In the 17th century, a Jesuit, Athanasius Kircher, made several unauthorized visits to the planets. His guide was the angel Cosmiel. It wasn't the full vision, always unspeakable, that got him into trouble, so much as the glimpse described, the flashpoint in the minefield of metaphor, what you thought you saw when the lightning slashed.
Ecstasy has always inspired the enmity of groundlings. Left behind, they shake their fists at the disappearing balloon, dodging ballast bags of discarded reason dumped on them thoughtlessly from above the clouds.
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