JASMINE
Chapter Seventeen

The Awakening

It was later that night that I went back to my bunk room. Much to my shock, I saw that the picture that Jack had painted earlier was hanging on the north wall! "Jack," I asked, my voice reflecting curiosity. "Did you hang the painting on the wall?"

Jack replied, "I did not."

I thought to myself, If Jack did not hang the painting up on the wall, who did? Did the painting simply hang itself?

I sat down by my bed and wrote the following entry in my diary:

Rose, like the proverbial pink or white flower. Pretty as anything, yet understood by no one. A spirit may have woken up in her, but the event was simply the awakening and nothing more for the poor damsel, and the poor flower, which is what she represents. To experience freedom, she must fight the spiritual battle against evil. Now that her soul has woken up and is stirring, she must fight the evil which lies in her fiancé and in society in order to earn the liberty she so pines for.

I was shaken out of my thoughts by a knock on the door. "Come in!" I called out. I saw Rose, wearing the same outfit she had worn earlier today on the bow. Suddenly, Jack's eyes glowed with a golden color, and his facial features softened. I noticed now that Jack and Rose weren't even pretending to hide the fact that they knew they were soulmates! I shuddered to myself in fear. I knew what neither one realized--that while they had had a spiritually liberating experience on the bow today, no one else on the ship had shared this experience. Therefore, in real life terms, Rose was still trapped in her position as a high society girl, and as Cal's fiancé. That was what everyone on the Titanic still viewed her as. I knew it was going to take a real struggle on Rose's, Jack's, and my part to fully liberate the spirit in Rose that had just begun to wake up.

Meanwhile, Jack and Rose were completely oblivious to my thoughts. Jack said to Rose, "Do you want to come and dance the Irish jig with my mates?"

Rose said, "I'd be happy to."

Then Jack looked at me, and said in words that were designed to penetrate my soul, "Jasmine, I think you should come, too. It's high time you left your cage and you came out and met people and had fun!"

I shuddered. I knew where Jack was hitting at. Damn, he's good at hitting the right places with his words! I thought to myself. I said, "Sure, I'll come."

Rose, Jack, and I walked down to the lower deck. Little did any of us know that Cal had had a rude spiritual awakening at the dinner, which gave him the unsettling idea that Rose was realizing her true place in life, and that she was realizing that Jack was her soulmate. Cal was disturbed by this, because he had realized that Rose was experiencing a spiritual awakening in which she had realized that a potent soul lay stirring in her, which given the correct opportunity, could really upset Cal's world and the world in which he lived. Cal could not live with this. Therefore, he had sworn that he would not let Rose be liberated at any cost. Cal had become quite suspicious, and had asked his close friends to act as spies, to spy on the activities of myself, Jack, and Rose. His spies had seen Jack and Rose on the bow, and they described in vivid detail what had happened to Cal. Cal was quite disturbed by this, because as far as he was concerned, Rose was his property! It was for this reason that he had instructed these spies to watch Rose at all times. Therefore, two spies were hiding behind posts, looking, watching, and waiting!

Jack took Rose out into the center of the room. I could see the room clearly, and I could see that the warm yellow lights from the lanterns were lighting up the room and making the wooden planks on the floor shine. Jack and Rose started to dance the Irish jig. I watched, and something magical happened to Rose. As she was dancing with Jack, her hair began to fly around freely with the wind. Indeed, she also had a look which reflected sheer happiness on her face. "Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha." She laughs heartily. The peals of laughter that emanate from her throat are so deep and earth-moving that I swear that her soul is laughing, and not her.

Jack brings Rose up on a moving turntable. Then he looks at Rose with a gleam in his eye and a smile on his face as he says, "So, do you really want to have some fun, and dance while this thing is turning?"

Rose looks at Jack with a gleam in her eye, and she says, "Sure, my sir."

Both get up on top of the turntable, and they dance away. Rose notices that as she dances the turntable turns around faster and faster. Jack holds both of her hands, and they dance on the opposite ends of the turntable. Rose notices that she feels as though she is flying while she's dancing. "Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha." Rose laughs heartily. I look at Rose, and by the way she's moving, she really does look as though she's flying.

Then Jack looks at me, and he says, "Come up, Jasmine. Come, join us!" I note that he's leaning in towards me as he says it, and I can see the gleam in his eyes.

His friends say, "Yes, Jasmine. Come dance with them."

Then, "Oof…" I say to myself as Jack lifts me up onto the turntable.

Initially I am confused, and I say, "What do I do?"

Rose says, "Jasmine, just leave all inhibitions behind, and dance as though you're flying with the wind!"

