“Yes, I understand what you’re saying, but can I ask you a question about yourself?” I asked.

“Certainly, ask me whatever you want to know,” Ruthorn said.

“I see that the social system here seems to be perfect, as all of you seem to be living together in harmony as a community. However, there’s still something I don’t quite understand.”

“Actually, an ideal egalitarian society shouldn’t divide people into classes, like the ruling class, to which you obviously belong to, and those from the working class, including the ones who have welcomed me these past days My impression is that you, the ruling class, seem to have a different quality of life. The normal people here work hard and live in small cottages that don’t even have electric light. When I compare their simple homes with this palace, you live in such a magnificent building that is grandly illuminated at night and shines brightly by day with gold and precious stones. In my opinion, this inequality shouldn’t exist in any ideal society,” I explained.

“If I interpret what you see by applying the parameters that you’re used to, then this is true from your perspective, and it would constitute social inequality,” Ruthorn answered enigmatically.

“The basis of your thought system is that everyone lives in ignorance. The people are not aware of their rights and their values. They are not even aware of their duties, and what they are expected to do. When this knowledge is lacking, a process takes over, which is called ‘those who know more, take advantage of those who know less’.”

“If you would ask the citizens here whether they are aware of the hardships of their occupations and their everyday lives, they would tell you that they know that very well. They’re all aware of the motivation that drives them to do those things every day, although the word ‘motivation’ might not capture the exact meaning. Indeed, it would be better to say that they ‘willingly accept what they have been assigned to do’ because one’s motivation doesn’t necessarily come from one’s willingness.”

“To put it simply,” Ruthorn went on, “even though what you see may amount to disparities or inequalities, no one here is being abused or taken advantage of. On the contrary, everyone is very conscious of the values they add.

“If you found out one day that what you do provides value to yourself – and also benefits others, you would want to continue doing what you do, without expecting anything in return. This is the big difference that I’m trying to explain to you,” Ruthorn said.

“As for your question on why we lead such a luxurious life; well, this also is your personal judgement, based only on your perspective and your thought process. Everything that exists here has a reason why it’s done that way. It’s not intended to indicate our status, as you may have been misled to understand,” Ruthorn went on.

“Let’s begin with my clothes. I’m not wearing these clothes made of gold because I think I’m superior to others, but because this golden fiber is the best medium for our souls to interrelate with other energies in the universe. Therefore, my clothes only serve me as a tool to facilitate my work. In fact, it’s no different from a farmer’s hoe or axe,” he said with a smile.

“And as to why I live in a building adorned with dazzling gold, the glitter isn’t there for the sake of beauty or luxury. We made these metal surfaces as smooth as possible in order to perfectly reflect the light, and this metal is the perfect medium. Additionally, we use various kinds of gemstones which we cut and polish to create corners before installing them at different points to optimise catalytic reactions. And finally, we chose this high mountain to make it easier and more efficient to send and receive information throughout the universe.”

“In the past,” Ruthorn continued, “only a few people had the opportunity to visit and experience this place, using either their intuition or telepathy. Those who had experienced it, extensively documented what they had seen here, but without understanding the true reasons. The different versions of their impressions of this place were based on their own way of thinking, which was rooted in the traditional system or belief that power alone rules, dominates and exploits. Therefore, their narratives of what they had seen here, our palaces and temples – which are actually very similar to the structures on your planet – were inaccurately interpreted as status symbols, which is a fundamentally different concept here.”

“Now I’m beginning to understand better, and I have to apologise for having misinterpreted what I saw,” I admitted.

“Don’t worry, that’s perfectly understandable,” Ruthorn replied.

“Now, if you’re not too tired, I’d like to show you the place where we work,” he invited me.

“Please do, I’m not really tired at all,” I answered, actually feeling quite refreshed after our conversation.

“In the process of producing these garments and jewels, we invited artists and creative craftsmen to help us,” Ruthorn continued to explain, as we got up and started walking together. “They were briefed on our needs and given preliminary designs to proceed. For example, we instructed them on the number of angles that should be on the front facet of a big gem, and that all the angles must focused at one point on the back. This specific design would help to induce the dispersed energy into the centre. As for the decoration and styling, we gave these craftsmen free rein. They could creatively align the gems to be as awe-inspiring as they wanted them to be. But we had to instruct them specifically on the exact positions to place the pieces because the main gem has to be in the middle of the forehead or chest. So, when you see these magnificent jewels, you would likely regard them as being purely decorative, but for us, they serve as our instruments and tools,” he added, as we headed towards the huge building.

