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Speaker 1: Insight and nobility in the pursuit and practice of virtue.

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There at last comes a time when a divine insight

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dawns upon the mind. It searches into the causes and

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principles of things, which, once attained, establishes its possessor firmly

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in virtue. It renders him invulnerable to the assaults of temptation,

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and invincible in his work for the world. When the

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understanding is ripened by the culture of virtue, vicious inclinations disappear,

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and wrongdoing becomes impossible. When individual conduct is perceived as

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an unbroken series of causes and effects, the perceiving mind

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finally decides for virtue, and the lower selfish elements are

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just cast away forever until a man perceives the just

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law which operates in human life. Whatever virtue he may

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manifest at any given time, he is not firmly established

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in nobility of character. He is not fully armored with righteousness,

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and is not safely lodged in his final refuge. Not

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having acquired that perfect insight which no good and evil,

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and which perceives the effects of all deeds, both good

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and bad, he breaks down when assailed by temptation, at

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those points in his character which are not well fortified,

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those which have so far dimmed his spiritual insight and

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barred him from perfect vision. By thus breaking down, he

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discovers that within which has hindered him, and by setting

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to work to remove the hindrance, he ascends still higher

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in the scale of virtue, and approaches nearer to the

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perfect insight into the true order of life which makes

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a man divine. Under certain circumstances, a man held in

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restraint by the influence of friends, by a custom and environment,

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and not by his own inherent purity and strength, will

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appear to have and may believe he possesses a virtue

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of which he knows nothing in reality, and his lack

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of such virtue only appears when all outward restraints are withdrawn,

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and under temptation, the concealed weakness and vice make themselves manifest.

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On the other hand, the man of superior virtue will seem,

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in a familiar environment to be much the same as

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his weaker fellows, and his virtue will not be apparent

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to those about him. But when he suddenly brought into

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contact with great temptations or extraordinary events, his latent virtue

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appears in all its beauty and strength. Insight destroys the

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dominion of evil and reveals the faultless operation of the

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good law. The man of perfect insight cannot sin because

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he fully understands the nature of good and evil. And

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it is impossible for one who knows good and evil

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in all their ramifications of cause and effect, to choose

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the evil and reject the good. Just as the sane

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man would not choose ashes in preference to food, so

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the spiritually awakened man would not choose evil in preference

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to good. The presence of sin is an indication of

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self delusion and of ignorance. The spiritual vision is warped

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or undeveloped, and there is confusion of mind concerning the

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nature of good and evil. In the early stages of virtue,

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a man arrays himself against the forces of evil, which

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appear to him to be overpowering in their might and almost,

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if not entirely, unconquerable. But with the advent of insight,

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a new light is thrown upon the nature of things,

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and evil appears as it actually is, a small, dark,

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powerless thing, a mere negation, and not a formidable force

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or combination of forces. The man of insight knows that

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the root of evil is ignorance and not an intelligent power,

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and that all sin and suffering proceed therefrom Thus, knowing

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evil to be merely a deprivation of good, he cannot

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hate it, but manifest compassion for all sinning and suffering beings. Indeed,

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he who has so far conquered the evil in his

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own heart as to know the nature and source of evil,

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cannot possibly hate, dislike, or despise any being, no matter

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how far removed from virtue it may be. But while

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fully perceiving the degradation of character, he understands the dark

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spiritual condition from which such degradation springs, and so he

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pities and helps, where without insight he would hate and despise.

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Love ever attends upon insight, and pity waits on knowledge.

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That insight, which proceeds from self purification and long acquaintance

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with virtue, makes itself manifest in the form of ripeness

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of character. There is an unchanging strength and sweetness, combined,

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a clearness of intellect, a viral strength of will, and

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a gentleness of heart, a combination which denotes a cultured, mellowed,

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perfect being. One who has acquired sympathy, compassion, purity, and wisdom. Thus,

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while quote goodness gives insight, unquote insight renders goodness permanent

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fixes the mind and love and practice of all that

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is pure and noble, and stamps upon a man's brow

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the seal of divinity. The man whose goodness is of

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the kind that does not alter with altered environment or

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with the changing altitudes of those around him, has reached

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the divine goodness. He understands the supreme good. He's no

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longer concerned with evil as a thing that can harm,

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but he is concerned good only, and so he ignores

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evil and recognizes only good. He perceives that men commit

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evil out of the mistaken idea of good, and thus

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perceiving no hatred can enter his peaceful heart. The life

