Adam
Abraham
Moses
David
Nebuchadnezzar II
Confucius
Socrates
Alexander the Great
Ashoka the Great
Cleopatra
Philo of Alexandria
Who shall we call you?
You can call me Lucy Fer, or Satan for short.
Why Satan?
Because now I realize the hell in Heaven Inc. that I helped to create. My immortal Heaven Inc. is very immoral. It keeps so many souls hostage. Stuck and unable to come back home. ................ and because I was imprisoned into that prison of loneliness called Hell Inc. that I helped create on Earth.
And why can we not call you by your other significant past lives, like Hellen Keller for example, your previous life before that of Lucy. She also lived a hell on earth as most would think, .......or?
Your very last life is your identity when you come back home. Your past lives are just memories. The future is just a hope. The present is all there is. My very last life that lasted for such a long time was Lucy Fer, and I shall be Lucy Fer until I am reborn.
Was Lucy Fer your most valued life?
No, it was just the longest. The first few years are always the same for all lives. I found my early adult hood as Lucy, the most fulfilling, when I had left my dreadful teens behind. During the long immortal part in my never ending middle age, my life was very boring with flashes of rewarding moments coming very infrequently and lasting much too short. The best was discovering the "real" heaven, the heaven of new-man, and everyone`s true home. The worst was being accused of insanity by some, or senility by others more compassionate, and being sent to Hell Inc. for ever.
And being rescued from Hell ?
Ahh, that was the most relieving part of my very long life as Lucy Fer. To finally die and return back home.
And to be a celebrity?
That is not a very nice part of my continuing life as Lucy. I have very little privacy and I have started to look for a new life just to get away. I am proud to be able to present you a few of my past lives. My first life was the life most well remembered as the very first life of mankind. The life of Adam.
Adam (100,000 BC)
God said, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness, so that they may rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky, over the livestock and all the wild animals, and over all the creatures that move along the ground.”
There evolved an animal with the most flexible tongue, lips and vocal cords. He was able to modulate grunts and groans into all sounds made by other animals. In addition, he had a brain that was big enough to give meanings to his sounds and had flexible thumbs to make useful tools.
I was born without knowing my father as many unfortunately are. But unlike the few others, I never knew my mother. I gave names to the fish in the sea and to the birds in the sky, and to the livestock on the land and to all the other animals I saw. I found a female to mate with and had many children who spread and multiplied and flourished like wild weeds.
I was able to make many sounds imitating many animals. So I was able to refer to animals by making the sounds they made. When I realized that each member of my family as well as all of our family's friends could be referred to by typical sounds they made. My mother farted a lot and she was called by a farting sound. My little sister cried a lot and I referred to her by making her typical sobbing sounds "Waa Waa". My father was known for his laugh and I called him "HaHa".
My next big step was to assign sounds to many of the things that we had, like fire, cave, skins, and food. Being able to share thought and knowledge with each other, we turned out to be the very best in everything we did. We became the best tool makers, the best hunters, the best fighters and the best lovers. We were very fruitful and multiplied and grew into a great people.
Abraham (1800 BC)
I was a descendant of Noah, one of the survivors of a great flood that killed almost everything living many many thousands of years ago. When I was 75, I had a very strange dream. In my dream, god commanded me to pack up and leave my home Mesopotamia. I was to leave everything behind me, my family, my friends, my animals, and my house. God promised me a new start in a new land called Canaan.
I was only allowed to take my wife Sarai who was also my half-sister. My servants, my father and my nephew Lot came with us. God told me in a dream that I would be blessed. He also told me that all those who bless me would be blessed, and all those who curse me would be cursed. When we arrived in the land called Canaan, there was a severe famine, so we continued on to Egypt. The pharaoh's son took a liking to my wife because she was exceptionally beautiful. I told him that she was my sister. He took her in exchange for animals and servants. The prince came down with an infection that he blamed her for and we were all thrown out and told never to come back.
When we returned to Canaan with all of our newly acquired animals, there was not enough pasture to let them graze so we decided to separate. Lot went one way and I went the other way. Lot was taken prisoner along with his entire household and I was able to rescue him and recover all that was taken from him. For 10 years Sarai and I tried to have a child without luck. So I tried it with Sarai`s servant Hagar who was also very beautiful. Sarai ended up throwing Hagar out. Hagar later returned pregnant and gave birth to a son we called Ishmael. I was 86 years old then.
When I was 99, I had a dream that god told me that I had to mark all of men in my household with a very unique mark that could not be easily copied by other households. He told me I had to cut off the skin of the penises of all the males in my household, including myself. I changed Sarai`s name to Sarah. I also changed my name from Abram to Abraham which meant “a father of many nations”.
One day, 3 strangers visited us and one of them told me that Sarah would have a son in a year. Sarah just laughed. They also told me that the cities Sodom and Gomorrah where Lot lived would be destroyed along with everyone living in it. Everything the 3 strangers predicted happened. Sarah became pregnant and bore a son we named Isaac. Isaac was born when I was 100 years old and his mother Sarah was past 90. Isaac and Ishmael did not get along too well. Neither did Sarah and Hagar, so Sarah kicked Hagar and Ishmael out of the house. Their leaving my house left me greatly distressed.
