“Every earthly woe and every earthly tear is a joy for us. And when you water the earth with your tears a foot deep, you will rejoice at everything at once, and your sorrow will be no more, such is the prophecy.”[118] Are not we very near to Pascal’s “_sweet and perfect resignation_” and his cry of “_Joy! Joy! Tears of joy!_”? Is not this state of bliss depicted by Dostoevsky the very one exalted by the Gospel, a state into which we are born anew, the joy whose fulfilment is possible only through renunciation of self, for it is love of self which prevents us from leaping into Eternity, from entering into the Kingdom of God and communing in the mystery of life universal? The first consequence of such regeneration is that man becomes as a little child. “_Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the Kingdom of Heaven._” In the words of La Bruyère, “_Little children have neither past nor future, for they live in the present_,” which man has lost the power to do. “At that moment,” said Prince Myshkin to Rogozhin--“at that moment I seem somehow to understand the extraordinary saying that _there shall be no more time_.”[119] This direct participation is, as I have earlier indicated, taught by the Gospel, unwearying in its insistence upon these words, “_Et nunc_” ... “_And now_.” The perfect joy Christ means is not of the future, but of the immediate present. “You’ve begun to believe in future eternal life?” “No, not in a future eternal life, but in eternal life here. There are moments, you reach moments, and time suddenly stands still and it will become eternal.”[120] And towards the end of _The Possessed_ Dostoevsky reverts once more to Kirillov’s uncanny rapture. Let us read the passage in question. It will help us to appreciate Dostoevsky’s idea, and prepare the way for one of the most essential truths I have left to discuss.