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Speaker 1: Chapter five of From Passion to Peace. This is a

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LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain.

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For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox dot org.

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Recording by Andrea Fiori. From Passion to Peace by James Allen,

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Chapter five transcendence. When a man passes from the dark

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stage of temptation to the more enlightened stage of transmutation,

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he has become a saint. A saint is one who

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perceives the need for self purification, who understands the way

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of self purification, and who has entered that way and

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is engaged in perfecting himself. But there comes a time

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in the process of transmutation when, with the decrease of

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evil and the accumulation of good, there dawns in the

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mind a new vision, a new consciousness, a new man.

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When this is reached, the saint has become a sage.

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He has passed from the human life to the divine life.

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He is born again, and there begins for him a

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new round of experiences. He wields a new power, A

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new universe opens out before his spiritual gaze. This is

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the stage of transcendence. This I call the transcendent life.

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When there is no more consciousness of sin, when anxiety

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and doubt, and grief and sorrow are ended, when lust

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and animosity and anger and envy no more possess the thoughts,

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when there remains in the mind no vestige a blame

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towards others for one's own condition. And when all conditions

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are seen to be good because they are the result

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of causes, so that no event can afflict the mind,

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then transcendence is aed. Then the limited personality is outgrown,

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and the divine life is known evil as transcended, and

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good is all in all, the divine consciousness is not

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the intensification of the human. It is a new form

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of consciousness. It springs from the old, but it is

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not the continuance of it, born of the lower life

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of sin and sorrow. After a period of painful torment,

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It yet transcends that life and has no part in it,

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just as the perfect flower transcends the seed from which

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it sprang. As passion is the key to the self life,

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so serenity is the keynote of the transcendent life. Rising

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into it, man is lifted above disharmony and disturbance, When

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perfect good is realized and known not as an opinion

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or an idea, but as an experience or a possession,

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then calm vision is acquired and tranquil joy abides through

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all hardships. The transcendent life is ruled not by passions

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but by principles. It is founded not upon fleeting impulses,

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but upon abiding laws. In its clear atmosphere, the orderly

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sequence of all things is revealed, so that there is

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seen to be no room for sorrow, anxiety, or regret.

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While men are involved in the passions of self, they

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burden themselves with cares and trouble themselves over many things.

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Above all, else, they trouble over their own little, burdened,

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pain stricken personality, being anxious for its fleeting pleasure, for

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its protection and preservation, and for its eternal safety and continuance.

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Now in the life that is wise and good, all

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this is transcended. Personal interests are replaced by universal purposes,

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and all cares, troubles, and anxieties concerning the pleasure and

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fate of the personality are dispelled. Like the feverish dreams

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of a night. Passion is blind and ignorant. It sees

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and knows only of its own gratification. Self recognizes no law.

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Its object is to get and to enjoy. The getting

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is a graduated scale, varying from sensual greed through many

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subtle vanities up to the desire for a personal heaven

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or personal immortality. But it is self still. It is

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the old sensual craving coming out in a more subtle

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and deceptive form. It is longing for some personal delight,

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along with its accompanying fear that delight should be lost forever.

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In the transcendent state, desire and dread are ended, and

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the thirst for gain and fear of loss are things

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that are no wa more. Where the universal order is seen,

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and where perennial joy in that good is a normal condition.

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What is there left to desire? What remains to be feared?

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He who has brought his entire nature into conformity and

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harmony with the law of righteousness, and who has made

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his thoughts pure in his deeds blameless, has entered liberty.

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He has transcended darkness and morality, and has passed into

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light and immortality. For the transcendent state is at first

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a higher order of morality than a new form of perception.

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And at last, a comprehensive understanding of the universal moral causation.

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And this morality, this vision, and this understanding constitute the

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new consciousness, the divine life. The transcendent man is he

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who is above and beyond the dominion of self. He

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has transcended evil and lives in the practice and knowledge

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of good. He is like a man who, having long

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looked upon the world with darkened eyes, is now restored

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to sight and sees things as they are. Evil is

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an experience and not a power. If it were an

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independent power in the universe, it could not be transcended

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by any being. But though not as real as a power,

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it is real as a condition and an experience. For

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all experience is of the nature of reality. It is

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a state of ignorance, of undevelopment, and as such it

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recedes and disappears before the light of knowledge, as the

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intellectual ignorance of a child vanishes before gradually accumulating learning,

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or as darkness dissolves before the rising light. The painful

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experience of evil passes away as the new experiences of good.