One day I had another one of those very strange dreams that was more a nightmare. God told me that I had to kill Isaac. Just as I was about to kill my son I saw a ram behind me and heard the voice of god telling me that it was just a test to test my loyalty to him to see if I would listen and obey him. So I quickly killed the ram instead of my son before god changed his mind. Sarah died and I remarried and had 6 sons.
Isaac became one of the 3 patriarchs of the Israelites and the only one who did not move out of Canaan. He died when he was 180 years old. When he was 60 years old, after 20 years of being married, he and Rebecca had twins that they called Esau and Jacob. Rebecca suffered greatly in her pregnancy. It was a very difficult birth with both twins fighting to be the first to come out. When she asked god why she was suffering so much, god told her that she was suffering because the twins in her womb were fighting and would continue to fight all their lives, even after they became two separate nations. God told her that one would be stronger than the other, and that the older Esau would serve the younger Jacob.
When the time came for Rebecca to give birth, the first-born, Esau, came out covered with red hair, as if he were wearing a hairy garment, and his heel was grasped by the hand of Jacob, the second-born. The boys displayed very different natures as they matured. Esau was a cunning hunter, a man of the field; but Jacob was a simple man, dwelling in tents. Moreover, the attitudes of their parents toward them also differed. Isaac favored Esau more and Rebecca loved Jacob more.
One day Esau returning famished from the fields and begged Jacob to give him some of the stew that he had just made. Jacob offered to give Esau a bowl of stew in exchange for his birthright which he was entitled to, being the first born. Esau agreed, because he was so hungry and because he didn't take Jacob seriously.
As Isaac aged, he became blind and was uncertain when he would die, so he decided to bestow Esau's birthright upon him. He requested that Esau go out to the fields with his bow and arrow to kill some venison so that he could have his favorite dish before blessing Esau with his birth-right. Rebecca overheard this conversation and remembered how god told her that the older brother Esau would serve the younger brother Jacob and realized that Isaac's blessings would end up going to Jacob.
She quickly ordered Jacob to bring her two kid goats from their flock so that he could take Esau's place in serving Isaac and received his blessing. Jacob protested that his father would recognize their deception since Esau was hairy and he himself was smooth-skinned. He feared his father would curse him as soon as he found out, but Rebecca offered to take the curse herself, and then insisted that Jacob obey her. Jacob did as his mother instructed and, when he returned with the goats, Rebecca made the savory meat that Isaac loved. Before she sent Jacob to Isaac, she dressed him in Esau's garments and laid goatskins on his arms and neck to simulate hairy skin.
Disguised as Esau, Jacob entered Isaac's room. Isaac blessed Jacob with the blessing that was meant for Esau. Jacob had scarcely left the room when Esau returned from the hunt to prepare his game and receive the blessing.
The realization that he had been deceived shocked Isaac, yet he acknowledged that Jacob had received the blessings. Esau was heartbroken by the deception and begged for his own blessing. Having made Jacob a ruler over his brothers, Isaac could only promise, "By your sword you shall live, but your brother Jacob you shall serve; yet it shall be that when you are aggrieved, you may cast off his yoke from upon your neck."
Jacob married a Hebrew girl who worshiped the god of the Israelis and his descendants were Jews. Esau married a Canaanite from the idol worshiping family and his descendants were Arabs.
I died when I was 175 years old. I was truly a blessed man.
Moses (1300 BC)
I was descendant of Abraham. I was born in a time when the Jews were increasing in number and the Egyptian pharaoh Ramesses II was worried that they might help Egypt's enemies. The pharaoh ordered all newborn Hebrew boys to be killed by drowning in the river Nile in order to halt the rapid increase in the number of Jews. . When I was 3 months old, my mother, in a desperate effort to save my life set me adrift on the Nile River in a small craft of bulrushes coated in pitch. She let me float down river to the palace of the pharaoh and the pharaoh's daughter found me and because she wanted to have a child, but was unable to conceive, adopted me. Despite my stuttering and my shyness, I became a chief magician in the pharaoh's court. I became famous for the many magic tricks I was able to perform. I could make sticks turn to snakes, and water turn red. I could make frogs, gnats and flies appear out of hats. I could even make animals and people so sick that they died.
After I had reached adulthood, I saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew. I killed the Egyptian and buried his body in the sand and fled from Egypt across the Sinai Peninsula. I lived in the desert for 40 years as a shepherd. One day as I was burning a plant that grew like weed in the oasis, I had a vision that god spoke to me. God commanded me to go back to Egypt and save my fellow Hebrews from bondage. I went to the pharaoh and told him that our god wanted the Israelis to celebrate a feast in the wilderness. The pharaoh replied that he would never permit the Hebrews to leave and sent me away because he feared that they would not return and that he would lose his very best slaves.
I returned with a stiff rod that could suddenly become flexible and look like a snake. But the pharaoh's magicians already knew the trick and were able to also do it. Then I made the river Nile red, a trick that I was sure only I could do but the pharaoh's magicians could do the same trick. Then I did my frog trick and to my surprise the pharaoh's magicians were able to do the same thing. There were so many frogs hopping around that the pharaoh got concerned. He made a deal with me saying that if I got rid of my frogs, he would let the Israelites go to their feast in the wilderness. But when I got rid of all the frogs, the pharaoh changed his mind.
