To: Poppy
Re: Reason and Faith

Well, I'm not so much here to reassure you as to enlighten you. People who lie to you to save your feelings generally end up being counterproductive in the end. Like the whole 'Does my bum look big in this dress' thing, if the guy says yes he risks being slapped, or at the very least, getting an evil look off his girlfriend. Of course, if he says no when in reality it does then the girl might feel better at the time, but then she'll go out and everyone who looks thinks she's got a fat ass. Better if she'd just accepted the first dress wasn't right, and tried on another.

Now, most bad things like you mentioned are brought about by one person. But this one person has not forced his will on the nation. In the example of Hitler, he certainly didn't force all Germans to start murdering Jews. The real horror therefore, is that the nation let it happen, rather than the misguided idea that Hitler forced everyone to go along with it. Something else people would do well to remember, was that even Hitler didn't believe he was doing evil, he genuinely believed he was acting in the best interests of his people.

Fortunately, the kind of aliens who might be ethically inclined enough to examine your history are usually not the kind to exterminate life in such a way. So if it does happen, it'll be over pretty quick.

Well, every species can be said to provide some function. Wasps are predators, and one advantage of them is they have very little impact on crops. So you could say they help eliminate pests. Still, the environment wouldn't have too much trouble adapting if they suddenly went extinct one day.

Is that it? You want someone or something to tell you exactly how to live your life? Well you're not alone in that, if you were there would be no religion. It does add a bit of pressure, knowing that it's all your choice I know. Suddenly, you have to think for yourself, and decide on your own moral beliefs. Of course, if it all goes wrong, then it's entirely on your head.

It isn't that difficult though, firstly all you need to do is think rationally. Most humans, including yourself are quite capable of doing this. Sadly, most humans don't do this nearly enough, and let their feelings and instincts control them. The second thing is to use your feelings, think about a thing, a person, an issue, and then see how you feel about it. Instinct is also useful, but generally only when a decision must be made right here and now. It's too much of a reaction to be used in most circumstances, but it can save your life sometimes.

Having faith is something that brings people great comfort. It is also something very foolish logically speaking. It could even be said to be the opposite of logic, since it is the belief in the unproven, and in most cases, impossible to prove.

-----Original Message-----

From: Complaints Department [mailto:Address removed by anti spam software]

Sent: 11 May 2008 22:51

To: God

Subject: FW: War and the way things used to be

Yeah it's pretty good. But humans have been known to 'choose' their feelings as well, it is possible. You do not have to experience jealousy, or any other feelings you don't like.

Feel free to come up with another better suited example, but even on your planet, people have open relationships. It's not even particularly uncommon anymore.

But speaking of Jealousy and relationships, love isn't about restricting people. If you love someone, let them do what they like. If you don't, you find yourself loving the way they're acting to make you happy, rather than them.

Heh, I guess there must be just over a thousand of them now... I wasn't so responsible back then. Even so, they got the advantage of my genes, which were chosen specifically for their attractiveness in whatever species I was at the time.

I guess angels can be dangerous, if only because we're so powerful. Getting on Raphael's bad side is not a good idea, but then it's very difficult for a human to do that because he was only there himself in the story when he met Tobias, and once more to interrogate Damien.

Most of us think Camael's weird and annoying, but I quite like her myself. In a strange way her constant depression is quite amusing. I wouldn't say she likes me, but then I don't think she likes anyone.

Love, light and medical experiments,

Gabriel

Signature - There'll be time for explanations later. And hopefully, some sex!

To: God
Re: War and the way things used to be

Wow, you really know how to reassure me. Couldn’t you have just lied to me and said that all aliens are nice and would never invade Earth? I’m going to spend the rest of my life paranoid that aliens are going to kill us all now.

I’ve got to say that if I was looking at the human race from the outside, I wouldn’t be best pleased with them, but we’re not all like that! This is making me even more paranoid now. More often than not, all of the bad things that have happened throughout history started as a result of one person, and it all just got out of hand. World War 2 wouldn’t have happened without Hitler, like loads of other wars. Wars aren’t started by groups, they’re started by individuals. The aliens would see that, wouldn’t they?

You make me feel bad about wasps now as well. They annoy me even more now that I know they don’t have a secret purpose and they’re just there to annoy people.

I went to church today. I would have felt really bad about it if I missed it two weeks in a row. It doesn’t feel the same as it used to though. I think I actually felt jealous of all the other people there who were able to completely believe in what was being said. Less than a month ago, I did too. I’m pretty sure I was better off before you told me everything you’ve been telling me. The Bible used to tell me how to live my life. Now everything’s really difficult. I don’t know what to think about things.

I don’t care if Damien does have feelings. He didn’t care about my feelings when he went off with two other girls.

Gabriel, you can just decide that you don’t want to experience jealousy, and that’s it? There are so many feelings I wish I could just turn off like that. You don’t realise how lucky you are.

I was worried that you’d say you’d like it if Michael did that. Maybe it wasn’t the best example.

I’m not saying people are controlled by their genes, but it must be an incredible coincidence that you and Jesus were so alike.

Like when you say ‘No more getting people pregnant for no apparent reason.’ No more? As in, you used to? Is there a whole horde of little Gabriels out there somewhere?

Is it a thing with all the angels where they start getting dangerous when they’re angry? Raphael and now Uriel… I don’t want to get on anyone’s bad side if they’re all like that. I still feel nervous about what Raphael was going to do to get his trout back from you.

I suppose your dedication is alright, since it’s the type of thing that you and other people can enjoy, but depression? I spend so much time feeling depressed, but that’s circumstances. How can anyone choose to spend their life being depressed? What an existence…

-Poppy

To: Poppy
Re: Aliens and Experiences

Well, with the aliens, there are of course ones who are far less advanced than yourselves as well. But they wouldn't be building space ships that could travel at the velocities necessary for interstellar travel. They would stay on their own planets, far from human eyes and do their own thing.

I would not have you believe that all aliens are of the wonderful peaceful bunch variety. There exist some that would see first contact as a chance to do some slaughter and garner some more resources and slaves.

