it there is an intelligence of lower
things, but no intelligence of things higher.

The sixth element is the pure understanding, eternal and co-extensive
with all infinity of time and space--real, imperishable, invisible to
the eye of man.

The seventh element is the soul from God.

Upon these things Zoroaster meditated long, and as his perishable body
became weakened and emaciated with fasting and contemplation, he was
aware that, at times, the universal agent ceased to be decomposed and
recomposed in the nerves of his material part, so that his body became
as though dead, and with, it the fourth element which represents the
sense of mortal desires; and he himself, the three highest elements of
him,--his individuality, his intelligence and his soul,--became
separated for a time from all that weighed them down; and his mind's
eyes were opened, and he saw clearly in the astral light, with an
intuitive knowledge of true things, and false.

And so, night after night, he lay upon the floor of his cavern, rigid
and immovable; his body protected from all outer harmful influences by
the circle of light he had acquired the power of producing. For though
there was no heat in the flame, no mortal breathing animal could so much
as touch it with the smallest part of his body without being instantly
destroyed as by lightning. And so he was protected from all harm in his
trances; and he left his body at will and returned to it, and it
breathed again, and was alive.

So he saw into the past and into the present and into the future, and
his soul was purified beyond the purity of man, and soared upwards, and
dreamed of the eternal good and of the endless truth; and at last it
seemed to him that he should leave his body in its trance, and never
return to it, nor let it breathe again. For since it was possible thus
to cast off mortality and put on immortality, it seemed to him that it
was but a weariness to take up the flesh and wear it, when it was so
easy to lay it down. Almost he had determined that he would then let
death come, as it were unawares, upon his perishable substance, and
remain for ever in the new life he had found.

But as his spirit thought in this wise, he heard a voice speaking to
him, and he listened.

"One moment is as another, and there is no difference between one time
and another time."

"One moment in eternity is of as great value as another moment, for
eternity changes not, neither is one part of it be