Things continue to unwrap and get interesting for our main character, who keeps stumbling upon the most fascinating conversations between other Ghosts and Spirits. One conversation he hears is with a Ghost mother and a Bright Spirit that had apparently been her brother. She is distraught and upset that her son, who was taken from her in death previously, was up in the mountains or experiencing his own heavenly journey and growth. She wanted to see him and see him now. The Bright Spirit encouraged her that she could probably see him, but first she must journey on herself, making her pursuit of God more prominent than her pursuit of her son. This would probably turn out to be her downfall, sending her to Hell, because her supposed "love" for her son had become an idol with the wrong motives, expression, and meaning. She would rather drag her son back to Hell with her than see him in Heaven. This selfish bent wasn't true "love" at all. Our main man didn't find out the ending of that scenerio, as he moved on to hear another encounter/conversation. He saw another ghost that looked different, as if a different colored smoke inside his being made him appear darker. This Ghost had a lizard on its shoulder that constantly talked to him. Apparently it was born out of desire. Lust attached itself to his shoulder and wouldn't let him go, persistently reminding him of his desire and thirst for more. An angel hanging out with our man offered to relieve the Ghost of this lizard, but when approaching the Ghost's shoulder, it felt the heat coming from the angel. "I must kill it to set you free," explained the angel, which caused the Ghost much hesitation. He wasn't sure he wanted to let go of this beast, even though it tormented him. Finally he wrestled the lizard away, throwing it to the ground. The Ghost transformed into a more solid man and the lizard a large horse, which he mounted and rode away, much happier than before.
Very strange lessons learned by our man.
He asked the angel: "But am I to tell them at home that this man's sensuality proved less of an obstacle than that poor woman's love for her son? For that was, at any rate, an excess of love." The angel replied, "Ye'll tell them no such thing. Excess of love did ye say? There was no excess, there was defect. She loved her son too little, not too much. If she had loved him more there'd be no difficulty. I do not know how her affaird will end. But it may well be that at this moment she's demanding to have him down with her in Hell. That kind is sometimes perfectly ready to plunge the soul they say the love in endless misery if only they can still in some fashion possess it. No, no. Ye must draw another lesson. Ye must ask, if the risen bodey even of apetite is as grand a horse as ye saw, what would the risen body of maternal love or friendship be?"
Interesting...
(and thus ends another chapter of hmmmm... magazine)