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Fiction

The Parable of Aladdina

Michael Langford says you should be careful what you ask from a genie, or you might get lamped.

When Aladdin had his famous encounter with the jinn, as described in the Arabian Nights (although with many exaggerations and inaccuracies), he was already in his fifteenth life cycle. The next three cycles were less adventurous, but were marked by increasing virtue, so that by 2006 (Common Era), when preparing for his nineteenth cycle, he was approaching that state where the wheel of birth and rebirth was nearing its end.

The completion of the process of enlightenment could not, of course, be guaranteed, because free will must be exercised at every stage. Even Aladdin’s nineteenth cycle would present challenges – indeed, new challenges, that matched the more advanced nature of Aladdin’s soul. However, the expectation among the higher intelligences was that quite soon his atman – his soul – would be ready for that state of bliss achieved by all those who were faithful to the ideals formulated in the major religions.

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