The Last Answer by Isaac Asimov — © 1980

Murray Templeton was forty-five years old, in the prime of life, and with all parts of his body in perfect working order except for certain key portions of his coronary arteries, but that was enough.

The pain had come suddenly, had mounted to an unbearable peak, and had then ebbed steadily. He could feel his breath slowing and a kind of gathering peace washing over him.

There is no pleasure like the absence of pain – immediately after pain. Murray felt an almost giddy lightness as though he were lifting in the air and hovering.

He opened his eyes and noted with distant amusement that the others in the room were still agitated. He had been in the laboratory when the pain had struck, quite without warning, and when he had staggered, he had heard surprised outcries from the others before everything vanished into overwhelming agony.

Now, with the pain gone, the others were still hovering, still anxious, still gathered about his fallen body –– Which, he suddenly realised, he was looking down on.

He was down there, sprawled, face contorted. He was up here, at peace and watching.

He thought: Miracle of miracles! The life-after-life nuts were right.

And although that was a humiliating way for an atheistic physicist to die, he felt only the mildest surprise, and no alteration of the peace in which he was immersed.

He thought: There should be some angel – or something – coming for me.

he Earthly scene was fading. Darkness was invading his consciousness and off in a distance, as a last glimmer of sight, there was a figure of light, vaguely human in form, and radiating warmth.

Murray thought: What a joke on me. I’m going to Heaven.

Even as he thought that, the light faded, but the warmth remained. There was no lessening of the peace even though in all the Universe only he remained – and the Voice.

The Voice said, “I have done this so often and yet I still have the capacity to be pleased at success.”

It was in Murray’s mind to say something, but he was not conscious of possessing a mouth, tongue, or vocal chords. Nevertheless, tried to make a sound. He tried, mouthlessly, to hum words or breathe them or just push them out by a contraction of – something.

And they came out. He heard his own voice, quite recognisable, and his own words, infinitely clear.

Murray said, “Is this Heaven?”

The Voice said, “This is no place as you understand place.”

Murray was embarrassed, but the next question had to be asked. “Pardon me if I sound like a jackass. Are you God?”

Without changing intonation or in any way marring the perfection of the sound, the Voice managed to sound amused. “It is strange that I am always asked that in, of course, an infinite number of ways. There is no answer I can give that you would comprehend. I am – which is all that I can say significantly and you may cover that with any word or concept you please.”

Murray said, “And what am I? A soul? Or am I only personified existence too?” He tried not to sound sarcastic, but it seemed to him that he had failed. He thought then, fleetingly, of adding a ‘Your Grace’ or ‘Holy One’ or something to counteract the sarcasm, and could not bring himself to do so even though for the first time in his existence he speculated on the possibility of being punished for his insolence – or sin? – with Hell, and what that might be like.

The Voice did not sound offended. “You are easy to explain – even to you. You may call yourself a soul if that pleases you, but what you are is a nexus of electromagnetic forces, so arranged that all the interconnections and interrelationships are exactly imitative of those of your brain in your Universe-existence – down to the smallest detail. Therefore you have your capacity for thought, your memories, your personality. It still seems to you that you are you.”

Murray found himself incredulous. “You mean the essence of my brain was permanent?”

“Not at all. There is nothing about you that is permanent except what I choose to make so. I formed the nexus. I constructed it while you had physical existence and adjusted it to the moment when the existence failed.”

The Voice seemed distinctly pleased with itself, and went on after a moment’s pause. “An intricate but entirely precise construction. I could, of course, do it for every human being on your world but I am pleased that I do not. There is pleasure in the selection.”

“You choose very few then?”

“Very few.”

“And what happens to the rest?”

“Oblivion! – Oh, of course, you imagine a Hell.”

Murray would have flushed if he had the capacity to do so. He said, “I do not. It is spoken of. Still, I would scarcely have thought I was virtuous enough to have attracted your attention as one of the Elect.”

“Virtuous? – Ah, I see what you mean. It is troublesome to have to force my thinking small enough to permeate yours. No, I have chosen you for your capacity for thought, as I choose others, in quadrillions, from all the intelligent species of the Universe.”

Murray found himself suddenly curious, the habit of a lifetime. He said, “Do you choose them all yourself or are there others like you?”