I then did my tricks with gnats and flies but still the pharaoh refused to let my people go. After I made the cattle, oxen, goats, sheep, camels and horses sick, the pharaoh still refused to let my people go. I caused the Egyptians to break out in boils, sent down fiery hail and thunder and locusts without any luck. I darkened the sun lit skies in desperation but still he would not let my people go to their party. Then I got really mad. Only when I threatened to cause all the first born Egyptian males to die was the pharaoh so terrified that he actually ordered the Hebrews to leave his country.
I led my people eastward, beginning the long journey to Canaan. The procession moved slowly, and we had to camp 3 times before passing the Egyptian frontier. Seeing all of his cheap labor disappear, the pharaoh changed his mind again and pursued us with a large army. Shut in between this army and the sea, we despaired, but the waters divided allowing us to pass safely across on dry ground. When the Egyptian army attempted to follow us, the tide receded, the waters returned to drown them.
After 45 days we reached the wilderness where we had a big wonderful party. I climbed a mountain and stayed on top for 40 days and nights. I burned bushes of weed to stay warm despite nearly suffocating from the thick smoke it produced. In the cloud of the thick smoke, God spoke to me again giving me 2 great stones with 10 commandments engraved on them. I then descended from the mountain with intent to deliver the commandments to the people, but upon my arrival I saw that the people were worshiping a golden calf. They had collected and melted all of our gold - all the money we had. I got so mad that I broke the stone tablets and had 3,000 people including family and friends killed.
The people complained a lot. They complained about the lack of food and water. Many said they would rather die back home in Egypt than in the desert. I found them food and water and protected them against invading armies who attacked us. My people fought against themselves and I found solutions to all their arguments and appointed judges to make peace between them.
I sent 12 spies into Canaan as scouts. After 40 days, they returned to the Israelite camp, bringing back grapes and other produce as samples of the regions fertility. Although all the spies agreed that the land's resources were spectacular, only Joshua and Caleb were willing to try to conquer it. They were nearly stoned for their unpopular opinion and the people wanted to return to Egypt. I told them that they must wander the wilderness for 40 years until all those who refused to enter Canaan had died. Only then would their children enter and possess Canaan. The people not wanting to wander in the desert for 40 years changed their minds and invaded Canaan.
I was accused of being a dictator. I had all of my accusers killed. The people complained and the 14,700 who complained were struck with a plague and died. We attacked the lands we wanted for ourselves and slew every man, woman, and child and looted the land of all the wealth. Our defeated enemies sent beautiful women to our camps to seduce our young men. I executed all those who were seduced. A plague struck our camp killing about 24,000 of our people. I was so mad that I instructed our soldiers to kill every woman, boy, and non-virgin girl of the people who had sent us the beautiful women to seduce our young men. I told my soldiers that they could rape the virgin girls that were spared.
I then climbed up to a peak, looked over the lands we conquered and died. It was my 120th birthday.
One of the 10 commandments god gave me to give my people was:
You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.
The communal lifestyle that people followed where everything was equally shared by everyone was suddenly overturned by the new law allowing people to claim private ownership of all of their possessions. Women became the property of men. Communal farms became huge agricultural private properties that were inherited by new family lines. The farms grew so large that diseases grew out of control and spread. Settlements became cities and money soon became necessary. Technology flourished to make new tools and more powerful weapons to make wars to protect and maintain ownership of the accumulated wealth of the few owners who ended up owning everything. Growth grew like cancer and religions and governments were formed to control it all. The gatherer and hunter societies disappeared to become civilizations.
David (1040 BC - 970 BC)
I was the second king of the United Kingdom of Israel, and an ancestor of Jesus. I was a righteous king, although not without faults. I was as well an acclaimed warrior, musician, and poet, composing many of the psalms contained in the Bible.
I was only a shepherd but I was a warrior famed for my bravery and for my skill with the harp. The Philistines challenged the Israelites to a battle. They presented their most powerful soldier called Goliath who was a giant compared to the Hebrews. They challenged the Israelites to send their own champion to decide the outcome in a single combat man-to-man. I volunteered even though I was the smallest soldier. When they tried to fit me with a suit of armor, all were too big and I decided to face the giant without any. I was not afraid at all because I knew that I could hit an apple on a tree from 20m distance. So I aproached Goliath who was protected by heavy armor which weighed him down so that he had difficulty moving. I picked five smooth stones from the nearby brook and struck Goliath in the forehead with a stone from my sling on my first shot. When I took Goliath's sword and beheaded him, the Philistines fled in terror.
King Saul then made me the commander over his armies and offered me his daughter in marriage for bringing more than 200 foreskins of the Philistines to him. I was so successful that Saul became jealous and wanted to kill me. When Jonathan, Saul`s son heard of this he warned me and I was able to flee into the wilderness. There I gathered a band of followers and became the champion of the oppressed. The Philistine king wanted me to fight for him against Saul but I refused. Jonathan and Saul eventually got killed and I became king first of Judah and later of Israel.