“For the structure of this building with the sparkling spires on the top, we gave the craftsmen instructions to cover all surfaces with gold and to create as many indentations as possible and to make a lot of sharp corners, so that they would efficiently produce the desired results. Since the architects wanted to not only create an efficient building, but also a beautiful piece of work, they constructed different shapes, ranging from a 12-sided spire to one with 24-sides. The sculptors then created these artistic decorations to impress visitors, and the final result is this elaborate piece of art that you see now,” Ruthorn explained.

“And after they had completed this building, the artists and the architects stayed in this city to this day,” he added.

“Ah! Now I understand why this city has become so renowned as the centre for artists of all disciplines, because of the role they played in the construction of this unique building,” I said.

“Yes, that’s right,” Ruthorn confirmed.

“How old is this building, by the way?” I asked.

“I don’t know its precise age, but I know that it was completed even before there were humans on your planet,” Ruthorn said.

“Oh wow, that’s incredible!” I exclaimed, deeply impressed. “I thought it was built recently because the stone path that we took doesn’t look eroded at all by the wind or rain.”

“This is due to the quality of the environment,” Ruthorn explained while we continued walking up the mountain. “This world has remained almost unchanged since its creation. We have never had any earthquakes, thunderstorms, lightnings or floods, and the water and the air never contained any harmful or aggressive substances like acids or chemicals that would cause erosion. Therefore, everything has remained in the same pristine condition as it was since the beginning.”

“Master Ruthorn, I’m curious to learn how you travel between our two worlds. Would you be so kind to tell me a bit more about that?” I asked him as we climbed up the stairs.

“In which aspect? I won’t hide anything from you, but you have to be more precise about what you want to know,” he replied.

“Well,” I said, “I know that you can travel back and forth between the two planets through the existing 360 portals. I’d like to know who built those portals, how they work, and how you manage to reduce the travel time between such distant planets to a wink of an eye?”

“I’m happy to explain that, but it will take me some time,” he replied. “I’ll take you to my place first and we’ll talk when we get there.”

“Thank you,” I said.

When we arrived, Ruthorn walked me up the last steps as we entered the building. In front of the entrance door was a wide terrace, and I noticed that the courtyard and the entire building were made of large granite blocks that were joined seamlessly together. The floor was shiny and looked well-polished and clean. And when I turned around and looked back down the mountain, I could see the entire city sprawled below.

“We use this courtyard as a multi-purpose yard, because here we welcome all our visitors, from leaders of other cities to parents who bring their children to study the dharmic truth, and visitors like you,” Ruthorn explained.

“But there are not a lot people here now, it’s so quiet,” I noticed.

“That’s true. A while ago, our technicians had gathered here for the arrival of a special guest. The whole courtyard was filled with the beings who all came together to give a cordial welcome to this guest. At one time, there were as many as 1,042 technicians living here,” Ruthorn explained.

“So, where have they all gone now?” I asked.

“They went on a mission to your planet. At the moment, only two beings live here, and both of them will also travel to your planet tomorrow,” he said.

“Where are they now?” I asked.

“They have never traveled through the portal that links our two worlds before, but due to the numerous missions that we have at the moment, it’s necessary to draw all available resources. Today they took their final flight test before departing tomorrow.”

“I see. Before I started my journey up the mountain, I saw two spaceships took off from the top of this building,” I remarked.

“Yes, that was them,” Ruthorn confirmed. “If this place wouldn’t need anyone to watch over it, I would have gone as well.”

“From what you have said, I understand that the situation on my planet must be pretty awful, right?” I asked.

Ruthorn fell silent.

“I’ve already heard from the people who welcomed me that there is a crisis developing,” I said.

Another moment of silence passed.

“So, what about the students? Who will take care of them if there’s no one here?” I asked, hoping that he wouldn’t find my questions to be too awkward.

“No, we haven’t had any students for a long time now,” Ruthorn said thoughtfully.

“And this is a clear sign that your world has been in a crisis for a long time,” he continued, “Nobody has been able to raise the level of consciousness and turn it into pure love. As a result, no one has evolved himself far enough to be reborn into this world.”

After having said that, Ruthorn took me into the building. As soon as I stepped inside, I could feel the temperature drop due to the thick granite walls. The ground floor consisted of a large hall with hundreds of round pillars, each with a width that would require three men to put their arms around one. The room was very large with a high ceiling, illuminated by numerous light bulbs, and the ceiling itself decorated with gold and colourful glass.

“These are actually gems, not colourful glass,” said Ruthorn, replying to my thought.

“Oh,” I exclaimed, “there are so many of them.”

“This room can accommodate up to 3,000 people at a time. We use it as a meeting room to receive communication from the source together, and to ensure that every participant can receive it seamlessly from any angle, the gems must be installed all over the ceiling,” Ruthorn explained.

“Wow, I can only imagine how many gems must have been used,” I said while he guided me inside.