Reincarnations, the infinite.

**Chapter XI - Kai Zen**

– Hunter, I don't understand something... We're practically dead, that is, in spirit, or disembodied, or I don't know... Why do we feel pain when we get "hit" in the spiritual world?

– The perispirit, which is the envelope of the soul, is a copy of your earthly body. Don't you see that many accident victims still show the injuries they had when they were alive? After death, it takes a certain amount of time for it to "sink in." Spirits still eat, drink, and do a lot of things they did when alive, as I've told you before. Only highly evolved spirits no longer have the same needs as us.

– Ugh! I used to think that after death, our soul would ascend to the heavens. After I learned about the whole reincarnation thing, I thought it was an infinite cycle. Now, there's this too. What a complication. – grumbled Eduardo.

– Ha ha ha! Mentors are not always highly evolved beings. Many times, they are spirits like you and me, but with a mission and already with a certain level of moral understanding. And since when do you think that exchanging blows with evil spirits is something of an evolved being? They only gave me this "gig" here because of our connection and my special ability to deal with the heavyweights. Besides, I was the first spirit you saw. We still have a lot to evolve; Christ-like spirits like Jesus don't even need to touch malevolent spirits to expel them or prevent them from doing harm. Simply radiating their aura of light and goodness would be a power equivalent to those famous spiritual energy attacks we see so much in Japanese cartoons.

– But what about it? If you can hurt a spirit, can you kill it too?

– Kill, no. The perispirit is like clothing. The garment of the soul. Your soul is immortal. The clothing will be torn, destroyed, worn out, almost unrecognizable, but the spirit will be there inside, intact. The problem is that when the perispirit is severely damaged, it takes a very, very long time to be repaired. It's sad and quite impactful to see a scene like that. Once we rescued a spirit in a lamentable state. What was once a man, a human being, was nothing more than a kind of jelly on the ground. The procedure to heal him was extremely complex. Not only through healing houses, but they had to resort to emergency reincarnations. On Earth, we always hear sad stories where mothers lose their children in the womb or shortly after birth. Some question the infinite wisdom and goodness of God in these cases. However, this is nothing more than an emergency healing procedure for these poor souls who had already lost a form for a human body. They need to be reborn as humans to return to being humans, you understand? Like a medical procedure to heal a wound that is difficult to heal.

– Wow! I think you caused a "cramp" in my brain! – Eddie replied.

– Don't worry! You still have a lot to learn! You may think you were successful in your endeavor when we encountered Exú at that party. However, if you hadn't started that fight, we could have avoided such an encounter. It was a risky battle. I have to go back now. Tomorrow we'll continue with our normal activities and training.

Spirits also sleep according to the Hunter. That night, Eddie had a heavy, truly restorative sleep, but with a very intriguing dream that he had had throughout his life. When he woke up, he remembered that he had a period in his last incarnation, before the current one, where he used to dream a lot like now, with recurring dreams. In fact, there is always a period in our lives when we dream a lot, then the pace of dreams decreases, then it grows again, like a spring that expands and contracts. Well, as it has been scientifically proven, and Eduardo knew well, we always dream every night without exception. What changes is the fact of remembering or not remembering these dreams. At first, it was quite pleasant to remember them, and it was precisely after the young man began his studies in Spiritism that explained that dreams were nothing more than the detachment of the soul from the body. A kind of free pardon allowed so that the soul can go out there and remember what the freedom of the world of spirits is like. Upon learning these facts, he was taken by a certain fear due to the reality and the size of the shadow and proportion that dreams took.

In the dream, he met the Master of Masters himself, the regent of our galaxy: Lord Jesus Christ. He knew it was presumptuous of him to think that a spirit of that caliber would talk to him like that, out of the blue. After all, His mere presence, a spirit with a light that radiates heat equivalent to that of ten thousand suns, would end anyone inferior to Him instantly upon contact. However, Eduardo liked to think that if it wasn't a direct messenger of His, He could have come to talk to him Himself. Besides, He has the power to do whatever He wants, even reduce His light for a brief moment to talk to a troubled soul.

