to his father. So, when Emmanuel began to understand Gadesh's feelings, he came closer to understanding that a man does not think or feel the same before and after having a child. The decisions that a man makes depend on whether or not there is a son in his life, and what Gadesh was most concerned about was being the ideal example for his successor.

Lastly, Emmanuel was able to visualize some scenes of what his father experienced during and after the capture of the kingdom of Alhabad, just when they separated, so he relived his incessant fight against the invaders, as well as the frustration of not being able to escape and save his family. In this series of visions appeared the moment when Gadesh was informed of the death of Sophia, as well as the disappearance of his son. Then Emmanuel saw that his father, in a storm of loneliness and suffering, began a journey around the world in search of his successor, showing the courage that he had forged throughout his life and determined to find him no matter what the cost. Seeing this, Emmanuel understood that his father's love for him was far greater than he could imagine, for he understood not only his physical battles, but also the mental ones that brought Gadesh to the brink of madness. The warrior no longer thought of women, nor of the well-being of the king, nor of the riches he could offer his family; Gadesh now thought only of reuniting with his son and soaking up his love. Gadesh had learned in this search about the selfishness with which he had treated Emmanuel to seek his correct formation. He understood that a child is a perfect being by himself and not entirely by his father, and Emmanuel lived this from within Gadesh. Then, still from his father's eyes and perspective, he envisioned Gadesh making his way to the East, exhausted and on the verge of losing faith. Gadesh looked in the distance at a figure with the same clothes that Emmanuel had, but it was the magician Uab who was wearing them. Emmanuel saw that Gadesh was led by Uab just as he was.

Emmanuel couldn't see his father suffer anymore and woke up from his dream. When he opened his eyes, Gadesh was in front of Emmanuel wearing the same clothes that Uab wore.

Emmanuel's surprise when he recognized his father and hugged him after their reunion, was realizing that both had found each other in the right place and at the right time, but more importantly, that the spirit of Uab had brought them together. Now through the teachings of the mirror, Uab had made father and son not only find themselves deep within, but had also caused both to transcend through each other's eyes. Uab had been the force of the holy spirit that unites the father with the son. 

May the Symbolic Trinity of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit teach us to understand the importance of transcending through our parents and our children.