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Word Gems
exploring self-realization, sacred personhood, and full humanity
Franchezzo
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The missionary team surveys the geography of the lower reaches of hell: smoke-spewing volcanoes and a lake of black ink. Moreover, they could sense the sorrow of those trapped in this land.
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We were now fast leaving [the higher dimensions] behind, and passing downwards through those lower spheres which I had partly explored before. We were travelling through space at a wonderful velocity, not quite with the rapidity of thought but at a speed difficult for the mind of mortal to conceive.
the sorrow of hell's citizens pervaded the air
Onward and still onward we swept, sinking ever lower and lower away from the bright spheres, and as we sank a certain sense of awe and expectancy crept over our souls and hushed our talk. We seemed to feel in advance the horrors of that awful land and the sorrows of its inhabitants.
gigantic volcanoes
And now I beheld afar off great masses of inky black smoke which seemed to hang like a pall of gloom over the land to which we were approaching. As we still floated on and down, these great black clouds became tinged with lurid sulphurous looking flames as from myriads of gigantic volcanoes. The air was so oppressive we could scarcely breathe, while a sense of exhaustion such as I had never experienced before seemed to paralyse my every limb...
ten thousand Vesuviuses
We now drew near what appeared like the crater of a vast volcano —ten thousand Vesuviuses in one. Above us the sky was black as night, and but for the lurid glare of the flames we should have been in total darkness...
a lake of black ink
At last our leader gave the order for us to halt, and we descended on the top of a great black mountain which seemed to jut out into a lake of ink, and from which we saw on the horizon that awful lurid country.
Here we were to rest for a time and here, too, we were to part from our friends who had so far escorted us upon our journey. After a simple repast consisting of various sustaining spiritual fruits and food which we had brought with us, our leader on behalf of the whole company offered up a short prayer for protection and strength, and then we all lay down upon that bleak mountain top to rest.
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