Fortunately, most resources are not particularly scarce, so there's little desperate need to invade planets to acquire them. Why bother, when there are plenty of uninhabited ones to use? Most of the more advanced see Earth (amongst others) as more of an interesting society to examine, but not to communicate with. There is actually a particular society which does this often, and teaches the results in schools on their planets.

To explore your worry that aliens might come to Earth and kill everyone, let us imagine that you were an alien being, on another world. You have a job, let's say as a historian. A vessel from Earth arrives and establishes contact. As part of an initial agreement with the people of Earth, both sides agree to share historical accounts. So you're then given the task of making recommendations to your races negotiators how to deal with those of Earth, based on their history. What would you tell them?

There is a very big difference, between an experience where you know how it's going to end and one that you don't. The emotions are different, and therefore usually the outcome as well. To directly answer the question, yes, a lengthy but unique experience is just as valid as one that is short.

As to wasps, well, creatures don't exist to serve some grand purpose. They exist because of natural selection. Wasps are well organised and well defended creatures, thus they survived where other variations didn't. Of course, natural selection isn't the total decider of things, as natural disasters, diseases and such make some species that might otherwise have survived die off. One could say they just got unlucky.

I can't see that anyone would particularly enjoy knowing you were going through 'bad things', after all, you've never really hurt anyone. Even if they did for some reason, they would be doing it anyway regardless of how you feel about doing it yourself. The thing is, some people deserve it.

Well, it's not easy for him to forget. If it was, he wouldn't bother talking to you anymore. He'd certainly like you to think it's easy for him though. Pride's always making people wear a mask. He still has feelings he's trying to hide behind that mask.

-----Original Message-----

From: Complaints Department [mailto:Address removed by anti spam software]

Sent: 10 May 2008 21:32

To: God

Subject: FW:

So people are controlled by their genes now? Nah, it was his choice. I'm certainly not taking responsibility for that monster. Why'd I leave Mary? Well it was kind of mutual agreement. We'd had lots of fun but obviously we didn't want Joseph discovering us and getting pissed off, and having her stoned to death.

I briefly experienced jealousy when I was very young. I decided though, that it would only get in my way, so I stopped experiencing it.

Hey, if Michael did that I'd be overjoyed (not to mention joining in)! Since angel's don't get STD's or pregnant unless we're in physical form (in which case it disappears as soon as we return to our energy state) there are no consequences.

Heh, I quite like my dedication. I think even Raphael does now he's got used to it. My dedication is perversity, not sex. Of course, sex comes into it quite a bit. More recently though, since I've been with Michael it's been mixed with compassion, so suddenly I'm being more careful with what I'm doing. No more getting people pregnant for no apparent reason.

Uriel's dedication, emotional attachments, is not always a good thing, you can certainly be attached to the wrong things. So when we were younger and she wanted a relationship with me I very nicely declined. The girls dangerous when she gets pissed off and upset, which unfortunately she does pretty often.

We've got some others up here who you might think are even more strange, like Camael, the angel of Depression.

Love, light and medical experiments,

Gabriel

Signature - There'll be time for explanations later. And hopefully, some sex!

To: God
Re: Aliens, wasps and feeling bad about feeling good

I had always kind of wondered about aliens. I just couldn’t believe that the universe could be that big and we were the only ones here. I’d always thought that maybe the reason we had never detected or seen them was because they weren’t as advanced as us, but it’s actually because they’re all smarter than us. Are all of the aliens good, or are there bad ones? I’m starting to feel worried now. I’ve seen too many movies where aliens come to Earth to slaughter everyone. Should I be worried?

I don’t understand what you mean about souls forgetting their previous lives if they’re aiming for a certain experience. Surely it would be better if they remembered what they were aiming for so they could find it better. Even if it’s nice to feel like it’s a new experience, is it worth it if the experience takes that much longer to be had?

Can I ask you something? In the grand scheme of things, where do wasps fit into it all? I don’t understand the point of wasps. How do they benefit the world? A wasp landed on my windowsill this afternoon and I had no idea it was there until I managed to put my hand on it and it stung me. I’ve got a big lump on my hand where it stung me now and it’s really hurting. I want to scratch it but the more I scratch it the more it hurts. I could forgive a bee for stinging me since they help flowers to grow. What’s the point of wasps?

I know I feel like it’s what Damien deserves, but I feel bad about myself for getting some small pleasure about bad things happening to him. I know that I’d hate to think that someone else was getting pleasure over all of the too many bad things that happen to me. I’ve been through enough bad things to know how it feels, and it makes me feel terrible to enjoy someone else going through all of that.

You know one of the things that annoys me more than anything else? The way he talks about his relationship with Michelle like me and him never happened. It’s like he’s expecting me to comfort him about it or something when things go wrong with Michelle. I know I’m trying to forget all about me and Damien, but I can’t, and it annoys me when he talks about things like he does. How can it be so easy for him to forget and so difficult for me? Did I never matter to him?

Gabriel, you didn’t help bring him up, but you sure passed on your genes! You said you had had children of humans and many other races? Jesus wasn’t bothered about what he had sex with and neither are you!

Sorry, I don’t mean to be rude, but you might have gathered by now that I don’t have much tolerance for people who go out and get other people pregnant without much thought for the other people involved in it all. At least Damien is sticking with Michelle to see her through it all. What did you have to leave Mary for anyway?

Are you telling me that you’ve never once been jealous? Okay, let me think of an example…

What if you went out one day and came back to find Michael having sex with loads of other girls? You wouldn’t be at all jealous? Wow, what an example. Most other girls would kill their boyfriends if they did that.

Was there something in the water or something when all you angels decided what you were going to dedicate your lives to? Were Michael and Uriel at the front of the line and got the good things like compassion and emotional attachments, and you were behind them and chose sex because it was either that or trout, which you left to Raphael?

-Poppy

To: Poppy
Re: Aliens and Lifetimes

Aliens most certainly do exist. As a society, any hint of their existence is quietly removed. After all, most people are not ready to be told they're not alone in the universe. Having said that, there are far more of you now than there was 100 years ago. The reason they're generally not detected is technology, beings who can travel the stars are obviously more technologically advanced that yourselves, and that includes the field of stealth.

