Season 1, Episode 6 - The Tree Plot XXVI - "Esther Esotericism, Part 2"

So, what exactly was the Rddhi?

“It’s the energy field that binds us all together,” Isaac explained, recalling one of Mr. Shokahu’s lessons from school. “We draw from it to produce our powers.”

Esther nodded. “As always, you’re on the right track. What do you know about the laws of psychics?”

Isaac stifled a smirk. He wouldn’t call himself a genius, but…

“Force, mass, acceleration. I’ve gotten smarter with that kind of stuff recently.”

“Now go one step beyond that,” Esther said. She smiled, but Isaac suspected she wasn't all that impressed by Isaac’s high school level knowledge of basic psychics. “What makes the laws, the laws?”

Isaac tapped his forehead in thought. In school, when you learn psychics equations, you don’t learn why they work, you just learn that they do work. “I don’t know,” he admitted.

Esther raised two fingers. “For this, we’ll have to rely on the notes of Master Aiszargis once again. There are two possible explanations. The mathematical and the esoteric.”

[Human desire and will and emotion, that collective unconsciousness, unseen on the surface but certainly there, existing just as much as hard fact, can be just as strong as math. And vice versa. The rational and the emotional in their interplay and mixture.]

The rational and the emotional.

Isaac supposed Derek Domino truly knew what he was talking about. He must’ve, if he learned from this Master Aizsargis.

“Though our knowledge is still lacking compared to our predecessors before the Unleashing, the two main attempts to explain the laws of the universe mathematically are general relativity and quantum mechanics,” Esther explained. “The actual math is too complicated to explain, but essentially, those two are frameworks as to why the laws work the way they do.”

“And the esoteric?”

“The arche,” she said, that last word not sounding English. “The principle material. Essentially, everything else is an offshoot of one thing. Thales thought it was water. Anaximenes thought it was air. Both the mathematical and esoteric are searching for the one reason, the one fact as to why everything else works the way it does. The one thing that connects everything else.”

Isaac imagined all the times he felt the golden sparks shoot up his arm. “The Rddhi.”

Esther nodded solemnly. “The Rddhi is that one thing. The Rddhi can be found in everything. It’s the architecture behind the universe, so to speak. A dark mirror of sorts below the surface of reality. In order to understand the Truth, you must understand the Rddhi.”

She brought her fingers back to the X axis and the tree, keeping them up one layer from zero. “Circuit 1 and Yesod,” she continued. “This is where the majority of all Rddhi users can be found. The Vegetative-Invertebrate Circuit. The soul has only just started to understand the Truth. It’s entered a brand new world, full of unknowns, very much like a newborn.”

Isaac swallowed. “So that’s where my soul is ranked right now?

“It’s where every soul at the Academy can be found.”

Isaac wasn’t sure if that was a comforting answer or not.

Esther slid her fingers up again. “Circuit 2 and Hod. The Emotional-Locomotive Circuit. The soul has gone from newborn to toddler. Not only do they gain a little more understanding, they are able to firmly establish their presence in the world. If the tree is likened to a person, then Hod means they can stand on their own two feet now.”

So…I’m just a newborn with the Rddhi?

“How do they establish their presence?”

Esther brought her two fingers to her face and made a downward motion from the corner of her eyes. “The Thousand Arms and Eyes. At Circuit 2, you gain the ability to establish complete control over a pocket dimension along with anyone inside.”

[On the day of the Unleashing, they say there was heavy thunder and lightning in a clear sky that quickly turned from a deep blue to a blood red. And then reality itself did things...imaginary numbers became real, parallel lines intersected, and you could catch a glimpse of a thousand arms and eyes trailing behind you, but they always remained just out of sight…]

Isaac rubbed his eyes, frowning, feeling confused.

“Isaac?” Esther asked in concern.

Isaac waved her thoughts away. “Nothing, I thought I remembered something.”

I did remember something. But for some reason…that wasn’t my memory. Whose memory was it?

Maybe Isaac should’ve asked about it. But if the Academy was keeping this Circuitry information secret from the entire school, if not the entire country…Isaac decided on keeping his own secrets for the time being.

“How do you go from one Circuit to the next?” Isaac asked.

Esther looked back at the nodes. “Unfortunately, Aiszargis kept quiet about his technique, but we’ve researched enough to come up with a theory. A person will unlock a second power to signify an oncoming Circuitry change. Circuitry is the evolution of the soul, as in how well the soul can understand reality. A second power indicates something is shifting in the soul. And then, a grand realization occurs. Satori. And just like that, Circuit 2 is unlocked.”

“A second power?” Isaac repeated. “You mean like Reed using sound waves and magnetic waves? Her Circuitry’s about to shift?”

Esther reluctantly nodded. “She’ll likely be the first one at the Academy to do so.”

