When a man is born, at the same moment two bells begin to toll. One bell tolls below, one above; one as it were on earth, one, as the people say, in heaven. This doubled tolling does not stop as long as we live. And according to whether the man listens more to the bell above or that below, he is good or bad, big or small, and it goes uphill or downhill with him. Some men, however, commit such a noise in the middle of their life with their business affairs or with their passions, yes, some even merely with their thoughts, that the sound of the two bells cannot reach them. Such men are stuck...
When a man is born, at the same moment two bells begin to toll. One bell tolls below, one above; one as it were on earth, one, as the people say, i...