On your own world, there are a great variety of groups and individuals. Each group, and each individual, has their own views on the world, their own culture, their own beliefs. Aliens are not much different in that respect. There are a great variety of them, both physically and psychologically.

Well, to answer why souls have to forget everything, they don't. Some return with their previous memories intact, more with some of these memories, lots with vague impressions of past lives but most with none at all. If a soul is in a position where it wants to have a similar experience to one of its previous ones (as souls frequently do), but change slight details, it is usually beneficial to begin said lives without memories of the previous ones so that it might seem like a new experience all over again. As to experiences that don't matter, there are none.

Of course, people didn't live to the ages the bible states. The bible was never very good when it came to matters of time (or anything else, but especially time). For example, it says that the world, man and all the starts were created in seven days, but a fairly simple examination of the light from stars proves the true age is far beyond that, on the order of billions of years. Some people have lived fairly long lives, but none so much as the bible lies about.

For Raphael, everything is based around trout. If someone helps them, they are worthy of his blessing (regardless of what else they might do). If someone harms them, they are worthy of his fury. This is of course, only if the particular trout is one he's interested in. If not, they're not irrelevant to him at all.

Naturally, I do not 'smite' my enemies, for I have none. Since all souls are in essence part of me it would be pointless anyway, after all, why would I smite myself?

About your guilt for feeling good about Damien suffering, I don't see why you should feel guilty, after all, you do feel it's what he deserves.

-----Original Message-----

From: Complaints Department [mailto:Address removed by anti spam software]

Sent: 09 May 2008 22:15

To: God

Subject: FW: Memories

Heh, well what I meant to say is while obviously I knew Mary might get pregnant, I couldn't have known that he would turn out like he did. I've had other children of humans (from both sides) and many other races, and none of them turned out like that! I left for other things about 6 months into the gestation process, so it's not like I helped bring him up or anything.

As for Michael no he doesn't, perversity doesn't require jealousy, nor does compassion, nor does love. I know humans tend to think it does, but hey, I don't see much use for jealousy. It only restricts you and personally I think you'd all be far better off without it.

Course, Uriel might disagree with me there. But then she's devoted her life to emotional attachments.

Love, light and medical experiments,

Gabriel

Signature - There'll be time for explanations later. And hopefully, some sex!

To: God
Re: Memories

So aliens do exist? How come we’ve never been able to detect them? How is it that they can come and watch us but we don’t even know they exist? What are they like?

When souls are reborn into another life, why do they have to forget everything? Surely it would be easier for you and everyone else if we could just remember everything so it would speed up the whole process of having these experiences rather than spending our whole lives thinking about what we’re doing here and having experiences that don’t really matter?

There’s something I’m going to ask about because I need to find out what’s right. In the Bible it seems like everyone lived for ages. There are loads of bits where it says people lived to be well over 100. Obviously, that can’t be possible, can it?

Now that I go back and look it up in the Bible, the story you told me about Raphael, it says that Tobias lived to be 127. I can’t imagine Raphael restoring someone’s sight like that. I can’t imagine Raphael doing anything good full stop.

All the stories in the Bible are a lie as well about you smiting your enemies?

Dad never used to be like he is now. After Mum died, it was years before he found anyone else. He was with his first girlfriend after Mum for four years before they split up, but after they split he started being like he is now having girlfriends too young to have the relationship last. I’ve given up now trying to keep track of the name of his current girlfriend because they change too often.

Speaking of men with too many girlfriends, I saw Damien in town today, which I really could have done without. He doesn’t remember anything about what happened that night at the club. Michelle’s still not talking to him after what happened. That does make me happy a little bit, even if it’s the type of happiness that makes me feel guilty later for enjoying his suffering. I just don’t want anything to do with Damien, and it annoys me when he sees me out and about he does everything he can to talk to me when I’m doing everything I can to just ignore him. I think he honestly believes that there’s going to be something he can do to make it up to me, but it’s too late for that. I hate to think how long him and Michelle, as well as the other girlfriend, were going on before I found out.

Gabriel, I could tell you were dying to tell me. I’m sure you would have told me anyway. I didn’t want to know, and I was right. It was much worse than I thought it was, although from what I’ve heard about Jesus, it does suddenly all make sense. He took after his father, didn’t he?

Furthermore, Jesus wasn't the son of God. He was your son.

You should have predicted what would happen. If you have sex with someone, what do you expect? I guess it just serves you right that people still remember Jesus 2008 years later when you were hoping everyone would forget.

Doesn’t Michael ever get jealous of you…doing things with other people? I can’t even imagine how you two got together. No offence, but you don’t seem the type of girl someone as nice as Michael would go for.

-Poppy

To: Poppy
Re: Life and Diverging Choices

Yes, essentially I have a mental list. Now, humans may be the most intelligent species on your planet (and even this is contested by some), but there are other planets... You don't think they're all there just for decoration do you? There are plenty of other intelligent life forms, a few of whom have visited Earth. Mostly just to observe (with the obvious exception of the Angels, but they're not truly physical beings) and sometimes to subtly assist.

Now there are experiences that are difficult to have, because of the low chances of them occurring or because certain configurations of the universe make them impossible. You can rest assured though, that they will all be had, eventually.

Now of course, when the universe begins again there will be differences. It would make no sense to repeat all over, so the choices that could not be had in this universe will be had in the next. So to take the example of your Mother, the moment the car hit her was a decision point. At that time, she would live or perish according to her souls choice of experience at the time. A vast (but not infinite) number of possible experiences branch out from that single decision point, a universe of possibilities. It must be said of course, that every point in time is a decision point, the only difference really being the ones that matter to you personally. So a single choice can and does eliminate the possibility of vast numbers of possible future experiences (this has to happen, if no soul made a choice then no experiences would be possible). Therefore, to those that believe that they are powerless to change the world remember, your choices define all possible future events. In essence, they define the universe around you.