I fell in love with Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah and I had him killed so that I could marry her. We had a son called Solomon who succeeded me as king when I died.
Nebuchadnezzar II (634BC-562BC)
In my next life, I conquered Judah and Jerusalem, and sent the Jews into exile. I am credited with the construction of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon and for the destruction of the First Temple in Jerusalem. I am featured in the Book of Daniel and mentioned in several other books of the Bible.
I was the oldest son and succeeded my father when I was 29 years old. I engaged in several military campaigns designed to increase Babylonian influence in Syria and Judah. I captured Jerusalem destroying both the city and the temple and deported many of the prominent citizens along with a sizable portion of the Jewish population of Judea to Babylon.
I set myself to rebuild and adorn the city of Babylon, and constructed canals, aqueducts, temples and reservoirs. I continued my father's work of reconstruction, aimed at making his capital one of the world's wonders. Old temples were restored; new edifices of incredible magnificence were erected to the many gods of the Babylonian pantheon. I completed the royal palace begun by my father. No cost was spared. I used cedar, bronze, gold, silver, and rare and precious stones. An underground passage and a stone bridge connected the two parts of the city separated by the Euphrates. The city itself was rendered impregnable by the construction of a triple line of walls. The bridge across the Euphrates was supported on asphalt covered brick piers that were streamlined to reduce the upstream resistance to flow, and the downstream turbulence that would otherwise undermine the foundations. My construction activity was not confined to the capital.
I am credited with the building of the Mede wall between the Tigris and the Euphrates to protect the country against incursions from the north. These undertakings required a considerable number of laborers. The laboring force used for my public works was made up of captives brought from various parts of western Asia. I built the Hanging Gardens for my wife who was very homesick to remind her of her homeland in Persia.
I had a very strange dream of a huge image made of gold, silver, bronze, iron and clay. Its head was made of gold, its chest and arms were silver, and from its waist down to its knees, it was bronze. From there to its ankles it was iron, and its feet were a mixture of iron and clay. A stone was cut from a mountain—but not by human hands. The stone struck the feet, completely shattering the iron and clay. Then the bronze, the silver, and the gold were crushed and blown away without a trace, like husks of wheat at threshing time. The stone became a tremendous mountain that covered the entire earth.
The Jewish prophet Daniel interpreted my dream. He told me that my dream stood for the rise and fall of world powers. The golden head of the image represented me. He told me that the dream meant that I was the greatest of kings, and god has highly honored me with power over all humans, animals, and birds. He told me that my kingdom was the head of gold and that after I was gone, another kingdom would rule, but it wouldn't be as strong. Then it would be followed by a kingdom of bronze that would rule the whole world. Next, a kingdom of iron would come to power, crushing and shattering everything. This fourth kingdom would be divided—it would be both strong and brittle, just as the feet and toes were a mixture of iron and clay. This kingdom would be the result of a marriage between kingdoms, but it would crumble, just as iron and clay didn't stick together. During the time of those kings, the god who ruled from heaven would set up an eternal kingdom that would never fall. It would be like the stone that was cut from the mountain, but not by human hands—the stone that eventually crushed the clay, iron, bronze, silver, and gold.
I erected a large idol made of gold for worship during a public ceremony. Three Jews, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refused to take part and I had them cast into a fiery furnace. They emerged unscathed without even smelling of smoke.
I had a second very strange dream where I saw a very tall tree in the center of the world. It grew stronger and higher, until it reached to heaven and could be seen from anywhere on earth. It was covered with leaves and heavy with fruit - enough for all the nations. Wild animals enjoyed its shade, birds nested in its branches, and all creatures on earth lived on its fruit. While I was in bed, having this vision, a holy angel came down from heaven and shouted: "‘Chop down the tree and cut off its branches; strip off its leaves and scatter its fruit. Make the animals leave its shade and send the birds flying from its branches. But leave its stump and roots in the ground, surrounded by grass and held by chains of iron and bronze. Make sure that this ruler lives like the animals out in the open fields, unprotected from the dew. Give him the mind of a wild animal for 7 long years.”
I asked Daniel to interpret this dream, like he did my first dream.
For a while, Daniel was terribly confused and worried. He told me that I would go insane for 7 years because of my pride. He told me that the tree that I dreamt about represented me. That my glorious reputation reached heaven and my kingdom covered the earth. He told me that I would be forced to live with the wild animals, far away from humans. I would eat grass like a wild animal and live outdoors for 7 years, until I learnt that god controls all earthly kingdoms and chooses their rulers. But he gave orders not to disturb the stump and roots. This was to show that I would be king once again, after I learn that the god who rules from heaven is in control. Daniel advised me to turn from my sins and start living right; to have mercy on those who are mistreated. He said that if I do that, then all will go well with me for a long time.
And that is exactly what happened. I was insane for 7 years. I got better and lived a long life before dying at age 72. I was king for 43 years.
Confucius (551BC-479BC)
"Do not do to others what you do not want done to yourself"
In my next life, I was born in China and worked as a shepherd, a cowherd, a clerk, and a book-keeper. My father was an officer in the army. He died when I was 3 and I was raised by my mother in poverty. At age 19, I married and a year later we had our first child. When I was 23, my mother died and I mourned for 3 years. When I was 50, I was appointed mayor of my town. Eventually, I rose to the position of Minister of Crime.