So I grab Jack's hands, which are warm and serve to warm up and touch my soul in ways that even Siddharth couldn't. I gasp, as I can feel something deep down inside of my soul stirring. I start to twirl away. Indeed, I feel as though I was flying. Rose was right. My inhibitions are falling by the wayside as I am dancing, and I can feel a wild, uninhibited, and happy soul arising from deep within my soul. I look at Rose, who is dancing away, and suddenly I see the soul that I had initially seen and heard when I was instructed by the superintendent to clean Rose's quarters.

Rose's soul had deep red hair that was so magical and mystical in essence that it appeared to be made of a divine substance. When I looked at her hair, it shone with such a gleam that I immediately lost any recollection of who I was. This soul of Rose's had skin that shone with a deep and bright golden glow. I looked into her eyes, and I saw that they were a deep blue color. They were so deep and so mystifying that I was drawn into them, and I forgot that I was Jasmine. I noticed that the apparition was wearing a deep maroon gown. Suddenly, I was entering a new state of existence. Rose's soul began to talk to Jack, who himself had turned into a divine and holographic apparition of his physical self.

Rose said, in a tone that was so deep and distant that it sounded like it was an echo of a voice that was emanated from another dimension, "Jack, I know you are my guardian angel, who was sent by supernatural powers to help me. Jack, you are not hearing Rose. You are hearing Electra. I am the powerful soul that resides in Rose, and I was simply pining to escape." Then, Electra turned around and looked at me, and she smiled as she said, "Jasmine, I thank you for helping to liberate me from the trap. I understand that it will take a while for me to fully liberate myself from the cages that have bound me. I also understand that you are trapped as well, and that you have been bound in cages also. Jasmine, by helping to liberate myself, you are also liberating yourself."

Electra then placed her hands on mine, and it felt as though, somehow, God was touching my soul through her body. Suddenly, I could feel myself waking up in ways that I never had before. I looked around me, and the Titanic seemed to be so fake and artificial. I saw that for this one moment, somehow the laws of time and space and dimensions had been bent, and while our physical selves were on earth, still trapped in our socio-economic positions in society, somehow our souls had managed to enter into the spiritual realm. I realized that it was these experiences that were helping to liberate all of our souls, and that in the process, since the events in the physical realm are an imperfect reflection of events in the spiritual realm, a chance event would happen that would liberate us from our current social positions in the physical realm! This revelation was so ground-breaking that it served to catapult me into a new stage of understanding. So, I thought to myself. The whole point of my meeting Rose was to try to free her spirit from its traps, and to try to empower her spirit to fight evil. In this sense, it was not enough that Rose and Jack find each other spiritually. Instead, Rose and Jack must strive to fight evil in the physical realm. In this case, the evil was Cal, and the upper class society.

I looked at Jack's apparition, and in a very distant voice that soothed my soul, Jack said, "My dear Jasmine, you are finally understanding what is going on. I am very happy for you. Somehow, I sensed through my interactions with you that you have not been happy yourself." He then smiled at me, and I could feel my entire soul lighting up.

Well, I came out of my altered state of mind, and I saw Jack and Rose in their present physical states, and in their clothes, dancing away on the turntable. I danced with them, and suddenly, while doing so, I noticed that Jack, Rose, and I lost all of our inhibitions. Somehow, something transpired that began to heal us! Suddenly, we no longer felt as though our surroundings were smothering us as much. Also, we no longer felt as though we were obliged to bow down to everyone’s wishes. It was as though, through the dancing, we began to find a new sense of enlightenment. That was good, because boy were we, and especially Rose, going to need it!

Well, night passed into day. It was the next day, and Rose was having breakfast with Cal. Cal had ordered me to serve her, and I felt quite nervous. When I saw Cal's gaze burn into my and Rose's hearts, I could sense that something wasn't right! Cal had heard of Rose's dalliance with Jack, and he would have none of it! He glared at Rose, and he said, "I heard that you and that damn dock boy, along with her…" He then pointed his finger straight at me, with a glare in his eyes that said, Jasmine, enough of this. I've had enough of this nonsense, and I want you to knock it off now. I gulped, because I felt so afraid. Cal was shouting at Rose.

It was then that Rose asked, "You hired people to spy on me?" She showed some signs of rebellion, because she found this to be quite off-putting.

Then Cal said, "Yes."

Rose said, with a glint of rebellion in her eyes, "Now, look! Jack is just a friend, as Jasmine is. We'll have some fun. Okay? I mean, it's just simple fun."

