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 Then, as to the country itself. Nations prefer their own type of country however delightful that of others
may be. Here, they can find it. And that s right and natural too.
 What about Omar and his friend?
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  Ah, they come into another category. Where they live nations have no significance, for the people
themselves are above or beyond nationality. Radiant Wing is just such another. In the realm proper to him,
he loses his precise nationality though not his racial individuality, if you understand what I mean.
 I m afraid I don t.
 That s not your fault. It s mine! What I mean is that Radiant Wing will retain his particular cast of
features, in the same way as Omar will, but that the nation of which he was a former member will have no
significance for him, to the extent that Radiant Wing and Omar regard themselves as of no nation and of all
nations, as it were.
 There s no end to the objections which these philosophic geniuses raise upon one matter or another.
 I noticed that Omar and his friend both spoke English, and without a trace of accent too.
 That is one of the objections I referred to. Can you think of any reason at all why Omar shouldn t speak
English, or any other language?
 None whatever, if he wishes to.
 If he wishes to. There you have it, Roger. If his particular work would be made easier, or indeed, made
possible, by his doing so, then do it he will.
 As it happens, Omar has friends on earth, mutual friends, as a matter of fact. It became necessary for him
to speak with those friends. At first he spoke no English, and they certainly knew no word of Chaldean.
What was to be done? It was obvious from the outset that they couldn t learn Chaldean, but it was equally
obvious that he could, with the greatest facility, learn the English language. He did so without the slightest
inconvenience to himself.
 You know what the memory can do here, Roger. Once something goes into the mind, there it stays. Why,
Omar could learn any language well, so as to speak it fluently, while the earth folk were thinking about it.
You will recall that Radiant Wing knows sufficient of our native tongue to make himself comfortably
understood for the purpose of his work on earth. Omar also wanted to make himself understood, but in a
different way, and more extensively. He wished to cover a wide range of matters as lucidly as possible, and
so he went deeply into the task of learning English. The very same thing applies to us all here. If you, my
boy, wish to learn any language, whether to use it actively I mean, conversationally as well as to read
literature in that language, there is no power that can stop you. You are at liberty to begin this moment.
Thousands of us don t, though, because there is no reason for us to do so.
 You know, Roger, the higher you go up the spiritual ladder, the less you think about nationality and
language, as such, unless there is work to be done on earth that involves the use of another tongue than
your own.
 How does one get to another country here?
 In several ways. Shanks s mare is one of them.
 Monsignor; what s this? How can you reprove Roger for using slang, when you use almost as bad
yourself? exclaimed Ruth laughing.
 You see, Roger, what a thoroughly bad influence you are. Here have I been carefully picking my way
through the language so as not to use a single word or term that would be frowned upon by those folk on
earth who think we should speak as though we were addressing an ecumenical council or something
equally boring. Ah, well.  Evil communications corrupt good manners , I suppose.
 There is no difficulty in getting to other countries in these realms, or to be more exact, to those parts
where folk from other earth lands have their dwellings.
 You were thinking of frontiers mostly, weren t you? There are no frontiers. You may come and go as
you please, and what s more, you ll be as welcome there as the inhabitants of those parts are welcome
here. In fact, if you wander along you would hardly perceive you were  there , except for some slight
difference in the landscape perhaps, and in the dwelling houses.
 There is only one kind of barrier you ll come across in this world, and that is the barrier between one
realm and another, and that s invisible, or practically so. An increase or diminution of the light, as the case
may be. If there were not that, certain unpleasant, extremely unpleasant, elements would be tempted to
overrun the regions next above them. And perhaps some of us would be tempted to develop ideas above
our station, as the phrase used to be. It is a natural law that works in this way, and like all such laws it
works without any breakdown, fuss, or trouble. That s the beauty of it. No question of difference of
opinion, or insistence upon rights. There s no arguing with a natural law. I ve yet to hear of anyone arguing
with the law of gravity on earth. It would be a one-sided argument in any case, and probably end in
disaster.
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  As far as at least these particular realms are concerned, you might call them Cosmo polis with every [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]