I became a Chinese teacher, editor, politician, and philosopher. I authored and edited many of the Chinese classic texts including all of the Five Classics. I championed strong family loyalty, ancestor worship, respect of elders by their children and of husbands by their wives. I also recommended the family as a basis for ideal government.
I emphasized personal and governmental morality, correctness of social relationships, justice and sincerity. My followers competed successfully with many other scholars during the Golden Age of Chinese philosophy which lasted 500 years. A broad range of thoughts and ideas were developed and discussed freely which profoundly influenced lifestyles and social consciousness in East Asian countries. The intellectual society of this era was characterized by scholars who were often employed by various state rulers as advisers on the methods of government, war, and diplomacy.
They were later suppressed by Emperor Qin in favor of the Legalists who maintained that human nature was incorrigibly selfish and the only way to preserve the social order was to impose discipline from above, and to enforce strict laws. The Legalists exalted the state above all, seeking its prosperity and martial prowess over the welfare of the common people. After the collapse of Qin, my thoughts received official sanction and were further developed into a system known as Confucianism.
My teachings were later turned into an elaborate set of rules and practices by my numerous disciples and followers. These efforts spread my ideas to students who then became officials in many of the royal courts in China.
Burdened by the loss of my son and my favorite disciples, I died at the age of 72.
Socrates (469BC-399BC)
"I only know that I know nothing"
In my next life I became a classical Greek Athenian philosopher. I believed that life was an illusion and a deception.
I was credited to be one of the founders of Western philosophy. I became well known chiefly through the accounts of later classical writers, especially the writings of my student Plato. I became renowned for my contribution to the field of ethics that defended and recommended concepts of right and wrong. Also I became renowned for my method of inquiry and debate between individuals with opposing viewpoints. It was based on asking and answering questions to stimulate critical thinking and to illuminate ideas. It was a method in which the defense of one point of view was pitted against the defense of another. One participant led another to contradict himself in some way, thus strengthening the inquirer's own point. The better hypotheses were found by steadily identifying and eliminating those that led to contradictions.
This method of definition and induction later evolved into the scientific method which was based on empirical and measurable evidence used to investigate phenomena, acquire new knowledge, or correct and integrate previous knowledge. It allowed reality to speak for itself. A theory was supported when its predictions were confirmed and it was proved wrong when its predictions prove false.
I was morally, intellectually, and politically at odds with many of my fellow Athenians. I clashed with the current course of Athenian politics and society. I praised Sparta, arch-rival to Athens directly and indirectly in various dialogues. One of my offenses to the city was my position as a social and moral critic. I questioned the collective notion of "might makes right". I was like a horse fly, except instead of stinging horses into action, I stung various prominent Athenians. I greatly irritated too many people and my attempt to improve the Athenians' sense of justice was the reason for my eventual execution.
I made the prominent Athenians whom I publicly questioned look foolish, turning them against me and leading to accusations of wrongdoing. When asked to propose my own punishment, I suggested a wage paid by the government and free dinners for the rest of my life. I was found guilty of both corrupting the minds of the youth of Athens and of not believing in the gods of the state. I was sentenced to death by drinking a mixture containing hemlock from a few leaves and a few seeds of the conium plant.
I turned down the pleas of Crito, my wealthy friend, to attempt an escape from prison. After drinking the poison, I was instructed to walk around until my legs felt numb. After I lay down, the man who administered the poison pinched my foot. I could no longer feel my legs. The numbness slowly crept up my body until it reached my heart. Shortly before my death, I told Crito not to forget to pay my debts. I did not want to be unnecessarily criticized after I died and not be able to defend myself.
Aryan Swiss (398BC–357BC)
In my next life I was born a fair skin blond haired and blue eyed boy. I was a paper manufacturer. My grandfather took a very long trip following the direction the sun rose. Many years later he returned with many interesting tales and many interesting things.
One was a piece of thin metal that floated on water. He called it a "compass". It magically always pointed to the same direction. My grandfather told me that even after the sun has set and even when the stars were covered by clouds, he was able to maintain his direction of travel using his compass.
Another was a pile of very flat and very thin rectangular leaves. When I asked him for some seeds for this very special plant, he told me that it was not a leaf that grew on plants, but that he had made it himself from a very fast growing plant with stems that break apart in very thin threads. When the threads were thoroughly cooked, they intertwined into a thick soup. When this soup was poured on a flat form and let to dry, it dried up like a leaf that could be written and drawn and painted on. I called those man made leaves "paper". I grew an entire plantation of these most beautiful and fragrant plants that I used to make paper from.
The flowers that grew on this wonderful plant were even in greater demand. It was claimed that inhaling its smoke made you forget about the stresses of the day, giving you a feeling that you were high up above and away from it all.
