THE NEW WINE
209
“
The Ultimate
Voyage ,” when
the Voice
of God
the voice of the Soul that is—says :
“ The last and greatest is within you now . "
Then fire too subtle
and omniscient
Devoured our substance, and we moved
again
Not down , nor up , but inwards mystically
Involving
self in self, and light in light .
And this was not a pain , but peaceable
Like young -eyed love , reviving ; it consumed
And consecrated and made savour sweet
To our changed senses .
And the dual self
Of love grew less distinct and I began
To feel her heart in mine , her lips
mine .
Then mistier grew the sense of God without ,
And God was I , and nothing might exist ,
Subsist , or be at
all
,
outside
of
Me
,
Myself Existence
of
Existences
.
This magnificent passage
is
the very consummation
of
idealism
.
The sense
of
God the crude outer reality
growing dim
,
dimmer
,
and yet more dim
;
till
finally
it
is
absorbed
in
Self
.
And yet when we with our five
senses
,
search for
a
pure ideal
,
an
absolute
truth
,
a
God outside
of
ourselves
,
our failure
is
certain
.
To attempt such
a
course
is
but
to
leap
into
the
inane
,
and
he
who
should
set out
on
the
search for
God
in
realms
trod
alone
by
reason
,
is
as
certain
of
destruction
as
he who
with
mortal
foot
should
attempt
to
walk
the
billowy
waves
of
the
Galilean
sea
.
Tannhäuser's
falsely expressed aspirations begot
within him the Venusberg
;
seeking for that which was
beneath
his own true self
,
he
failed
;
and
it
was not
till
he
awoke from the dream
of
God
,
that
he
was able
to
free
himself from
the drear arms of Materialism
.
So with
us
,
not until we wake from
the God
-
drunken
|
Mysteries
:
Lyrical
and Dramatic
,
vol
.
i,
p
.
98
.
P