As for your relationship, or lack thereof, with your Father, remember that people react in very different ways to loss (and everything else in fact). Some people withdraw into themselves, almost like creating a hard shell around them to protect them. Others try to 'fill the gap' with whatever else they can find. Neither way is wrong of course, and most people don't really think about it at the time. Certainly, there is much you could learn from each other.

I realise you and others reading this might want some clarification regarding Raphael, so hopefully this story will help...

The people used to worship Raphael quite freely, since he basically arrived to begin his life devoted to trout and they noticed him. Naturally, seeing his power they believed him to be God. He didn't care about them, but figured as long as they didn't bother him he'd let them get on with it.

Well anyway, the people also started believing in a Demon called Asmodeus, and decided for some reason that burning the hearts of trout were the defence against him. A young man named Tobias, who had seen (well barely, he had great problems with his eyesight) Raphael admiring several of the fish felt this was sacrilege, and said so quite loudly. He warned them that the angel would be angry at them for harming the fish, but they mocked him, for Raphael had never shown much interest in their devotion or lack of it.

Raphael, following a disturbing scent came across the people burning the trout's hearts and chanting. At the same time, Tobias had decided to take drastic action and leapt in, trying to steal the fish from the people. Being young and not yet having chosen which trout to devote his life to (that and just being Raphael), Raphael went into a rage and slowly burned the hearts of all present while they were still alive, with the exception of Tobias. For Tobias's respect of him even against the will of his own people, Raphael restored his eyesight.

Tobias's descendants forgot the trout, but they did not forget the lessons Raphael had taught them. They believed that people must respect and fear God despite those that mock them. They believed that violent murder of others and even themselves was perfectly acceptable if they were doing what they thought was God's will.

Naturally, there are those that would call me Satan for relating such a (true) story. I invite you to look at your bibles, it's full of (false) stories pretty much like that, except I'm doing the murder instead of the angels.

-----Original Message-----

From: Complaints Department [mailto:Address removed by anti spam software]

Sent: 08 May 2008 23:05

To: God

Subject: FW: A full set of experiences

Well, not the entire world terrorism problem, but a great part of it yes. We already know that Raphael see's sin as something other people do...

Hey! You asked about Mary (subtly)! That means I get to tell you!

Well, actually Poppy I was having an affair with Mary. I was in a male form at the time, and I kinda got her pregnant. Now, I'm not taking responsibility for Jesus here because I couldn't have predicted that! Anyway, Mary's husband Joseph was getting suspicious since she was getting somewhat larger, and Mary would have been stoned to death if her affair had been discovered, so I assumed my true form and made up a story about how I'd come to tell her she'd been impregnated by divine means. Fortunately Mary got over the whole fear thing and played along.

I figured in a few years everyone would kind of forget about it...

Love, light and medical experiments,

Gabriel

Signature - There'll be time for explanations later. And hopefully, some sex!

To: God
Re: A full set of experiences

So you’ve got some kind of mental list of all the billions of billions of billions of experiences that are out there, and you’re working your way through them? You said that it was so many that humans and most other life forms couldn’t comprehend it. Aren’t humans supposed to be the most intelligent species on the planet?

When I was a kid, I used to collect stickers. Mum used to buy me two packets every Wednesday when she’d pick me up from school and I’d put them in my album, but there was always one or two stickers in the set at the end that I would never seem to be able to get, no matter how many packets of stickers I got. Are there some really obscure experiences on your list that are going to be impossible to get like that?

When the universe ends and starts again, will it be the same as it was before, or will it be different? With the same people and everything, just making different choices? I can’t say I’m attached to the idea of having to live through this life again. Then again, if it’s different choices, would there be a chance that if it DID all happen again, that Mum wouldn’t get killed next time? That was the one defining point in my life where everything just went completely wrong and has been ever since. I honestly can’t remember ever being sad before that point, let alone feeling terrible like I do just about all the time now.

Even if Dad was here for much more than an hour a day (he treats the house like a hotel most of the time where he sleeps but doesn’t do much else here unless he brings his girlfriend(s) back) I wouldn’t want to speak to him about it. After Mum died, we hardly spoke at all. We used to talk sometimes when he used to drive me to primary school, but once I started secondary school and it was in walking distance, we hardly ever talked, and still don’t.

Gabriel, are you seriously telling me that the whole terrorism problem in the world today is Raphael’s fault? Why am I not surprised?

Christmas is always a take it or leave it thing for me anyway, but it’s the only time of year I can kid myself into being happy. Dad’s normally with his current girlfriend at Christmas, and for the past two Christmases I ended up with Damien’s family, but that’s obviously that’s not going to be happening this year. At least this year I’ll be able to watch the Doctor Who Christmas special without Damien and his two brothers passing comments about Kylie Minogue’s low cut dress, or the year before that how Catherine Tate was tightly packed into her wedding dress. The Doctor Who Christmas special is the only thing to me that makes Christmas worthwhile now.

Let me guess, Mary wasn’t quite as much of a virgin as the Bible would have us believe?

-Poppy

To: Poppy
Re: Souls and Suffering

When I said least hurt, I did in fact mean to themselves. One can't always say what will lead to the least hurt for another, because in your minds, people have different ideas about it.

This is it, there are not infinite possibilities. The number of possibilities is extremely high, so high that humans and most other life forms cannot comprehend the amount. However, it is not truly infinite.

We will know when we've had all the possible experiences simply because there will be no others left. In the beginning, I calculated every experience it was possible to have in a physical universe. This is the reason the universe is so vast, and why it has been around for so long. As souls tire of their existence and return to me, their experiences are added to mine. In this way, I gain life's experiences.

Whether a soul follows the path of least resistance or not is entirely up to said soul. As to how specific they are, they are in reality very precise. Depending on the priorities of the person experiencing them, they might not seem to be at the time.

Now some experiences are missed, and for this we created the universe to end as well as begin (big bang and big crunch). Once the universe ends it will begin again and repeat the cycle, giving us all the chances needed to experience anything we've missed.

We haven't actually decided on what we'll do after all of life's experiences have been experienced! We won't know until it happens.

