Frank's Bad Day Part VII

The bus drove on through miles and miles of the same dreary town, block after block, street after street, the colors, shades and shapes repeated many times over. Frank finally decided to see if Charon would chat.

"So, why is this vehicle a bus and not a ferry boat? Why is there a grey town and no underworld of sulfur and brimstone?"

"Oh, that`s actually easier to explain than you would think. It`s not because anything was updated and modernized. It’s because of the change in human thought, perception and beliefs. What you think you see is based on your own archetypes, desires and values. Only few fragments of the original mythos remain in you. That’s why you still see my oar, and why the coin still resonates. Even though you were trained religiously as a child, you never spent much time considering the afterlife seriously, you probably just hoped you believed right and would not go to Hell, am I right?”

Frank nodded sheepishly.

“Yeah, thought so. That’s why what you see reflected around you is more about your own belief about a world of incredible boredom and quiet, grasping desperation than any traditional ideas about Hell and the Afterlife. In some ways that’s good because your destination is ‘non-traditional’ and you will be able to deal with it easier. “

"Are you saying I can only see what I am familiar with? That I am unable to see things as they truly are?"

"That`s over simplifying it. There is more to it than that. First of all, when adult humans are confronted with multiple things that do not correspond to their worldview, they actually filter their perceptions to see a more familiar world as they become more accustomed to things around them. It’s a mental filter to keep you from thinking you have lost your mind. It’s also because you don`t always have the mental vocabulary, the symbols, to be able to deal with what you are experiencing. If you remember in the book of Ezekiel in the Bible, you can see how the prophet had problems describing the heavenly beings and his descriptions didn`t make sense, because he was dealing with something outside his preconceived notions of existence"

"I guess that makes some sense, but you also said my desires and values had something to do with what I see and experience. Why is that?"

Charon smiled a slightly crooked grin and then proceeded slowly, "For millennia humans have told stories about the afterlife, most of them were just that, stories. The truth is that everyone`s experience in the afterlife varies based on who they are. Their Hell is their own personal torments; their Purgatory is based on cleansing their unique sins and failings. Their Heaven is those things that make them the happiest. Sure, there are some similarities, darkness, fire and demons exist in Hell and angels and streets of gold in Heaven, but after that the experience can vary a great deal depending on the person. Much of that is because of the power of the human imagination and how it rules the development of faith and fear. "

“Ok…So…have you always been the ferryman?”

Charon looked up at Frank in the rear view mirror, “Enough applied theology for one day, eh Frank? Yeah, it’s a lot to take in..."

He paused for about 10 seconds staring straight ahead and then answered the question, "Actually, there have been about 20,000 different ferrymen throughout the ages. We all take the name Charon. We were mortals who take the job as part of the reclamation of our souls, you know, it’s our purgatory. Some of us do the job for many years, others for a few months. I’ve been Charon for 8 years now. It’s a good gig for the most part. I was a bus driver in Newark for 30 years on earth, and I hated it. Hated working, hated people, hated my life. From the time I got back from being a soldier in Korea, there was this big black cloud over my head. I died before I was 50 and the only bright spot in my life was the love of my wife and my family. I still believed in God, but couldn’t get through the hate for some reason. Now, I’ve come to the point where I almost enjoy the work, and I feel like I’m helping people. They say the reclamation of your soul is something that occurs when you don’t expect it, when you aren’t looking for it but are busy being useful to others. You may notice, I still have some rough edges, but I’ve got nothing but time now, and I know I’m gonna see my wife Jackie and my kids…and my Lord soon. ”

Frank looked around nervously. He wasn’t used to people speaking about God like that. He wasn’t used to Charon’s type of brutal honesty, just laying out your life in front of people like meat on a grill for everyone to see. Frank had spent his life much of his adult life with very little beyond shallow conversations. His relationships had been mostly acquaintances, his romances short-lived. Real intimacy with others made him uncomfortable.

Frank's fears were allayed as he realized Charon was slowing down to pick up a group of people at the next bus stop.

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