And yet it is possible that nothing is changing in the life one sees;
but is it only that which matters, and is our existence indeed confined
to actions we can take in our hand like stones on the highroad? If you
ask yourself, as we are told we should ask every evening, "what of
immortal have I done to-day?" Is it always on the material side that we
can count, weigh and measure unerringly; is it there that you must begin
your search? It is possible for you to cause extraordinary tears to
flow; it is possible that you may fill a heart with unheard-of
certitudes, and give eternal life unto a soul, and no one shall know of
it, nor shall you even know yourself. It may be that nothing is
changing; it may be that were it put to the test all would crumble, and
that this goodness we speak of would yield to the smallest fear. It
matters not. Something divine has happened; and somewhere must our God
have smiled.
May it not be the supreme aim of life thus to bring to birth the
inexplicable within ourselves; and do we know how much we add to
ourselves when we awake something of the incomprehensible that slumbers
in every corner? Here you have awakened love which will not fall asleep
again. The soul that your soul has regarded, that has wept with you the
holy tears of the solemn joy that none may behold, will bear you no
resentment, not even in the midst of torture. It will not even feel the
need of forgiving. So convinced is it of one knows not what, that
nothing can henceforth dim or efface the smile that it wears within; for
nothing can ever separate two souls which, for an instant, "have been
good together."
SILENCE
As we advance through life, it is more and more brought home to us that
nothing takes place that is not in accord with some curious,
preconceived design: and of this we never breathe a word, we scarcely
dare to let our minds dwell upon it, but of its existence, somewhere
above our heads, we are absolutely convinced. The most fatuous of men
smiles, at the first encounters, as though he were the accomplice of the
destiny of his brethren. And in this domain, even those who can speak
the most profoundly realise--they, perhaps, more than others--that words
can never express the real, special relationship that exists between two
beings.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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