CHAPTER XXXIII.
THE DOCTOR'S OPINION OF EGYPLOSIS.
My experiences in Egyplosis were teaching me that even the mostperfect human organizations contain the elements of decay and death.The human soul at variance with its own physical condition was hardlythe best ideal of a god. Here was happiness piled upon happiness, yetthe recipients thereof were not happy. Disappointments and sufferingare natural to man because life is supported on difficulty, and along-continued happiness is the sure forerunner of disaster. Thereaction of misery lies somewhere concealed from the eye of happiness,and if it does not at once show itself, it will later on. Even inwell-guarded happiness, if one single pleasure be omitted, weexperience more regret at its absence than pleasure over the bountieswe enjoy. Hence, a large proportion of twin-souls were not wholly inlove with their life in the temple of souls, however enamored theywere of each other. Almost absolute freedom of action, freedom fromcare, physical and mental exercises, soul development, the practice ofmagic, the most alluring investigation of mental and spiritual themes,the study and practice of art in all its forms, and the investigationof inventive mechanism; a palace to live in, with vast galleries ofpaintings and sculptures, salons for music, and schools of science,libraries filled with the rarest works of history, literature andpoetry, and, most precious of all, the daily dalliance withcounterpart souls, could not make these people happy. The one thingdenied, which any reasonable man would say was simply the price paidfor all this glory, was considered the greatest of all misfortunes.The imagination has a strange habit of passing lightly over happinesspossessed and settling down upon a little thing beyond reach andexaggerating it to the utmost.
The imprisonment of Ardsolus and Merga created a profound sensationamong the ten thousand inmates of the palace. Sentiment was divided somuch that two political parties were formed--those who believed theerring lovers had met a just fate, and those who thought the system atfault in providing no means of immediate escape, when to reside in thepalace became imprisonment and a living death to certain souls. Thelatter party was composed of the more youthful section of thepriesthood, who sympathized with the unfortunate lovers. These latterwould have got up a demonstration in their favor did not the sternrules of Egyplosis suppress any such outbursts of popular feeling.
On the day following the imprisonment of the erring twin-soul, thequestion was being discussed in the apartments occupied by theofficers of the _Polar King_ and myself. We had been lodged in a noblebuilding not far from the palace of the goddess, while the sailorswere quartered in the fortress of Egyplosis, in company with thewayleals of the palace itself.
"Your opinion of Egyplosis has possibly undergone a change since theday of our reception," said the doctor.
"Well," said I, "I suppose the longer we stay here the more exact willbe our knowledge of this peculiar institution."
I had considered Egyplosis as a successful institution for developingthe human soul. Certainly Harikar with his beloved attributes requireda fit home for his complete development.
I had praised their oasis of love, of refinement, of rest, and ofbeauty, and even ventured to assert that such a paradise was theoutcome of the love and purity of twin-souls. I forgot in myenthusiasm the possibility of the soul being satiated with pleasure,that life is a warfare ever seeking but never gaining repose, and thatwe are led more by our passions and illusions than our judgment. Iforgot that while man resists pain he always yields to pleasure. Iforgot that he was created for difficulty, which is the oxygen thatfeeds the flame of endeavor, and that difficulty alone can developefforts which pleasure so easily destroys.
"I am of the opinion," said the doctor, "that this institution isfounded on a perversion of human nature. This so-called hopeless loveis, as we have just had proof, one of the most disturbing elements inlife. Its victims resemble Tantalus, who, though steeped to the lipsin water, can never drink. They are the unhappy devotees of an idol,and, like the Hindoos, stick into their sides the hooks of a cruelpassion and swing aloft in torture to the applause of an admiringcrowd."
"You evidently do not reverence hopeless love?" I remarked.
