In cold and darkness, my soul seemed to find light and a peace that I had never known. I wanted to die. More than ever before, I welcomed it. I knew that my time on earth was about to come to an end. Finally concluding my suffering from the plague that greed and power brought to humankind. I longed for the answers that I knew only our creator held within his existence. Only he knew why we were sent to this cruel world. For all the months I spent in captivity, one question lingered in my thoughts above all others: "Why does someone who is handed power or a better title, no matter how slight, always turn dominating and greedy? Arrogance consumes someone like this, as if a higher power has finally deemed that he or she was meant to guide the rest. These people seem to believe their lives, their ways, and their prophecies were more significant than those of whom they were meant to serve and guide. What weakness in the rest of us allows this to happen time and time again at every different level, in every aspect of life, and within every society? It is conveyed amid families, social communities, politics, religions, and in those we choose to be our highest leaders.

Power has changed hands countless times throughout the history of the world. Has there ever been a single instance in which the outcome was not the same? Our salvation is always our destruction.

These questions boiled inside me. Moments like this always made me feel weak and insignificant, as though I was not worthy of an answer. But now the aforementioned calmness filled my soul. It was as though all the questions I had ever had no longer concerned me. After months of cold and darkness, imprisonment, humiliation, and brutality, I would never have to face those burdens again. The darkness of my cell was replaced by light and warmth. My soul rose into a magnificent existence. Every sense was overtaken by radiance. No words can explain the freedom, weightlessness, warmth, and pure pleasure that I felt as I passed from one world into the next. Love encased me. It was like waking up from a dream and finally understanding what it means to truly exist. I was a part of something so big, special, intricate, and detailed. There were brilliant colors that I could never have imagined.

Before me, all around me, and in me, I experienced my savior, my loved ones, and my dear animals that had passed away before me. Along with all of those I wished so badly that I could have saved.

He, who in my tongue was referred to as God, was not merely a being that stood before me. He was part of me — part of all of us. This being was not just one soul but the good of all souls combined. My suffering, burdens, and despair had also belonged to him. He didn't just understand my life, he had lived it alongside me.

The Lord welcomed me and thanked me for my service on Earth. My suffering was over — my journey complete! What a glorious homecoming it was! On earth, my days were often filled with fear and sadness, but all of the pain and trials were now only a distant memory. True freedom was at hand, it could never be taken away from me.

The Lord was indeed perfection — the creator of all love, compassion, and hope. Within his existence were the answers I'd so longed for, just like I always knew they would be. He recognized the eagerness for knowledge that filled my soul, and the answers flashed before me.

I now understood that power, recognition, and success were humankind's greatest temptations and therefore our greatest downfall. During our lives on earth, they seemed to define our reasons for existing. We all wanted to better ourselves, to achieve great things, to be respected among our peers. I was now able to comprehend their deception. We crave power out of a need for recognition and perhaps even self-worth. However, the well-being of others is often grossly overlooked in this pursuit. It was a battle between free will and God's will; few ever find balance between the two.

I saw that life was much more complex than I had ever realized. There was a reason for everything, a resolution to every request. Our many differences, interpretations, and self-righteousness became inane and condescending. I understood why all religions were right in their own reasoning. They each led people to their creator and guided them in the direction they chose. Many times religion created prejudices however, more often it produces spirituality and helps reaffirm people's connection with God and the difference between right and wrong. The images flashed so swiftly, and they thoroughly communicated love and other feelings attached to them. I realized that some people need religion to remind them that their creator was near and to bring them closer to him.

Others were more in tune with their spirituality. They worshiped the earth, the creatures, and the weather. They were thankful for their bounty, and they saw the earth as a living being. Instead of looking to the Bible or prophecy, they relied upon intuition to help them choose their paths. They looked to their creator and their ancestors to guide them.

Some didn't acknowledge religion or spirituality in any form. They had seen the torment of indifference found there and chose not to be a part of it. Science and logic guided them, not the Lord or any higher power. Always naively unaware that science was also an avenue to their creator. He had created it especially for these people because they could only believe by seeing. In other words, their connection to God could not be an unexplained feeling or words in a holy book. These souls could only understand what they could prove or touch. They were not irrational, they only had a different method of understanding and accepting their creator. Many times, God came to them through science without their recognition of him.

There were so many beliefs, religions, and political influences represented in the images. I saw how often humans had manipulated religion to protect their heritage and beliefs or to gain power. I felt the sadness of the Lord as he reminded me of the relentless destruction and persecution that religion had caused throughout history, as in my own experience on earth. I understood that the religions themselves weren't to blame for this; rather, it was people's lack of acceptance of unfamiliar religions and ideas. Most plagued by their arrogance and inability to compromise. They were controlled by a blinding fear that power would shift; it filled them with greed and panic. The basis that these religions were founded upon was set aside and replaced by war and despair out of a never-ending need to acquire the upper hand.

There would never be a winner of these wars or a chosen religion that would rise above the rest. There was not a particular breed of people whose souls would be saved because of what they believed in or were born into, leaving the rest damned to hell. After all, many religions are scattered across the world, and none are truer than any other. None is exempt of flaws or misguided information. I saw that the only thing that really matters is love for one another, integrity, peace, kindness, generosity — and acceptance of the unacceptable!

If all God's creations and all the ideas and beliefs in the world are not accepted, the only outcome is chaos and destruction. Over many thousands of years, this flaw of humankind could not be mended. I now saw the reason that God and all of those who would inhabit the world helped create it in order to learn from it. Life was...