Spirit,—­the creative Essence of all that is,—­works in various forms, but always on an ascending plane, and it invariably rejects and destroys whatever interrupts that onward and upward progress.  Being in Itself the Radiant outflow of the Mind of God, it is the life of the Universe.  And it is very needful to understand and to remember that there is nothing which can properly be called Super-natural, or above Nature, inasmuch as this Eternal Spirit of Energy is in and throughout all Nature.  Therefore, what to the common mind appears miraculous or impossible, is nevertheless actually ordinary, and only seems Extra-ordinary to the common mind’s lack of knowledge and experience.  The Fountain of Youth and the Elixir of Life were dreams of the ancient mystics and scientists, but they are not dreams to-day.  To the Soul that has found them they are Divine Realities.

MARIE CORELLI

        “There is no Death,
   What seems so is transition.”

I

THE HEROINE BEGINS HER STORY

It is difficult at all times to write or speak of circumstances which though perfectly at one with Nature appear to be removed from natural occurrences.  Apart from the incredulity with which the narration of such incidents is received, the mere idea that any one human creature should be fortunate enough to secure some particular advantage which others, through their own indolence or indifference, have missed, is sufficient to excite the envy of the weak or the anger of the ignorant.  In all criticism it is an understood thing that the subject to be criticised must be under the critic, never above,—­that is to say, never above the critic’s ability to comprehend; therefore, as it is impossible that an outsider should enter at once into a clear understanding of the mystic Spiritual-Nature world around him, it follows that the teachings and tenets of that Spiritual-Nature world must be more or less a closed book to such an one,—­a book, moreover, which he seldom cares or dares to try and open.

In this way and for this reason the Eastern philosophers and sages concealed much of their most profound knowledge from the multitude, because they rightly recognised the limitations of narrow minds and prejudiced opinions.  What the fool cannot learn he laughs at, thinking that by his laughter he shows superiority instead of latent idiocy.  And so it has happened that many of the greatest discoveries of science, though fully known and realised in the past by the initiated few, were never disclosed to the many until recent years, when ‘wireless telegraphy’ and ‘light-rays’ are accepted facts, though these very things were familiar to the Egyptian priests and to that particular sect known as the ‘Hermetic Brethren,’ many of whom used the ‘violet ray’ for chemical and other purposes ages before the coming