For a fleeting moment, Murray thought there was an impatient reaction to that, but when the Voice came, it was unmoved. “Whether or not there are others is irrelevant to you. This Universe is mine, and mine alone. It is my invention, my construction, intended for my purpose alone.”

“And yet with quadrillions of nexi you have formed, you spend time with me? Am I that important?”

The Voice said, “You are not important at all. I am also with others in a way which, to your perception, would seem simultaneous.”

“And yet you are one?”

Again amusement. The Voice said, “You seek to trap me into an inconsistency. If you were an amoeba who could consider individuality only in connection with single cells and if you were to ask a sperm whale, made up of thirty quadrillion cells, whether it was one or many, how could the sperm whale answer in a way that would be comprehensible to the amoeba?”

Murray said dryly, “I’ll think about it. It may become comprehensible.”

“Exactly. That is your function. You will think.”

“To what end? You already know everything, I suppose.”

The Voice said, “Even if I knew everything, I could not know that I know everything.”

Murray said, “That sounds like a bit of Eastern philosophy – something that sounds profound precisely because it has no meaning.”

The Voice said, “You have promise. You answer my paradox with a paradox – except that mine is not a paradox. Consider. I have existed eternally, but what does that mean? It means I cannot remember having come into existence. If I could, I would not have existed eternally. If I cannot remember having come into existence, then there is at least one thing – the nature of my coming into existence – that I do not know.

“Then, too, although what I know is infinite, it is also true that what there is to know is infinite, and how can I be sure that both infinities are equal? The infinity of potential knowledge may be infinitely greater than the infinity of my actual knowledge. Here is a simple example: If I knew every one of the even integers, I would know an infinite number of items, and yet I would still not know a single odd integer.”

Murray said, “But the odd integers can be derived. If you divide every even integer in the entire infinite series by two, you will get another infinite series which will contain within it the infinite series of odd integers.”

The Voice said, “You have the idea. I am pleased. It will be your task to find other such ways, far more difficult ones, from the known to the not-yet-known. You have your memories. You will remember all the data you have ever collected or learned, or that you have or will deduce from that data. If necessary, you will be allowed to learn what additional data you will consider relevant to the problems you set yourself.”

“Could you not do all that for yourself?”

The Voice said, “I can, but it is more interesting this way. I constructed the Universe in order to have more facts to deal with. I inserted the uncertainty principle, entropy, and other randomisation factors to make the whole not instantly obvious. It has worked well for it has amused me throughout its entire existence.

“I then allowed complexities that produced first life and then intelligence, and use it as a source for a research team, not because I need the aid, but because it would introduce a new random factor. I found I could not predict the next interesting piece of knowledge gained, where it would come from, by what means derived.”

Murray said, “Does that ever happen?”

“Certainly. A century doesn’t pass in which some interesting item doesn’t appear somewhere.”

“Something that you could have thought of yourself, but had not done so yet?”

“Yes.”

Murray said, “Do you actually think there’s a chance of my obliging you in this manner?”

“In the next century? Virtually none. In the long run, though, your success is certain, since you will be engaged eternally.”

Murray said, “I will be thinking through eternity? Forever?”

“Yes.”

“To what end?”

“I have told you. To find new knowledge.”

“But beyond that. For what purpose am I to find new knowledge?”

“It was what you did in your Universe-bound life. What was its purpose then?”

Murray said, “To gain new knowledge that only I could gain. To receive the praise of my fellows. To feel the satisfaction of accomplishment knowing that I had only a short time allotted me for the purpose. – Now I would gain only what you could gain yourself if you wished to take a small bit of trouble. You cannot praise me; you can only be amused. And there is no credit or satisfaction in accomplishment when I have all eternity to do it in.”

The Voice said, “And you do not find thought and discovery worthwhile in itself? You do not find it requiring no further purpose?”

“For a finite time, yes. Not for all eternity.”

“I see your point. Nevertheless, you have no choice.”

“You say I am to think. You cannot make me do so.”

The Voice said, “I do not wish to constrain you directly. I will not need to. Since you can do nothing but think, you will think. You do not know how not to think.”

“Then I will give myself a goal. I will invent a purpose.”

