Plentium
"Welcome to the land of Plentium" my guide said. "Come on in"
I entered the vast hall trepidatiously. There were so many treasures lying around, free for the taking.
"What an amazing place!" I remarked, awestruck. "I must be dreaming!"
"Rest assured, you are not dreaming" my guide said. "This is the real deal. You've earned it"
"I have? How?"
"All those nights you worked late because your co-workers called in 'sick', all those times that the managers claimed that the company was struggling when it was making bank, all the times that you asked if it was the correct price and the salesman in the store or whatever said that it was, and you paid it, and all of other times you played by the rules while others cheated. It all adds up. This is your karma. It is what you, by doing your good works, have silently accrued. Now it is yours to enjoy"
"Uh..... uh.... I don't know how to enjoy. I've always gotten by with less. It's what I'm used to. This seems to be way too much"
"It's not"
"How can you say that? There's more here than I've ever dreamed!"
"Were not your dreams big like this, once?"
"They were. But then....."
"Something happened, right? You're not alone. You were told- conditioned- by various factions and forces that your lot in life was a small one. It never in actuality was. This largesse has always been your birthright"
"I thought so. I knew it!"
"Don't be gettin' uppity now! This isn't about winners and losers. It's about The All. The All wants you to have this. It has always wanted you to have this. But- you live in a free will world and there are those who didn't want you to know that. Your gain is their loss, in their perception. This is why this was kept from you. They wanted all of The All for themselves"
"And they did a pretty damn good job of that!" I snidely (and surprisingly) replied. I was getting a little bit pissed at being delayed from grabbing the goods that were so agonizingly near.
"Not nice people are a pain throughout the universe. But don't worry. They'll get theirs" the guides calmly said, which was not a good enough answer for a long sufferer like me.
"By means of fiery vengeance and horrible shrieking pain?" I sputtered, urgently hoping for an affirmative reply.
"By means of unending overtime and having to carry the load shorthanded?" I prayed this too would be so.
"And by means of heckling and spurious laughter coming from regions removed?" I fervently wished, my brow aching as if in extreme throes of visualizing.
My guides sadly shook their heads in response to my vitriol, but having been once human, or assigned through higher attainment to coach humans, they understood.
"No, it won't be that way. An eye for an eye is the olde interpretation of the law. It was meant for Moses' time. Today we say 'appropriate'. The appropriate means of salvation, brought about by the implementation of corrective measures, will be lovingly yet sternly applied. You call this 'tough love'. We call it 'infinite mercy'. Your vengeance timetable is a crude and inappropriate application of ‘justice’, one that is also way too short for The Universe. Try thinking much longer term. We don't want trauma patients, we want coherent members of the growing fold of the redeemed. Think about that the next time you get the urge to lash out.
Now go and help yourself to the booty. Your time in the trenches is over. Others have volunteered to be the wayshowers so that you can take a well deserved rest- of the rest your lifetime, if you wish it. A good looong break"
"Yea!"
"Just understand that with fiscal freedom comes responsibility. Use this bequest wisely. Treat others with respect, extend a helping hand if so inspired, tread lightly through the world in all ways. Because if'n you don't......"
A piteous scream was heard in the background, wailing came from another direction, and an overtime zombie staggered by, quite near.
"....you will again find yourself in the company of the wicked".
"That''s ok. Got it. I’m cool. Ain't goin' there. You got my word on that"
”Good. See you in fifty years?"
"I'll be dead by then!"
"You'll be reborn by then"
"Oh".