The splendor of the eyes that we worship belongs to them only as brightness to the morning-star. It is a reflex from beyond the shadow of the Now,—a ghost-light of vanished suns. Unknowingly within that maiden-gaze we meet the gaze of eyes more countless than the hosts of heaven,—eyes otherwhere passed into darkness and dust.
Thus, and only thus, the depth of that gaze is the depth of the Sea of Death and Birth,—and its mystery is the World-Soul's vision, watching us out of the silent vast of the Abyss of Being.
Thus, and only thus, do truth and illusion mingle in the magic of eyes,—the spectral past suffusing with charm ineffable the apparition of the present;—and the sudden splendor in the soul of the Seer is but a flash,—one soundless sheet-lightning of the Infinite Memory.
Transcriber's Notes:
Some of the illustrations have been moved so that they correspond to the text and do not break up paragraphs. Because of this, the page number of the illustration no longer matches the page number in the List of Illustrations. For instance, the illustration constituting page 143, was moved to the end of the paragraph continuing on page 144. The page number 143 was deleted to remove the confusion that would have resulting from page 144 coming before page 143.
Throughout the document, there are instances where punctuation seems to be missing, but it is unclear whether the missing punctuation is deliberate or what the missing punctuation should be. In those cases the punctuation was not "corrected".
Sometimes in the text the word "Samébito" was italicized and sometimes it was not italicized. That inconsistency was persevered.
In the third footnote, on page 15, there was a missing close quotation mark. That "error in punctuation" was not changed, as it appeared in a quotation from another work.