The Life Everlasting; a reality of romance eBook

Marie Corelli
This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 503 pages of information about The Life Everlasting; a reality of romance.

The Life Everlasting; a reality of romance eBook

Marie Corelli
This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 503 pages of information about The Life Everlasting; a reality of romance.

There was a pause.  Then Aselzion’s voice, calm, clear and very gentle, vibrated on the silence.

“There is no death!” he said—­“You cannot die!  There is no oblivion,—­you may not forget!  There is but one way of life—­to live it!”

Another moment’s stillness—­then again the steady, resolute voice went on.

“You accuse life of injustice,—­it is you who are unjust to life!  Life gave you those dreams and aspirations you speak of,—­it was in your power to realise them!  I say it was in your power, had you chosen!  No parents, no friends, not God Himself, can stop you from doing what you will to do!  Who frustrated any great ambition of yours but yourself?  Who can slay a hope but him in whose soul it was born?  And that love of woman?—­was she your true mate?—­or only a thing of eyes and hair and vanity?  Did your passion touch her body only, or did it reach her Soul?  Did you seek to know whether that Soul had ever wakened within her, or were you too well satisfied with her surface beauty to care?  In all these things blame Yourself, not life!—­for life gives you earth and heaven, time and eternity for the attainment of joy—­joy, in which, but for Yourself, there would never be a trace of sorrow!”

The kneeling penitent—­for such he now appeared to be—­covered his face with his hands.

“I cannot give you death,”—­continued Aselzion-"You can take what is called by that name for yourself if you choose—­you can by your own action, sudden or premeditated, destroy this present form and composition of yourself for just so long as it takes the forces of Nature to build you up again—­an incredibly brief moment of time!  But you gain nothing—­you neither lose your consciousness nor your memory!  Ponder this well before you pull down your present dwelling-house!—­for ingratitude breeds narrowness, and your next habitation might be smaller and less fitted for peace and quiet breathing!”

With these words, gently spoken, he raised the penitent from his knees, and signed to him to return to his place.  He did so obediently, without another word, pulling his cowl closely about him so that none of his fellow-brethren might see his features.  Another man then stepped forward and addressed Aselzion.

“Master”—­he said, “would it not be better to die than to grow old?  If, as you teach us, there is no real death, should there be any real decay?  What pleasure is there in life when the strength fails and the pulses slacken—­when the warm blood grows chill and stagnant, and when even those we have loved consider we have lived too long?  I who speak now am old, though I am not conscious of age—­ but others are conscious for me,—­their looks, their words, imply that I am in their way—­that I am slowly dying like a lopped tree and that the process is too tedious for their impatience.  And yet—­I could be young!—­my powers of work have increased rather than lessened—­I enjoy life more than those that have youth on their side—­but I know I carry the burden of seventy years upon me, and I say that surely it is better to die than live even so long!”

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Project Gutenberg
The Life Everlasting; a reality of romance from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.