destroyed. The essence of Christ’s teaching consists precisely in the acceptance of this abiding and indestructible element as our «ego». The chief fallacy of our judgement about the state in which we will be after death proceeds from our not being able to renounce the conception of a separate personality and the ensuing therefrom conceptions of space and time. It is the proper to every individuality, that it cannot conceive itself otherwise, than in space and time. Whereas death destroys the personality and therefore destroys also the conditional conceptions of space and time, proper only to personality. And therefore when we ask: where shall we be after death? we wrongly put the question, for we are asking: in what space and time shall we be when there will be for us no space and time? The word «where» expresses a demand for fixing space; the word «shall» a demand for fixing time. And therefore Christ’s definition of life, expressed in the words: «I am the ressurrection and life», and «before Abraham was I am», not only is wiser and more elevated, but also much more accurately defines the true and therefore eternal life of man, than the teaching of the churches about the soul of man rising after death and going to purgatory, to heaven or to hell. According [to] Christ’s teaching, true life is and therefore cannot be infringed by death. Death destroys for us only space and time and therefore those bars, which in this life limited our personality. What will this state without space and time be we cannot imagine, but according to John, Christ says: «in my Father’s house are many mansions». And these «mansions», i. e. states other, than our own, without space and time, we cannot in this life represent to ourselves; but nevertheless [we] may be quite sure that they exist. From another point of view life cannot cease with the destruction of personality for the reason, that if in the universe there is an eternal element, which I know without myself as order and mutuality, within myself — as reason and love, this eternal element, if I take it as my «ego», cannot be destroyed by death.
3) You write: «You seem to condemn business or commerce and, in that case, if a man is so engaged, would you have him give up his business and live upon the land», which, you say, would be very pleasant, but often difficult and even impossible, especially for those who have a family. How to steer clear of the present network which surrounds us? That is the question. To steer clear of all the temptations of the world is impossible,
