lized being of that other rose, rather doth it mean
that the qualities, the distinctive characteristics of that other light,
that other flower, are present now, in these. Those perfections, that is,
those graces and gifts of a former springtime are back again this year. We
say, for example, that this fruit is the same as last year's; but we are
thinking only of the delicacy, bloom and freshness, and the sweet taste of
it; for it is obvious that that impregnable centre of reality, that
specific identity, can never return.

What peace, what ease and comfort did the Holy Ones of God ever discover
during Their sojourn in this nether world, that They should continually
seek to come back and live this life again? Doth not a single turn at this
anguish, these afflictions, these calamities, these body blows, these dire
straits, suffice, that They should wish for repeated visits to the life of
this world? This cup was not so sweet that one would care to drink of it a
second time.

Therefore do the lovers of the Abha Beauty wish for no other recompense
but to reach that station where they may gaze upon Him in the Realm of
Glory, and they walk no other path save over desert sands of longing for
those exalted heights. They seek that ease and solace which will abide
forever, and those bestowals that are sanctified beyond the understanding
of the worldly mind.

When thou lookest about thee with a perceptive eye, thou wilt note that on
this dusty earth all humankind are suffering. Here no man is at rest as a
reward for what he hath performed in former lives; nor is there anyone so
blissful as seemingly to pluck the fruit of bygone anguish. And if a human
life, with its spiritual being, were limited to this earthly span, then
what would be the harvest of creation? Indeed, what would be the effects
and the outcomes of Divinity Itself? Were such a notion true, then all
created things, all contingent realities, and this whole world of
being--all would be meaningless. God forbid that one should hold to such a
fiction and gross error.

For just as the effects and the fruitage of the uterine life are not to be
found in that dark and narrow place, and only when the child is
transferred to this wide earth do the benefits and uses of growth and
development in that previous world become revealed--so likewise reward and
punishment, heaven and hell, requital and retribution for actions done in
this present life, will stand revealed in that othe