God said, “Hell is as wide, but Heaven is deeper. All Hell could be
engulfed in Heaven, but all Heaven could not be engulfed in Hell.”
And we entered. It was a still great land. The mountains rose on every
hand, and there was a pale clear light; and I saw it came from the rocks
and stones. I asked God how it was.
But God did not answer me.
I looked and wondered, for I had thought Heaven would be otherwise. And
after a while it began to grow brighter, as if the day were breaking,
and I asked God if the sun were not going to rise.
God said, “No; we are coming to where the people are.”
And as we went on it grew brighter and brighter till it was burning
day; and on the rock were flowers blooming, and trees blossomed at the
roadside; and streams of water ran everywhere, and I heard the birds
singing; I asked God where they were.
God said, “It is the people calling to one another.”
And when we came nearer I saw them walking, and they shone as they
walked. I asked God how it was they wore no covering.
God said, “Because all their body gives the light; they dare not cover
any part.”
And I asked God what they were doing.
God said, “Shining on the plants that they may grow.”
And I saw that some were working in companies, and some alone, but most
were in twos, sometimes two men and sometimes two women; but generally
there was one man and one woman; and I asked God how it was.
God said, “When one man and one woman shine together, it makes the most
perfect light. Many plants need that for their growing. Nevertheless,
there are more kinds of plants in Heaven than one, and they need many
kinds of light.”
And one from among the people came running towards me; and when he came
near it seemed to me that he and I had played together when we were
little children, and that we had been born on the same day. And I told
God what I felt; God said, “All men feel so in Heaven when another comes
towards them.”
And he who ran towards me held my hand, and led me through the bright
lights. And when we came among the trees he sang aloud, and his
companion answered, and it was a woman, and he showed me to her. She
said, “He must have water”; and she took some in her hands, and fed me
(I had been afraid to drink of the water in Hell), and they gathered
fruit for me, and gave it me to eat. They said, “We shone long to make
it ripen,” and they laughed together as they saw me eat it.
The man said, “He is very weary; he must sleep” (for I had not dared to
sleep in Hell), and he laid my head on his companion’s knee and spread
her hair out over me. I slept, and all the while in my sleep I thought
I heard the birds calling across me. And when I woke it was like early
morning, with the dew on everything.
And the man took my hand and led me to a hidden spot among the rocks.
The ground was very hard, but out of it were sprouting tiny plants, and
there was a little stream running. He said, “This is a garden we are
making, no one else knows of it. We shine here every day; see, the
ground has cracked with our shining, and this little stream is bursting
out. See, the flowers are growing.”
And he climbed on the rocks and picked from above two little flowers
with dew on them, and gave them to me. And I took one in each hand; my
hands shone as I held them. He said, “This garden is for all when it is
finished.” And he went away to his companion, and I went out into the
great pathway.
And as I walked in the light I heard a loud sound of much singing. And
when I came nearer I saw one with closed eyes, singing, and his fellows
were standing round him; and the light on the closed eyes was brighter
than anything I had seen in Heaven. I asked one who it was. And he said,
“Hush! Our singing bird.”
And I asked why the eyes shone so.
And he said, “They cannot see, and we have kissed them till they shone
so.”
And the people gathered closer round him.
And when I went a little further I saw a crowd crossing among the trees
of light with great laughter. When they came close I saw they carried
one without hands or feet. And a light came from the maimed limbs so
bright that I could not look at them.
And I said to one, “What is it?”
He answered, “This is our brother who once fell and lost his hands and
feet, and since then he cannot help himself; but we have touched the
maimed stumps so often that now they shine brighter than anything in
Heaven. We pass him on that he may shine on things that need much heat.
No one is allowed to keep him long, he belongs to all;” and they went on
among the trees.
I said to God, “This is a strange land. I had thought blindness and
maimedness were great evils. Here men make them to a rejoicing.”
God said, “Didst thou then think that love had need of eyes and hands!”
And I walked down the shining way with palms on either hand. I said to
God, “Ever since I was a little child and sat alone and cried, I have
dreamed of this land, and now I will not go away again. I will stay here
and shine.” And I began to take off my garments, that I might shine as
others in that land; but when I looked down I saw my body gave no light.
I said to God, “How is it?”
God said, “Is there no dark blood in your heart; is it bitter against
none?”