The Voice said tolerantly, “That you can certainly do.”

“I have already found a purpose.”

“May I know what it is?”

“You know already. I know we are not speaking in the ordinary fashion. You adjust my nexus is such a way that I believe I hear you and I believe I speak, but you transfer thoughts to me and from me directly. And when my nexus changes with my thoughts you are at once aware of them and do not need my voluntary transmission.”

The Voice said, “You are surprisingly correct. I am pleased. – But it also pleases me to have you tell me your thoughts voluntarily.”

“Then I will tell you. The purpose of my thinking will be to discover a way to disrupt this nexus of me that you have created. I do not want to think for no purpose but to amuse you. I do not want to think forever to amuse you. I do not want to exist forever to amuse you. All my thinking will be directed toward ending the nexus. That would amuse me.”

The Voice said, “I have no objection to that. Even concentrated thought on ending your own existence may, in spite of you, come up with something new and interesting. And, of course, if you succeed in this suicide attempt you will have accomplished nothing, for I would instantly reconstruct you and in such a way as to make your method of suicide impossible. And if you found another and still more subtle fashion of disrupting yourself, I would reconstruct you with that possibility eliminated, and so on. It could be an interesting game, but you will nevertheless exist eternally. It is my will.”

Murray felt a quaver but the words came out with a perfect calm. “Am I in Hell then, after all? You have implied there is none, but if this were Hell you would lie to us as part of the game of Hell.”

The Voice said, “In that case, of what use is it to assure you that you are not in Hell? Nevertheless, I assure you. There is here neither Heaven nor Hell. There is only myself.”

Murray said, “Consider, then, that my thoughts may be useless to you. If I come up with nothing useful, will it not be worth your while to – disassemble me and take no further trouble with me?”

“As a reward? You want Nirvana as the prize of failure and you intend to assure me failure? There is no bargain there. You will not fail. With all eternity before you, you cannot avoid having at least one interesting thought, however you try against it.”

“Then I will create another purpose for myself. I will not try to destroy myself. I will set as my goal the humiliation of you. I will think of something you have not only never thought of but never could think of. I will think of the last answer, beyond which there is no knowledge further.”

The Voice said, “You do not understand the nature of the infinite. There may be things I have not yet troubled to know. There cannot be anything I cannot know.”

Murray said thoughtfully, “You cannot know your beginning. You have said so. Therefore you cannot know your end. Very well, then. That will be my purpose and that will be the last answer. I will not destroy myself. I will destroy you – if you do not destroy me first.”

The Voice said, “Ah! You come to that in rather less than average time. I would have thought it would have taken you longer. There is not one of those I have with me in this existence of perfect and eternal thought that does not have the ambition of destroying me. It cannot be done.”

Murray said, “I have all eternity to think of a way of destroying you.”

The Voice said, equably, “Then try to think of it.” And it was gone.

But Murray had his purpose now and was content.

For what could any Entity, conscious of eternal existence, want – but an end?

For what else had the Voice been searching for countless billions of years? And for what other reason had intelligence been created and certain specimens salvaged and put to work, but to aid in that great search? And Murray intended that it would be he, and he alone, who would succeed.

Carefully, and with the thrill of purpose, Murray began to think.

The first interesting part is that they are all one and the same in many aspects. It all starts with the Creator God or the Source. Remember as I explain the source, that we and the Angels are of the same stuff. Same source energy; exactly the same in every way, just a different perspective. This is in many ways the first paradox of creation. How the one  IS the many.

The Prime Radiant

In the beginning there was a particle. This particle had no mass. That alone is hard for most to imagine because no such things exist in physical reality, or so is the belief of most people on Earth. Then on top of that the first source particle was conscious of itself to a degree; similar to that of an amoeba or virus or bacteria or plant cell. Of course this is not exactly how the first source was, not really a particle but it serves as an adequate enough examples for the purpose of this article. This is what was told to me so this is how I tell it to you.

So this particle was all there is. There was nothing else. Definitely no physical reality, so no stars, moons and planets or so called life. There was no such concept of time or space, which as many of you suspect is not empirical, but only a concept and tool created by physical beings. Not even a spirit realm, because this had not yet been built or conceived.

