d by
the man whose inner senses have even a little--a
mere stirring of--vitality. To the one
who has lifted the golden latch the spring of
sweet waters, the fountain itself whence all
softness arises, is opened and becomes part of
his heritage.

But before this fountain can be tasted, or
any other spring reached, any source found, a
heavy weight has to be lifted from the heart,
an iron bar which holds it down and prevents
it from arising in its strength.

The man who recognises the flow of sweetness
from its source through Nature, through
all forms of life, he has lifted this, he has
raised himself into that state in which there is
no bondage. He knows that he is a part of
the great whole, and it is this knowledge which
is his heritage. It is through the breaking
asunder of the arbitrary bond which holds him
to his personal centre that he comes of age
and becomes ruler of his kingdom. As he
widens out, reaching by manifold experience
along those lines which centre at the point
where he stands embodied, he discovers that
he has touch with all life, that he contains
within himself the whole. And then he has
but to yield himself to the great force which
we call good, to clasp it tightly with the grasp
of his soul, and he is carried swiftly on to the
great, wide waters of real living. What are
those waters? In our present life we have but
the shadow of the substance. No man loves
without satiety, no man drinks wine without
return of thirst. Hunger and longing darken
the sky and make the earth unfriendly. What
we need is an earth that will bear living fruit,
a sky that will be always full of light.
Needing this positively, we shall surely find it.

CHAPTER IV

THE MEANING OF PAIN

I

Look into the deep heart of life, whence
pain comes to darken men's lives. She is always
on the threshold, and behind her stands
despair.

What are these two gaunt figures, and
why are they permitted to be our constant
followers?

It is we who permit them, we who order
them, as we permit and order the action of our
bodies; and we do so as unconsciously. But
by scientific experiment and investigation we
have learned much about our physical life, and
it would seem as if we can obtain at least as
much result with regard to our inner life by
adopting similar methods.

Pain arouses, softens, breaks, and destroys.
Regarded from a sufficiently removed standpoint,
it appears as medicine, as a knife, as a
weapon,