How Dionysius Saved His Mother from Hell

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WARNING NOTES FROM THE EDITOR: This work is about the sensuality and adventure of the spiritual quest. But it starts as a serious venture for theologically literate readers--or those who want to be theologically literate. Though sexuality and danger become the 'means of travel,' this story takes us from cool, Apollonian considerations in the beginning, to somewhere else entirely, entirely unexpected. The true author of this work claims to be a "golem." (A frightening creature! I've only glimpsed him up close a few times. We communicate online mostly. He is swarthy, but ruggedly handsome, quick and intelligent. A strong being of danger and purpose! But what purpose?) A golem is a created being. One not created by God. The golem is born from the imagination of a powerful mystic. Both Kabala and Tantric metaphysics have such creatures. Often they become so real that they strain for liberation from their creator. As any creature growing up, a golem can be mischievous, even dangerous... This is the story about how this golem was created and if it can, or need be exorcised. These three fictions are spin-offs from a post-doctoral project, NEPSIS, at the University of California, Berkeley (ECAI) about certain issues of perception in aesthetics and religion. These works are the entertaining version of tough metaphysical issues. Though written to pleasure a more general public, even here are challenges inherent in our creation of alternative realities for the serious seeker.