The room is lit by two candles on the bedside table, one red and the other white, the incense smoke draws spirals in the air, some resemble a dragon, others the God, others still the Goddess; my name is Roberto Fumagalli but my magical name is Kael, I am a shaman who lives in a tiny studio apartment on the outskirts of Milan and for this evening I have a beautiful journey planned, not to the seaside but to another dimension.34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDzk9NcJBrE
I lie down on my inflatable mattress, close my eyes, observe my thoughts, little by little I manage to create emptiness inside my head, I breathe more and more slowly, I feel the floor moving away and my body of light detaching from the physical one; I look at my hands, then my legs, my subtle body looks like a blue flame with a yellow aura around it, I observe my physical body down there on the bed; suddenly a crack appears in the air of the room, as if someone had pierced the fabric of the world, the crack widens, becomes a portal, its edges shine with a purple that does not exist among the colors we know, I pass through it.34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQW6Jvgtq3Z
On the other side of the portal I see my astral temple, it is similar to a trullo, as usual waiting for me in front of the entrance there is him, my spiritual guide, he is the Unicorn but not the one from fairy tales, he is made of light that changes continuously, red, green, yellow, blue, the colors slide over him like water, his mane is a rainbow that never stands still. “You have arrived” he says “Look.” At the center of the temple there is a great black mirror showing me a low gray building with a few small windows, inside there are hundreds of people, men, women and children with chains on their wrists and ankles and yet no one tries to escape, no one complains, they seem calm. “I am going to free them” I say. The Unicorn does not stop me, he only adds: “I am coming with you.”34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcoZ4Ub3F1G
I pass through the mirror and reach the large room; the walls are covered with mold, the air is heavy, it is cold, a cold that enters your bones, in the middle of a pile of boxes the sound of rats moving can be heard; I transfer part of the energy of my body of light toward the center of the palm of my right hand, little by little as I touch the chains they break as if they had been cut by bolt cutters. “Go, you are free”, I declare. For a few seconds silence reigns in the room then a woman with tired and dull eyes looks at me as if I had blasphemed. “Why did you remove our chains?” she asks me. An angry man approaches. “What are we supposed to do now? Who is going to feed us?” A little girl hides behind her mother’s skirt and whispers: “The golden man will get angry”. “The golden man?” I ask. “He is good” says an old man in the room. “He protects us, he gives us everything, we work from morning until evening but he gives us a bed and a bowl of soup, it has always been like this, my father worked here and my father’s father as well, the golden man has a body of gold and diamonds, he is superior and we are happy this way.” I say: “But do you realize that this golden man forces you to live in slavery”. “You are a liar, we are not slaves, we are free people” shouts a tall and sturdy man.34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaGUoXGejVe
I step outside the building for a moment to breathe some fresh air but I only smell a bitter odor of burning, an icy wind sharp as a razor brushes my face, the landscape is all faded, the sky is not sky, it is a purple and red scar, the Sun is a dim circle, the trees are black and leafless, a purple-colored river seems to flow with difficulty, silence envelops that place then suddenly I hear a crow cawing, then another and another still; looking at my hands I think: what if I am wrong? What if they have the right not to be free? Freedom if imposed is no longer freedom; the Unicorn looks at me as if he had read my mind, he approaches me and whispers: “You asked yourself whether those people want to be slaves, that is not the case Kael, imagine a fish born in a small bowl, it does not know that the ocean exists, if you throw it into the sea at first it thrashes and gets angry but not because it loves the bowl, because it has never seen the ocean; those people were born there, their fathers and their ancestors were there, they have always heard that the golden man is good, they know no alternatives, show them a different world and most of them will choose it.”34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡisudGvIwTc
Suddenly I perceive a presence in the air, an enormous negative energy, my heart suddenly becomes cold, I feel shivers all over my skin and my hands begin to tremble, with my eyes of light I see it, it is a Phoenix, but not the yellow and red one of rebirth, this one is gray, its wings are webs of dark smoke and from its chest come many thin tentacles that enter the heads of the slaves I have just seen and those of other slaves locked inside the surrounding buildings; the Unicorn looks at me. “We cannot defeat it, it is too powerful.” Then he approaches me and continues: “You removed the chains from the wrists and ankles of those people but not the ones around their minds, why don’t we go back into the large room and try to free their minds with words, let us try.” I state perplexed: “And what are we supposed to do with that sort of giant leech?” The Unicorn mutters: “I have no idea.”34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcXlgLKVnHh
