them to one's own standard. The only way in which we can help other
people is by loving them; by frightening another out of something which
he is apt to do and of which one does not approve, one effects
absolutely nothing: sin cannot be scared away; the spirit must learn to
desire to cast it away, because it sees that goodness is beautiful and
fine; and this can only be done by example, never by precept."

"But it is the entire absence of both that puzzles me here," I said.
"Nothing to do and a friend to talk to; it's a lazy business, I think."

Amroth looked at me with amusement. "It's a sign," he said, "if you feel
that, that you are getting rested, and ready to move on; but you will be
very much surprised when you know a little more about the life here. You
are like a baby in a cradle at present; when you come to enter one of
our communities here, you will find it as complicated a business as you
could wish. Part of the difficulty is that there are no rules, to use
your own phrase. It is real democracy, but it is not complicated by any
questions of property, which is the thing that clogs all political
progress in the world below. There is nothing to scheme for, no
ambitions to gratify, nothing to gain at the expense of others; the only
thing that matters is one's personal relation to others; and this is
what makes it at once so simple and so complex. But I do not think it is
of any use to tell you all this; you will see it in a flash, when the
time comes. But it may be as well for you to remember that there will be
no one to command you or compel you or advise you. Your own heart and
spirit will be your only guides. There is no such thing as compulsion or
force in heaven. Nothing can be done to you that you do not choose or
allow to be done."

"Yes," I said, "it is the blessed and beautiful sense of freedom from