...what can you really call your own?
Every talent you have, every breath you draw,
every drop of blood flowing in your veins,
is lent to you only; you must pay it all back.
__Marie Corelli (1855-1924) A Romance of Two Worlds

The discussions in the previous chapters on the ramifications of reincarnation of the physical body focused on the common laws that apply to each of the principles of the human being following death: Of the reuse of the material elements of the body by future beings and of the nature of the Ætheric envelope that guides the evolution of the elements that will cause the development of our future physical form. Let us now consider the reincarnation of the Spiritual Principle.

Marius Fontane, in Les Egyptes, writing about the Egyptians 3000 B.C., declared: "Before he is born, the child lived before, and death does not end anything. Life is a becoming; it passes on like the solar day which begins anew."

Spiritual reincarnation was taught as one of the basic life principles in all ancient temples of Initiation. Not only was it accepted by the Priests of the Inner Temple, but it was also taught by word and ritual to the general population. The above quotation is only one of literally thousands that could be drawn from both Eastern and Western literature and tradition.

Even the Scriptures are not exempt. According to Matthew l6:l3-l5, did not the Nazarene ask, "Whom do men say that I the Son of man am? "And they said, Some say that thou art John the Baptist: some, Elias; and others, Jeremias, or one of the prophets.

"He saith unto them, but whom say ye that I am?"

From this statement, several conclusions may be readily drawn. First, reincarnation was apparently a common belief of the day, or the question and the answer would have been irrelevant. Second, the disciples believed in this tenet otherwise the second question would have no meaning. Lastly, we can but assume that the Nazarene Himself embraced this principle because no effort was made to dispel the belief. To the contrary, in Matthew l7:10-13, He specifically affirmed the concept:

"And his disciples asked him, saying, Why then say the scribes that Elias must first come? And Jesus answered and said unto them, Elias truly shall first come, and restore all things.

"But I say unto you, That Elias is come already, and they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed. Likewise shall also the Son of man suffer of them. Then the disciples understood that he spake unto them of John the Baptist."

It is difficult to understand how these verses could be interpreted in any manner other than to mean that the Nazarene was familiar with, accepted, and had actually made the doctrine of reincarnation part of His teachings. He no doubt considered the ramifications of this teaching as one of the mysteries to be taught to His disciples but not to the general public. Matthew 13:11 states:

"He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given."

The Reincarnation Of The Soul

As stated previously, most ancient religions accepted reincarnation as an obvious fact of life. Everything in the world about them taught the truth of this principle. Each year they saw about them the birth, death, and rebirth of all Nature. To them, the thought that man, God's most ambitious creation, could be exempt from this circle of lives was unthinkable.

Every sensitive human being has the feeling that there must be more to existence than this one life. Who is not moved by the rustic Pennsylvania Dutch phrase, "Too quick old; too slow smart." Many people feel they have not really taken full advantage of their opportunities this time around and look forward to the next "school term" after a "summer vacation."

Such desire and longing would not exist in the human heart unless there were the possibility of satisfaction, and, of course, that satisfaction is through reincarnation of the Soul. Although this concept has been, and is, taught by various religions, great confusion has been created by the inadvertent mixture of the three forms of reincarnation. This confusion has, heretofore, made objective investigation of the subject difficult so that in the end the results became highly metaphysical, at best, and wholly unintelligible, at worst.

Nevertheless, these differences are not nearly so incomprehensible as many authors suggest. Let us examine the composition of this "all too, too frail flesh of ours."

The Human Constitution

To clearly comprehend the nature and the details of spiritual or Soulual reincarnation, it is necessary to understand the nature of the human body and the principles of which it is composed. The following ideas formed part of the Ancient Egyptian belief, according to writings of Wise Men of Old.

First, the human body consists of a material sheath, which we all know and see. To the majority of earthlings this IS the body. The Ancient Egyptians referred to this material envelope as KHAT.