The Unicorn and I return inside the building, he speaks first with a calm voice: “We are not here to impose anything on you, only to talk”, my guide offers a simple but meaningful speech: “You raise chickens for the golden man right? Those chickens do not know they are inside a henhouse, they think the world is that, if you took them into the orchard at first they would be afraid but then they would live better; you are those chickens.”34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdaxiVbbvHa
A woman raises her head: “And how should we live? The golden man is superior, if we disobey he punishes us.” Hearing these words I step forward, I do not shout but my voice is firm: “The golden man is not superior, you have been taught a lie, gold does not make anyone wiser and diamonds do not make anyone kinder, his power is not in the gold but in the fear he placed inside your heads, take away that fear from him and he falls.”34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfiN8nugDI7
The Unicorn begins speaking again, now his aura shines orange while a thousand radiant colors pass through his body. “Try to imagine a just society where everyone has what they need, no more and no less and gives what they can, this concept is called equity.” An old man shouts: “Equity? Beautiful word, at my age the golden man forces me to work like a twenty-year-old!”34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPVVMWK3M3t
With enthusiasm in my heart I try to make these people understand the meaning of the word freedom. “A little while ago someone told me that you are free, free with chains on your wrists?” Some voices interrupt me. “Of course we are free!” I look into the eyes of the people present and continue speaking. “Freedom is waking up in the morning and deciding yourself what to do not because someone orders you to, not because you are afraid but because you want to, freedom is saying no, it is also saying yes but a yes that comes from within, not a yes that was placed in your mouth, freedom is making mistakes without being punished, it is resting when you are tired.” For a few moments silence envelops the large room then someone says: “But then can I do whatever I want?” To this question I answer without getting angry: “No, your freedom ends where another person’s begins, you can do anything as long as it does not make another person less free than you, that is the limit.”34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxTs4wUWtf4
The Unicorn and I continue speaking then we realize that something has changed, I see it in their eyes, that man who before was shouting at me now has a different gaze, as if he were looking at something he had never seen before, the woman with the dull eyes clenches her fists, a boy bites his lip; it is not anger, it is the energy that the God Prometheus gives to everyone, even the most tired, even the most frightened, it is the force that pushes us to oppose oppressors, bullies and live a real life, I feel it growing inside them like a blazing fire; from the center of that collective will I see a figure taking shape, to my eyes it appears as Prometheus holding a sword of stone and fire but I know it is not Him, I know the Gods do not descend from the sky to help us, it is the slaves who generated that figure with their decision to follow the path of freedom, the energetic form hurls itself against the gray Phoenix, flashes of lightning appear in the purple sky accompanied by thunder that becomes more and more frequent, my body begins to tremble, I put my fingers in my ears so as not to hear that deafening noise but fear envelops me like a cold hand; the Phoenix fights, launches its tentacles, tries to wrap around its opponent, to suffocate him, one brushes his head, another coils around the wrist holding the sword, the pointed tail of the beast cuts through the air like a dagger but every tentacle that touches that figure burns, crumbles, this is because resignation cannot touch those who have decided to be free; in the end the energy of Prometheus raises the sword and drives it into the heart of the gray Phoenix, the beast deflates like a sail without wind, like a lie that no one believes anymore, its tentacles fall to the ground and turn into dust; I remain staring at the spot where a moment before it had been, the silence is total, now that that leech is gone I feel as if someone had lifted a huge weight from my shoulders.34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGNHXRGto1e
A few moments later a metallic noise can be heard, a figure similar to an Egyptian sarcophagus appears floating through the air, it is entirely made of solid gold studded with diamonds. “Oh the golden man, now he will punish us”, whisper some while peeking from the door of the large room; the legs of men, women and children begin to tremble but what appears as Prometheus pulls out a leather pouch, opens it and extracts an iridescent powder. “The sorceress Circe gave it to me and it is used to unmask impostors”, he says. Then he scatters the powder over the sarcophagus, immediately the powder turns into smoke in the colors of the rainbow and the sarcophagus opens in two, inside there is no God, there is no superior being, there is a small, gaunt, bald little man, now it is his legs that tremble, fear is in his eyes; the golden man is a man, only a man who wore a beautiful mask for so long that he himself was the first to believe he was superior, the slaves look at him, some laugh, some cry, a woman says: “He was only a man, we spent our lives obeying this.” The news travels fast, building after building the sarcophagi open and inside they find nothing exceptional, only men; now the path of freedom is open.34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMouTAmUng0
