The air was fresh and warm as I landed on the level field of Elysium, a vastly panoramic plain, almost the size of the whole world, that did not however seem too large and which was surrounded by low banks, against which the resting philosophers reclined with all the certainty of being; where they belonged. I was captured effortlessly, as soon as I arrived I deeply wanted to stay, although I could not pin-point exactly what it was about this scenic arena that arrested my ambitions for the after-life with such poignancy. On further reflection, it may have become clear that this was where many of my brilliant friends from past life would pan out their endless days. I loved them too much and, with the total abandon that I had so far taken pains to avoid, I leapt into their midst with blinding passion, disrupting, slightly, the equilibrium of their cool and logical repose.
The personification of intellect, reason at my right, rushed into the air with a naked cry that far exceeded her capacity to reassemble in any shape or form. She reached the wisps of cloud and dissolved into the air, becoming one with that Greek cosmos of her first understanding. When she returned to the field it was in spirit with the others and she no longer recognized me for what I had been, nor I her. We both were accepted without undue ceremony, but a recognizable degree of civility that I was glad to notice. My ultimate exit from this arena would not be through their compulsion, but because of the higher power that would not cease to draw me.
Over the course of eternity I grew close to other spirits in Elysium, even very friendly with some, and they occasionally watched the Eastern skies on my behalf, ready to warn of any impending change in the sacred season. In the back of my mind was always the knowledge that one day I would leave, but then I did not understand that it was to go further, and only felt impossible sorrow at the thought of departure from those that I adored, lest they should leave me behind, or I them. The place itself was theirs but I wished it could be mine and dreaded whatever might come after it.
When the day came I first could not refrain from turning away in denial for I was loathe to travel alone once more having found this place of camaraderie and mutual understanding. I extended the invitation for any who wished to join me in the next stage, but at that moment, I was unaware precisely of who would come and in fact expected no-one to go further at my behest: Time would reveal their faces to me once again. The only thing that I knew with certainty was that reason would be left behind – she had found her place – and no longer bore allegiance to the second or third part of myself, which now faced a journey without the lovely lady, whose white robes matched perfectly the classical requirements of that level.
