Dutch focused his attention on his new companions. I have someone with me they may want to meet, his guide had said. That meant him. 

So he presented them with his thoughts. He thought of the image of his goddess in the chamber on Mars, with her bird feet and wings. He thought of how when she stepped out of the wall, the wings disappeared and her feet became human. He thought of those who were his companions in the Q at the time, and why they were there. He thought of the questions she was asked, and how she had responded. He thought of how he and his companions in the Q had dreamed themselves back to Coon Island, and she had appeared to them there. How she had told them her story. And how she had left them. Then how he had tried to find her again, and had failed. Finally, he thought, do you know where she is?

One of the bearded men responded. You are right to think of her as a goddess. I lived for a time in Sumer, and she was our goddess there. She does not dwell on this plane, but I know where she is.

Dwell on this plane? Did I understand that right?

The short man said, Nearly so. I am familiar with Earth in your time, and there are those who think of this existence we are in as a plane. Your interpretation is understandable. But more truly you might want to think of it as a level. One of many.

I can put it in terms of your concept of material existence.

You may think of the Q as "without form, and void" until the viewer assumes a point to view. This point may be at the most primitive level of the quantum foam, or on any of the agreed-upon levels above that. Primitive particles, atoms, cells, organisms, and so on. It is up to the viewer to tap into the agreement at one of those levels. You think of your material self as a human organism. You do not normally consider the lower levels which comprise it.

Dutch thought he was following this.

Above the level of such organisms is groups of organisms. There are many such groupings, but your human communities and nations are obvious examples. Such groupings of entities are not so much physical, as in the realm of thought.

Above that level there is the comprehension of all animals, then all life on your planet, all life anywhere. These levels of comprehension exist only in the realm of thought.

Somehow Dutch was recalling what he knew of Hindu philosophy, how a god could have many aspects, each represented by a different avatar. He thought of such a god as beyond comprehension, that even many depictions of a single such god could still not capture the true essence of that god. Such a being existed on a plane, a level, far above that of humans.

I think I get it. You are telling me my goddess exists on a level that is beyond my comprehension, that there is no way I can ever find her again. Dutch felt a rush of disappointment.

Yes, but not entirely. She can still present herself to you as an avatar. 

This gave Dutch some hope.

The other bearded man spoke. Or you can rise to her level.

Huh?

You must understand. As a conscious being, you yourself are but an aspect of a higher being. You can access your own higher consciousness.

I am? I can?

Of course. Think again of the levels of physical existence we thought about before. Each of those physical entities is, in actual essence, a manifestation of thought. A thought agreement if you will, among all the beings that may perceive it. You yourself are one such being.

Dutch felt he understood this. He felt his own mind expand, in a way that was unfamiliar and yet somehow familiar. He began to realize that this feeling of familiarity came from a level of awareness he had not known was available to him.

His disappointment vanished, replaced by a new sense of wonder and excitement. When he turned his attention back to his companions, they no longer appeared to him as human figures. They appeared to him as light. Not the light of physics, but the light of mind. They were glowing. And they were glowing for him, welcoming him to this higher level of awareness.

But I still don't know how to find the goddess, he thought.

Open yourself to her. As you are open to us.

So he did.