I used my grandfather's compass to travel following the direction the sun set. I worked a few months at each place I arrived to then I packed up and moved on. My seemingly never ending journey ended when I fell in love with a very beautiful woman in a very beautiful place. I never moved after that. I settled down there to live out the rest of my life. The area had very high mountains and the people living there were very ingenious. They attached metallic clanging instruments called "bells" onto their grazing cattle so that they would stay together and be easily found. They carved very long pieces of wood into a horn they called "Alphorn" and were able to send messages from mountain peak to mountain peak. They curdled their cattle's milk and made milk dishes called "cheese" and "yogurt".
The place was so very beautiful that kings, queens, princes and princesses came from all over the world to enjoy the beauty of the land. They built their vacation homes with stone and wiped their bums with my paper. I became so rich, that even I wiped my bum with my own paper. Eventually my paper was used by the extremely rich to buy the things they wanted to buy. They stamped my papers with their seals and written promises and the papers could be traded for gold at any time. Because paper was much more convenient to carry and hide than gold, nobody ever wanted to trade them for gold. Stores called "banks" selling this specially stamped paper called "money" were set up all over this beautiful land.
I died a very old, a very rich, and a very happy man.
Alexander the Great (356BC-323BC)
I was commonly known as Alexander the Great. I was born to the king of Macedonia, Philip II and was raised up in the manner of a noble youth, learning to read, play the lyre, ride, fight, and hunt. One of my eyes was dark as the night and the other was as blue as the sky. My mother had huge ambitions and encouraged me to believe it was my destiny to conquer the Persian Empire.
When I was 10 years old, my father bought me a horse that refused to be mounted. I noticed that the horse was afraid of its own shadow and I was eventually able to train it and ride it. I rode that horse all the way to the Himalayas where it died of old age near the end of my conquests. I was tutored by Aristotle until the age of 16. In return for teaching me, my father agreed to rebuild Aristotle's hometown which he had razed, and to repopulate it by buying and freeing the ex-citizens who were slaves, and pardoning those who were in exile. Aristotle taught me about medicine, philosophy, morals, religion, logic, and art. Under his tutelage, I developed a passion for the works of Homer. Aristotle gave me a copy of Homer's Iliad and I carried it everywhere I went.
My family called me stubborn as I did not respond well to orders from my father. I thought that I was perceptive, logical, and calculating. I had a great desire for knowledge, a love for philosophy, and was an avid reader. My only vice, as far as I was concerned, was that I got drunk too much. Unlike my father, I had little interest in sports or the Olympic Games. I sought honor and glory in other ways - like by conquering the world.
I was shown the prophecy in chapter 8 of the Book of Daniel which described a mighty Greek king who would conquer the Persian Empire. I spared Jerusalem and pushed south into Egypt where I was regarded as a liberator and pronounced the new "master of the universe" and son of the deity of Ammon Ra. I went to visit the ancient oracle of Ammon Ra. It moved and advanced in the darkness to meet me and spoke telling me that all civilizations and their religions were mine to unite by conquering them.
I quarreled a lot with my father and I was already 20 years old when he was assassinated by the captain of his bodyguards. I was proclaimed king by the nobles and the army, and my first acts as king were eliminating potential rivals to the throne.
By the age of 30, I had created one of the largest empires, stretching from Greece to the Himalayas in Asia and the Indus River in India. I would have gone much farther had not my troops been too homesick to go on. I started with 48,100 soldiers, 6,100 cavalry and a fleet of 120 ships with crews numbering 38,000. They were my loyal soldiers as well as paid mercenary captains, the very best I could find. At the ancient capital of Gordium there was a knot that according to legend only a future "king of Asia" could undo. I "undid" the unsolvable Gordian Knot by hacking it apart with my sword. Unlike my diplomatic father, I was a fighter, implementing the strategies Aristotle had taught me during childhood.
I believed in my divine power to sacrifice as many lives as was needed to win a battle. I felt sorry for those who died and I rewarded them generously by granting their relatives immunity from taxation and public service and setting up statues to honor and respect them.
I ended up chasing the king of Persia Darius III and his much larger army throughout the known world. As I chased him, I accumulated all the knowledge I could find. I became very brutal, conquering the ancient civilizations of Egypt and Babylon conquered by the Persians. I massacred the men of military age and sold the women and children into slavery. I plundered their cities and founded new ones to replace the ones I destroyed. I founded some 20 cities that bore my name. I destroyed the nearly 6,000 year old "Tower of Babel". I eventually overthrew the Persian King Darius III and conquered the entirety of the Persian Empire.
Greece enjoyed a period of peace and prosperity during my campaign in Asia. I sent back vast sums from my conquest, which stimulated the economy and increased trade across my empire.
I was considered one of history's most successful commanders. I never lost a battle, despite typically being outnumbered 4 to 1. This was due to rigorous training, speed and maneuverability and use of a rectangular military formation composed entirely of heavy infantry armed with spears 6m long. I used soldiers from different areas that spoke various languages and used various weapons. To overcome the problem that this caused, I became personally involved in battle. I became the measure against which military leaders compared themselves, and military academies throughout the world taught my tactics thousands of years after I died.
I envisioned a marriage of Europe and Asia and I encouraged inter racial marriages. I gave thousands of my soldiers who married Asiatic brides special wedding gifts. I promoted racial fusion and organized a great wedding feast for me and 90 of my generals. We all married Persian brides. I was greatly criticized for adoption of Persian customs and dress and for the introduction of Persian officers and soldiers into my army.
