The man was a seeker of the hidden truths but at the same time, he had doubts. He would say:  " What happens after one dies? maybe ashes, worms, fluids that go to the ground or to the sea and nothing stays? This is probably a deceit. The spiritual world does not exist."

The debate was going on in his mind and he did not know what to think, nevertheless his tendency was to doubt.

He, then, went to a pilgrimage searching for answers where he saw devoted and motivated persons. And he would say: " All these persons are elated, crazy in some way. This pilgrimage is a foolishness, I have left my family, my comfort, my associates, my house, my business for all this foolishness. I will stay today and tomorrow I will return because this is a loss of time. I should have used my intelligence to realize that this is total madness."

The night came and he was feeling tormented because he had invested money in this pilgrimage, and he thought: " How many things I could have done with this money, but I threw it away."

He kept thinking and thinking until he went to sleep and he started dreaming; in his dreams he saw himself in a large field where he was planting jewels and money and magnificent trees would come out and money would spring forth the trees. He kept seeing himself planting and sowing over and over again, he even saw the process of how he became an old man and he also saw when he died.

He, then, saw that he was dead because rabid dogs, serpents and worms came and devoured his money, destroyed his trees, killed the field and afterwards, they devoured him. He thought in the dream: " How dreadful! Everything that I had accomplished, it all disappeared in a moment. Those beasts devoured everything. What a disgrace, what a torment!" 

Then, he found himself in his house and there had been a fire and all the people in his house were dead. He saw himself walking between the ashes, gathering the bones of his wife, of his children, animals. He put them in a bag, carried it on his back and he then run from the dream, from the vision, from himself and he started shouting.

Until suddenly someone shook him and he awoke but still very shocked. He cried until little by little he realized that it had been a dream, he passed from crying to laughing, just as if he had lost his mind. And he thought: " So much searching, is driving me crazy, it will be much better if I return home; there is no sense in all this; what a dreadful nightmare!"

As he was getting up, he wanted to thank the person who had awaken him from that nightmare, he looked around and saw a rather old person; he saw something strange in his eyes and told him: " Thank you, you brought me back from the most terrible nightmare that I ever had."

And the man, immediately said. " I know your nightmare because I was as arrogant as you; I did not believe in the spiritual life, but the visions showed me that the pain and frustration that I felt in the dream, were a preamble of what I was about to live. A great deal of what I dreamed about, did not happen identical, but at the end, it was the same. I lost everything, even my loved ones. I then, realized that when you lose everything, you are more dead than death.

But there is something in you, that does not want to die; and that something is called suffering; you suffer for the things that you loved, wanted, desired and that are not anymore. It is a great emptiness, and this may not be an spiritual definition but I felt that spiritual emptiness and I wished to be dead, wished to be mad, but I could not, then I returned to the pilgrimage. What for? To be free from pain, to see beyond loss and death, because my suffering was too much. 

But there is something in this old man's heart that is still young; the love for my loved ones grows even more and although they are not by my side, I need to believe that I will find them again and this will be my second chance.  Because I did not understand what must be sought out in life, I thought that the material world was everything, then, I realized that is not like that; the material goes away.

I am here now, with a great need of believing in the afterlife because I have something inside that will not die and that something will take me to meet my loved ones again. That dream was my dream, that revelation was my revelation.  I just wish that it does not happen to you what happened to me, and that when you return to your material world, you do not find ashes and bones, which I also kept."

And he showed a blanket that he had on his back, he stretched it on the ground, and there were white washed bones; and the man kept saying: " You can see, that I do know  and do understand you, since I know that my loved ones are no longer in these bones and will never be. But I also know that in order to live and to die, I have to believe that some day I will recover my loved ones.

I only know now, that the material world is full of charms, but be aware because it has disappointments that are called death and desolation; and I have to believe in the spiritual world, because of that reason.

The man was listening and he felt frightened with the narration and said: " You are confused, it will not happen to me, so much searching, pilgrimage, so much searching has made you mad."

And he got up and hurried away. But the old man said: " I wish that I was mad, but I know that I am not, your words do not offend me, I do understand you. I just wish that I am mistaken with you, but if I am not, then, I will wait here for you to give you some consolation."

But the man was in such a hurry, that he almost did not hear those words. He returned to the city, he freshened up, changed clothes and took a plane to return to his city. When he arrived, nobody was waiting for him and he thought. " How awful, how soon they have forgotten me!"

He went to his house and when he got there, he only found ashes. He could not believed it; he then, went to his business and the business was not any longer, only ashes.

Then, as lightning entering his body, he understood that his dream was not a dream, but a vision and he became like insane.

The time passed and the man returned to the place where he had been in the pilgrimage. And he decided not to allow the persons that he could find by his side, to sleep.
 
He found the old man again and said: " I do not know what to believe, but I do know that I must believe because what I am feeling does not give me consolation, but if I am able to believe, I will know heaven for sure."