What can so delay Inidora̤? He must have found the Istoira̤ unusually interesting. We will seek him there. Ah—see how like one enchanted he stands gazing upon a woman kneeling before the flower laden altar. Over her white robes falls a wealth of dark, waving hair, which, like a silken mantle, partly conceals her large, dark, luminous eyes and marvellously lovely face, in which yet lingers the timidity and guilelessness of childhood. So entrancing is the young creature that Inidora̤ is unconscious of our presence. Now she prays to Azēon, God of Love, to send her a lover who shall be handsome, tender and true, and she will be faithful and loving until death shall call them into the Silence. Prayer from a heart so pure, uttered by lips so tremulous, so beautiful, might move either mortal or Spirit. Genessano, speak to your brother, for truly he is lost to all save this lovely girl.
Genessano—Inidora̤, my brother, have you found in this beautiful suppliant your other Self? Nay, start not; it is I, Genessano. You were so absorbed that you did not observe our coming in search of you.
Inidora—Yes, yes, I indeed have found my other Self, and cannot claim my own. Oh, thou beauteous Spirit Amilla, for whom I have searched the worlds of space, clothed thou art in flesh, which holds thee as the shell holds the pearl. Blind and deaf thou art to the presence of thy lover, thy other Self, whom thou prayest Azēon to send thee. Drawn to thee through the law which attracts each to its own, I again have found thee, and henceforth I shall guard and guide thee until thou art free; then again wilt thou find thy lover tender and true, and I shall claim thee for my very own. Amilla, dearest, loveliest one, reverently I kiss thy perfumed hair, thy upturned brow, beneath which thy luminous eyes shine like twin stars. I touch with mine thy parted lips, and the fragrance of thy breath is as the fragrance of rodels, but thou knowest not that I am near thee. Amilla, Amilla, oh, couldst thou know, that as of old thy lover so tender, so true, stands beside thee, how quickly wouldst thou turn toward me thy face, which is as beautiful as is the face of an angel. But thou dost not know, thou dost not know. Alas, thou hast so forgotten the past that I am as naught to thee. Oh, it is pitiful, pitiful, that I cannot make thee understand. Fain would I this moment free thee, but I must not, I dare not. Friends, bear with me, for until I shall have brought her Soul into harmony with my own I shall remain with my regained Amilla, whose repeated embodiments, like my own, have held us far apart. This accomplished, I at intervals will be with you, and when my love shall be freed, oh, joy of joys! we together with you dear friends will for love's sake labor for the upliftment of humanity.
De L'Ester—Even as thine own shall one day come to thee, so ere long shall mine own come to me. Inscrutable are the Laws of the Infinite Duality through whose seemingly devious ways apparently we are impelled toward destined ends. As to-day I walk alone, so one brief hour ago, walked our Inidora̤. A seeming chance, a sudden impulse, and lo! for our friend the face of the universe is changed. Gentola̤, you comprehend that, during past embodiments, Inidora̤ and Amilla have known of their indissoluble relationship. That you may come to further understand the law of re-embodiment, I briefly will relate a portion of my life story, involving comparatively recent experiences of my own, and of one who is my other Self, for, as you have been told, the male and the female are the two halves of a whole, and it is a law of nature, or if it pleases you, of God, that, somewhere or somehow, the halves shall become as one, not as one entity or individual, but as one in perfect Spiritual harmony.
More than a century ago, after a prolonged separation, suddenly my Soul Mate and I came face to face, and I knew my own. I a freed spirit, she a creature born of lust and fallen in the mire of a dissolute existence. Vainly her Spirit Self warred against and strove to escape from the bondage of inherited animal passions which held her fast as with chains of steel; so, patiently, lovingly I did for her what I could, until one drunken with wine and frenzied with jealousy, struck her body dead at his feet. I, who waited and watched for her release, drew her away from the scenes of her degraded mortal existence to her own place, aiding her as other loving ones also did, to undo the tangled threads of her sorrowful Earth life. She, who well understood the Law of Being, quickly realized that if she would progress out of the conditions of her previous embodiments, she again must enter the Mortal Sphere of our or of some other planet, and with slight hesitation, this she resolved to do.
It is well that you shall learn that all mortal experiences are necessary for the perfecting of character, which is but another term for Spiritual growth. The tendency of the real Self, the Spirit, is ever onward, ever upward. The tendency of the animal Soul or conscious Self, ever is toward the material plane of Being; thus, in the Spiritualized human, there is a constant warfare between the Positive or Spiritual man and the Negative or Animal consciousness and no one comes out of the battle unscathed.
You question the justice of a law which demands from humanity that which from an elevated mortal standpoint is objectionable; but, my friend, have not you learned that the crust of bread earned by sweat of the brow is sweeter far than the whitest loaf to the palate of the idler? Be assured that when again you shall find yourself on our side of life, you will prize the crusts you have, through sad experiences, earned, far more than the white loaves you might have eaten to your hurt, and I do not question but that in time you not only will acquiesce in the justice but in the beneficence of a law which admits of the undoing of mistakes, and of the acquisition of much that only can be learned through repeated mortal experiences, and of what is of greatest moment, the Rebirth of exalted Spirits, who may be Saviors of humanity.
You, who in your mortal state, but partly realize that Love, the Divine Principle, impels all things into harmonious relations, into a fulfillment of the Law of Love, may experience a sense of surprise, that after a period equalling no more than forty of Earth's fleeting years, my Romēne, grown strong and learned in many things, announced her desire to at once take on mortal form, that as a Teacher she might serve women undergoing such experiences as to her were most sorrowful memories.
Yes, Romēne is the name of my other Self, and at her desire one of the Spirit Bands, known as Angels of the Visitation, sought out suitable environments for her next step on the ever ascending ladder of progress. Why did she so quickly become re-embodied? She did so that thus she might fulfill the Law of Love, for remember that it is only through loving service that Spirits in or out of the mortal body grow strong, wise and purified. Although Romēne and I understood the fact that for all losses there are adequate compensations, it but slightly mitigated the sorrow of our separation. We simply submitted, as all must, who desire to progress toward the unattainable perfection of the Infinite Spirit, Who alone is Perfection. Desiring that I should not interfere with, or even be cognizant of her mortal experiences, Romēne exacted from me a promise that I should not seek for her or endeavor to learn on what planet she might be re-embodied, and I have kept my promise. When the moment of our parting arrived, there was one close embrace, one lingering look into each other's eyes, then a loosening of clinging hands, and then—and then I stood alone, for the Angels of the Visitation had borne my Spirit Romēne away to, I know not where. At times word comes to me of one who lives a life of self-abnegation, of an Angel of pity, who ministers to fallen ones, inspiring them with clearer views of their duties to others, to themselves, thus to God. That ceaselessly she walks amid the squalid homes of the ignorant, the wretched children of men, instilling into their dulled minds a desire for knowledge, which is the bread and water of life. Thus she is earning her crust of bread. Thus she is earning the reward for duties fulfilled.
It is a provision of the Law of Re-embodiment that those who return to the Mortal Plane retain little or no recollection of past experiences, but to some peculiarly constituted persons, in moments of Spiritual exaltation, come gleams of memories of a wondrous past existence, which, like the lightning's flash, come and are gone. I know not if to my Romēne these gleams of memories ever come, but I know that with me her Spiritualized Image ever abides, and that with measureless longing I wait and watch for her return. Never have I purposely sought for my vanished one, but ever as I journey from world to world, with vague expectation I scan the faces of women, hoping that in some one of them I may find at least a resemblance to her who on some planet is fulfilling the Law of Love, and the years go swiftly by and soon, ah, yes, at any moment she may return to me.