Part 29 (1/2)
”It seems fantastic. But there may be something in it.” The Premier raised his eyes and studied the ceiling. ”There is certainly some excitement abroad. We are dealing with an unprecedented situation. I therefore propose to say to-night that if, in the course of time, we find that life is prolonged and disease done away with, new laws will have to be considered.”
”Not only new laws,” I said. ”We shall have to reconstruct the whole future of life. But there is no hurry. There is plenty of time. There is eternity before us.”
”What do you eat?” demanded the Premier suddenly.
”A little bread or biscuit.”
He clasped his hands behind his back and surveyed me for quite a minute.
”I don't believe you're a quack,” he observed. ”But when you walked into the room, I was doubtful.”
”Why?”
”Because you wouldn't look at me squarely.”
”Why should I look at you squarely? I looked at you and saw you. I have no desire to make any impression on you, or to dominate you in any way.
It was sufficient just to see you. As Immortals, we do not waste our time looking at one another squarely. An Immortal cannot act.”
The Premier smiled to himself and took out his watch.
”I am obliged to you for the instance,” he said. ”Good-night.”
I rose and walked towards the door. On my way I stopped before a vast dingy oil-painting.
”Why do you all deceive yourselves that you admire things like that?
Throw it away. When you become an Immortal you won't live here.”
The Premier and Jason stood together on the hearth-rug. They watched me intently as I went out and closed the door behind me. A servant met me on the landing and escorted me downstairs. I observed that he was an Immortal.
”What are you doing here?” I asked.
”I am a spectator,” he said in a calm voice. ”And you?”
”I, too, am a spectator.”
CHAPTER XXIV
NIGHT OF AN IMMORTAL
I pa.s.sed a most remarkable night. On reaching home I went to bed as usual. My mind was busy, but what busied it was not the events of the day.
I lay in the darkness in a state of absolute contentment. My eyes were closed. My body was motionless, and felt warm and comfortable. I was quite aware of the position of my limbs in s.p.a.ce and I could hear the sound of pa.s.sing vehicles outside. I was not asleep and yet at the same time I was not awake. I knew I was not properly awake because, when I tried to move, there seemed to be a resistance to the impulse, which prevented it from reaching the muscles. As I have already said, I could feel. The sensation of my body was there, though probably diminished, but the power of movement was checked, though only slightly. And all the time I lay in that state, my mind was perfectly lucid and continually active. I thought about many things and the power of thought was very great, in that I could keep my attention fixed hour after hour on the same train of thought, go backwards and forwards along it, change and modify its gradations, just as if I were dealing with some material and plastic formation. Since that time I have become acquainted with a doctrine that teaches that thoughts are in the nature of things--that a definite thought is a formation in some tenuous medium of matter, just as a cathedral is a structure in gross matter. This is certainly the kind of impression I gained then.
It was now in the light of contrast that I could reflect on the rusty and clumsy way in which I had previously done my thinking, and I remembered with a faint amus.e.m.e.nt that there had been a time when I considered that I had a very clear and logical mind. Logical! What did we, as mere mortals full of personal desire, know of logic? The reflection seemed infinitely humorous. My thoughts had about them a new quality of stability. They formed themselves into clear images, which had a remarkable permanence. Their power and influence was greatly increased. If, for example, I thought out a bungalow situated on the cliff, I built up, piece by piece in my mind, the complete picture; and once built up it remained there so that I could see it as a whole, and almost, so to speak, walk round it and view it from different angles. I could lay aside this thought-creation just as I might lay aside a model in clay, and later on bring it back into my mind, as fresh and clear as ever. The enjoyment of thinking under such conditions is impossible to describe. It was like the joy of a man, blind from childhood, suddenly receiving his sight.
As ordinary mortals, we are all familiar with the apparently real scenes that occur in dreams. In our dreams we see buildings and walk round them. We see flights of steps and climb them. We apparently touch and taste food. We meet friends and strangers and converse with them. At times we seem to gaze over landscapes covered with woods and meadows.