Page:The Pathway of Roses, Larson (1913) image of page 186.jpg

186 perfect, transcendent, infinite, divine. To live in this cosmic world is to view the entire universe from the heights, and from that sublime view everything is beautiful and all is good. Therefore, the life of the cosmic is a life of perfected being, everlasting peace and eternal joy. It is the life victorious—the life of the spirit—that every exalted soul has revealed to man, but it is not a life that is apart from personal existence; it is the soul of personal existence.

The cosmic world permeates the physical world as spirit permeates substance; and what the physical world is to the body, the cosmic world is to the soul. According to the true purpose of life, the body should live in the physical world, enjoying everything that is good and beautiful in personal existence; while the soul should live in the cosmic world, enjoying everything that is good and beautiful in spiritual existence. This is complete existence, but the soul cannot consciously live in the cosmic until it is awakened, or until it has become conscious of its own exalted divinity.

The awakening of the soul into the world of its own spiritual nature, will not deprive the body of anything that is worthy in physical life. We are not required to leave the physical to enjoy the spiritual, nor is it necessary to sacrifice anything that can add to the welfare of the body in order to inherit the riches of the soul. The greatest good comes into the whole of life only when