control onto the couch where heâd been sitting. âEven the teachings which will help you understand the Secret are not secrets, as you now see, hear, and feel. People mouth them all the time, yet they fail to know them, to live them. Youâll find this, for example, verbatim in the Bible at the end of one John four. Youâll find it again in a hundred other places, including Deuteronomy six, at the beginning of the Gospel of John, and in the sacred writings of virtually every religion of the world.â He pointed his finger at Paul. âYou have begun a work, the work of saving the world, from which you can never turn back.â
âI know that, now,â Paul said.
âSo itâs time for me to go, as you have other lessons to learn from other teachers and I have other work to do at this critical time on the Earth.â
âNot yetâ¦â
âI must,â Noah said with a broad, loving smile. âBut donât think it hasnât been fun.â
And Noah vanished.
Paul jumped up, ready for another apparition, or a coyote to run from the kitchen, or a voice to begin talking from the ceiling, but nothing happened. The room was empty. He knew, somehow, that Noah had left and he was alone.
âHello?â he said, but the only answer was the sound of a siren down on Eighth Avenue. âNoah?â There was no reply.
He stood up and walked through the apartment; the kitchen, the bathroom, the bedroom, but it was empty. He opened the door into the hallway, but there was nothing but light-blue linoleum and off-yellow walls lit by a fluorescent bulb in the ceiling.
Paul closed the door and walked over to the bookshelf, which he scanned for a moment with a growing feeling of excitement and anticipation. Heâd had the book his entire life, the wisdom in his hand, and never understood it.
He pulled his motherâs Bible off the top shelf, thinking about love. Turning it to the Book of Deuteronomy, where the Ten Commandments were given, he read: And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.
He flipped the pages to the Gospel of john, and read: In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. AU things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
Could it be? Paul wondered. Right in front of me all the time? That the universe was created by an energy that humans have since called God? That everything, from the stars to the taxis to the dog on the street is made of that same stuff? And weâve need that energy, just as we named 2000 cycles-per-second âsound,â or a few trillion cycles-per-second âlight.â But the name weâvegiven that energy, the presence of our Creator, when we feel it in the normal course of life is âlove,â and built into our nervous systems is the ability to detect it, to know it?
With trembling hands, he turned to the fourth chapter of First john, and read: Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.
He read it again and whispered softly, âSo it is true. Theyâve been trying to tell me for two thousand years.â Slowly Paul put the Bible back, walked to the sofa, and sat down. He leaned forward, put his face in his hands, feeling an incredible loss for all the wasted, frightened years. âWe all had it wrong all along,â he said aloud. He knew it was a breakthrough, a total change in his life, a completely new understanding.
He took out his notepad and wrote, The energy we call love is the most pure and delicate and powerful way our nervous systems, our minds, can touch the mind of God. Itâs how we know God, for God is love. Heâd have to share it with others. It could change the world!
And he knew it was only the