Second, closely linked to this material sheath is a more ethereal substance that embraces its form in all its various convolutions and is, in reality, its double. This principle, which is connected with the Ætheral world from which it draws its life and which comes under the influence of the stars and other heavenly bodies, was called by the great philosopher Paracelsus the Ætheric body, and by the Egyptians, KHA.

As the physical body originates in the physical plane, to which it returns, so the Ætheral body originates in the starry world above to which it eventually returns.

This KHA, or Ætheral body, is the housewife of the physical organism. Physically it is located in the great sympathetic ganglia and all its branches. If we were to draw an exact picture of the sympathetic nervous system and its network to its end structures, we would find that we have created a true counterpart of the physical body. This, indeed, is our double.

Modern medicine tells us that most of our diseases are created by emotional stress and the malfunctioning of the autonomic nervous system. From the foregoing, we can see that in actuality the Ætheral body is disordered and until this is corrected, its double, the physical body, will continue to be compromised. A new thought, but one fully in harmony with the wisdom of the past - and future.

The third principle in man is called the Soul. Over the centuries many other words have been used to denote this third principle, but the word Soul seems to fit best and allows it to be properly differentiated from the spirit and the Ætheral body.

The Egyptians called this Spiritual Principle, which employs the Ætheral double as its intermediary for acting upon matter, the KHOU.

This Soul is actually the Real Man. It is the only lasting principle of those we are discussing. It is a Divine Spark from God Himself and is therefore immortal and indestructible. The physical body and its double, the Ætheral body, are only loaned to us. But the Soul is US. The incarnated man thus consists of a body, KHAT; an Ætheral double, KHA; and a Divine Spark, or Soul, KHOU.

In Egyptian lore, after death the names of the principles were changed. What was left of the physical (now that portion of the Ætheral-physical left to oversee the disintegration of the physical body) assumed the name of BI. The Ætheral-vital portion of the Ætheral body that remains with the Soulular section is now called BA. And, the ascending Soul was pictured in the hieroglyphics as a human-headed hawk, which was known by the name of BAI.

Western civilization owes its origin not to Hebraic or Jewish tradition as so commonly accepted, but to the secret teachings of the ancient Egyptians. We are fortunate that this is so, because Egyptian tradition has always been a pattern of clearness, of synthesis, and of true Divine Doctrine. The competing doctrine that comes from the East, on the other hand, has been perverted, obscured, and veiled by analysis. It never exhibits the radiant clarity of the Egyptian tradition.

Moses, the most important author of the Old Testament, was trained as a priest of the Egyptian God, Osiris. He was initiated by the Egyptians, so that the most vital parts of the Books of Moses are based on Egyptian tradition. The Nazarene did nothing to invalidate these teachings; He merely attempted to enlarge upon those which Moses could not have taught successfully because of the "hardness" of the Israelites' hearts. Even the parents of the Christ Child were told to flee into Egypt. Thus, not only was the father of the Old Testament sent into Egypt for wisdom, but also the Lord of the New Testament.

It is, therefore, easy to understand why so much stress is placed on the teachings of the Egyptians concerning this fascinating subject. We are the recipients of these concepts whether we accept them or not.

Forms Of Soulular Reincarnation

At the moment of death one of several events takes place for the human being.

First, normal reincarnation may take place, after a more or less prolonged period of Æthereal (Soul World) evolution. Second, abnormal reincarnation may result. This type usually takes place immediately, as a punishment, in consequence either of suicide or of an entirely evil life on Earth. (This subject will be discussed in a later chapter.)

Third, what may be termed "forced reincarnation," or the imprisonment of the Soul in an Æthereal body which has been called into being through Magic, may occur. If so, this Æthereal form is itself confined in a body whose decomposition has been prevented by mummification, as in the great secret of Egyptian Initiation.

Normal Reincarnation. As described in earlier chapters, after death, in circumstances of normal death and reincarnation, the physical cells return to each of the three kingdoms from which they originated - the minerals receiving the bones and other mineral substances of the body, the plants receiving the muscles, and the animal cells returning to the animal world. Likewise, all the other principles, at this time, return to their respective planes. The physical body returns to the physical plane, the Æthereal body to the Æthereal plane (eventually), and the Soul to the spiritual plane or Soul World.

