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Chapter XIII: Astral Plane Occupation2237
of earth-life—between what we call a reality, and a fictitious or an artificial
counterfeit of the same, in this, our world. The same principle cannot apply
to the two sets of conditions.…The spiritual soul has no substance…nor is
it confined to one place with a limited horizon of perceptions around it.
Therefore, whether in or out of its mortal body, it is ever distinct, and free
from its limitations; and, if we call its Devanchanic experiences ‘acheating of
nature,’ then we should never be allowed to call ‘reality’ any of those purely
abstract feelings that belong entirely to, and are reflected and assimilated by,
our higher soul—such, for instance, as an ideal perception of the beautiful,
profound philanthropy, love, etc., as well as every other purely spiritual
sensation that during life fills our inner being with either immense pain or
joy.”
Surely to the aspiring soul there is a far greater happiness in the thought
of a heaven-world in which shall be worked out the problems of this life—in
which the creative impulse shall be given full opportunity for unfoldment
and development, to the end that in a newer and fuller life to come there
shall be a putting forth of blossom and fruit, of heart’s desires come true,
of ideals made real—than in a heaven of the cessation of unfoldment and
creative endeavor, where all is finished, where there is nothing to be done
or created, where there is no occupation but to fold hands end enjoy the
bliss of eternal idleness. The creative instinct is from the very heart of Nature
herself, the throbbing of her own life-blood, for Nature is ever at work,
creating, doing, performing, becoming, making, achieving—forever, and
ever, and ever, on, and on, and on, without ceasing, rising from greater to
greater achievement, as the aeons of time fly by. Verily this alone is life, and:
“All other life is living death, a land where none but phantoms dwell;
“A wind, a sound, a breath, a voice; the tinkling of the Camel’s bell.”
And yet so grounded in materiality is the world of men, that they would
speak of the heaven-world of the higher Astral Plane as a mirage, a mere