“There is a change at a certain period in a man's life, which, from ignorance, people have agreed to call death. But it is a misnomer, for man never dies. He goes right on living; and it is generally a considerable time before he realizes the change that has taken place in him. He would laugh at the word death, as understood upon earth, as indeed he frequently does, for he is far more alive than ever before.”
“You speak as if you knew all this,” said Paul. “One might almost imagine that you had been in the other world yourself.”
“Had been!” exclaimed the old man with emphasis. “I am in it now, and so are you. But there is a difference between us; I know that I am in it, because I can see it, and touch it, and hear it; while you are in it without knowing it.”
There was an air of authority that impressed the hearer with the conviction of the speaker. This was not theory; it was the result of experience. There was a difference as vast as the night from the day. “I suppose, when I am dead, I shall know these things too,” said Paul meditatively.
“No,” answered Ah Ben, “not when you are dead, but when you have been born—when you have come into life.”
“Pardon me,” answered Paul, pondering on the man's strange assertion; “but this knowledge of yours is in demand more than all other knowledge. Positive information about the other world is what men have sought through all the ages; why do you not impart it to them?”
“Impart it!” exclaimed Ah Ben. “Can you explain to one who has been born blind what it is to see? Can you impart to such a man any true conception of the world in which he has always lived? But couch his eyes, remove the worthless film that has covered them, and for the first time he realizes the glorious world surrounding him. Likewise couch the body, remove the shell that covers the spirit, and it is born.”
“I perceive, then, that it is only through death that most of us can hope to gain this knowledge.”
“Death, if you prefer the word,” said Ah Ben. “Yes, it is the death of the film over the eye that reveals the world to the blind; but I should hardly say that the man was dead because he had so entered into another existence.”
“Would you mind telling me how it is that you have gained this knowledge in such obvious exception to the rule!”