Nevertheless, even in death, these three principles remain linked in unique ways, but these connections will not be described here.

How Long Between Reincarnations? One of the first questions asked about Soul reincarnation is, "How long after death do we reincarnate again?" This is an honest question. Unfortunately, the answer is not simple. One might as well ask the parents of a newborn child, "How long will this child live?"

Our stay in the Soul World may last from a few years to thousands depending on the circumstances of the life we have just finished and the state of our Spiritual Advancement. It would be as absurd to fix an arbitrary period of ten years or ten thousand years as the time which separates the stay in the Soul World, as it would be to fix a definite time for human life in the physical world. The average span of life on Earth is seventy plus years, but how long an individual will live is not known. Some humans live but a few hours; others, more than one hundred years.

An Animating Essence

So it is with our sojourn in the Soul World. This, too, is strictly individualized. The spirit(1) never rests; its essence is activity. This principle is to the body what electricity is to a television set. The electricity does not belong to the TV, but without it the TV could not function. So with the physical part of man. Without the spirit or life force, we cannot live or move. But this force does not belong to us. It is only loaned to us for the short time we are here during our visit to Earth. While the TV is turned off, the electrical force that had animated it is being used to power other appliances. Whenever we experience longings for rest on this Earth plane, it is merely because the spirit is overshadowed by its physical form.
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(1) The word "spirit" in this book refers only to animating essence from God.
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The extent of the activity of the spirit may be seen in incidents of certain dreams. Take, for example, a sleeper who dreamed he had been arrested, tried, and condemned for a crime that had been laid to his charge. He lived through the horrors of prison, was dragged from his prison cell, led to the scaffold, and beheaded. As he awoke in terror, he discovered that the canopy of his bed had fallen around his neck. These vivid pictures had been summoned to his mind in the time between the fall of the bed canopy and the moment of his perception of the sensation of this fall - a matter of less than a second.

The spirit is infinitely more active and rapid than the physical brain. In a thousandth of a second it can put into the brain enough images to require, seemingly, minutes or hours to process. That is to say, time to the spirit is considered differently than Earth time which the human brain brings to our senses.

The brain can actually accept and process the images as rapidly as the spirit can send them, but we, through our normal senses and time consciousness, cannot begin to use them in our physical perceptions nearly that rapidly.

An analogy of this process may be shown, using the computer as an example.

First, a computer can input thousands of words of information in a second's time. All computers are copied from the functioning of the nerve centers of the brain. The brain functions exactly like a computer. The brain can accept information from the spirit very rapidly, just as a computer can receive data from its input.

The computer can print out the information sent it so that it can be read by all, but at a much slower rate than it was able to input that same information. Likewise with the brain. The spirit is able to input information almost instantly, but it may take minutes, hours, or days for us to imprint this on our consciousness.

On the other hand, the human has within him both the subconscious mind and the conscious mind. The subconscious mind has the ability to access and display information as rapidly as the spirit can input it because it does not have to work through the normal conscious "printer mechanism."

Thus, it is possible for the dreamer to live seemingly hours or even days in a time period - as measured on Earth - of a second or less. As long as the mind does not have to output its information at conscious speed, but can run at computer speed, it can easily keep up with the input of the spirit.

The converse of expanded time is also true. There are many instances of compressed time in human experience. Perhaps the best known is the case of a patient in an extended coma. That person may have been in the coma for years, yet upon awakening, to the individual it is the same as a night's sleep. The mind and spirit have compressed those years into a few moments for the co-matose person.

If we really want to start our brain cells working, we might ask ourselves where this active spirit has been all this time.

