—extracted from Mary Corelli, Romance of Two Worlds. (1886)
This extract has been published recently in Carol and Philip Zaleski, ed., The Book of Heaven: An Anhology of Writings from Ancient to Modern Times, Oxford Univ. Press, 2000, pp. 176–181. The selections of this anthology betray the editors’ thesis: Accounts of Heaven have an unavoidable cultural bias. This and Carol Zaleski’s other publications demonstrate her deep commitment to fundamental Catholicism. In The Life of the World to Come: Near-Death Experience and Christian Hope (Oxford Univ. Press, 1996) she makes the case that it is rational and morally justifiable to believe in life after death. In her groundbreaking work on this subject, Otherworld Journeys: Accounts of Near-Death Experience in Medieval and Modern Times (Oxford Univ. Press, 1987) she studies numerous accounts with the reasoned interpretation that they are explained in a proper understanding of symbolism and the results of a very powerful religious imagination (pp. 190,191).
"Azùl! Azùl! Lift up this light and daring spirit unto thyself; be its pioneer upon the path it must pursue; suffer it to float untrammelled through the wide and glorious Continents of Air; give it form and force to alight on any of the vast and beautiful spheres it may desire to behold; and if worthy, permit it to gaze, if only for a brief interval, upon the supreme vision of the First and Last of worlds. By the force thou givest unto me, I free this soul; do thou, Azùl, quickly receive it!"
The Angel smiled and touched me.
"I am thy guardian," it said. "I have been with thee always. I can never leave thee so long as thy soul seeks spiritual things. Asleep or awake on the Earth, wherever thou art, I also am. There have been times when I have warned thee and thou wouldst not listen, — when I have tried to draw thee onward and thou wouldst not come; but now I fear no more thy disobedience, for thy restlessness is past. Come with me; it is permitted thee to see far off the vision of the Last Circle."
"They are all born of the Great Circle," my guardian Angel explained to me; "and to them is given the power of communicating high thought or inspiration. Among them are the Spirits of music, of Poesy, of Prophecy, and of all Art ever known in all worlds. The success of their teaching depends on how much purity and unselfishness there is in the soul to which they whisper their divine messages — messages as brief as telegrams which must be listened to with entire attention and acted upon at once, or the lesson is lost and may never come again."
"What seekest thou?" It asked in a voice like the murmuring of the wind among flowers.
"Music!" I answered. "Sing me thy melodies — fill me with harmonies divine and unreachable — and I will strive to be worthy of thy teachings!"
"Thy wish is granted, Sister Spirit!" it replied. "The pity I shall feel for thy fate when thou art again pent in clay, shall be taught thee in minor music — thou shalt possess the secret of unwritten sound, and I will sing to thee and bring thee comfort. On Earth, call but my name — Aeon! And thou shalt behold me. For thy longing voice is known to the Children of Music, and hath oft shaken the vibrating light wherein they dwell. Fear not! As long as thou dost love me, I am thine." And parting slowly, still smiling, the lovely vision, with its small radiant hands ever wandering among the starry things of its cloud-like lyre, floated onward.
"Here," said my guardian gently — "here ends thy journey. Would that it were possible, poor Spirit, for thee to pass this boundary! But that may not be — as yet! In the meanwhile thou mayest gaze for a brief space upon the majestic sphere which mortals dream of as Heaven. Behold and see how fair is the incorruptible perfection of God’s World!"
I looked and trembled — I should have sunk yet further backward, had not Azùl and my Angel-guide held me with their light yet forcible clasp. My heart fails me now as I try to write of that tremendous, that sublime scene — the Centre of the Universe — the Cause of all Creation. How unlike Heaven such as we in our ignorance have tried to depict! Though it is far better we should have a mistaken idea than none at all. What I beheld was a Circle, so huge that no mortal measurements could compass it — a wide Ring composed of seven coulours, rainbow-like, but flashing with perpetual motion and brilliancy, as though a thousand million suns were for ever being woven into it to feed its transcendent lustre. From every part of this Ring darted long broad shafts of light, some of which stretched out so far that I could not see where they ended; sometimes a bubbling shower of lightning sparks would be flung out on the pure ether, and this would instantly form into circles, small or great, and whirl round and round the enormous girdle of flame from which they had been cast, with the most inconceivable rapidity. But wonderful as the Ring was, it encompassed a Sphere yet more marvellous and dazzling; a great Globe of opal- tinted light, revolving as it were upon its own axis, and ever surrounded by that scintillating, jewel-like wreath of electricity, whose only motion was to shine and burn within itself for ever. I could not bear to look upon the brightness of that magnificent central World — so large that multiplying the size of the sun by a hundred thousand millions, no adequate idea could be formed of its vast proportions. And ever it revolved — and ever the Rainbow Ring around it glittered and cast forth those rings which I knew now were living solar systems cast forth from that electric band as a volcano casts forth fire and lava. My Angel-guide motioned me to look towards that side of the Ring which was nearest to the position of the Earth. I looked, and perceived that there the shafts of descending light formed themselves as thy fell into the shape of a Cross. At this, such sorrow, love, and shame overcame me, that I knew not where to turn. I murmured:
"Send me back again, dear Angel — send me back to that Star of Sorrow and Error! Let me hasten to make amends there for all my folly — let me try to teach others what now I know! I am unworthy to be here beside thee — I am unfit to look on yonder splendid World — let me return to do penance for my sins and shortcomings; for what am I that God should bless me? And though I should consume myself in labour and suffering, how can I ever hope to deserve the smallest place in that heavenly glory I now partly behold?" And could spirits shed tears, I should have wept with remorse and grief.
