It's typical for a homeless Man to stand outside a gas station or grocery store begging people for change. But today he had a different purpose and mission.
Today he wants to die.
After almost 12 years of living his life on the street, this Man finally realizes he is tired, he has given up hope on the world- drinking can't take away his sorrows, and even though he is unaware of the foul stench he has accumulated over the years, he is very much aware of his morality. He feels as if God has punished him. It could only be such a curse that has allowed him to live for so long.
So today he stumbles his way in front of a Church and waits as it's members file themselves outside in the parking lot. He begins to beg, but not for money- he begs for an answer to his question.
"Could you help me ascend?"
Those Christians who are familiar with ascension grant him the basic generic answer. "Take Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, believe in him and you will be saved." They hurry away from him while speaking with their backs turned, as the aggressive odor rejects their desire to convert him.
When he made his way to a Mosque not far away at least some of the Muslims offered to help him get cleaned up. "Take one step towards Allah and Allah will take two steps towards you." A Muslim Brother said to him, making sure to cover his nose and speak without having to breathe in this Man's personal poison.
This homeless Man had just about walked into every religious center he could find, in hopes that someone could give him the recipe or instructions to getting to the heaven everyone was speaking about without committing suicide. His fear was that his soul would be damned even greater than it already was.
He was about to return to the park where he basically lived, this is where he saw a Man coming out of his house, wearing what appeared to be a long white bed sheet-wearing some African beads around his neck with a bald head. He was throwing away some tied up plastic bags in the trash and some old dirty clothes.
Something told him to ask this Man the very same question. So he walked up to him, thinking in back of his mind this was yet another hopeless cause.
"Could you help me ascend?"
The Man wearing the white cloth still had his back turned to him- busy emptying out all his trash obviously for sanitation pickup in the morning.
The homeless Man assumed he didn't hear him at all, so he spoke up louder.
"Could you help me ascend?!! Please?"
The Man wearing the white cloth turned around with tears in his eyes, as if he had known who was behind him the entire time. "I dreamt you last night My Brother, and I knew at this time right now, you would arrive- still I did not fully believe what the spirits had show me."
"Could you help me ascend?" The homeless Man said again, unmoved by his words.
"I know why you are here my Brother, you have a wish to die. You have already asked the same question to others of different fates, everyone speaks of heaven, but they are also afraid to die right? It is not the wish of the creator for you to die my Brother, but I am here to show you how to ascend. You see- about five years ago I was also homeless and in the same place that you are right now. Alone and angry at my own spirit. My Ancestors have given me the opportunity to give to you, that which was given to me."
The Man then unraveled some of his white robe, and draped it just slightly over the homeless Man's shoulder. His scent did not deter him, he clutched his arm and walked him up the steps to his home and called out for his two Sons to help him.
The family cleaned up this Man, fed him and made him smile. For hours the Man in the white cloth sat up with him and told him old ancient African folkstories, like about Anansi the spider, stories about African slaves and their spiritual powers of ascension and how many Africans remembered their wisdom-grew wings and flew back to the home land. He told him about what was truly robbed from the black people of America was in fact the power of ascension.
"Are you ready to ascend?" the Man in the white cloth asked him. The homeless Man stood up to his feet and said "Yes I am- I am ready."
The Man in the white cloth took a few drinks of a dark liquor in a dark purple bottle and spat in the homeless Man's face repeatedly. Then he begun screaming at him-
"You are not Human, you are God- wake up from this dream- wake up-"
"You are not Human, you are God- wake up from this dream- wake up-"
"You are not Human, you are God- wake up from this dream- wake up-"
"You are not Human, you are God- wake up from this dream- wake up-"
"You are not Human, you are God- wake up from this dream- wake up-"
"You are not Human, you are God- wake up from this dream- wake up-"
"You are not Human, you are God- wake up from this dream- wake up-"
"You are not Human, you are God- wake up from this dream- wake up-"
"You are not Human, you are God- wake up from this dream- wake up-"
"You are not Human, you are God- wake up from this dream- wake up-"
"You are not Human, you are God- wake up from this dream- wake up-"
The Wife ran out and spun the Man around several times causing him to assume dizziness- the oldest Son shouted along with the Father, the youngest clapped along with their shouting. They lit candles and sung songs around him as he tried his best to grasp the strange reality that had unfolded in front of him.
The homeless fell into a deep trance and eventually into a deep sleep. The Man in the white cloth whispered to him- "when you wake up, you will be a different person- you are ascending my Brother."
Today was the today of ascension.
When the homeless Man woke up, he found himself nestling comfortably in a king sized bed. He felt warm, and a sense of calm was in his heart. "Baba time to wake up now" the younger Son called out to him from the doorway. The Man in the white cloth's Wife walks over to him and kisses him on the lips and goes back into the kitchen.
He is confused.
He awakes and goes to mirror. He is the Man in the white cloth.
Today was the today of ascension.
"You are not Human, you are God- wake up from this dream- wake up-"