These intriguing, but perhaps difficult, concepts pertain to a vital part of each person. As mind bending as was the foregoing concept, it pales beside the following revelation concerning the spirit, as Papus recounted in Reincarnation:

"So active is the spirit that there is a mystery connected with it, which one hardly dares mention. There are cases, indeed, where the spirit may animate different bodies in different planets at the same time."

Think back to the analogy of the TV set and the electric current. This concept may not really be far-fetched. Because the spirit is not actually ours, but only an animating force we use on Earth to sustain life, just as the television uses electricity, why should not this spirit have the power to roam as does electrical energy?

Does the television care what the electric current is doing while it is off, as long as it is ready to animate it once again when it is needed? Referring once more to the world of computers, a service exists called networking. In this operation, one main computer serves several terminals (keyboards and monitors). In fact, several terminals may be working different programs at the same time with connections to and receiving power from the same mainframe computer. This is possible because, as explained above, the computer's power and speed are infinitely faster than the input of several human programmers.

Might this not also be true for spirit? Might spirit be so active that it could easily provide life to more than one being at a time? If man can produce a computer to do so, might not God do likewise? The odds, of course, are that the forces of the spirit are ahead of us, that the powers of the spirit are just being touched upon even in this most provocative concept.

Although the spirit that motivates the physical form leaves the physical body after death (in fact, this is the only true sign of death), the spirit does not desert us completely. One component of it remains with us to help in the formation of the next physical body. All this takes place in much the same way that a small amount of current is constantly fed to various electronic instruments to keep their memory banks alive until the full component of electricity is once again turned on.

This part of spirit ceaselessly imagines and combines, while unconsciously the inferior entities create, under its guidance, the physical bodies for its future reincarnation and those of the animal, vegetable, and mineral components that accompany this descent into matter.

The Soul World

What subject is more fascinating than the life we will live after we die? Much speculation has been expressed on this subject, but there are few works by those who truly know. Most of the following paragraphs have been taken from the text Reincarnation by Papus, the French Initiate. On such a subject the best works are by those who are able to combine revelation, inspiration, and common sense in equal amounts. After we leave this Earth and enter the Soul World, there is first the "processing," discussed earlier, which is usually a revelation to most new arrivals. In the Soul World we are stripped free of all pretense and are indeed naked, not only outwardly but inwardly as well.

All good and evil we have committed throughout our various lives is visible for all to see, and we condemn ourselves for our past actions, as the blinders of material rationalization are stripped from our eyes.

As on the Earth, once we have finished our processing, we assume a position in the society. Because in the Soul World there is no sham, we are sent to be with those who are our peers. Each one is treated according to the efforts made during the various sojourns to Earth.

The following paragraphs, from the abovementioned work by Papus, explore the Soul World explicitly and with obvious candor. Papus describes communication with a Being in the Soul World.

Mental Life. "Let us now attempt to the best of our power to describe the conditions of mental life in that world where we must sojourn after death. We shall endeavor to depict an intelligent and spiritually developed human being who has accomplished the transition called death and has attained to the new life under conditions which are unknown to the majority of incarnate human beings. We will attempt to ascertain his various modes of activity, and, among other things, the evolution of life in this new sphere.

"To achieve this purpose it will be necessary to elucidate in a few passing points (which we propose to touch on very superficially for the present):

"1. A general idea of the senses possessed by a being in the Soul World.

"2. A general idea of the world in which this being carries on its activities.

"3. A special study of its mode of emotional activity and therefore its conception of love.

"When an explorer returns after a dangerous journey from a hitherto unknown country, there is no lack of good people, whose ideas have never gone beyond their own physical and material needs, who smile quietly and skeptically at what they accept as a traveler's yarns. The same is often the case with these studies of the Soul World. Those who have never traveled beyond the Earth's horizon find it difficult to imagine anything except a gray sky and a heap of stones, and they are inclined to consider the statements of those who have seen the light, who are illuminated, as the enthusiastic exaggerations of imaginative travelers.

"But no matter. Reject all this as fiction if you will. It is my duty to inspire ideas, and I will endeavor to fulfill it to the best of my ability. Here, then, are the first revelations of the Soul World."