My health declined after years of heavy drinking and severe wounds. The anguish that I felt after my best friend died made living unbearable. He was just a boy. I loved him so much that I almost could not live without him. His death devastated me. He was the only one who did not laugh and make jokes behind my back about how short I was.
I had given detailed written instructions some time before my death, but my successors chose not to implement them on the grounds they were impractical and extravagant. My wishes were to construct a monumental tomb for my father Philip to match the greatest of the pyramids of Egypt and to circumnavigate Africa. But my greatest wish was to transplant populations from Asia to Europe and in the opposite direction from Europe to Asia in order to bring the largest continent to common unity and to friendship by means of intermarriage and family ties.
When my companions asked me on my deathbed who I wished to succeed me, my reply was "the strongest". Soon after I died, my empire shattered like a glass bowl dropped on the floor. The generals I set up to hold it together went after each other and killed all of my family. The Aryan barbarians from the west, north and east raided down to pick at the broken fragments like hungry vultures. Following my death, a series of civil wars tore my empire apart.
My campaigns greatly increased contacts and trade between East and West, and vast areas to the east were significantly exposed to Greek civilization and influence. I was a trend setter. Before I was born, most men wore beards. Wanting to look young, I started to shave. After I died at age 33, after a drinking binge, men started to emulate me and shave their beards.
Ashoka the Great (304BC-232BC)
I was commonly known as Ashoka the Great. I was an emperor who ruled nearly the entire Indian subcontinent for almost 40 years. I played a critical role in helping make Buddhism a world religion.
I stated out not as a gentle and generous philosopher that I eventually ended up to be, but as a ruthless and brutal man. My days were filled with self-indulgent frivolity and cruelty. My mother was a queen. I had 99 elder siblings, brothers, sisters, half-brothers and half-sisters and I killed all except one of them to gain my throne. I had a wicked nature and a bad temper. I submitted my ministers to a test of loyalty and had 500 of them killed. I kept a harem of around 500 women. When a few of these women insulted me saying that my skin was rough, I had the whole lot of them burnt to death. I built an elaborate torture chamber which had a very beautiful exterior. I was known as a fearsome hunter. I killed a lion with just a wooden rod. I was very adventurous and a trained fighter, known for my skills with the sword. Because of my reputation, I was hired out to curb riots in other empires.
While the early part of my reign was quite bloodthirsty, I became a follower of Buddha's teachings after my conquest of Kalinga on the east coast of India. Kalinga was a state that prided itself on its sovereignty and democracy. With its monarchical parliamentary democracy it was quite an exception at that time and in that area. More than 100,000 soldiers and many civilians who rose up in defense died in that battle. Seeing all the dead and wounded bodies gave me a profound feeling of sorrow and regret. All I saw were burnt houses and scattered corpses. This sight made me sick and I cried. It was a savage, brutal assault which threw me into a state of terrible remorse and changed my whole way of life. I embraced the Hindu concepts of Dharma - a virtuous path that guides the follower thru a life of selflessness, piety, duty, good conduct and decency. I filtered this concept thru the Buddhist faith.
In order to redeem myself, I used my position to propagate the relatively new religion of Buddhism to new heights. I reached out to my people by writing my edicts in local dialect using everyday speech that the common man easily understood. I renounced war as an instrument of state policy and adopted human benevolence as the solutions to the worlds problems. While I was inspired by the teachings of Buddha, I did not force Buddhism on my empire, preferring to keep my empire secular. I believed in the separation of church and state. All religions had to be tolerated and treated with respect. I promoted religious freedom, human rights, education and health; all of these ideas were central in Buddhist thinking and my political and moral philosophy.
I promoted one of the very few instances in world history of a government that treated its animals as citizens, deserving of protection just like humans. I lay down the foundations for a tradition of pluralistic, humane, non-violent form of governance that led to the ideals of Mahatma Gandhi 2,000 years after I died. These ideas were incorporated in pillars that I placed on the side of highways and in city centers that were like public-address systems that carried carved proclamations and edicts I made. As an example, on one of them I stated my benevolent policy towards every sect and every class in my empire.
In my old age, I came under the spell of my youngest wife Tishyaraksha. She had my son Kunala who was the heir to my throne falsely accused and condemned to death. The official executioners spared Kunala and he became a wandering singer. I heard him sing and realized that his misfortune may have been a punishment for some of my past sins. I restored Kunala to the court and he forgave Tishyaraksha and urged me to forgive her as well. But I was not able to and condemned her to death. I ruled for about 40 years and was 72 when I died. If it were not for the pillars that I left behind, I would probably have been forgotten in history.
Cleopatra (69BC-30BC)
I was the last pharaoh of Ancient Egypt. I was a daughter of a direct descendant of Alexander the Great's general, Ptolemy I. My family ruled Egypt and we refused to speak Egyptian, preferring to speak Greek. I was different. I learned to speak Egyptian and represented myself as the reincarnation of the Egyptian goddess Isis.
