DIVINE UNION 183 



again. And they spend most of their lives on the 

 earth. But the lovers will have known what it is 

 to soar. They wiU have found their wings. They 

 will have seen heaven once, and breathed its air. 

 And all nature, all human relationships, will be for 

 ever after transfigured in heaven's light. 



The state of being to which these twain have 

 now arrived is the highest and best in Ufe. This 

 spiritual union of man and woman — this union of 

 their souls which their bodily union has made 

 - possible in completeness — ^is that which of all else 

 has most value. The friendship of men for men 

 and women for women is high up in the scale of 

 being. But it is not at the supreme summit. The 

 holy union of man and woman is higher still, 

 because it is a relation of the whole being of each 

 to the other, and because it brings both into direct 

 and closest contact with the Primal Source of 

 Things, and on the line which points them highest. 

 The relationship satisfies the whole needs of the 

 selves of each and satisfies the urgency of the Heart 

 of Nature. 



So now our Artist will have experienced true 

 spirituality in its highest degree ; and having experi- 

 enced also the most elemental in his nature, he 

 will perforce have come in touch with Nature along 

 her whole range. And his soul being at the finest 

 pitch of sensitiveness, he will be able to appreciate 

 Natural Beauty as never before. And nothing less 

 than natural beauties, and nothing less than these 

 beauties at their best, will in his exalted mood be 



satisfying to him. He will be driven irresistibly 



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