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464 ESOTERIC ANTHROPOLOGY.
Even with the young, and those who die premature,
and therefore unnatural, deaths, at all ages, the change
is not without its compensations to the one who dies,
and its consolations to the survivors. If the soul enters
the next sphere of existence under certain disadvan
tages, from the lack of that development and discipline
which this existence was intended to give, it may also
have escaped many depravations. Life, in its present
discordant and diseased state, so full of poverties and
miseries, offers little temptation to the soul to stay. I
would counsel suicide to no one —each must judge for
himself of the duty of existence. Mine is to live my
life ; to battle for the right ; to try to make life for
others more endurable ; to work for the great future
which God has in store for humanity ; and, in doing
this, to enjoy all of happiness that belongs to such a
life. I have no right to destroy my bodily organization.
I must use it with economy, and to the best advantage.
Whenever death comes, by any unavoidable accident,
providentially, or in the course of nature, welcome
death !—welcome all spheres of action, and of enjoy
ment that lie beyond ! So far from death an being evil,
in its natural order, the greatest imaginable evil would
be not to be permitted to die. Continued earthly exist
ence is an idea almost as repugnant as annihilation.
Longevity, or a life complete in all its stages, is, on
the whole, desirable, but extremely rare. The average
duration of human life in civilization varies according to
circumstances, from thirty to forty years ; that is, of a
certain number born in any country, a large proportion
die in infancy, many more in early manhood^ a few live
to old age, and, if we add together the ages of all, the