I do not expect you to try to be happy about the things you mentioned. These are the choices of others, not you personally. How you react to it however, is completely up to you. Why do you believe your Dad is doing what he's doing? Perhaps if you talk to him from a perspective of trying to understand his feelings you might get a more genuine response?

-----Original Message-----

From: Complaints Department [mailto:Address removed by anti spam software]

Sent: 07 May 2008 17:58

To: God

Subject: FW: Experiences

This is the latest message from Poppy, I think this email things a pretty good plan! A Christian who's actually evolving mentally!

Yeah Poppy we know all about the feelings people get talking to Raphael, and too much (read: any) conversation with him can be a bad thing. You know there's a whole group of humans who used to worship him in the middle east? Nutters every one of them, they spend most of their time now forcing women to dress in black and training suicide bombers.

Alright... I won't let on what exactly happened between me and Mary. It was great fun though!

By the way though, you said you wanted to celebrate Christmas, well, after learning about Jesus I'd think twice about that!

Love, light and medical experiments,

Gabriel

Signature - There'll be time for explanations later. And hopefully, some sex!

To: God
Re: Experiences

I do have to disagree with you on one point. In my experience (wow, I’m beginning to sound like you now) people don’t do what they think will lead to the least hurt. I know I do, but most people don’t worry about other people. They’re only worried about what will bring them the most benefit.

Okay, here’s a question for you: How will you know when you’ve had all the experiences that are out there? Surely if there are infinite possibilities, then there infinite experiences to be had, and it’ll never end?

How specific are these experiences? Is it like doing something really specific in a certain time and place, or is it just a general sort of experience, like the difference between just reading any book or reading a specific page of a specific book? What about experiences that you missed out on? Like if something happens that stops you from experiencing something. What then?

What are you going to do after you’ve had all the experiences that are there to be had?

I’m still not buying into this whole ‘choosing to suffer’ thing. I didn’t ask that guy to kill my mum any more than I asked Dad to completely ignore me for nine years afterwards while bringing home girlfriends who are only a few years older than I am now. Do you honestly expect me to try to be happy about that? How can anyone see that as anything but bad?

Hey Gabriel, welcome back! I’m so glad you’re back again. I don’t think I could take much more of Raphael. Him and his ideas almost gave me a heart attack more than once. I’ll let you off for starting it all though because of what you did to Damien.

What you said about the explosives though, do you think he’s thought it through enough to stop his trout getting blown up as well if someone tries to touch it?

And please, I’d like to celebrate Christmas this year. I’ve heard enough about you to imagine what you and the ‘virgin’ Mary might have got up to, and I’m sure the truth is much worse than I imagine it might be.

-Poppy

To: Poppy
Re: Life's Decisions and Happiness

That's just it. I could have created mindless drones. As I have already explained and will now expand upon, every possible event happens simultaneously in what you might call "Parallel Universes". Given this, souls have the choice of which event to choose.

So, one might ask how a soul makes that choice. Usually (with human beings anyway), it's not a conscious decision. People tend to follow the path of 'least resistance', meaning they do whatever they instinctively feel at the time will lead to the least hurt. Of course, with a lack of long term planning by enough people you end up with... Well, look around you.

But take away that and create only outcomes that lead to happiness? The people might be happier that way, if it was properly designed, the people WOULD be happier that way. However, and this is the answer that humans cannot accept, that is not what I seek. If I wanted you to be eternally happy, I would not have created the physical universe. We would have simply remained in our eternal collective state, where no individuals existed because there was nothing else.

When we (I refer to all souls here) chose to create the universe, we purposely designed it that all of life's experiences might be realised. No true harm can come to souls, as energy cannot be created or destroyed. So 'death' to a human is an entirely different thing to a soul! Death means freedom to examine the life just lived, to choose the start of the next one. This cycle will repeat until all possible experiences have been experienced, at which point the universe will end, and we will become one again. That's 'the big plan'.

To get back to basics, that is why suffering not only exists, but 'must' exist. That doesn't mean though, that an individual has to experience it. It is all a matter of choice. This choice is not one to change the outer experience however, but to change your perception of it. In an easy to read manner, an event is only 'bad' if you think it is! One man's trash is another man's treasure as the saying goes.

To take yet another human saying, "The road to hell is paved with good intentions".

Stopping suffering is to most, a noble intent. But how does one go about doing that in a universe where any event can happen? Well, now you're talking about taking away free will, which in human society would likely mean constant surveillance, imprisonment or maybe execution for breaking the law (which somebody has to decide on), nobody trusting each other. To force such a situation would be to most, a horrific deed. I would no more restrict any or all souls, which are all a part of myself (so I would only be restricting myself essentially) than you would preside over the removal of free will from your race.

I am stuck in the middle of it all, for you are all a part of me. I love all souls unconditionally, which is a concept no religion and very few relationships have been able to get to grips with. After all, there's no power in unconditional love, so to the humans who wish to acquire power over others, unconditional love is a threat more than anything. However, it IS easy for me to just say it works out ok, because I know that no matter what experiences occur (and they all will eventually) in the end we will have had all that physical life has to offer. We will be 'completely experienced', which is the reason we separated ourselves and created the universe in the first place.

As to what you 'should' do, well experiment, try a few things. Being in the rather emotionally vulnerable position you are in right now, it might not be wise to do anything too hasty, but life's experiences are out there waiting for you to choose them. As to whether you would feel bad about something because of yourself or your conditioning, well, it's a little of both in most cases. You have plenty of time though, to go through your thoughts and feelings and make decisions. Nothing wrong in taking a little break from life to do that.

Now, I don't want you to misinterpret me on the natural disasters/sex thing. Natural disasters are a means of population control, but that is not something I've put in place thinking, "Yes, this'll kill off a few of these exponentially multiplying buggers". It happens simply because in the physical universe, it is the natural life cycle of planets. That it keeps populations down is a result of that, but it is not forcibly pushed on you. There are other universes where this does NOT happen, where it does not need to, and where it does need to, but doesn't happen anyway. Every combination. Same thing with sex. Now, in THIS experience, for your society, natural disasters are generally taken to be a very bad thing, and sex is very much a matter of opinion. That doesn't mean though, that either is right or wrong.

