Page:The Pathway of Roses, Larson (1913) image of page 188.jpg

188 To live in the cosmic world is to realize the purity and the absoluteness of the spiritual, the divinity of man's real nature and the absolute perfection of his true being. It is to know the truth about man—the truth that he is created in the image and likeness of God, and it is the knowing of this truth that makes man free, that produces complete emancipation. To enter into the cosmic world, therefore, is to enter into freedom, health, harmony and wholeness, and, in brief, everything that promotes the highest good for body, mind and soul. The cosmic life is the apex of all ascending life, the fulfillment of every true desire in life, the realization of everything that is ideal in life, the attainment of the one supreme goal in the living of divine life. To live in the cosmic is to live in the world of the great within, in the highest state of being, in the life of the soul, in tune with the Infinite, in the secret places of the Most High.

To enter the cosmic world is to ascend to the heights and live the spiritual life. The living of the spiritual life means the overcoming of spiritual death, and it is spiritual death that must be overcome before man can receive his inheritance, here or hereafter. The phenomena of physical death need not concern us; its coming produces no permanent effect upon real existence, nor is anything gained by prolonging personal existence so long as the soul is dead to spiritual existence. It is spiritual life that gives real worth to personal life, and it is the life of the living soul that