As we stood opposite each other I entered into conversation with him, partly to satisfy my curiosity, partly to throw him off his guard. “Who are you?” I asked. “You seem to be a ruler among your kind.” He straightened himself with pride. “I am indeed a ruler,” he said, “a ruler on earth and up here.” “On earth also?” I queried. “Yes, also on earth,” he answered, “for I am the deeper self of a man who is great among men, a man who will follow my will as others follow his will.” Then he made a claim which startled me, and I forbear to repeat it. “If you are the evil self of a man still living,” I demanded, “how do you stand as a separate entity up here? How are you apart from him?” “You are somewhat ignorant,” he said to me. “I am ignorant of many things,” I admitted. “Instruct me in any way you can. I have a thirst for knowledge.” “Know then,” he said pompously, “that I broke away from the earthly form that had enchained me when he acknowledged my ruler-ship and worshipped me as his genius.” “He set you free?” I asked. “He set me free by acknowledging me as his Master. His knowledge is even less than yours, and he called me by a name that I despise; but so long as I rule I care not the name I rule by. Or I care little,” he corrected himself. “But such things as these are too deep for you!” “I am deeper than you think,” I asserted, “and I have met your kind before.” “My kind maybe, but not my equals. I am a King among spirits.” “I had observed your crown,” I said, “it has a familiar look.” During this colloquy the Teacher had stood silently by, but now I turned to him with an unspoken question. He led me aside a little way, and said: “When a man exalts himself too much, he sets free the demon within him. He often thinks that he rules the demon, and sends him on errands through the Invisible; but it is really the demon who commands, and the commands of the man are only echoes.” “And it took this vision of hell to teach me that!” I exclaimed. “What you would have learned in due time by reason or by precept, you now learn by example,” the Teacher said. “You have truly beheld the evil self of a great ruler.” “It is very powerful,” I admitted. “It will grow in power for a time,” the Teacher said, “and then it will go to Gehenna.” “And when will it go to Gehenna?” “When peace returns to the world, after the war is exhausted up here. But the war will be exhausted up here before peace returns to the world.” “What war is about to be fought?” I asked. “The greatest war of all time,” the Teacher said, “the greatest war of all time up here, and also on the earth.” “And when will it begin?” “It is already begun here, as you have seen. Had you not been far away you would have known it before.” “I have indeed been far away,” I said. “An angel has shown me many stars, and I have learned much.” “The angel kept you away from the world until you should be strong enough, and rested enough, to work as well as learn.”