Naturally, Raphael is just flowing through another of life's paths, as is Gabriel.

-----Original Message-----

From: Complaints Department [mailto:Address removed by anti spam software]

Sent: 06 May 2008 19:21

To: God

Subject: FW: All's well that ends well

She's back! She's sending the latest message! Woo!

Poppy:

Raphael's gone home to live with his trout, and I noticed your message saying about how he wanted to protect it with something "pure and chaste" to keep me away. Well, as you said, that would attract me if anything!

But, I think that might have been a little fib on Raphael's part to try to lure me into stealing it again. He was seen receiving deliveries of numerous high yield explosives, and I think they're probably set to go off when I touch whatever temptation he's put in place around them. He's always been a devious sod like that. I don't think too many of the angels felt sorry for him when his trout went missing.

In any case, after seeing him lose it, I've agreed with Michael not to bother his trout any more, so he shouldn't bother your world for now at least.

And don't worry about your virginity, I wouldn't try to take you without your explicit consent. Michaels kind of grown on me these past few millennia, and anyway, I learnt my lesson about that with the whole Mary thing. And you thought children born of incest were bad! You never met Jesus, be glad you didn't. The thought of him makes me cringe...

Love, light and medical experiments,

Gabriel

Signature - There'll be time for explanations later. And hopefully, some sex!

To: God
Re: All's well that ends well

I’m not saying the world should be full of mindless drones, but I can’t help but feel that some people would be happier that way. I know free will is good and everything, but the world is a horrible place because of it. Hundreds of years ago, the majority of people didn’t do the things they do today because they believed in you. Okay, they couldn’t prove you existed, but we still can’t today (in fact, I’m sure with all these emails I have more proof than the rest of the human race combined, assuming I’m not still in the middle of some psychotic episode and I’m imagining all of this). You're still there, regardless of whether they could prove it or not. The fact is that since people stopped believing in you, the mental barriers that were there stopping them from doing the things that they do all the time now have pretty much disappeared. I’m sure that hundreds of years ago people weren’t afraid to go outside on the streets after dark because of gangs hanging around. People could get on a bus or a train (not that buses or trains existed back then, but whatever means they went somewhere by) without having to worry about if the person sat next to them had a gun in their bag or was going to blow themselves up and take everyone else with them. Everyone seems to be living in fear these days, and a lot of the time people are only ‘happy’ because someone or something else is suffering because of it. I know people still stole, murdered and wrecked the environment hundreds of years ago, but nowhere near on the scale they do today. I’m having a hard time convincing myself that free will is really worth it if it makes so many people suffer.

It’s the same you say about making people worship you. It’s good that people have the choice. I wouldn’t want them to be forced to, but when everyone did look up to you, they wouldn’t have dared to do all the things they do now all the time. Is it worth having the choice if everyone suffers because of it?

It’s so easy for you to just say that all’s well that ends well. You’re not stuck in the middle of it all.

I don’t know what I think I should do. You say to use common sense, but it doesn’t help. When I think about what I think I would feel bad about doing later, I don’t know if it’s because I would genuinely feel bad about it, or whether it’s because I’ve spent my whole life being told by the Bible that it’s bad. How am I supposed to decide?

There’s a contradiction here, you know. How can you say that all these natural disasters are a form of population control, when it was you who created sex so that people could enjoy it? You were complaining a while ago how people used to only have sex once they were married and only then to have children, but all of the people who these days go out and do it are the ones pushing up the population. Idiots like Damien and Michelle who go out and have sex without a second thought because they enjoy it then complain when they get pregnant. It’s their fault you feel it’s necessary to have natural disasters to kill thousands of people because there are too many of them, but it’s not the fault of the people who get killed. If you really have to kill people to keep the population down, can’t you be a bit more selective about it? Can’t you kill people who actually deserve it and the world would be a better place without them?

I’m giving up on trying to talk sense into Raphael. He’s so hypocritical! He was willing to ruin the lives of millions of people just for his trout, but when Gabriel takes his trout and ruins his life, he’s all up in arms about it. I expect Gabriel was enjoying herself stealing that trout. It’s a good thing Michael was there to sort things out. If Gabriel was working on the same basis as Raphael, she’d have kept the trout, because as long as she was enjoying herself, then nothing else mattered. I can’t believe his ethics are so narrow-minded that he was willing to use nuclear weapons for his trout. He just doesn’t care about anyone else, does he? I’m surprised he didn’t just keep the charity money and buy a trout farm. He doesn’t understand that it’s not the money I was worried about. It’s not the value of it, it’s the power it has to do some good in the world. If he had stolen the money from the mafia or something, I couldn’t have cared less. In fact, it would have been better. Gabriel would have had sex with Raphael, Raphael would have got his trout back and everyone would have been happy.

I just hope this teaches Raphael a lesson to keep his trout better guarded, although the pure and chaste thing is never going to work. I was pure and chaste, and there was nothing you could do to stop Gabriel coming to find me once she knew I was a virgin (why am I using past tense? I still am a virgin). Something pure and chaste isn’t an anti-Gabriel system. It’s a Gabriel magnet.

Is Gabriel back yet? It’s not until you talk to someone so selfish like Raphael that you realise that Gabriel’s not that bad after all.

-Poppy

To: Poppy
Re: Choices, Disasters and What You Want

Well, the world is a mess because people do what they want. But it was not my will to create mindless drones, however perfect they might be. What possible use could I have for that? From a purely materialistic point of view, you might well be better off under total restriction of your freedom to choose your own actions. Of course, who's going implement the restrictions? Then you end up with a dictatorship, be it simply under the way people perceive me or from the rich and powerful directly.

Of course the world didn't have the problems hundreds of years ago that it did today, it just had different ones. Things like witch burning, people getting away with the most horrific of crimes because of the lack of technology to trace them, and utter belief in a God that nobody could actually show existed. As to stealing, murdering and wrecking the environment, well, people did all of those things in the past as well.

