I have not to wait until after I am divorced from the connection of the earthly world to gain admission into that which is above the earth.  I am and live in it already, far more truly than in the earthly.  Even now it is my only firm standing-ground, and the eternal life, which I have long since taken possession of, is the only reason why I am willing still to prolong the earthly.  That which they denominate Heaven lies not beyond the grave.  It is already here, diffused around our Nature, and its light arises in every pure heart.  My will is mine, and it is the only thing that is entirely mine and depends entirely upon myself.  By it I am already a citizen of the kingdom of liberty and of self-active Reason.  My conscience, the tie by which that world holds me unceasingly and binds me to itself, tells me at every moment what determination of my will (the only thing by which, here in the dust, I can lay hold of that kingdom) is most consonant with its order; and it depends entirely upon myself to give myself the destination enjoined upon me.  I cultivate myself then for this world, and, accordingly, work in it and for it, while cultivating one of its members.  I pursue in it, and in it alone, without vacillation or doubt, according to fixed rules, my aim—­sure of success, since there is no foreign power that opposes my intent.

* * * * *

That our good-will, in and for and through itself, must have consequences, we know, even in this life; for Reason cannot require anything without a purpose.  But what these consequences are—­nay, how it is possible that a mere will can effect anything—­is a question to which we cannot even imagine a solution, so long as we are entangled with this material world, and it is the part of wisdom not to undertake an inquiry concerning which, we know beforehand, it must be unsuccessful.

* * * * *

This then is my whole sublime destination, my true essence.  I am a member of two systems—­a purely spiritual one, in which I rule by pure will alone; and a sensuous one, in which I work by my deed.

* * * * *

These two systems, the purely spiritual and the sensuous—­which last may consist of an immeasurable series of particular lives—­exist in me from the moment in which my active reason is developed, and pursue their parallel courses.  The latter system is only an appearance, for me and for those who share with me the same life.  The former alone gives to the latter meaning, and purpose, and value.  I am immortal, imperishable, eternal, so soon as I form the resolution to obey the law of Reason; and do not first have to become so.  The supersensuous world is not a future world; it is present.  It never can be more present at any one point of finite existence than at any other point.  After an existence of myriad lives, it cannot be more present than at this moment.  Other