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CHAPTER X
DEATH
DEATH is but a change of state; the destruction of a fragile form which no longer furnishes life with
the necessary conditions for its evolution. On the other side of the tomb, another phase of existence opens. The
spirit in form etheric, imponderable, prepares for new incarnations. It finds in its mental state the fruits of the
finished existence. Everywhere is life; all nature shows to us the perpetual renewing of everything. Nowhere is
death, as we understand the word - nowhere is annihilation. The principle of life never dies. The universe
overflows with life physical and psychic. Everywhere is the immense fortification of beings, the elaboration of
souls preparing for their magnificent ascension through slow and obscure paths of matter.
The life of man is like the sun of summer in Polar Regions; it descends slowly. It drops, it weakens,
and seems to disappear for an instant on the horizon. In appearance that is the end, but quickly it rises to
follow again its immense orbit in the skies.
Death is only a moment’s eclipse in the revolution of our existence. But this instant suffices to reveal
to us the grave and profound meaning of life. Death also has its nobility, its grandeur. We should not fear it,
but rather seek to embellish it, and to prepare for it by research and the conquest of moral beauty - the beauty
of the spirit, which moulds the body, and ornaments it with an august reflection at the hour of the supreme
separation. The fashion in which we know how to die is in itself an indication of what will be our life in space.
Something like a pure, cold light surrounds some deathbeds. Faces heretofore insignificant seem aureoled with
rays from Beyond. An imposing silence surrounds those who have left earth. The living witnesses of death feel
great and austere impressions disengage themselves from the banality of their habitual thoughts. Hate and all
evil passions cannot exist before the spectacle of death. Before the body of an enemy animosity is vanquished,
and all desire for vengeance dies. Before a casket, forgiveness seems easy and duty imperative.
All death is a rebirth; it is the manifestation of a life which binds us to the Invisible. After a time of
trouble we find ourselves on the other side of the tomb, in the fullness of our faculties and consciousness, near
to the beloved beings who shared our earthly existence.
The tomb held only vain dust; we must elevate our thoughts if we would find the trance of souls who
were dear to us. Do not appeal to the stones of cemeteries for the secrets of life. Know that the bones and dust
which lie there are nothing; the souls which animated them are gone. They will come again in more refined
and subtle forms. From the bosom of the Invisible, where your prayers reach and move them, they follow you
with their loving eyes; they smile, and they respond to your thoughts. Spiritual revelation will teach you how
to communicate with them, and to unite yourself with them in the same love and in an ineffable hope. They are
often at your side - these beloved beings you seek in the cemetery. They come and watch over you - they who
were the companions of your joys and sorrows. Around you float a throng of beings who disappeared in death,
a throng which calls to you, and tries to show the path for you to pursue.
O death! O serene majesty! Thou whom we regard with terror, thou art for the thinker but an instant of
repose - the transition between two acts of destiny, one ending - one beginning. When my poor soul -
wandering for centuries through many worlds after strife, vicissitudes, and disappointments inconceivable,
after extinguished illusions and delayed hope - at last goes to repose again in thy breast, with joy it will salute
the dawn of etheric life. With intoxication it will lift itself from earth’s dust, and though fathomless spaces
seek those cherished ones who await it yonder.
To the greater part of men, death remains the profound mystery, the somber problem they dare not
look in the face. For us, it is the blessed hour for releasing the imprisoned soul and giving it free passage to the
eternal country. That country is the radiant immensity studded with suns and spheres. Compared with them,
how poor and mean appears our little earth! The Infinite envelops us on all sides; there is no end to space or
time for the soul freed from body limitations.
As each existence has its period, and then vanishes to give place to another life, so each sphere in the
universe must die to give place to other more perfect worlds. A day will come when all human life will be
extinguished on the cold earth. The planet will roll on in melancholy silence; imposing ruins will stand where
once stood Rome - Paris - Constatinople - cadavers of great capitols, the last vestiges of an extinguished race,
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