The very first thing that happened in existence was for our source particle to have knowledge of itself. For it to think “I AM”. Since there was nothing else, everywhere it moved, it was at the center of all there was. The next phase of existence was for the source to experience itself. The only way for it to do this was by creating a copy of itself, internally. There was no other way to create anything else other than internally because it was and still remains the only thing in existence.

This copy of source now then had the ability to see itself or experience itself. This was the creation of the concept of what may be called time and space. There was now a here and there. A this and a that. It could move about by projecting itself “there” at infinite speed. Why infinite speed? Its speed was said to be infinite because there was nothing else to compare it with. It could only be slow if there was something that moved faster and vice versa. Since it was the only speed around, it’s speed was said to be infinite. This is a simple but profound understanding. When I first learned of this concept, I was giddy with excitement, and I still am.

Over so called time, the source moved and split and created everything else in existence. It created rules , or laws,  to govern existence. It desired that every copy of itself, at some level,  to have the same memory, knowledge and abilities of itself. At some points in the creation game, copies of the source decided to play with the idea of limiting itself. Forgetting it’s past memories, just to see what the experience would be like. It created life and forms of life in every form possible. Eventually it did everything possible. Now everything possible is said to be infinite. There are infinite possibilities and yet this source somehow has done it all. Now how long did it take to accomplish all this? You guessed it. It all happened instantly because it can move as fast as it takes to accomplish anything due to the fact that it can move at infinite speeds. So all of creation happened at infinite speed or instantly or to put it in its ultimate term, the creator always was and always will be.

Now if the creator source always was and always will be, eternal. And everything in existence is just a copy of the source. And we are part of existence; then we are a copy of source and therefore infinite and eternal. Everything that exists is happening in the consciousness of the one thing in existence. It is intelligent and conscious. All concepts, emotions, materials and life derive from it playing with all the possibilities and perspectives of itself. So yes dear ones, we are all one. You and I are part of the illusion that source is creating to experience itself from as many perspectives as are infinitely possible. Creation, all that exist,  is creator source or the Prime radiant, creating and experiencing itself.

Conclusion

Now it makes sense when you hear, God is all, we are all one, there is only one God, the creator, God is infinite etc. etc. So yes, God knows your thoughts easily, because they are its thoughts. No God is not Male or female. The concepts of gender are a creation. I am told that in some worlds, they are more than 2 genders. No there is no such thing as time or space, these are mere tools created along the way. And no you can never really die, as the life you are now living was just an illusion that you chose to partake in so that you can experience being finite. You always were and you always will exist without end.

Knowledge of all this makes it simple to believe in LBL or life before life or reincarnation. It is now clear how some people have certain skill sets that they appear to come in with. Why a child who has never seen a piano can sit down and start playing it like he has done so before. Because it has.

I will leave you with this final bit of information about the creator or source or prime radiant, It IS love.

Dearest Hearts,

As always, I pray you are well. Writing this article was not my idea. It was God’s, and here’s how it happened.

This year I began a year long class on “Mastering Alchemy.” Included in this class is a strong emphasis on “Living Words.” Given a list of more than 100 words and traits that carry a very high vibration, we are asked to choose and live three of the words and traits daily. It’s a very powerful practice. Anyway….

Nearing the end of last week’s class we were asked to choose and embody three words (without thinking) that we would “wear” if we were going to lunch with the Creator. I chose the words powerful, gracious and kind. (No thought.)

I went to sleep having the image in mind and heart of God, and me together, at lunch. Upon awakening, I entered my morning meditation (with journal and pen next to me,) and guess who joined me? God.

I felt the presence that I have come to know as God, ‘come over me’ before the words were telepathically impressed upon my consciousness. “Would you like to have breakfast with Me?” I simply smiled from the inside out and said, ” I would love to.” I noticed, very quickly, that I was still embodying the living words powerful, gracious and kind. Upon consciously noticing my state of being, a burst of Love palpably moved through my heart. I had the sensation that God was mirroring me, by being powerful, gracious and kind, to me.

I spoke my feelings about that out loud and here, in part, is what I received.