“Why her?” he asked, a slight edge in his voice. Was he jealous? Yes, but he wouldn’t admit it. Was he concerned about her well-being? Most definitely. Reed thought she had a brain sickness, a sickness that might even extend to the soul. How would it work when the soul evolved?

“We can’t answer that,” Esther admitted. “We haven’t established a firm link yet, but perhaps it’s her blood. The Reed family has been home to some of the strongest users.”

Reed had a great aunt she talked about sometimes, a Viola Reed, who was said to have destroyed a significant part of Quinsigamond during the final battle of the Restoration. Reed’s parents wanted her to be just as strong as her.

“Are there any dangers with Circuitry changes?” Isaac asked.

Esther shifted uncomfortably.

“You need to tell me, Esther.”

Esther frowned. “But you can’t tell her, alright?”

“But if she’s in danger-”

“I want to tell her, too!” Esther interrupted. Isaac immediately stopped; he had never seen Esther yell before. At least this yell came from a similar cause of concern.

“I think Reed is my friend,” she said. “So, I want to tell her all about this, too. But some things, when they know they’re being observed and studied, change their behavior. If we let Reed know she’s about to shift Circuits, then her path might be changed. We need to keep her in the dark for now.”

Her face brightened up. “We can still keep an eye out for her. You’re…close with her. You can make sure she’s alright. And I’ll keep track of her data.”

Isaac frowned. I don’t know what the right decision is here. There’s a ton I don’t know.

He clenched his fist for a moment. “Alright. I’ll keep quiet.”

Esther sighed in relief. “The danger is an abstract sort of danger. There’s a Buddhist term called ‘maya’. Maya is a term relating to the misperception of reality. We see things as individuals, but in reality, they are all one thing: the universe. We think the tree is the tree, and the rock is the rock, but we are actually looking at the universe altogether, not just individualized pieces. The Rddhi flows through all of them. Technically, they are just a part of a greater thing, rather than their own things. It applies to people, as well. We all maintain our own senses of ‘I’. You’re you and I’m me. We each have our sense of ‘I’.”

Esther leaned in close. “Now, think with me on this one, Isaac. The Truth includes everything that’s real, right?”

Isaac didn’t know what else to say. “Yes.”

“And, if God is real, he must exist within the Truth, yes? Otherwise, the Truth wouldn’t include everything that’s real.”

“Yes,” Isaac repeated.

“But God is everything,” Esther reminded him. “God is everywhere and every time. If God exists in everything that is real, and if the Truth includes everything that is real, then God not only knows the Truth - God is the Truth.”

Isaac kept quiet again, just trying to keep up with everything he was learning.

“To go one layer down,” Esther continued. “God has complete perception over all domains. A god has complete perception of just his own domain. But if Poseidon were truly the god of the sea, then would he not exist within all aspects of the sea? Every ocean, every lake, every pond. He exists within all of them. He can control all aspects of them. If he wishes to raise the Atlantic Ocean, then he could. If he wants to flood a city, he can.”

She looked back down at the chart, her face contorted. “Reed can control a second type of wave now. Should she reach a grand realization, she’ll be Circuit 2, and that much closer to the Truth. If that process were to continue, then at Circuit 8, she’ll understand the wave itself as a concept and will have complete control over it. If that’s the case…she would be the goddess of waves. Complete mastery over her own domain.”

Isaac’s first instinct felt inappropriate - he wanted to laugh at the thought of that scruffy-looking girl becoming the goddess of anything. But then he thought of the implications of being a deity of anything, let alone something as important as waves.

“It would be the same for Audrey,” Esther continued. “If she reached Circuit 8, then she would be the goddess of cells.”

She pointed at 8 on the X axis and the node labeled Chokhmah on the Sefirot.

“How do you go from god to God?” Isaac found himself asking. There were so many directions to take the conversation in.

Esther sighed. “That’s beyond our current knowledge. The highest Circuit recorded was Aizsargis’s Circuit 5. Circuit 6 and beyond is still only conjecture. But…”

She tapped a finger on the top of the tree, on a node labeled Keter. “As above.”

She then tapped on the central node labeled Da’at. “As below. To become God would require complete perception and control over all domains. Over everything. Da’at is where everything in the tree comes together. If Keter is the surface of humanity, and Da’at is the Rddhi below it…then perhaps by bringing humanity together, then Godhood can be achieved. But that’s just a barebones working theory. We don’t even know what bringing humanity together means, let alone how to do it.”

Isaac took a moment to lean back and look at the ceiling, trying to process all of that. In his quest to learn more, his only achievement was learning how much he needed to learn.

A more pressing matter surfaced in his mind. “But what’s the danger?”