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Good enter into and possess the field of consciousness. And

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what are the new experiences of good? They are many

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and beautiful, such as the joyful knowledge of the freedom

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from sin. They are the absence of remorse and deliverance

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from all torments of temptation. They are ineffable joy and

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conditions and circumstances which formerly cause deep affliction and imperviousness

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to be hurt by the actions of others. They are

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great patience and sweetness of character, serenity of mind under

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all circumstances, in emancipation from doubt, fear, and anxiety. They

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are freedom from all dislike, envy, and animosity, with the

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power to feel and act kindly toward others, those who

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see fit to constitute themselves as one's enemies or opponents.

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They are the divine power to give blessings for curses

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and to return good for evil. Deep knowledge of the

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human heart, with a perception of its fundamental goodness, an

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insight into the law of moral causation and the mental

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evolution of beings, with a prophetic foresight of the sublime

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good that awaits humanity. Above all, they are a glad

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rejoicing in the limitation and impotency of evil, and in

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the eternal supremacy and power of good. All these and

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the calm, strong, far reaching life that these implying contain

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are the rich experiences of the transcendent man, along with

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all the new and varied resources, the vast powers, the

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quickened abilities, and enlarged capacities that spring to life in

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the new consciousness. Transcendence is surpassing virtue. Evil and good

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cannot dwell together. Evil must be abandoned, left behind, and

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transcended before good is grasped and known. When good is

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practiced and fully comprehended, then all the afflictions of the

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mind are at an end. For that which is accompanied

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with pain and sorrow in the consciousness of evil is

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not so accompanied in the consciousness of good. Whatsoever happens

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to the good man cannot cause him perplexity or sorrow,

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for he knows its cause and issue knows the good

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which is ordained to accomplish in himself, and so his

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mind remains happy and serene. Though the body of the

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good Man may be bound, his mind is free. Though

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it may be wounded and in pain, joy and peace

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abide within his heart. A spiritual teacher had a pupil

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who was apt in earnest. After several years of learning

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and practice, the pupil one day offered a question for

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discussion which his master could not answer. After days of

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deep meditation, the master says to his pupil, I cannot

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answer the question which you have asked. Have you any

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solution to offer? Whereupon the pupil formulated a reply to

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the question which he had propounded. The master then said

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to him, you have answered that which I could not,

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and henceforth neither I nor any man can instruct you.

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For now you are indeed instructed by truth. You have

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soared like the kingly eagle, where no man can follow.

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Your work is now to instruct others. You are no

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longer the pupil. You have become the master. In looking

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back on the self life which he had transcended, the

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divinely enlightened man sees all the afflictions of that life

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as though his schoolmasters were teaching and leading him upward,

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And in the measure that he penetrated their meaning and

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lifted himself above them, they departed from him, their mission

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to teach him having ended, they left him the triumphant

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master of the field. For the lower cannot teach the higher,

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Ignorance cannot instruct wisdom, evil cannot enlighten good. Nor can

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the pupil set lessons for the master. That which is

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transcended cannot reach up to that which transcends. Evil can

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only teach in its own sphere, where it is regarded

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as master. In the sphere of good, it has no

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place and no authority. The strong traveler on the highway

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of truth knows no such thing as resignation to evil.

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He only knows obedience to good. He who submits to evil,

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saying sin cannot be overcome and evil must be borne,

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thereby acknowledges that evil is his master. It is not

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his master to instruct him, but to bind and oppress him.

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The lover of good cannot be alone of evil, nor

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can he for one moment admit its ascendency. He elevates

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and glorifies good, not evil. He loves light, not darkness.

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When a man makes truth his master, he abandons error.

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As he transcends error, he becomes more like his master,

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until at last he becomes one with truth, teaching it

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as a master by his actions and reflecting it in

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his life. Transcendence is not an abnormal condition. It belongs

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to the orderly process of evolution, though as yet few

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have reached it. All will come into it in the

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course of the ages. And he who ascends into it

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sins no more, sorrows no more, and is no more troubled.

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Good are his thoughts, good are his actions, And good

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is the tranquil tenor of his way. He has conquered

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and has submitted to truth. He has mastered evil and

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has comprehended good. Henceforth, neither men nor books can instruct him,

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for he is instructed by the supreme Good, the spirit

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of truth. End of Chapter five recording by Andrea Fiori