r sing so blithely, our acquaintances are never so
gracious, as when we are filled with love for some one.
Being in harmony with one we are in harmony with all.
The lover idealizes and clothes the beloved with virtues that exist only
in his imagination. The beloved is consciously or unconsciously aware of
this, and endeavors to fulfil the high ideal; and in the contemplation of
the transcendent qualities that his mind has created, the lover is raised
to heights otherwise unattainable.
Should the beloved pass from the earth while this condition of exaltation
endures, the conception is indelibly impressed upon the soul, just as the
last earthly view is said to be photographed upon the retina of the dead.
The highest earthly relationship is, in its very essence, fleeting, for
men are fallible, and living in a world where material wants jostle, and
time and change play their ceaseless parts, gradual obliteration comes
and disillusion enters. But the memory of a sweet affinity once fully
possessed, and snapped by Fate at its supremest moment, can never die from
out the heart. All other troubles are swallowed up in this, and if the
individual is of too stern a fiber to be completely crushed into the dust,
time will come bearing healing, and the memory of that once ideal
condition will chant in the heart a perpetual eucharist.
And I hope the world has passed forever from the nightmare of pity for the
dead: they have ceased from their labors and are at rest.
But for the living, when death has entered and removed the best friend,
Fate has done her worst; the plummet has sounded the depths of grief, and
thereafter nothing can inspire terror. At one fell stroke all petty
annoyances and corroding cares are sunk into nothingness. The memory of a
great love lives enshrined in undying amber. It affords a ballast 'gainst
all the storms that blow, and although it lends an unutterable sadness, it
imparts an unspeakable peace. Where there is this haunting memory of a
great love lost, there are always forgiveness, charity and a sympathy that
makes the man brother to all who suffer and endure. The individual himself
is nothing: he has nothing to hope for, nothing to lose, nothing to win,
and this constant memory of the high and exalted friendship that once was
his is a nourishing source of strength; it constantly purifies the mind
and inspires the heart to nobler living and diviner thinking. The man is
in communication with Elementa
|