becomes so powerful that it can sometimes break through the bondage
of matter, which, after all, is no more real than the stuff a dream
is made of, and mold its prison walls into any form it chooses; in
which case, of course, it is no longer a prison, and the other world
is achieved without the change called death!"

"And why do you call it a prison, if no more real than a dream?"

"Have you ever had the nightmare? If so, you must know that your will
was insufficient to free you from the horrid scene that had taken
such forcible hold of you. Was the nightmare real or not?"

Paul was silent for several minutes. He could not deny the reality of
the scene through the chimney, for it had the same forceful existence
to him as anything in life. Ah Ben, seeing that he was still puzzling
himself over the problem of mind and matter, the puzzle of life, the
great sphinx riddle of the ages, said:

"Let me ask you a question, Mr. Henley--I might say several
questions--which may possibly tend to throw a little light upon
this subject, and perhaps convince you that matter is really mind."

"Ask as many as you like."

"Pantheism," continued Ah Ben, "is scoffed at by many people calling
themselves Christians as being idolatrous, and yet to me it is the
most ennobling of all creeds. Without knowing anything of your
religious faith, I would first ask if you believe in God?"

Paul answered affirmatively.