he one
and only road leading to the magic gateway and into that incomparable
mystery where misfortunes and sufferings will no longer be possible,
because we shall have lost the body that produced them; where the
worst that can befall us is the dreamless sleep which we count among
the number of the greatest boons on earth; where, lastly, it is almost
unimaginable that a thought can survive to mingle with the substance
of the universe, that is to say, with infinity, which, if it be not a
waste of indifference, can be nothing but a sea of joy.

XVIII

THE LIMITED EGO WOULD BECOME
A TORTURE

Before fathoming that sea, let us remark to those who aspire to
maintain their ego that they are calling down the sufferings which
they dread. The ego implies limits. The ego cannot subsist except in
so far as it is separated from that which surrounds it. The stronger
the ego, the narrower its limits and the clearer the separation. The
more painful too; for the mind, if it remain as we know it--and we are
not able to imagine it different--will no sooner have seen its limits
than it will wish to overstep them: and, the more separated it feels,
the greater will be its longing to unite with that which lies outside.
There will therefore be an eternal struggle between its being and its
aspirations. And really there were no object in being born and dying
only for the purpose of these endless contests. Have we not here yet
one more proof that our ego, as we conceive it, could never subsist in
the infinity where it must needs go, since it cannot go elsewhere? It
behooves us therefore to get rid of imaginations that emanate only
from our body, even as the mists that veil the daylight from our sight
emanate only from low places. Pascal has said, once and for all: "The
narrow limits of our being conceal infinity from our view."

XIX

A NEW EGO CAN FIND A NUCLEUS AND
DEVELOP ITSELF IN INFINITY

On the other hand--for we must be honest, probe the conflicting
darkness which we believe nearest to the truth and show no bias--on
the other hand, we can grant to those who are wedded to the thought
of remaining as they are that the survival of a mere particle of
themselves would suffice to renew them again in the heart of an
infinity wherefrom their body no longer separates them. If it seems
impossible that anything--a movement, a vibration, a radiation--should
stop or disappear, why then should thought be lost? There will, n