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LETTER XXIV
FORBIDDEN
KNOWLEDGE
I have been doing many
things of late. You could never imagine where I went the other day—to the great
funeral of the Emperor of Japan. You could not go from Paris to Japan and return
in so short a time, could you? But I did.
An hour before starting I did not even know that the Emperor
of Japan was dead. The Teacher sought me out and invited me to go with him. He
said that something would occur there which I ought to see.
His prophecy was verified. I saw a soul, a great soul, go out
as a suicide. It was sad and terrible.
But as I write this the Teacher comes and stands beside me;
he advises me to say no more on that subject.
One sees horrible things out here, as
well as beautiful things. I can only say with regard to suicide, that if men
knew what awaits those who go out by their own hand, they would remain with the
evil that they know. I am sorry I cannot tell you more about this, for it would
interest you. The testimony of an eye-witness is always more convincing than the
mere repetition of theories.
The appearance of the Teacher with his advice has put out of
my mind for the moment the desire to write. But I will come again.
Later.
I have been able to do what you so much
desired—to find the boy who came out accidentally by drowning.
As you looked at his photograph, I saw it through your eyes,
and carried away the memory of the face. I found him wandering about, quite
bewildered. When I spoke to him of you and said that you had asked me to help
him, he seemed surprised.
I was able to give him a little aid, though he has a friend
here—an old man who is nearer to him than I could ever be. He will gradually
adjust himself to the new conditions.
You had better not try to speak with
him. He is on a different path, and is being looked after, for he has friends.
The little help I was able to give was in the nature of information. He needed a
diversion from a too-pressing thought, and I suggested one or two ways of
passing time which are both agreeable and instructive.
You wonder at the expression “passing time”? But time exists
out here. Wherever there is sequence there is time. There may come a “time” when
all things will exist simultaneously, past, present and—shall we say future? But
so long as past, present and future are more or less distinct, so long time is.
It is nothing but the principle of sequence. Did you fancy it was anything else?
Interiorly, that is, deep within the self, one may find a
silent place where all things seem to exist in unison; but as soon as the
soul even there attempts to examine things separately, then sequence begins.
The union with the All is another matter. That is, or seems
to be, timeless; but as soon as one attempts to unite with or be conscious of
things, time is manifest.
LETTER XXV
LETTER XXIII |
