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Page 12
"Not quite," said Amroth; "you were more on the right lines than the
people who interfered with you, no doubt; but of course the truth is
that our principles ought to be used, like a stick, to support
ourselves, not like a rod to beat other people with. The most difficult
people to teach, as you will see hereafter, are the self-righteous
people, whose lives are really pure and good, but who allow their
preferences about amusements, occupations, ways of life, to become
matters of principle. The worst temptation in the world is the habit of
influence and authority, the desire to direct other lives and to conform
them to one's own standard. The only way in which we can help other
people is by loving them; by frightening another out of something which
he is apt to do and of which one does not approve, one effects
absolutely nothing: sin cannot be scared away; the spirit must learn to
desire to cast it away, because it sees that goodness is beautiful and
fine; and this can only be done by example, never by precept."
"But it is the entire absence of both that puzzles me here," I said.
"Nothing to do and a friend to talk to; it's a lazy business, I think."
Amroth looked at me with amusement. "It's a sign," he said, "if you feel
that, that you are getting rested, and ready to move on; but you will be
very much surprised when you know a little more about the life here. You
are like a baby in a cradle at present; when you come to enter one of
our communities here, you will find it as complicated a business as you
could wish. Part of the difficulty is that there are no rules, to use
your own phrase. It is real democracy, but it is not complicated by any
questions of property, which is the thing that clogs all political
progress in the world below. There is nothing to scheme for, no
ambitions to gratify, nothing to gain at the expense of others; the only
thing that matters is one's personal relation to others; and this is
what makes it at once so simple and so complex. But I do not think it is
of any use to tell you all this; you will see it in a flash, when the
time comes. But it may be as well for you to remember that there will be
no one to command you or compel you or advise you. Your own heart and
spirit will be your only guides. There is no such thing as compulsion or
force in heaven. Nothing can be done to you that you do not choose or
allow to be done."
"Yes," I said, "it is the blessed and beautiful sense of freedom from
all ties and influences and fears that is so utterly blissful."
"But this is not all," said Amroth, shaking his head with a smile.
"This is a time of rest for you, but things are very different elsewhere.
When you come to enter heaven itself, you will be constantly surprised.
There are labour and fear and sorrow to be faced; and you must not
think it is a place for drifting pleasantly along. The moral struggle
is the same--indeed it is fiercer and stronger than ever, because there
is no bodily languor or fatigue to distract. There are choices to be
made, duties to perform, evil to be faced. The bodily temptations
are absent, but there is still that which lay behind the bodily
frailties--curiosity, love of sensation, excitement, desire; the strong
duality of nature--the knowledge of duty on the one hand and the
indolent shrinking from performance--that is all there; there is the
same sense of isolation, and the same need for patient endeavour as upon
earth. All that one gets is a certain freedom of movement; one is not
bound to places and employments by the material ties of earth; but you
must not think that it is all to be easy and straightforward. We can
each of us by using our wills shorten our probation, by not resisting
influences, by putting our hearts and minds in unison with the will of
God for us; and that is easier in heaven than upon earth, because there
is less to distract us. But on the other hand, there is more temptation
to drift, because there are no material consequences to stimulate us.
There are many people on earth who exercise a sort of practical virtue
simply to avoid material inconveniences, while there is no such motive
in heaven; I say all this not to disturb your present tranquillity,
which it is your duty now to enjoy, but just to prepare you. You must be
prepared for effort and for endeavour, and even for strife. You must use
right judgment, and, above all, common sense; one does not get out of
the reach of that in heaven!"
VIII
These are only some of the many talks I had with Amroth. They ranged
over a great many subjects and thoughts. What I cannot indicate,
however, is the lightness and freshness of them; and above all, their
entire frankness and amusingness. There were times when we talked like
two children, revived old simple adventures of life--he had lived far
more largely and fully than I had done--and I never tired of hearing the
tales of his old lives, so much more varied and wonderful than my own.
Sometimes we merely told each other stories out of our imaginations and
hearts. We even played games, which I cannot describe, but they were
like the games of earth. We seemed at times to walk and wander together;
but I had a sense all this time that I was, so to speak, in hospital,
being tended and cared for, and not allowed to do anything wearisome or
demanding effort. But I became more and more aware of other spirits
about me, like birds that chirp and twitter in the ivy of a tower, or in
the thick bushes of a shrubbery. Amroth told me one day that I must
prepare for a great change soon, and I found myself wondering what it
would be like, half excited about it, and half afraid, unwilling as I
was to lose the sweet rest, and the dear companionship of a friend who
seemed like the crown and sum of all hopes of friendship. Amroth became
utterly dear to me, and it was a joy beyond all joys to feel his happy
and smiling nature bent upon me, hour by hour, in sympathy and
understanding and love. He said to me laughingly once that I had much of
earth about me yet, and that I must soon learn not to bend my thoughts
so exclusively one way and on one friend.
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