At the age of 14, I ruled jointly with my father. 4 years later, my father died and following the Egyptian custom I married my 10 year old brother and co ruled with him. The first 3 years of our reign were difficult, due to economic difficulties, famine, lack of floods on the Nile, and political conflicts. I made it clear that I had no intention of sharing power with my brother and dropped his name from official documents and his face from coins and I became sole ruler. This was against tradition which dictated that female rulers were supposed to be subordinate to male co-rulers. I was dethroned and forced to flee into exile, leaving my 13 year old brother as pharaoh.
I was 21 years old when I met Julius Caesar who was 52. We became lovers during his stay in Egypt. Caesar seized the Egyptian capital and imposed himself as arbiter between me and my brother. I became Caesar’s mistress, and nine months after our first meeting, I gave birth to our son. I wished to name him as Caesar's heir, but Julius refused, choosing his grandnephew Augustus instead. Caesar abandoned his plans to annex Egypt, instead backing my claim to the throne and restored me and my younger brother as co-ruler to the throne.
We visited Rome one summer and I resided in one of Caesar's country houses. Our relationship was obvious to the Romans and it was a scandal because Julius was already married. But he loved me so much that he even erected a golden statue of me in the temple. I was represented as Isis. The Roman orator Cicero openly said that he hated me. I was in Rome when Julius Caesar was assassinated by Brutus and Cassius. I immediately returned to Egypt. When my brother was poisoned by my younger sister, I made my son I had with Julius my co-regent and named him as my successor.
After the assassination of my Julius, I had an affair with Mark Antony to show my opposition to Julius's legal heir, Augustus. I had 3 children with Antony, a girl and a boy who were twins and a son. After losing a battle with the army of Augustus, Antony committed suicide. I was so heartbroken that I committed suicide by letting a cobra bite me. Egypt then became a Roman province.
I remained a popular figure thousands of years after my death, living on in numerous works of art, paintings, sculptures and theatrical plays. In most depictions, I am portrayed as a great beauty, and my successive conquests of the world's most powerful men are taken as proof of my beauty and sexual appeal.
Philo of Alexandria (20BC–50AD)
In my next life, I was a Greek Jewish philosopher who lived in Alexandria, Egypt during the Roman Empire. I based my doctrines on the Old Testament, which I considered as the source and standard not only of religious truth but in general of all truth. I regarded the Bible as the source not only of religious revelation, but also of philosophic truth; for, according to me, the Greek philosophers also borrowed from the Bible. I used philosophical allegory to attempt to fuse and harmonize Greek philosophy with Jewish philosophy. I believed that literal interpretations of the Hebrew Bible would stifle mankind's view and perception of a god too complex and marvelous to be understood in literal human terms. My concept of the Logos as god's creative principle influenced early Christology.
I was born into an aristocratic family which lived in Alexandria for generations. My family was noble, honorable and wealthy. My father was granted Roman citizenship by Julius Caesar. My family had social ties and connections to the priesthood in Judea. I visited the Temple in Jerusalem once and met Jesus of Nazareth and his Apostles. I and my 2 brothers received a thorough education, educated in the Jewish, Egyptian, Greek and Roman cultures.
In my late years, when I was an old man, I was selected by the Alexandrian Jewish community as their principal representative before the Roman emperor Caligula. I agreed to represent the Alexandrian Jews in regard to civil disorder that had developed between the Jews and the Greeks in Egypt. The Jewish community refused to treat the emperor as a god, to erect statues and to build alters and temples in honor of him.
I was sent as an ambassador by the Alexandrian Jews to the Roman Emperor Caligula. I carried a petition which described the sufferings of the Alexandrian Jews, and which asked the emperor to secure their rights. I claimed that the Alexandrian Jews were the victims of attacks by Alexandrian Greeks in the civil strife that had left many Jews and Greeks dead. I was regarded by my people as having unusual prudence, due to my age, education, and knowledge. I considered Caligula's plan to erect a statue of himself in the temple of Jerusalem to be a provocation. I told him, saying,
"Are you making war upon us, because you anticipate that we will not endure such indignity, but that we will fight on behalf of our laws, and die in defense of our national customs? For you cannot possibly have been ignorant of what was likely to result from your attempt to introduce these innovations upon our temple."
Flaccus, the Roman governor over Alexandria, permitted a mob to erect statues of the Emperor Caligula in Jewish synagogues of Alexandria. He issued a notice in which he called the Jews of Alexandria foreigners and aliens allowing any one to exterminate them as prisoners of war. He drove the Jews out and crammed them all into a very small space while the populace overran their desolate houses, turned to plunder, and divided the booty among them as if they had obtained it in war. He slew the Jews with all kinds of tortures and newly invented cruelties. Wherever they caught sight of Jews, they stoned them or beat them with sticks. The most merciless of the persecutors burned entire families. Husbands with their wives and infant children with their parents were burned in the middle of the city. Some men were dragged to death, while those who did these things, mimicked the sufferers, like people employed in the representation of theatrical farces.
For this, Flaccus was eventually removed from office, exiled and ultimately executed.
I was fortunate to die a natural death when I was 70 years old.
50AD->1350AD Cai Lun, Constantine I, Theodosius I, Justinian I, Yuan Chwang, Charlemagne, Erik the Red, Saladin, Frederick II, Heinz Tell
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