But you would hardly grasp a condition in which the body--and the impulses of the body--are in complete subjection to the aspirations of the mind.
You"-- he blew forth a cloud of smoke--"are probably incapable of realizing that the worship of beauty can be of so purely artistic a nature as to be practically free from the physical element, certainly independent of it.

I am taking you out of your depth, I know, but it is hard to make myself clear to an untrained mind.

I might try a homely simile and suggest to you that you go a-fishing, not for love of the fish, but because it is your profession; but that does not wholly illustrate my meaning, for I love everything in the way of beauty that comes my way.

I follow beauty like a guiding star.

And sometimes--but seldom, oh, very seldom"-- a sudden odd thrill sounded in his voice as if by accident some hidden string had been struck and set vibrating--"I fulfil my desire--I realise my dream--I grasp and hold a spark of the Divine." He paused again, his face to the gold of the dawn and in his eyes the far-off rapture of one who watches some soaring flight of fancy.