"Now thou dost believe — henceforth thou must love! Love alone can pass yon flaming barrier — love alone can gain for thee eternal bliss. In love and for love were all things made — God loveth His creatures, even so let His creatures love Him, and so shall the twain be drawn together."
"Listen!" added my Angel-guide. "Thou hast not travelled so far as yet to remain in ignorance. That burning Ring thou seest is the result of the Creator’s ever-working Intelligence; from it all the Universe hath sprung. It is exhaustless and perpetually creative; it is pure and perfect Light. The smallest spark of that fiery essence in a mortal frame is sufficient to form a soul or spirit, such as mine, or that of Azùl, or thine, when thou art perfected. The huge world rolling within the Ring is where God dwells. Dare not thou to question His shape, His look, His mien! Know that He is the Supreme Spirit in which all Beauty, all Perfection, all Love, find consummation. His breath is the fire of the Ring; His look, His pleasure, cause the motion of His World and all worlds. There, where He dwells, dwell also all pure souls; there all desires have fulfilment without satiety, and there all loveliness, wisdom or pleasure known in any or all of the other spheres are also known. Speak, Azùl, and tell this wanderer from Earth what she will gain in winning her place in Heaven."
"When thou hast slept the brief sleep of death, — when thou art permitted to throw off for ever thy garb of clay, — and when by thine own ceaseless love and longing thou hast won the right to pass the Great Circle, thou shalt find thyself in a land where the glories of the natural scenery alone shall overpower thee with joy — scenery that for ever changes into new wonders and greater beauty. Thou shalt hear music such as thou canst not dream of. Thou shalt find friends, beyond all imagination fair and faithful. Thou shalt read and see the history of all the planets, produced for thee in an ever-moving panorama. Thou shalt love and be beloved for ever by thine own Twin Soul; wherever that spirit may be now, it must join thee hereafter. The joys of learning, memory, consciousness sleep, waking, and exercise shall all be thine. Sin, sorrow, pain, disease and death shou shalt know no more. Thou shalt be able to remember happiness, to possess it, and to look forward to it. Thou shalt have full and pleasant occupation without fatigue — thy food and substance shall be light and air. Flowers, rare and imperishable, shall bloom for thee; birds of exquisite form and tender voice shall sing to thee; angels shall be thy companiouns. Thou shalt have fresh and glad desires to offer to God with every portion of thy existence, and each one shall be granted as soon as asked, for then thou wilt not be able to ask anything that is displeasing to Him. But because it is a joy to wish, thou shalt wish; and because it is a joy to grant, so also will H grant. No delight, small or great, is wanting in that vast sphere; only sorrow is lacking, and satiety and disappointment have no place. Wilt thou seek for admittance there, or wilt thou faint by the way and grow weary?"
I raised my eyes full of ecstasy and reverence.
"My mere efforts must count as nothing," I said "but if love can help me, I will love and long for God’s World until I die!"
"That is the path by which thou must travel! Mark it well! All pilgrims from the Sorrowful Star must journey by that road. Woe to them that turn aside to roam ’mid spheres they know not of, to lose themselves in seas of light wherein they cannot steer! Remember my warning! And now Spirit who art commended to my watchful care, thy brief liberty is ended. Thou hast been lifted up to the outer edge of the Electric Circle; further we dare not take thee. Hast thou aught else to ask before the veil of mortality again enshrouds thee?"
"If Love and Faith can avail me," I murmured, "I shall see what I have sought."
I was not disappointed. The fiery waves of light parted on either side of the spot where I with my companions rested; and a Figure, — majestic, unutterably grand and beautiful, — approached me. At the same moment a number of other faces and forms shone hoveringly out of the Ring; one I noticed like an exquisitely lovely woman with floating hair and clear, earnest, unfathomable eyes. Azùl and the Angel sank reverently down and drooped their radiant heads like flowers in hot sunshine. I alone, daringly, yet with inexpressible affection welling up within me, watched with unshrinking gaze the swift advance of that supreme Figure, upon whose broad brows rested the faint semblance of a Crown of Thorns. A voice penetratingly sweet addressed me:
"Mortal from the Star I saved from ruin, because thou hast desired Me, I come! Even as thy former unbelief, shall be now thy faith! Because thou lovest Me, I am with thee! For do I not know thee better than the Angels can? Have I not dwelt in thy clay, suffered thy sorrows, wipt thy tears, died thy deaths? One with My Father, and yet one with thee, I demand thy love, and so through Me shalt thou attain immortal life!"