“You have just experienced, ‘there is only One of us.’ I have long told you that you will only teach that which you experience. You yourself needed this reminder, so you could remind the many. Who you are, is who I Am. How you Be is how I Be. How you love Me is how I love you. We are One.

Now you have a deeper awareness of why I ask all of you to create time for Me daily and come to me open-hearted and filled with love. Only through love and intentional contact can you access Me, hear Me, feel Me, know Me, collaborate with Me and make your way gracefully through your life; particularly through this next year.

Humanity is well within the energy field of 2012. Make no mistake about it, and do not take this lightly. What has been written thus far about 2012 has engaged many minds, now you must engage your hearts, so you will not miss what you have incarnated for, which includes meeting many Beings of Higher Consciousness that you have had a ‘through the veils’ experience with.

The timeline of the third dimension has collapsed, more quickly than anticipated. Your Beloved Mother Earth is in a most fragile state and has chosen to birth her ascended state now. She is doing so in great part to move herself up to her next level of consciousness, as she is dying in the former one, and in great part to push each of you into your next level of consciousnes, for you to, are dying in your former one.

The year ahead will be the most fascinating of any that you have had in your human experience Beloveds. From meeting your space brothers and sisters, Archangels and Angels, to the many moments of alchemy and magic, apparent tragedy and transcendence, each of you will live the year in front of you being beckoned moment by moment to choose love or to choose fear, purposefully.

Your state of consciousness is being put to every test now, and for good reason. What you choose in each moment will determine where you will live in the new order outside of time. Whatever you choose, is where you will be and where you will be will mirror that which you choose.

The new earth is mandated to be duality and polarity free. The same is true for each of you in order that you ascend. You have been told before, via the one that writes this, that you are positioned to become heroes in a transition stage. Only through love stabilized, consistency and communion with Me, are you able to hold the frequency of the new Earth and the fifth dimension without falling back into another deep sleep of separation.

You are each surrounded by vast Legions of Light Beings of the highest order that are positioned to help you, as well. Each ask that you strengthen your rapport with them, ask for what you need, participate in your ascension and claim your victory.

It is also true that energies of a Dark nature still linger, attempting to win your affection. Circumstances are ripe for them to enter your lives each time you choose fear over love, regardless of any experience you are in the midst of. Come and sit with Me and I will tell you the Truth about any of your experiences, if you will listen with an open mind. I will bring you into a state of love and wisdom, rather than fear and lies, if you let Me.

You will be well served if your stories that you continue to claim as the reason for your despair and malfunction have Light cast upon them, not the mortal minds repetitive shadows. In the Light you will see Truth. In the Light and with my Love and your devotion to your shift, you are made capable of transmuting patterns of fear, patterns of repetition, change genetic coding, alter your DNA, and shift your entire ancestral lineage.

“How am I to do that,” you might ask, “when I am jobless, uncertain and my abundance is dwindling?” You choose to stop believing that you are jobless or without abundance and you will stand in the middle of your own transformation.

Be of good service to others, and you will have a job. Give and you will receive. That is the Law and the Promise. You have no need for the details. It is already written. Trust Me, or trust your mind. You choose.

Humanity has had a perception challenge for millennia. Stop perceiving anything. Let the former notions and perceptions seep out of you until you are empty. Empty. And when you are empty, I will fill you up with the nectar of a God, not a human playing small, but a God playing Big. You choose. Yes I know this is a big stretch for many. So be it. Stretch and empty yourselves, and see what you find. You have nothing to loose but a state of mind that has killed off many a Truth.

Choose love and love is what you will get. Take your mind out of everything it has formerly invaded.

Where you take notice of a conflicted nature, sit down and breathe. Connect to The Great Central Sun and the crystalline grid of Mother Earth, with your breath. Learn how to run stabilized energy through your bodies as easily as you put food into your mouth. Get into your body and compose yourself. Come to Me and I will lead you back to yourself and prepare you to enter a Higher Order outside of time.

I have told you this before and I tell it to you again. You are Gods in human form. You are loved beyond your deepest imaginings. You are My heart beating, and I love you.

Believe Me and come forth.

Copyright Maureen Moss 2010. Please feel comfortable to share this with others. I ask that you include my name and websites www.worldpuja.org www.maureenmoss.com as this is part of a greater body of work.