How does H.H. demonstrate that humanity’s greatest desire is to forget? How do other characters support or contradict this assertion?

What does H.H. mean when he says that the East is the “home and youth of the soul” (26)?

Consider H.H.’s remark: “I will be mindful of the first principal of our great period, never to rely on and let myself be disconcerted by reason, always to know that faith is stronger than so-called reality” (52). What role does reason play in H.H.’s journey? How do the members of the group grapple with the concepts of faith and reality?