The General Nature Of Our Life In The Soul World

Dr. Encausse continued, "‘How long ago is it since I died? I know not. The conception of time has changed to such an extent since my transition that it is impossible for me to imagine any period of time which would fit into my previous ideas. I have a vague recollection of a sort of semiconscious sleep that lasted until now.

"‘I also remember the difficulty I experienced in becoming gradually accustomed to see, hear, think, and, strange to say, especially to see and to think, without the aid of any of the physical organs I had been familiar with on Earth. I understand the Providential Wisdom that caused these organs of coarse substance to vanish, as they could not have withstood or contained the strong light that radiated from my whole being. My body was, indeed, entirely luminous, but it had almost entirely retained the shape of my physical body. A diffuse yet dim light emanated from me. I was scarcely yet born into my new condition, and my instruments of activity were strangely transformed.

"‘My will power, which fortunately I had taken pains to cultivate while on Earth, was the true dynamo of my new body, and desire formed the pivot of each action. Locomotion was instantaneous. I only had to wish to go to a certain place in this new world, then make a slight effort of the will, and I found myself immediately at the desired spot.

"‘This absence of transition between the point of departure and the point of arrival is one of the most difficult sensations for a previously terrestrial man to conceive. When I was living on Earth, it often happened that in my dreams I flew over the countries of the world, but this sensation of being rocketed in space only conveys a crude idea of the happiness that is experienced in these instantaneous travels.

"‘Similarly, my usual sense of touch was entirely abolished in my new state. I had only to fix my attention on a tree, and I immediately grasped its smallest details. If I may be permitted to use a crude illustration, I would say that I touched all things with my sight.

"‘Light and air are the only nourishment required by our organs in this strange new world. Although I have said that we do not have anything substantial here, this is something of an exaggeration. I should rather have said that matter is evolved to such a degree that it would be difficult to recognize in the shining envelope of which we are composed the drab stuff employed for a similar purpose on the physical plane.

"‘The senses of touch and taste have vanished. The shape of our new bodies undergoes a slight transformation through shrinking of the abdomen, which, as it no longer serves any useful purpose, soon completely atrophied. Among the receptive senses, sight and hearing have become exceedingly acute; also the sense of smell, this latter being the last remaining vestige of our physical bodies.

"‘New senses, however, were born. Sight, through its transformation, has favored the birth of the faculty of being able to see the interior of things by penetrating into their own light.

"But what frightened, and at the same time delighted, me was the faculty (so new to me) of hearing the thoughts of other Soul World beings whenever they wished, especially those beings who had lived longer than I on this plane.

"‘Intuition, which is so faint on Earth, becomes so powerful that feeling almost entirely supersedes sensation in daily life. So much for the organs of the senses.

The Organs Of Movement. "‘I shall now endeavor to describe my organs of activity.

"‘When on Earth, I could be externally active in four ways: by walking (legs), gestures (arms), speaking (larynx), and seeing (eyes). Just as the sense of touch has vanished, so also has walking ceased to exist, and gestures are strangely modified. If I wish to do anything anywhere without going to the place, all I need to do is to stretch out my arms towards the object, and immediately a stream of colored light emanates from my hands and mingles with the light of that object. I will revert presently to this light, which characterizes all things here.

"‘Sight on this plane is the motive power, everything being set in motion by a look. If necessary, the motion is maintained by the operator's own light.

Creation By Thought Alone. "‘The finest of my new faculties - an almost Divine faculty - is the power of transforming an idea into a real thing or being, by means of speech. When on Earth, I had often heard the saying: "The word is creative." But it is only here that I have come to realize its full meaning. If an idea which I have just conceived appeals to me, I have only to summon it to life by my words, and, immediately, by borrowing a little of my light, the idea springs into being and shows itself to me. This thought effort entails a slight fatigue, but how can one compare this pleasant work to the arduous trouble required on Earth to force matter to take the shape of an idea, even as commonplace as of a table?