As to what you should think, well, you decide. If you think you're going to regret doing something then don't do it! Common sense applies here. Just because people think freely doesn't automatically mean they're going to do bad things, it just means they have the choice.

Do you see it as a good thing to believe in a God who would keep humanity bent low in prayer to him through threats of torture? You, all of you, have the potential to be much more than that. Of course, some people DO see that as a good thing. Those people are the priests and clerics of your religions.

Natural disasters as you say are not the result of people in most cases, although, by screwing up your environment you can expect more than you would otherwise get. But they are a means of population control. After all, if people didn't live near volcanoes and other places vulnerable to such things they might not have their lives destroyed by them. Humans are reproducing at a rate too high for their world. Self control is the key here. You all understand clearly, that there are too many people at the moment for your world. You could easily half your population in a single generation by limiting people to one child each. Of course, there'd be such an outcry about it that at the moment, it couldn't happen. As always though, it is up to individuals and society to sort out their own problems.

This is not to say I don't give a damn. But you see, I know that at the end of the experience of life, it all works out as it should. Part of the reason people feel helpless and that life is unfair is because they don't know for sure that it all works out ok.

Well, if you can't/don't want to be with the people you used to like find new people! There are certainly enough of them... The great thing about life is there are ALWAYS new experiences, new relationships, and new things to strive for. Seek them out if you want them!

-----Original Message-----

From: Complaints Department [mailto:Address removed by anti spam software]

Sent: 5 May 2008 18:19

To: God

Subject: FW: Hedonism and Natural Disasters

It worked! My agents couldn't retrieve the trout, since Gabriel kept it on her the whole time (which drew a few stares from the other worshippers I'm told). In desperation I was about to give the order for them to gun everyone down and just take the fish when Michael brought it out to one of my agents.

Gabriel will be returning within the hour, and while I was intending to torture her with human children's bones, since I've got my trout back I'm in a good enough mood to forgo it. So she should be able to take her place back here, while I go continue with what I want to do. In future I will keep my trout better protected with some kind of Anti-Gabriel system. Maybe something so pure and chaste that she'd never touch it.

As to 'it', my plan worked didn't it? Well, let's say Gabriel had destroyed the trout and therefore I had nuked the world until it caught her, killing millions of people and leaving many times that number screwed over for many generations...

Is that wrong? I don't see why. As far as I'm concerned 'wrong' is anything that distracts me from my trout, and 'right' is that which enables me to experience my trout. 'Horrific' is anything that damages my trout. As to people, well they're just things that kind of get in the way, like leaves in your face. You just sweep them aside and carry on.

But hey rest easy, nobody will be any the wiser as to the money. Those bits of paper and metal you assign so much value to are already back in place.

Love, light and trout,

Raphael

To: God
Re: Hedonism and Natural Disasters

You’re right, you know. I would regret doing those things, but I’m just not sure what to think any more. My world is just being continually turned upside down at the moment. The girl who went to church every Sunday wouldn’t have her Bible on the floor right now either. It kind of fell off my desk and I haven’t picked it up yet…

Isn’t the world such a messed up place because people believe they have the choice to do whatever they want? Okay, I’m now apparently thinking more freely, and it seems that I’m thinking freely as everyone else now. As freely as all of those other people who think it’s fine to go out and steal, murder, wreck the environment and everything else they do. If that’s true, then I don’t want to think freely. I was better off being told what to do by a book, even if that book is so far removed from the truth it’s unrecognisable. Hundreds of years ago, the world never had the problems the world has today, because everyone believed in you in one form or another so they would never think of going out and doing the things that a lot of people do on a daily basis now. Like you said about democracy, people are only concerned with themselves. A few hundred years ago, people were more concerned with society, because they were concerned about you as well. You can’t say that me, or anyone else is better off knowing ‘how it is’, because that’s why society is so messed up right now.

I can completely agree with those people who can feel like they’re in Hell. I’ve been feeling like I’m in Hell for about a month and a half now.

I feel sorry for all those people in Burma now. They say 10,000 people have been killed in that cyclone. I bet all the people left there are feeling like they’re in Hell too. What’s the deal with natural disasters? I understand that you said evil comes from human beings, but why do natural disasters need to happen? Why did you create volcanoes and tidal waves and stuff to make people suffer? It’s not the result of conscious choices or poor decisions. All those people…

You said I should decide on a worthy purpose. The problem is that there’s nothing I want to do that won’t make me feel bad later. The only people who I used to enjoy being around are dead or off screwing other girls. The only thing that got me through the bad times was you, and now you’ve told me that I should start ignoring what the Bible says because it had nothing to do with you and I should start doing what I think I should, but I don’t know what I should do or even what I want to do.

Since I’m only an ‘it’, not a she, please pass this bit onto the other ‘it’:

Are you completely out of your mind? Are you stupid enough to have suicide bombers blow up a mosque? They’re gonna retaliate if you do and they’re going to head straight for Britain. You’re going to get hundreds of people killed! Is there nothing that’s going to stop you? You’re prepared to use nuclear weapons to get to Gabriel? You’re insane! You talk to me about morals. I’m the one who won’t even use a can of fly killer because I feel too bad.

You say about how a race is represented by the worst of its kind. You’re representing the angels right now. You complain about our government. At least on the rare occasion they start wars, it’s over something serious. You’re prepared to unleash nuclear weapons over a fish!

We consider ourselves individually because we’re all individuals. Even if we see people in groups, the people in those groups are individuals. There are an infinite number of groups. With you, there are only three groups – Raphael, trout, and the other group made up of everything and everyone else that doesn’t matter. Everything else is expendable, apparently.

If it wasn’t for all that charity money, there’s nothing I’d like to see more than you have to give in to Gabriel’s demands. I’d be there with a camera.

-Poppy

To: Poppy
Re: A Better Life

Well, you might be less upset if you try to stop taking personal responsibility for things that are not your fault and that you could not have predicted. You would regret doing those things, simply because of who you are. Not to say you can't do them though, after all, morals and feelings haven't stopped people doing things like that before.