And I said, “Yes--“; and I thought--“Now is the time when I will tell
God, that which I have been, meaning to tell him all along, how badly my
fellow-men have treated me. How they have misunderstood me. How I have
intended to be magnanimous and generous to them, and they--.” And I
began to tell God; but when I looked down all the flowers were withering
under my breath, and I was silent.
And God called me to come up higher, and I gathered my mantle about me
and followed him.
And the rocks grew higher and steeper on every side; and we came at
last to a place where a great mountain rose, whose top was lost in the
clouds. And on its side I saw men working; and they picked at the
earth with huge picks; and I saw that they laboured mightily. And some
laboured in companies, but most laboured singly. And I saw the drops of
sweat fall from their foreheads, and the muscles of their arms stand out
with labour. And I said, “I had not thought in heaven to see men
labour so!” And I thought of the garden where men sang and loved, and
I wondered that any should choose to labour on that bare mountain-side.
And I saw upon the foreheads of the men as they worked a light, and the
drops which fell from them as they worked had light.
And I asked God what they were seeking for.
And God touched my eyes, and I saw that what they found were small
stones, which had been too bright for me to see before; and I saw that
the light of the stones and the light on the men’s foreheads was the
same. And I saw that when one found a stone he passed it on to his
fellow, and he to another, and he to another. No man kept the stone he
found. And at times they gathered in great company about when a large
stone was found, and raised a great shout so that the sky rang; then
they worked on again.
And I asked God what they did with the stones they found at last. Then
God touched my eyes again to make them stronger; and I looked, and at my
very feet was a mighty crown. The light streamed out from it.
God said, “Each stone as they find it is set here.”
And the crown was wrought according to a marvellous pattern; one pattern
ran through all, yet each part was different.
I said to God, “How does each man know where to set his stone, so that
the pattern is worked out?”
God said, “Because in the light his forehead sheds each man sees faintly
outlined that full crown.”
And I said, “But how is it that each stone is joined along its edges to
its fellows, so that there is no seam anywhere?”
God said, “The stones are alive; they grow.”
And I said, “But what does each man gain by his working?”
God said, “He sees his outline filled.”
I said, “But those stones which are last set cover those which were
first; and those will again be covered by those which come later.”
God said, “They are covered, but not hid. The light is the light of all.
Without the first, no last.”
And I said to God, “When will this crown be ended?”
And God said, “Look up!”
I looked up; and I saw the mountain tower above me, but its summit I
could not see; it was lost in the clouds.
God said no more.
And I looked at the crown: then a longing seized me. Like the passion
of a mother for the child whom death has taken; like the yearning of
a friend for the friend whom life has buried; like the hunger of dying
eyes for a life that is slipping; like the thirst of a soul for love at
its first spring waking, so, but fiercer was the longing in me.
I cried to God, “I too will work here; I too will set stones in the
wonderful pattern; it shall grow beneath MY hand. And if it be that,
labouring here for years, I should not find one stone, at least I will
be with the men that labour here. I shall hear their shout of joy when
each stone is found; I shall join in their triumph, I shall shout among
them; I shall see the crown grow.” So great was my longing as I looked
at the crown, I thought a faint light fell from my forehead also.
God said, “Do you not hear the singing in the gardens?”
I said, “No, I hear nothing; I see only the crown.” And I was dumb with
longing; I forgot all the flowers of the lower Heaven and the singing
there. And I ran forward, and threw my mantle on the earth and bent to
seize one of the mighty tools which lay there. I could not lift it from
the earth.
God said, “Where hast THOU earned the strength to raise it? Take up thy
mantle.”
And I took up my mantle and followed where God called me; but I looked
back, and I saw the crown burning, my crown that I had loved.
Higher and higher we climbed, and the air grew thinner. Not a tree or
plant was on the bare rocks, and the stillness was unbroken. My breath
came hard and quick, and the blood crept within my finger-tips. I said
to God, “Is this Heaven?”
God said, “Yes; it is the highest.”
And still we climbed. I said to God, “I cannot breathe so high.”
God said, “Because the air is pure?”
And my head grew dizzy, and as I climbed the blood burst from my
finger-tips.
Then we came out upon a lonely mountain-top.
No living being moved there; but far off on a solitary peak I saw a
lonely figure standing. Whether it were man or woman I could not tell;
for partly it seemed the figure of a woman, but its limbs were the
mighty limbs of a man. I asked God whether it was man or woman.
God said, “In the least Heaven sex reigns supreme; in the higher it is
not noticed; but in the highest it does not exist.”
And I saw the figure bend over its work, and labour mightily, but what
it laboured at I could not see.