They were sitting at a small wooden table with two glasses, facing each other, each in their simple wooden chair. All furniture without any adornments, surrounded by an infinite scene whiter than the clouds. After taking a sip of a liquid similar to earthly mead, the ancient drink so beloved by the ancient Nordic people, as Edward remembered in the times of Edward, the Master took his hand and with a serious expression, said:

– You have a very important mission to fulfill in the future. I fear it is a mission of such magnitude that this burden will be too exhausting even for you.

After his words, he woke up.

At the same time he was ecstatic with happiness to meet the Master of Masters, a terrible pain and a fixed thought hit him: "My God! If even He doubts that I can complete this mission, how can I perform such acts? I don't want to disappoint Yeshua, which is the original name of Jesus - the Christ, told to me by Him during our dream conversation. I must be a warrior of God! Even if I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for the Lord is my shepherd, He will guide me! I will carry this thanks to the Hunter having taught me.”

Because he remembered this dream, Eddie invoked the spirit of the Hunter in thought, to which his guide quickly responded, also congratulating the young man for having learned so quickly to call a specific spirit. The Hunter said he was in the colony where he learned to control his spiritual energy and channel it together with martial arts.

Many wanted to discuss the fact that the dream came back, according to the Hunter, the spiritual colonies were like true floating and invisible metropolises above planet Earth.

He had to work hard to gain access to colonies specialized in martial arts during his evolution. He trained from colony to colony. Passing through spiritual cities that were both in Brazil and abroad. China, Japan, and Thailand mainly. When he returned to "Brazil," he spent a good time in the Moscoso colony, above the state of Espírito Santo, with oriental friends.

There, he finally met Bernard, his spiritual tutor

, who gave him the final lessons, not only martial but moral as well. A phrase he never forgot was constantly repeated by old Bernard:

– Observe the lessons that life has to give you and pray that HIS will be done and not ours.

The Hunter also learned that human studies were not in vain, but they needed to learn to control spiritual strength, that is, the Ki as the Orientals call it, as well as the chakras. Eduardo had a flashback of his incarnation as a Samurai while talking about spiritual energy, to later remember another Indian version of himself, very short but valuable incarnation, where he learned that:

* First Chakra – Red - earth: that which connects us to the planet;

* Second – Orange - genitals: linked to an individual's basic needs;

* Third – Manipura - City of jewels – lotus – abdomen – yellow: linked to the security and balance of the body;

* Fourth – Green Lotus – Anahata – heart: emotions;

* Fifth – Light Blue - "vishuda"- purification – Throat – Om: which connects us to other individuals and makes us want to be accepted and to help others;

* Sixth – Dark Blue - third eye two petals – observation: of continuous evolution. The principle of Kai Zen of constant improvement discovered by the Orientals;

* Seventh – Purple - lotus of a thousand petals – Crown – Brain: which connects us to the spiritual plane.

Eduardo, in his trance moment, said to the Hunter:

– Losing a day is like losing a life in the tides of the eternity of the soul... Hours are like days and the proportions of time and space only serve to confuse us and show us that we should never dive into the darkness of idleness and uselessness.

The Hunter looked, with a certain pride, at Eddie at that moment and replied:

– Finally! I can see that you now have total control over your past incarnations. Now you are ready for our mission. There's only one thing left for you! Balance! Man needs his moment of leisure too; just don't abuse it! It's part of the maxim: Be happy!!! For the spirit that eternity is the measure of time, life is almost nothing. But for the body that waits, and life seems costly at certain moments, any form of pleasure is a relief, and if pain meant nothing, the Earth would not be a plan of trials...

Eduardo interrupted his tutor and repeated in his own words:

– For the eternal spirit, the time of life is like a grain of sand in the universe. But for the material body that supports us during this time on Earth, life seems excessively costly, and any form of pleasure is a relief. If pains were insignificant, we wouldn't need a terrestrial plan of trials and expiations. I need to go back home! To my wife.

The Hunter gave a slight laugh and said:

– Yes, noble friend. Go in peace. When you return, we will start our journey.