Lanterna Rally

Author: Elsa Barker

Publisher: Theclassics.Us

Published: 2013-09

Total Pages: 52

ISBN-13: 9781230346182

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1914 edition. Excerpt: ... LETTER XXXIX THE DOCTRINE OF DEATH MANY times during the months in which I have been here have I seen men and women lying in a state of unconsciousness more profound than the deepest sleep, their faces expressionless and uninteresting. At first, before I understood the nature of their sleep, I tried as an experiment to awaken one or two of them, and was not successful. In certain cases where my curiosity was aroused, I have returned later, day after day, and found them still lying in the same lethargy. "Why," I asked myself, "should any man sleep like that--a sleep so deep that neither the spoken word nor the physical touch could arouse him?" One day when the Teacher was with me we passed one of those unconscious men whom I had seen before, had watched, and had striven unsuccessfully to arouse. "Who are these people who sleep like that?" I asked the Teacher; and he replied: "They are those who in their earth life denied the immortality of the soul after death." "How terrible!" I said. "And will they never awaken?" "Yes, perhaps centuries, perhaps ages hence, when the irresistible law of rhythm shall draw them out of their sleep into incarnation. For the law of rebirth is one with the law of rhythm." "Would it not be possible to awaken one of them, this man, for instance?" "You have attempted it, have you not?" the Teacher inquired, with a keen look into my face. "Yes," I admitted. "And you failed?" "Yes." We looked at each other for a moment, then I said: "Perhaps you, with your greater power and knowledge, could succeed where I have failed." He made no answer. His silence fired my interest still farther, and I said eagerly: "Will you not try? Will you not awaken this man?" "You know not what you ask," he replied. "But tell me this," I...