Esther looked down at the tree. “The more connected you are, the less ‘I’ you are. At its most logical extreme - if God is all, can he still maintain a separate sense of self? I am Me, but I am All…so All is Me? And if All is Me…then am I still an individual? Essentially, as you ascend the Circuitry, you get closer to godhood and Godhood, closer to the Truth, closer to perceiving everything in your domain….but by perceiving everything, you start to lose your sense of self.”

She looked at Isaac with concern. “If God’s perception of everything makes him the Truth, then Reed’s perception of all waves would make her the wave. She might lose her sense of ‘I’”.

Isaac ran a hand through his air. “If that occurs, what happens to her?”

The cold facts Esther shared battled with the concern carried in her voice. “Her soul would evolve to the point where we’d lose her to the Rddhi. She’d ascend into pure Rddhi. And not just her. The danger is there for anyone whose soul evolves.”

Isaac rubbed his eyes. The whole thing started to sound like a bad dream. God and gods, math and emotion, this is too much. I can’t believe I actually took reality for granted. There’s so much going on behind the scenes.

However, there was still one question he needed to ask.

Isaac pointed at himself. “What about me? Would I become the god of punches? But how do the clones work with that?”

Esther gave him a faint smile. “You have your own path, Isaac. As laid down by the ancients.”

Isaac tilted his head in confusion; Esther wrote down more information in the journal.

“The Eight Powers of the Buddhist Iddhi clan,” she finally read aloud. “He replicates himself. He makes himself invisible. He passes through solid objects. He sinks into solid ground. He walks on water. He flies. He touches the sun and moon. He ascends.”

The first one obviously meant clones. But as for the others…

“Is this…like a prophecy?” Isaac asked. He couldn’t help it - his mind danced with images of kung fu dojos and shaolin sects with prophecies written in golden tapestries. “Am I…am I a chosen one?”

Esther giggled. “I can’t say for sure. The Buddhists never gave a year or context for this list of powers. But you can use that first power. We don’t know of anyone else who can make clones. And that arm of yours…it glows gold with Rddhi, not the usual red. Perhaps these powers are for you.”

Isaac looked at his fist. Nothing seemed particularly prophesied or chosen about it, but his fist held power, that he knew. “He ascends. What does that mean?”

“Perhaps it’s how you become God,” Esther said in complete sincerity. “Isaiah 41:10. Do not fear, for I am with you. Do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and uphold you; I will guide you with my righteous right hand.”

Esther gestured for Isaac’s right hand. He reached for her; after a moment of hesitation, Esther placed her palm upon his. Her hand felt warm to the touch. After another moment of hesitation, Esther interlocked her fingers between his.

Yet she didn’t display her usual level of embarrassment or nervousness. Instead, she looked at him with conviction. “This hand of yours could be the right hand of God. Perhaps, with this hand, you could meet God. You could punch your way right into God's Kingdom. Or perhaps, with this hand, you could become God.”

She gently squeezed his hand; her touch felt gentle and smooth.

“And we really think you can do it,” she said softly, leaning over the table, closer to him. “If you keep working with the Academy, we can get you there. And then-”

Esther looked around the room for a moment before turning her eyes back to him. “And then, once you ascend, you can achieve your dream, whatever it may be! You don’t have to listen to the Academy by then, you can do whatever you want!”

In contrast to Esther, Isaac actually started feeling nervous. As if sensing that, Esther motioned for his other hand to join hers. They held each other’s hands for a moment, Esther giving him an encouraging smile.

“I trust you, Isaac. When you reach God, I know your dream will be a good one.”

Isaac shook his head. “I’m not a chosen one. I’m just some kid who doesn’t know anything.”

“Everybody starts off as a kid who doesn’t know anything,” Esther said, smiling wide now. “That’s why we learn. Learn with us, Isaac. We can do it. Stay with the Academy-”

She gave both hands another squeeze, sending a feeling of warmth through Isaac.

“-and stay with me.”

Isaac looked off to the side.

If this is true…then I could remake the world. Wipe the slate clean. Reform the old world. I could recreate reality. I could bring people back to life. I could do anything I wanted to.

It’s a lot of responsibility. But that’s why I need to learn. Once I know enough, I can make the best decision. The right decision for this world.

Isaac looked back at her, strength in his hands, determination in his eyes. “I’ll do it. I’ll keep working with all of you.”

Esther smiled. Slowly, she circled one of her thumbs over his. He let her do it. There were too many sensations and possibilities and feelings flowing through him for him to object to it.

“Reach the eighth Circuit,” Esther concluded. “Reach the eighth node of the Sefirot. Reach the eighth Iddhi power. And once that happens…that righteous right hand of yours…it won’t just be a hand…”

She leaned in close, really close. Her face looked warm and inviting and her hair smelled like lavender.

“...it’ll become The Eightfold Fist.”