- 3 - The deceased had stood there the whole time. He felt that nothing much had actually changed. He only remembered that he had seen a very bright lustre and everything seemed as before after, he was hardly aware that he had died. Only everything was lighter about him, no heaviness and no coarse materiality. He was gripped with great astonishment – there was indeed life after death, the old sciences had been correct after all, the new sciences got it wrong! But things were better like this and it calmed him down considerably, but there was initially something agonising about it, namely that he was unable to talk to anyone, none of his relatives and his colleagues noticed just how close he was to them. It was at least comforting to hear that they lauded him, that one had so confidently talked about God’s throne and the Asphodelus Meadow. He naturally missed the titles and the medals, they seemed out of reach. But wasn’t he still the great scholar, the famous researcher? Didn’t it say: “…their works will follow them everywhere?” He was now alone. The outlines of the room turned dark and blurred into space. It was very quiet, only the old song “…when I enter Salem, the city with the golden alleys” could be faintly heard in the distance. What was going to happen now? Maybe immediately? – He was filled with eager expectations, but this expectation contained some fears, something indescribable, one great, anxious question that completely filled his senses. It had also turned so dark that one could no longer see anything. It then turned bright and an angel stood in front of him. They apparently also existed! God would therefore also have to exist and all the dead that had lived, and the spiritual Jerusalem also. How wonderful all of this was! – But the angel looked serious and sad. “Where do you want to go?” asked the angel. “Into paradise.” “Come”, said the angel. Huge, dark gates silently opened and they entered a room that was glaringly lit. The walls were blood-red and innumerable, mutilated animals sat on the floor whimpering. They reached for the deceased with cut limbs and they looked at him with blinded and extinguished eyes. Their numbers stretched into an incalculable distance. The angel looked at the deceased and said: “Here are the bitches you removed their puppies from their living bodies. Did you not have children that you loved? – When your children die and when they look for their father they will find you here. This is the paradise you created for yourself. Here are the cats whose hearing you destroyed under terrible tortures. God gave them such a delicate hearing that one could call it a miracle of creation. You will no longer hear anything but this. Here are the monkeys and rabbits you robbed of their sight. God gave it to them so they could see the sun. Did you not also see the sun all of your life? You will now see as much as they see with their blinded and extinguished eyes. Shall I take you further? It is a long, long procession.”
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