"I consider Egyplosis," he continued, "but a nervous asylum on a largescale. This nervous temperament, with its hysterical raptures andtears, its painful sensibility, its exalted spiritualism andirresistible sympathy, departs so far from the steady temperate sphereof action that can alone sustain alike the pleasures anddisappointments of life as to become the object of pity. These are themarks of a mental disease. Ultra-romantic ideas and whimsical andunaccountable tastes are attributes of this temperament. It is a kindof insanity, not the insanity proceeding from hopeless mentalaberration, but founded on a systematic train of ideas born in aheated enthusiasm. It may lead, however, to hopeless insanity."
"Doctor," said the astronomer, "you are taking a very cold-bloodedview of the subject. You seem not to have discovered that the lifehere is ideal. From what you say one would think that love is aspecies of insanity."
"That is precisely my idea," replied the doctor. "Haven't you observedhow foolishly people act when in love? All ordinary human prudence andjudgment are thrown aside. Love pares the claws and pulls the teeth ofman as a rational animal. Love is supreme folly."
"I think," said the astronomer, "the climate of this country hassomething to do with the present institution. You see that the sunhere never sets, and, were it not for his diminutive size, wouldinfallibly turn the entire interior world into a desert, such as themoon is at present, where the outer sun's heat falls for fourteen dayson the one spot without intermission, completely blasting herterritories. The mild yet incessant heat of Swang creates a fervor ofblood and a romance of temperament unknown in lands possessing night,hence the practices of Egyplosis are a natural result of climaticconditions. The appetite for ideal love has been created by theclimate, and the religion of the country very naturally responds tothe craving of such appetite. Who knows what excesses might not obtainif no such restraint were imposed on the most gallant youth of thecountry."
"I think," said the naturalist, "that the proper thing to do would beto have their people imitate the conduct of Jacob of old and Rachel.Jacob worshipped ideal love in the person of Rachel for seven yearsand then married, her. If our commander would only propose such ascheme to the supreme goddess it might possibly be favorablyconsidered."
"Do you really suppose," said I, "that I possess any influence withthe goddess, or that any recommendation of mine would be able tochange the constitution of Atvatabar?"
"Well, sir," said he, "if you will allow me to make the remark, Ithink the supreme goddess takes quite as much interest in you as youdo in her, and would treat your opinions with great respect."
"You think more than I have ever dared to think," I replied, "and yourthought savors of sacrilege. The goddess belongs to her faith, hercountry. To prefer an individual soul is to dethrone herself asgoddess and meet a painful death."
"In any case, whatever happens, you can rely on the fidelity of yourfollowers," said the naturalist.
The subject was fast becoming embarrassing and I merely said:"Gentlemen, I am assured of your fidelity; so please let us dismissthe subject."
The hour for rest having been sounded, I sought my couch, but not tosleep. The remarks made by my companions, emphasized by my growingfondness for the goddess, set me to thinking what the end would be ofour discovery of Atvatabar. I wondered if Lyone was not, as sung byher devotees,
"A chrysalis eager to hover And fly from her prison away."
Could it be that the goddess might possibly, if an occasion worthy ofsuch a step presented itself, fly from Egyplosis, renounce her throne,her crown, her sublime office of supreme goddess of Harikar, and withme retire to some far-off country, braving in the meantime the almostcertain prospect of death. For her sake I felt I could meet anysituation, however terrible, but for my sake would she throw aside herunparalleled dignities? Even if in trying to escape we outflew in myown vessel their ships of war, we could
never escape the ubiquitouswayleals, the magnic-winged troops that could fight equally well onland or sea.
Bah! I said, such a dream is idiotic. When I thought of the splendorof the position that she would be obliged to renounce for the sake ofher love for the passing stranger, and of the awful penalties thatawaited transgression in one so exalted, I considered that no cravingof passion should dare to resist such difficulties.
Here duty was resistance. Nowhere is man exonerated from the penaltyof having to pay a price for his possessions, and even possessionitself is not happiness. Better, I said to myself, to depart in peacethan encourage the goddess in a desperate enterprise, if indeed shehad any such desires as my vanity attributed to her.