[Illustration by Pauline Baynes for "The Wood Between the Worlds"]
"Now
this world in which they exist is truly a real world, and
to see it is a very difficult and dangerous thing, but our master held
that it could be done, and that the man was very wise who would consecrate
himself to this end as part - and the chief part - of his duty on
earth. He did this, and I, as much as I can, have done it."
"But
I haven't done it," Anthony said. "And therefore how can that world - if
there is one - be seen by me and people like me?"
"As
for that," the other answered, "there are many people who have disciplined
and trained themselves more than they know, but that is not the
point now. I know that this man was able sometimes to see into that world,
and contemplate the awful and terrible things within it, feeding his
soul on such visions; and he could even help others towards seeing it,
as he has done me on occasions. But as I told you just now, since these
powers exhibit their nature much more singly in the beasts, so there
is a peculiar sympathy between the beasts and them. Generally, matter
is the separation between all these animals which we know and the powers
beyond. But if one of those animals should be brought within the terrific
influence of one particular idea - to call it that - very specially
felt through a man's intense concentration on it."
He
paused, and Anthony said: "What then?"
"Why
then", the other said, "the matter of the beast might be changed into
the image of the idea, and this world, following that one, might all
be drawn into that other world. I think this is happening."
Charles Williams
The Place of the Lion
(Victor Gollancz, 1931)
(Victor Gollancz, 1931)
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