All I am doing, all I can do, is tell you 'how it is'. How you use that is up to you. Do you not see that because of this, you are now thinking much more freely than you might have before? The girl who went to church every Sunday to pray to me would never have dared suggest to God that she might go out on a drug induced incestual sex spree!

This is the point, you have the choice now to do these things. You had the choice before of course, but other people made you believe you didn't.

In actual fact, women are not in any way better than men, and vice versa of course. Both have the equal potential to be whatever they want to be. People often choose things they know are bad for them, which is why 'democracy' the way it's set up is not working as it might. Most people are concerned only for their own lives, and their votes reflect that. For a society, this is not a good thing. In the end, it's not a good thing for the individual either, because as society falls so do they.

For now then, your purpose is deciding on a worthy purpose. You say to me that you're almost ready to 'go out and do whatever you want', and you should. But as a conscious being, you must ask yourself how you're going to feel later, and whether that's the result you want.

There's an old quote which I think might apply here - "It is easy to go down into Hell; night and day, the gates of dark Death stand wide; but to climb back again, to retrace one's steps to the upper air - there's the rub, the task."

Hell doesn't exist of course, but people can feel like they're in it. In other words If you start doing some of the things you've suggested, you might end up having more in common with Raphael than Michael.

Angel's dedicate themselves almost entirely to a particular ideal or object. The idea is to see how one explores that dedication to its fullest, how one with such an obsession relates to others, and how they feel at the end. By contrast, humans are born knowing nothing, having to learn everything from scratch and much more able to pick and choose.

I don't see that life is all that bad for you. I can only see 'losing' someone like Damien to be a good thing. And not to sound too cold-hearted, but humans do die. It is the result of being born, and it is the only way for you to come back home, or to another life.

-----Original Message-----

From: Complaints Department [mailto:Address removed by anti spam software]

Sent: 5 May 2008 14:52

To: God

Subject: FW: George Bush and someone else just as bad

This is the latest one, please give me some time that I might be able to send it a personal reply.

The exchange is set for tonight, it seems Gabriel has been convinced to surrender the fish in exchange for the return of the money.

However, during our last negotiating session a few hours ago, my agent managed to get a successful trace on her. I won't say exactly where she is, for fear of someone tipping her off but it seems she is in a Mosque.

I have two of my people in the Mosque right now looking for that fish. If they manage to retrieve it unharmed, I will have suicide bombers destroy Gabriel's mortal form, forcing her to return here where I will ensure she is suitably punished. On this planet, I doubt it's people blowing themselves up for no obvious reason will shock anyone.

My contingency is, that when Michael discovers where the money comes from he will make Gabriel cancel the deal.

If they fail, and Gabriel refuses to cancel, it will come to the worst possible result. I'll have to agree to her demands.

Reply to it:

First of all, Gabriel is far away enough that you're not going to be able to harm my trout. I also know that Michael will not allow Gabriel to damage my trout, because if she does I will use nuclear weapons as a means of finding her. I'll know when I've hit the right spot because she will be forcibly returned here.

I'll concede that not 'all' humans are that bad. Some are even somewhat enlightened folks. But a race is represented by the worst of its kind, not the best. You're race proves this irrefutably with its governments. Not only do human beings consider themselves separate from others individually, but they consider groups of humans separate from other groups. Christians and Muslims, Americans and Germans, Blacks and Whites.

Well, maybe cute is the wrong word. Other angels use the word cute. I use the word expendable.

Love, light and trout,

Raphael

To: God
Re: George Bush and someone else just as bad

You’re not helping! I don’t want to experience any of this! Everything just seems to go wrong for me. I don’t remember the last time I really enjoyed myself. You seem so sure that after all this I would regret doing something like that. Right and wrong don’t exist! Part of me is still clinging onto my sense of sanity and compassion and staying sensible. The other half is just about ready to go out and do whatever I want, and you’re making that half more and more dominant with each new email you send.

I was going to ask whether Raphael could really be that heartless, but after reading his response, I guess he is. I’ll get onto that later though. If I start on that now, I won’t stop.

It’s not like George Bush is going to be around for that much longer anyway. I’m beginning to learn that all men are idiots. All the men I know at the moment are scum. Dad pretty much ignores me when his girlfriend is around and Damien is only worried about when he’s going to have sex next. Then there’s that angel who I’m not going to talk about by name because he doesn’t deserve it. I so wanted Hilary Clinton to win. What America needs is a woman with an actual brain to run it for a few years. Doesn’t look like she will now though. I guess that people without brains aren’t going to vote for someone with brains, let alone a woman. That’s probably how Bush got to be president in the first place. Of course, it would be different if Clinton was young and sexy.

Okay, this is something that’s been making me wonder: humans dedicate themselves to things too. What makes them different to angels? YOU were my purpose in life for eighteen years. Just deciding on a new purpose isn’t going to be easy.

The person this next part is directed to knows who he is. I’d call him ‘angel’, but angels are supposed to be good people, and he’s definitely not. When he starts calling me by my name, maybe I’ll start calling him by his.

You can just consider yourself lucky that there are a few million miles between us! If I knew where Gabriel was, I’d go out there right now, get your trout from her and put it in the blender!

I’d have no choice but to live with it if Gabriel decided to keep the money. My life is screwed up enough as it is anyway. Do you really think my life could get much worse? I might have been there when it all started, but I’m not the one who’s heartless enough to steal money from charity. If Gabriel did, would YOU be able to live with it? Well, I already know the answer to that question. As long as you get your trout back, you don’t care about anyone else.

Not all humans are that bad. Just as you’re demonstrating that not all angels are that good. What gives you the right to talk about morals? I would never steal money from charity. The thought would never even cross my mind. You’ve stolen 50 million pounds from people who are generous and want to try and help their fellow humans. You are a spineless, selfish coward who is going to make thousands of other people suffer because you want your bloody fish back, like some two year old with their cuddly toy.

You angels think we humans are cute, eh? If you don't stop soon, you're going to have to start rethinking that.

-Poppy