--and that people too were not
punished for their own sakes, to help them, but just to startle or
convince others."
"Yes," said Amroth, "I was only jesting, and I see that my jests were
out of place. Of course what you saw was real--there are no pretences
here. Men and women do indeed suffer a kind of death--the second
death--in these places, and have to begin again; but that is only for a
certain sort of self-confident and sin-soaked person, whose will needs
to be roughly broken. There are certain perverse sins of the spirit
which need a spiritual death, as the sins of the body need a bodily
death. Only thus can one be born again."
"Well," I said, "I am amazed--but now what am I to do? I am fit for
nothing, and I shall be fit for nothing hereafter."
"If you talk like this," said Amroth, "you will only drive me away.
There are certain things that it is better not to confess to one's
dearest friend, not even to God. One must just be silent about them, try
to forget them, hope they can never happen again. I tell you, you will
soon be all right; and if you are not you will have to see a physician.
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