"‘Only here have I been able to appreciate, at their full value, the untold exertions of artists on Earth, who, as I will presently explain, come among us to seek their inspiration. "

"‘Nowhere is the relentless power of fate more fully manifested than here, for the living forms which everyone here creates are ephemeral, and after each peaceful lethargy, which is to us what sleep is to you, nothing remains of the previous day's work. We are condemned here - at all events, it appears to me - to Penelope's endless task.(2)
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(2) In Greek literature Penelope was the wife of Odysseus, who waited faithfully for him during his twenty years' absence after the Trojan War. Odysseus was a king of Ithaca and a Greek leader in the Trojan War.
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"‘Nevertheless, our portion of joy is such that I must not pause to rail against these blessings. We are, indeed, able to attain, by prayer, to such a degree of perfection in our creative ideals that I cannot attempt to give you even an approximate idea of them.

"‘Such, in a few words, is the epitome of my bodily constitution. Now I will say a few words about my surroundings.

The Soul World Landscape. "‘On Earth everything appears dark against a dimly luminous background, and it is by hugging the outline of things that the terrestrial light permits us to look upon their shape and color. Here, everything is luminous against a dark blue background, each being and each thing possessing its own light. It is, therefore, impossible for me to give you a truly valid idea of a Soul World landscape, and I must ask you, beforehand, to excuse the inevitable inadequacy of my words.

"‘At the present moment, I see at my feet the feeble but brightly colored lights that constitute our minerals and stones. Among them grow the numerous, slender, and shining stems of thousands of plants, whose flowers are distinguishable by their colors, which are as brilliant as they are varied. Only now and then the rapid flight of a passing insect disturbs the harmony of these variegated, yet subdued, tones. The higher the rank to which an entity has attained in the hierarchy of Nature, the brighter is the light emanating from it.

"‘The passage of a human being always illumines, as quickly as lightning, every object in the landscape through which it flashes, unless it slackens its speed by the exercise of its own will. For, although I have spoken about the faculty which we possess of transporting ourselves instantaneously to any desired spot, you must also know that we can slacken our pace as we like. This slackening is controlled solely by an impulse of the will.

"‘To revert to the scene of the next world, it is bounded by an immense forest, whose powerful vegetable luminosity stretches out to a great distance before me. Above, the dark ethereal ocean rolls its billows. Our world is bounded on all sides by this sea, whose currents, though lighter than the physical atmosphere, are nevertheless sufficiently powerful to draw into their vortex those beings whose Soul World faculties are not yet completely liberated.

"‘This is the Ocean which separates us from the physical world. Between it and the Earth begins that region of elementary light which you see, and in which live the lowliest creatures of our world, such as the numerous polymorphous larvae, whose task it is to break up all traces of terrestrial substance, whose slightest vestige would make life here impossible.

"‘These are the dread currents which form such a powerful obstacle to any efforts that we may make to communicate with certain Souls still incarnate on Earth. Because of an unusually strong desire, and, also, because I was called at the same time by your prayer, I have been able to come to you. However, the current in my new environment is becoming too strong, and I must leave you. Pray, hope, and I will come again.'"

The Soul World being ended his narrative at this point, but Papus was able to contact this compatriot later. From the second contact made over a year later, Papus recounted the following revelation about the nature of love in the Soul World.

Love In The Soul World. "‘Friend of my dreams, at last I find you again, and I hasten to describe to you as best I can my latest impressions. What a transformation has taken place in me! I am now able to understand what, before, was a mystery to me. When, on former occasions, I experienced the joy of communicating with an Earthly incarnate Soul, I first had to lose in the Ætheric vortex the particles of matter which had unavoidably attached themselves to me. This caused sufferings which I endured with fortitude, but also with some vexation. I now know that there was a reason for this pain, as there is for all things created and sanctioned by a just God. Only from such sacrifices are we able to learn some lessons. I shall willingly endure those discomforts which will result from our present conversation, for sacrifice is the Divine Law in every sphere, and love has taught me to sacrifice.