The sky becomes a crystalline blue, the Sun lights up, green leaves sprout from the trees, the rivers become clear and in the meadows little red, yellow and blue flowers appear; a new phoenix appears in the sky, it is yellow and orange, it flutters high above and from its beak spreads a melodious sound, it is rebirth; now someone is frightened. “How are we supposed to manage on our own?” asks a boy. “Who tells us what to do?” The others give him the answer, they gather together, divide the wealth of the golden men and organize themselves into small communities without leaders, everyone does what they know how to do, those who know how to cultivate cultivate, those who know how to build build, those who know how to work wood create furniture, it is not a perfect world but now there is freedom.34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkLBSEgdcKP
The Unicorn and I walk through a meadow, we enter an old ruin with a fractal shape, some carvings on the walls and old books attract our attention, they are written in a language that I cannot read but my guide can, they say that once freedom and equity ruled there, that equity was strength but then slowly someone began keeping more for themselves and as the eras passed the divide became a chasm and the chasm devours; those texts also say that freedom does not die all at once, it dies one word at a time, every time we say that one man is superior, that he has the right to impose his law, that he has the right to cover himself in gold and diamonds; the Unicorn and I show the ancient books to the inhabitants, they read them in silence then look at us and make us a promise, they promise us that in the coming months they will raise numerous stone totems, the hardest stone that exists in that dimension, on those totems phrases dedicated to future generations will be engraved so that this story will never repeat itself again.34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5lF8eXdTXY
Before leaving I ask my guide: “But who created the gray Phoenix, where do you think it came from?” The Unicorn walks beside me. “It was created and nourished by the people themselves, every time they said that it had always been this way, every time they called good those who exploited them it swelled; it may seem absurd but oppressors, bullies, do not exist without the consent of most of the oppressed even when that consent is fear or habit”. I am about to speak but he continues: “And the new phoenix, are you wondering about it? It was born from the thoughts of the inhabitants of this dimension at the exact moment when they stopped being satisfied with a bowl of soup and a miserable bed in exchange for fourteen hours of work and decided they wanted a real life.”34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrD63abllEO
Now I must return to my world, I greet the inhabitants of this dimension, the Unicorn releases a beam of energy from his horn, a portal opens, I pass through it and find myself again in my astral temple then, I do not know how, I wake up in my bed; the long candles on the bedside table, the ones dedicated to the God and the Goddess, are now extinguished, I do not know how much time has passed but I have the feeling that this journey changed me; I begin to think that even in some nations of my dimension there are golden men, they are men who exploit workers by making them work fourteen hours a day, in Amazon warehouses employees cannot go to the bathroom without asking permission, gangmaster exploitation in agricultural companies and construction firms is the norm and school-work alternation is exploitation, in some states this and more happens; these people are chained with invisible chains made of fear and resignation but they are still chains, they are chains that tell you: “Either you do three hours of unpaid illegal overtime for four dollars or you end up under a bridge.”; perhaps during that journey I saw what happens in some nations of my world without masks.34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡquMrtZpeur
I get out of bed, outside it is still dark, I think that if next summer I go on vacation to Bangladesh or somewhere else I will pass in front of a factory and say to someone coming out: “Excuse me, have you ever heard about equity and freedom?”34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGWVq6MT4ml
The days pass and I get by living day to day with a few occasional jobs then the call comes for me to attend a job interview, they are looking for a truck driver, even though I have a degree it would still be fine for me.34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡROQW97u2IW
I am here in the company office, the owner enters, reads my résumé and asks me the usual questions, it seems that everything is going well then at the end he says to me: “For this position we need a person who is a little flexible, someone who adapts, let us say we need a truck driver willing to work eight hours a day plus four off the books paid three euros an hour.” I lift my buttocks from the chair and say: “You are an exploiter.”34Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs07itxZidE
I walk outside, there is a beautiful warm Sun, I do not know whether I did the right thing but for the first time I gave up a pseudo-job without fear.
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and then Add to home screen.