"The newness of the sound and the great light
Kindled in me a longing for their cause
Never before with such acuteness felt.
And she began: 'Thou makest thyself so dull
With false imagining, that thou sees not
What thou wouldst see if thou hadst shaken it off.
Thou are not upon earth as thou believest;
But lightning, fleeing its appropriate site,
Ne'er ran as thou, who thitherward returnest.'"
(I, 88.)
She explains the order established by Providence by force of which
created beings seek their natural habitat, earthly things being
attracted downward, spiritual entities being drawn upward irresistibly
if they do not oppose this innate inclination to good. "It is as natural
for a man purged of all evil to ascend to God," she declares, "as it is
for a stream from a mountain height to fall into a valley."
Very shortly after this, the first stage of the celestial journey is
reached. "Direct thy mind to God in gratitude," she said, "who hath
united us with the first star." "Me seemed a cloud enveloped us, shining
dense, firm and polished like a diamond smitten by the sun. Within
itself the eternal pearl received us, as water doth receive a ray of
light, though still itself uncleft.
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