The Eleusinian festivals were an eloquent confession of the belief in the immortality of the human soul. This confession found symbolic expression in the Persephone myth. Together with Demeter and Persephone Dionysos was commemorated in Eleusis. As Demeter was honoured as the divine creatress of the eternal in man, so in Dionysos was honoured the ever-changing divine in the world. The divine poured into the world and torn to pieces in order to be spiritually reborn (_cf._ p. 90) had to be honoured together with Demeter. (A brilliant description of the spirit of the Eleusinian Mysteries is found in Edouard Schure's book, _Sanctuaires d'Orient_. Paris, 1898.) VI THE MYSTERY WISDOM OF EGYPT When leaving thy body behind thee, thou soarest into the ether, Then thou becomest a god, immortal, not subject to death. In this utterance of Empedocles (_cf._ p. 55) is epitomised what the ancient Egyptians thought about the eternal element in man and its connection with the divine. The proof of this may be found in the so-called _Book of the Dead_, which has been deciphered by the diligence of nineteenth-century investigators (_cf._ Lepsius, _Das Totenbuch der alten Aegypter_, Berlin, 1842). It is "the greatest continuous literary work which has come down to us from ancient Egypt." All kinds of instructions and prayers are contained in it, which were put into the tomb of each deceased person to serve as a guide when he was released from his mortal tenement. The most intimate ideas of the Egyptians about the Eternal and the origin of the world are contained in this work. These ideas point to a conception of the gods similar to that of Greek mysticism.