"‘I have loved, and the twin soul who sacrificed itself for me, has enabled me to understand new and grand mysteries, which I will endeavor to reveal. My progress was slow and my light remained feeble, when there appeared before me a Being whose pure effulgence filled me with awe and admiration. An unknown emotion stirred within me. I directed a ray filled with ardent desire towards this Being. My efforts, however, were vain; a gentle, but stronger will than mine checked my action. Then, suddenly, the wonderful vision disappeared, and I heard a voice saying:

"‘ "Learn how to deserve the love of thy twin soul." '

"‘Love! This was a new idea for me in this world. Could I ever deserve it? As I was unable to behold again the strange Being whose gentle will paralyzed all my efforts, I summoned to the light the picture of my grief and yearning. And, lo! in front of me rotated a portion of my own luminosity! It took shape! I witnessed the birth of a wonderful creation, upon which I gazed in admiration!

"‘O my idea! O my child! What power have I to create thee so fair! But cruel Destiny will cut short the thread of thy days this very night,(3) and perchance Love will never again permit me to conceive thee so radiantly shining. Oh my ideal! Child of my fondest dreams! Go to HER, seek HER light, tell HER all my hopes and sufferings.
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(3) Let us not forget that although beings of the Soul World are able to create what they desire at will, these creations all vanish during their "sleep."
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"‘My living idea immediately vanished, and I think of HER, who, if I am worthy, will reveal to me the mysteries of Divine Love. Soft harmonies ascend towards me: I see HER light envelop my creation with its sparkling rays, advancing towards me. Then HER voice says: "May my light blend with thine to immortalize thy beautiful thought. Oh my Love! Oh thou poor desolate being!" She appears, and Nature is resplendent with the radiance of our joy.

"‘Then it was I knew that the love of a woman immortalizes the living ideas created by our desire and our will power, that without the love of a woman our grandest plans are sterile and without permanence.

"‘Therefore, in an outburst of faith and inspiration, the Soul of an artist, a sage, or a poet on Earth is able to draw from our world by its desire the help of our greatest teachers, philosophers, and artists. The appeal and prayer of this Soul ascends to us, and its desire becomes a living idea, the child of our love. This Heavenly reenforced idea now returns and illumines the genius of the terrestrial man, becoming the IDEAL which he, with our assistance, must make real on the antagonistic and deceitful Earth.(4)
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(4) One of the most difficult of literary mysteries to understand is how a poorly educated, country bumpkin like William Shakespeare could possibly have written the majestic and insightful plays and sonnets attributed to him. Never before, or since, has there been a collection of works by one man that so completely and so accurately plumbed the depths of the human mind and Soul. The only plausible answer is given here. Shakespeare, apparently, was able to go directly to the Soul World and enlist the cooperation of the beings of Light.
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"‘Such is the great mystery of the birth of genius through our love. Reveal, child of our dream, my words to your brethren: Pray, work, hope, and I will soon come again, for now I will be purified through suffering.

"‘Farewell.'

"Such are the words of this dweller in the Soul World. Be they truth or imagination, reality or a dream, we dedicate them to artists, and to those who know.

"In short, those whom we call dead are closely linked with life, and their activity constantly manifests itself. This is why when an incarnate Chinese accomplishes a great social work, he pays honor to an ancestor. This is also why, in China, the life of the dead is closely linked, in everyday activities, to the life of the living on one hand, and to the generative Earth on the other. We may say - paraphrasing Swedenborg's beautiful thought - that `Heaven is where the heart of man is,' meaning that the root of happiness in the Divine Plan is always in the emotions.

"The only true reality is that which we deeply feel. If this be good, we are in Heaven; if our heart is filled with fear, hate, or other evils, we, indeed, live every day in Hell. All that has been gained spiritually during a lifetime remains a permanent possession. Nature is too sparing in her evolutions to allow any thinking being to lose the benefit of the work it has accomplished, or the lessons from the trials which it has undergone."
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