Suddenly, my heart sank, and I could feel my heart beating super fast as I could feel the sensation beginning to leave my hands and feet. I gulped as a lump formed in my throat. Oh, no, I thought to myself. Rose's soul has awakened, and the soul, Electra, is starting to reflect through Rose's actions. She's being uppity to someone who can hurt her! I mean, she's not physically and spiritually liberated yet! I realized that the incident that Jack and Rose shared on the bow may have been a curse, because it served to liberate them spiritually. However, the event left nothing in the physical world changed. Therefore, physically, and even spiritually, the two were still trapped in their societal positions.

It was then that Cal glared at Rose. He knocked everything off of the table with such a ferocity that the noise made Rose and me jump in our skins. He said, "Look! You’re mine now! You will do as I say!" It was then that I screamed in pain. Cal had just dumped scalding hot tea on my right hand, and it hurt. Then he looked at me, "Look, you brown monkey. I've had enough of this. You lay off of my lady!" Then he slapped me across the right cheek. It was then that he got up and stormed off.

I used the soul-centering techniques to heal the burn wounds on my right hand. Rose looked startled and disheveled. Rose said, "Uh…Jasmine, will you help me clean?" Then Rose looked at me, her deep blue eyes pleading, as she said, "Jasmine, I don't understand. I thought I was liberated, and wouldn't have to face Cal anymore. I mean, I thought Jack and I were meant to be, but I guess not…" It was then that tears streamed down Rose's face, and she began to cry.

Her sad face broke my heart, because I had no idea how to react to her situation. I placed my right hand on her right shoulder, and I began to firmly and gently rub it. I said, "Go now. I'll clean." Rose looked at me with a sincere look in her eyes that reflected that she understood. She then got up and left.

However, all was not well. Cal had angrily told Ruth what had happened, and Ruth did not approve. Later on in the day, while Ruth was stringing up Rose with her corset, she talked to her daughter. Ruth said, "I heard about what happened."

Rose said, "Mother, Cal is…well…I'm not happy with him." Then Ruth pulled in Rose's corset so tight that Rose gasped in pain.

Ruth's voice became quite steely, and she said, "Rose, I don't understand you. I mean, it's just a marriage of convenience. It's not as though you have to love him." Then she looked deep into Rose's eyes with her mild brown eyes as she said, "Rose, honey. You know the money's gone."

Rose gasped. She thought to herself, How many times have we gone over this? Rose replied, "Yes. I know that the money's gone."

Ruth said, as she looked at Rose with a pleading look in her eyes, "Rose, honey, you know that when your father died, he left us with no money and a lot of bad debts. All we have left now is a good name. I mean, if Cal knew we were broke, he'd turn us out immediately, and make us the laughing stock of society. I can't live with that. I mean, if you don’t marry him, then when we dock in New York, our financial situation will be revealed. We'll become the laughing stock of our own social class." Then her eyes really began to plead as she looked at Rose. "Do you want our fine things auctioned off? Do you want me to work as a seamstress in Philadelphia? Do you want to marry a pauper and become the laughing stock of society? That will happen if you don’t marry Cal. I mean, you marry him, and all of our debts will be taken care of. It'll look to others as though nothing ever happened. As for happiness, what is happiness? A woman doesn't get married for happiness. She does it because it's her duty in life." Ruth sighed to herself, quite shallowly and quite emptily, as she said, "Rose, honey, our feelings don't matter. We women are simply the pawns and objects of the societies that we come from. As for marrying for love--well, is there such a thing? I mean, I was married to your father for eighteen years, and I never loved him one day in my life! I mean, life's not fair, and you just have to live with that. After a while, life becomes a skit that you learn to play out if you want to survive."

Rose winced, because these words hurt her soul. She knew her mother meant well, but she couldn't believe it! Her mother cared more about material well-being and what other people thought about her than she did about spiritual happiness!

Rose looked into her mother's eyes, and she realized that her mother really was in a different realm than her. Rose realized that the spiritual experience had been for her, Jack, and Jasmine alone! No one else had been affected by the experience. Rose realized that she was still trapped in her current situation on earth, as Rose DeWitt Bukater on the Titanic, and that she really was going to be married to Cal. The thought of that made her shudder! She felt so vacant and shocked when she realized this. For the first time in her life, she thought, Life's a bitch! Just when you think you've got it figured out, it throws you curveballs! Rose felt so confused and so angry. On the one hand, she knew that this wasn't her true destiny in life, and on the other, she had no idea how to reach her true path in life! She began to cry bitterly, and she just stormed out of the room.

Well, little did Rose know that the process of spiritual liberation is a drawn out one. It takes a while to really liberate a soul, and the process occurs in steps. She did not realize that soon the ship would be beset with a tragedy that would change her, Jack's, and Jasmine's lives forever! She did not realize that she would never wed Cal, and that after the tragic event, she would never see him again!

Chapter Eighteen
Stories