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of such a man is powerful, no matter how obscure

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it may be, for goodness is the most powerful thing

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in the world. The fact of his living and moving

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among men confers incalculable benefit upon the race, although during

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his lifetime this may not be perceived or understood. So

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powerful is goodness that the destiny of the world was, is,

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and will be in the hands of the good Those

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who are good are the guides and emancipators of humanity

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in the present period of its development. They are taking

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the race rapidly along its evolutionary journey. And this not

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in any mystical or miraculous sense, but in a very

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practical and normal sense, by their exemplary lives and the

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power of their deeds. The good men who help the

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world are not wonder workers, though undeveloped minds have ever

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tried to make them so such, but the workers of righteousness,

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servants of the good law. The world never was, is not,

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and will not be under the dominion of evil, for

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such a condition would mean non existence, evil being merely

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the negation of good, as darkness is the negation of light.

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It is light and not darkness, which is the sustaining power.

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Evil is the weakest thing in the world and cannot

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accomplish anything. The universe not only makes for good. The

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universe is good, and evil always falls short and fails.

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Inside is the seeing in the light of truth, that

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light which is the revealer of all things, as the

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light of day reveals all objects in the world in

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their proper forms. So when the light of truth enters

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the mind, it reveals all things of life in their

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proper proportions. He who searches his own heart, by the

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aid of truth, searches all hearts. He who, by long searching,

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has perceived the perfect law which is operative in his mind,

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has revealed the divine law, which is the stay and

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substance of the universe. Inside disperses error and puts an

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end to superstition. Sin is the only error. Men attack

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each other's beliefs and remain in ignorance. When they get

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rid of their own sins, they will become enlightened. Superstition

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springs from sin. Looking through dark and eyes, men see

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evil things, which are delusions of ignorance, conceiving in their

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hearts and lawful things. Their imagination is troubled with monsters

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and terrors, which have no existence in reality. Where there

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is pure insight, there is no fear, devils, demons, wrathful

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and jealous gods, vampires and evil spirits, and all the

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hideous hosts of ideological monsters have vanished from the universe,

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along with the feverish nightmare which gave birth to them.

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And before erect gaze of the purified one, there spreads

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a universe of orderly beauty and inviolate law. The man

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of insight loves in the beautific vision of the saints,

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not as a fleeting experience in a moment of exceptional purity,

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but as a constant, normal condition of mind. He has

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completed his long journey through self and sorrow and is

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at peace. He has conquered and is glad. He sees

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all the sin, misery, and pain that are in the

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world more plainly and vividly than other men. But he

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now sees it as it is in its cause inception, growth,

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and fruitage, not as it appeared to him when he

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was blindly involved in it and his mind was distorted

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by impurities. He watches the growth of beings from the

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immature to the mature, through periods of change and pain,

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with tender compassion and solicitude, as the mother watches the

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growth of a child through the helpless period of its infancy.

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He sees justice operating in all things. While men are

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waxing wrathful over the triumph of Wrome, he knows that

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wrong has not triumphed, but is brought to naught. He

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sees the overruling right, which, though concealed from worldly eyes,

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remains forever unshaken. He sees the littleness, the peeny, weakness,

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and the blind folly of evil, as compared with the majesty,

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invincible power, and the all seeing wisdom of good. And

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thus knowing and seeing, his mind is finally fixed in

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that which is good. He is devoted to truth, and

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his delight is in the doing of righteousness. When insight

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is born in the mind, reality stands revealed, not a

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metaphysical reality distinct from the universe, not a speculative reality

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other than the things of life, but the reality of

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the universe itself, the reality of things in themselves. Insight

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is triumphant of a change in decay, for it perceives

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the abiding in change, the eternal, in the transient, the immortal,

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in the things which pass away. And herein is the

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meaning of that fixed nobility of character of the saints

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and sages, and superlatively of the great teachers of the race.

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That they perceive and abide in reality, they know life

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in its completion. They underst stand and obey the righteous law.

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Having conquered self, they have conquered all delusions, have triumphed

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over sin. They have triumphed over sorrow, having purified themselves,

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they see the perfect cosmos. He who chooses the right,

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the pure, the good, and clings to them through all misunderstandings, insults,

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and defeat, reaches at last the place of insight, and

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his eyes open upon the world of truth. Then his

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painful discipline is ended, the lower conditions no more affect

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him or cause him sorrow. Purity and joy abide with him,

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and the universe again rejoices in the triumph of good

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and hails another conqueror.