"Yes," Ah Ben replied, now with his eyes half closed, "you are going
to tell me that, although the man may have been battered and bruised,
he really feels no pain, because of the unnatural excitement of the
moment; but there you only rivet the argument against yourself; for I
maintain--and not from theory, but from knowledge--that that very
excitement is an exaltation of the spirit, which may be cultivated
and relied upon to conquer pain and the ills of the flesh forever!"
"It would go far indeed if it could do all that, although I believe
there is something in what you say, for in a small way I have seen it
myself."
"Yes, we have all seen it in a small way; and does it not seem
strange that men have never thought of cultivating it in a larger
way, through the exercise of their will in controlling their minds
and bodies? This exaltation of spirit is only attained through
effort, or some great physical shock. It is the secret of all power;
it conquers all pain, and makes disease impossible."
"Makes disease impossible!" cried Paul in astonishment.
"Yes," answered the elder man quietly. "This soul power, of which I
speak, is the hidden akasa in all men--it is the man himself--and
when once recognized, the body is relegated to its proper sphere as
the servant, and not the master; then it is that man realizes his own
power and supremacy over all things."
"But," persisted Henley, "if you go so far as to say that this occult
or soul power can conquer disease, you would have us all living
forever!"
"We do live forever," answered Ah Ben.
"Yes, after death; but I mean here!"
"There is no such thing as death!" remarked Ah Ben quietly, as if
he were merely giving expression to a well-established scientific
fact.
"And yet we see it about us every day," Paul replied.
"There you are wrong, for no man has ever seen that which never
occurs!"
"You are quibbling with words," suggested Henley.
"There is a change at a certain period in a man's life, which, from
ignorance, people have agreed to call death. But it is a misnomer,
for man never dies. He goes right on living; and it is generally a
considerable time before he realizes the change that has taken place
in him. He would laugh at the word death, as understood upon earth,
as indeed he frequently does, for he is far more alive than ever
before."