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LIGHT ON THE PATH 47 t'is' this which is his first task. If life was not taught it to him, if he is not strong enough to teach himself, and if he has power enough to demand the help of a Master, then this fearful trial, de. picted in Zanoni, is put upon him. The pscillation in which he lives is for an instant stilled; and he has' to survive the shock of facing what seems to him fat first sight as the abyss of anothingness. Not till he haß learned to dwell in this Jabyss, and has found its peace, is it possible for his eyes to have become incapable of tears.