4th of July fireworks symbolize war: they look like bombs and sound like gunfire. Imagine that life travels through various stages of peace and war. When humans on Earth die, they go to a place that is either a closer circle to Heaven (peace) or Hell (war). Thus morality comes into play: If you fuck up this life you go to a closer circle of Hell.  War is more prominent.

The protagonist dies and finds himself in a wooden bunker at an army base. He is in boxers and  a white tee, as are all the others. They are ordered by a stern drill sergeant to suit up in camo gear. They struggle to get dressed as fast as possible to avoid further harassment. Once suited they are instructed to grab a rifle from the box and head into the battlefield. He can hear the sounds of distant rifle fire. As he exits the bunker onto the field someone stuffs a helmet onto his head. “Go go go!” he is commanded.

They cross the valley of tall weeds. The sky is smoky, obscuring the sunset. A sense of fear as the gunfire gets nearer. They ascend a small hill and at the top are barricades of sand bags. Soldiers are using these as covers as they engage the other side, who are across a field, behind barricades of their own. Bodies are strewn here and there. Crouched low, our protagonist tries to find a place to take aim. The figures on the other side are small shadows darting here and there. It is hard to fix any kind of target. He fires a few misses. The forth shot rings out and he doesn’t withdraw in time. A bullet hits him in the neck, and he is knocked backward onto his back. He feels excruciating pain, but it only lasts a second, for he blacks out and seconds later re-awakens. He is back in the bunker in shorts and a tee. A horse-voiced sergeant is screaming at him to get dressed and grab a rifle….

The peace/war dichotomy is an excellent marker to see where you are on your soul journey. Look around. How bad is the violence? How prevalent are the weapons? If there are none of the above it means you have survived the outer rings and completed your journey to the center, the source, to God (eternal peace). But all souls start out at the outermost ring (total chaos). For potentiality is born out of this chaotic state, rather than a state of perfection (God). So God needs Chaos, but is separate from it. The Universe and all Reality can be seen as an eye in the process of seeing itself. It is an eternal process because every time a new soul is born from potentiality than the complexity of the universe increases. The soul journey to source keeps the eye from ever fully realizing its own nature. But when each soul joins with God, God is enriched with the data of that autonomous self. It feeds on uniqueness, on novelty, and that can only be achieved by engineering souls with free will. The free will to be agents of God, or to digress back through the outer rings and into chaos. It is our choice.

Our protagonist realizes that since he feels pain but cannot die for good he is in a simulation of some kind. The outer levels can feel like this, because of their closer proximity to death. Atheists who believe in permanent death are in for a shock. The only way out of the sim is through it: dispatch the enemy across the field, take over their terrain. He does not know who he is fighting or why, but he knows that if he ever wishes to get out he needs to win. His comrades understand this as well. He dies a few more times, but each time begins to feel more confident. He even shoots a few enemies down.

Soon they will overtake the enemies bunker, and proceed to level two: the hotel of lost souls.

War is a necessary evil. We must accept it and face but, but not be consumed by it. We can start by not glorifying war through these silly holidays and songs (and the bombs bursting in air). Spread peace through the night, but be aware of war and be prepared to fight and defend oneself. Even living the life of a saint will not necessarily ensure that you will not face the battlefield again, in some life. Agents of Chaos are trying to infect warfare into the central circles, there is this constant tug of war going on, the ebb and flow of these two opposing forces, and that tension creates the physical universe.