Wilf in the Astral

THE DARK MANTRA

Wilf in the Astral-realm.

In the twilight atmosphere of the place he now found himself, there was a terrible silence, and something felt a bit strange to say the least. He knew that only a few minutes ago, he had been carefree, sitting in a café, waiting to meet Arthur. Now here he was in God knows what place.

He looked around for some reference points, a landmark of some kind, or something to identify with. But he could see nothing. What he at first thought was a large room, had now expanded, there seemed to be no walls or boundaries to this place, something was very wrong.

With the help of Arthur Nozbend, he was now firmly ensconced, in what most people would refer to as limbo land. But those with more, occult knowledge, would have been more specific, and called it the lower levels of the astral world, the world of Wilf’s dreams and nightmares.

At this point in time, the fact that he had no physical body, was preventing him from having any real emotional experience of the situation. He was aware of not liking it very much and had studied enough occult literature to know, that from the realm he now inhabited, he would not be able to communicate with anyone in the physical world, except those people he’d had a very strong emotional, and mental-psychic link with.

Being a loner by choice, and the sort of person that had never made friends very easily, Wilf was currently limited to two people. One was Arthur, the guy who’d sent him to where he was in the first place, the other was Gwen, his long-suffering partner, who as far as he could tell, probably hated his guts right now.

The implications of his dilemma, started to dawn on him slowly. If he had been able to feel, he would almost certainly have experienced terror, of the utmost nature, but instead, he felt numb.

With not much else to do, he decided, he would explore this strange place. As he wandered around, he saw that it appeared to be a place of semi-darkness, a twilight world.

In the very short time he had been there, he’d seen no other forms of life except some, oddly colored, geometrical shapes of varying sizes, floating aimlessly in space.

A dark blue pyramid shaped structure seemed to attract him, and as he began to walk towards it he became aware of a male voice. He tuned his ear so he could hear more clearly, and found that the voice seemed to be reciting some kind of poetry.
He stood still and listened.

“Bickering entities, comparing themselves to each other in great outrage and despair. The walking wounded, looking for help in the wrong place. If you understood anything at all, you would not be here listening to this. But you are here, which must mean that you do not understand anything and from that perspective nothing makes sense anymore does it Wilf? But it never did really did, did it eh? Come on Wilf, if you’re really honest about it, it never made much sense at all did it? Wilf can you hear me? It didn’t make sense, did it Wilf? Be honest!”

As he turned a corner, coming to the other side of the pyramid shape, Wilf saw a large figure sitting at a desk, appearing in silhouette. It looked like it had a long pointed head, and whatever it was, it seemed to be taking down some notes, writing them into a big black ledger.

The figure suddenly looked up at him.

“Hello Wilf how ya doin?”

“Er, excuse me?” Wilf stuttered.

“Come on now, don’t look so shocked. You know who I am.”

“No I’m afraid I don’t know who you are.
Who are you?”

Wilf’s astral head was buzzing, and his astral jaw was hitting the floor.

“You’re telling me you really don’t know who I am? Well, Wilf, I am, or at least I have come to be known as, the note keeper. I have taken down notes on everything you have said and done throughout your life so far, right up until this very point in time. I have jotted down every little secret you have kept, every little lie you have told, and every single promise you have broken, throughout the whole of your life. How does it feel to know that?”

If Wilf had possessed a body, he would have pinched it to see if he was dreaming.

“Can an astral being go insane? Or is the very nature of being an astral being insanity? How can I find out? How can I tell the difference? How can I know anything now?”

Grasping at straws and losing the plot fast, he asked these questions, to no one in particular, hoping that the figure may be able to help him.

“Questions, questions, questions Wilf. Always so many bloody questions.”

It continued to dawn on him, that he may have some quite disturbing and sobering experiences ahead of him. He looked once more at the figure and realized it was a pencil shaped person. He saw that it was a pencil shaped person, with a pencil in his hand, writing down everything into a huge black ledger.

He then told Wilf, just in case there was any doubt in his mind, that he could read all his thoughts. And as Wilf continued to stare open mouth at this bizarre figure, the pencil man lifted his arm and pointed to a place just behind him.

“Look over there. In that stack of books is your whole life. All concise, neat and tidy.”

Wilf looked around. As his eyes grew accustomed to the dark, he could make out many rows of black ledgers.

Pencil head then started to laugh out loud.

“Go on Wilf a have a read. Hahahahaha!”

"I know you’re a figment of my imagination. But even so - can you tell me how can I get the fuck out of here?”

"You were stupid enough to get yourself in here Wilfred, now lets see if you’re stupid enough to get yourself out again?”

One thing Wilf was certain of. He had never considered himself stupid. But he had to admit now, that he had been very stupid indeed to land up here.

“Wilf listen to me, I know I’m laughing, but really, you did have it coming to you. You know you did.”

“What do you mean? I don’t deserve this! I don’t deserve to be sent to Hell, or wherever this bloody place is. Where is it anyway? Where am I?”

More laughter. “Hahahahahahaha!”

“Stop fucking laughing. This is not funny. Who the fuck are you, and where am I. Tell me something?”

“Hmm, you’re very upset aren’t you?
And I have told you who I am.
I’m not really real, it's true. But I am real now, to you in this moment aren't I? I am very real indeed. Just about as real as you can get in fact. I have also told you that I have taken notes on every single thought, word and deed you have had throughout the whole of your life. That is who I am. So I know who I am, and what I do.
The question is Wilf - Do you?"

There was silence and Wilf thought he could hear a soft wind blowing. Was It the wind of eternity, the sound of desolation and emptiness all rolled into one.

“Shit - I have no idea who or what I am?"

“And there you have it my friend. You are bereft, desolate, alone and unwanted. This is the hardest feeling to feel, the ultimate terror for all of you humans. Being alone, unwanted and unloved. I’m feeling sorry for you Wilf, really, I’m feeling very sorry for you indeed.”

“But what can I do about it?”

“There is nothing you can do about it. There was never anything you could do about it. You just didn’t realize it till now that’s all. So my friend, you now have as long as you need, to do absolutely nothing at all. There is nothing to achieve here.

There is nothing here at all. No judgment, blame or reward. Whatever you choose to do is all the same here, it all has the same outcome - no-thing.
From an existential perspective you are in the wasteland. And here there is nothing, nothing, and more nothing, all the way done to the bottom of nothingness. This place is also known as the great void, or the abyss.

Humans can deal with many things; they can deal with the ups and downs of normal life, this is what a million years of evolution has enabled them to do. But when it comes to being handed nothing at all, they generally seem to become a little disoriented. Its as if the indifference of the universe stares right into they're face, daring them not to be bothered by it. Daring them to go beyond it. Did you ever read Nietzsche Wilf?"

Pencil man briefly smaned again but restrained himself.

"Oh never mind Wilfred, don’t worry too much. You’re a wise old soul. Once you have got over the initial shock of this predicament, you'll may be able to see it as your Karmic destiny.”

"Karmic Destiny? What the . . ?"

Wilf was quiet now. He knew perhaps for something he had done in this or a past life, that he was being given this experience to learn something. It was as good an explanation as any!

“You are being given this experience for a reason my friend. Make no bones about it; this is a very rare treat. Not too many human beings get to experience what you are experiencing now.”

At this Wilf actually managed an astral smile.
“Oh that’s reassuring thanks”

The pencil man looked at him and winked.
“Don’t mention it Wilfred, it’s my pleasure son.”