From the author: Chapter from my book “The Great Heresy” St. Petersburg State University Publishing House, 2008 “And I heard a loud voice from heaven, saying: Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them; they will be His people, and God Himself with them will be their God.” Rev. (21:3) The Library was opened to him. At first it seemed to Kostya that it was endless, but gradually he realized that this was not so: it was simply inexpressibly huge. Shelves with books of different formats and eras stretched in all directions as far as the eye could see. For some time Kostya got used to this vast space. Then this happened: he noticed that as soon as he touched any book with his attention, an absolutely distinct feeling arose within him that he knew its contents. Moreover, this very knowledge was like a kind of package, an archived file. So, it happens that we begin to think some thought - to think in words, and suddenly, at some point, we notice that even before we uttered the first word of an internal monologue or dialogue within ourselves, it is all (monologue or dialogue) already existed entirely within us in a collapsed, point-by-point form, and at one moment we already know everything we wanted to say in a long series of sentences. It was the same with any of these books. After playing in this way - touching with attention - with several dozen books, Kostya felt very tired. And then he noticed that there was someone in the Library space. At first this presence was barely perceptible, but as soon as you focused a little on it, it condensed into a kind of luminous vortex that was constantly changing its shape and density. (However, the word “vortex” is only to a small extent suitable for this phenomenon, but I could not find a better synonym). And this whirlwind either occupied the entire boundless space of the Library, or became commensurate with the size of the human body, although here Kostya could be mistaken, because he did not see or feel his body in any way. Kostya was not afraid, on the contrary, he was filled with reverent delight in front of this presence. And then his delight itself condensed into one word and that word was God. As soon as this happened, the “whirlwind” took on a human form - only with constantly changing faces - absolutely transparent, with subtle contours. - Do you want to ask Me questions? Ask me – I’ll be happy to answer any question. – It sounded inside Kostya, although the source of this phrase was undoubtedly God. “I want,” answered Kostya, “you are God?” Silent consent. “What is your nature?” I often wondered what God is, but I never received a clear answer. - Please, here is an absolutely clear answer for you: I am the Word. In the most literal and banal sense - just the Word. The word that sounds like this is God. - Just a word? - Yes, absolutely simple - the Word. - And nothing more? - Nothing. Only nothing more can happen. - How is this? Well, yes, like John - “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God”... - Do you want to know this whole story? - Of course! - Look at this Library. Here are collected all the books that have ever been written by human hand. In the vast majority of them, the Word of God is mentioned repeatedly. Moreover, it is interpreted—after all, this term is close to you—in a variety of ways. I have a huge number of interpretations. Huge, but not infinite. - So you yourself are not infinite? - No, not infinite, although boundless. Not a single human mind can accommodate all the interpretations of the Word of God and, moreover, accept their equality and equal probability. In addition, I am growing all the time, because the number of interpretations increases every day. This, in fact, is the main task of man - to multiply Me, manifesting Me from non-existence. - So, once you were not there? - Of course. I appeared when the Word itself - God - appeared. - So you were created by man? - I am created by people. At first I was unambiguous, but now I am unusually multifaceted, for each person has his own series of associations and feelings associated with Me. Some peoplethey call Me surprisingly complex structures of associations and experiences, others - very simple, some - extremely abstract, others - completely concrete, for example, similar to a person. I am the totality of all these images and experiences. A physicist would call this totality a superposition... - If you were created by man, then who created man? - There is no point in talking about this. Whatever word I name now, you will certainly relate it to Me, which means you will assign an image and experience to it. - Hm... - I will explain this in a language that you understand: the language of philosophy. You know the connection between what is called the “signifier” and the “signified.” In the language of philosophy, a “signifier” is a word - a certain sound scale, and a “signified” is an image or a series of images that emerges in the mind when pronouncing the “signifier”. But this definition is rather one-sided. I would expand it this way: the “signified” is the entire set of experiences that a person experiences when pronouncing the “signifier”. These are images, feelings, associations, sensations, and what people call supersensible experiences. So: I am the totality, the superposition of all the signified Words of God that have ever existed in the minds of people. The totality of all experiences that are called by this Word. I repeat once again that you manifest Me from non-existence, thereby illuminating this very non-existence, multiplying My presence in the world. And it is incorrect to talk about what created the world and man, because any word, be it Nothing or Emptiness, will inevitably evoke in you a whole range of “signifieds” - even extremely abstract ones. - But some argue that you - in general ALL.- This word in the human brain corresponds to a limited number of signifieds. Not a potential ALL at all. Even some mystics, to whom I owe My boundless scale, were limited in their insights by a certain limit, although they subjectively experienced what can be called limitlessness. - And you, then, are only a phantasm? You don't exist objectively? Outside of human consciousness? - On the contrary, I am precisely the most objective thing, for I contain within myself the entire objective world and a huge number of its interpretations. Only in the consciousness of every person I manifest myself only as some facet of myself. - But you said at the beginning that you are just a word... - Yes, everything is very banal. I am simply the Word. The Word is God. - And at the same time, all the signifieds that are associated with this word. - That's right. - I can't fit this in. - No one can fit this in. It’s so simple... - Why did I have the honor of talking to you? - You still won’t be able to understand this now. I can only say that it is not because of any special merit and this is not an advance... But now you can use the Library at your own discretion... - Konstantin, breathe! Breathe deeply! “The voice came from very far away, but it was so persistent that the Library melted, and Kostya felt that he was being taken somewhere and that he really needed to breathe. But it was surprisingly difficult to breathe. It's like he's forgotten how. To breathe, you had to remember this all the time and make incredible efforts. But Kostya constantly forgot, fell through somewhere and then frantically took a breath of air. Gradually, the vague consciousness began to return and Kostya realized that he was being taken from the operation. The anesthesia gradually wore off. There was a feeling of the body being disobedient; moving your hand a little was the limit of what was possible. There was an ice pack in the lower abdomen and soon Kostya felt a sharp pain under it. Then Kostya fell asleep and only this pain remained in his consciousness. He woke up in the ward: his consciousness was still gloomy. My sister came over and gave me an injection, after which the pain in my stomach subsided. Then the doctor who performed the operation appeared in the ward - Kostya remembered him. “Well, how are you feeling?” “Okay,” Kostya croaked and tried to smile, “will I be discharged soon?” “What a lively fellow!” – the doctor laughed, “if only you had slowed down for two more hours yesterday.”...»