most perfect glory, beauty, exaltation and perfection.
Today nothing but the power of the Word of God which encompasses the
realities of things can bring the thoughts, the minds, the hearts and the
spirits under the shade of one Tree. He is the potent in all things, the
vivifier of souls, the preserver and the controller of the world of
mankind. Praise be to God, in this day the light of the Word of God has
shone forth upon all regions, and from all sects, communities, nations,
tribes, peoples, religions and denominations, souls have gathered under
the shadow of the Word of Oneness and have in the most intimate fellowship
united and harmonized!

CHAPTER SEVEN: SOUL, MIND AND SPIRIT

THE ORIGIN OF MAN

Know that it is one of the most abstruse spiritual truths that the world
of existence, that is to say this endless universe, has no beginning.

We have already explained that the names and attributes of the Divinity
themselves require the existence of beings. Although this subject has been
explained in detail, we will speak of it again briefly. Know that an
educator without pupils cannot be imagined, a monarch without subjects
could not exist, a master without scholars cannot be appointed, a creator
without a creature is impossible, a provider without those provided for
cannot be conceived; for all the divine names and attributes demand the
existence of beings. If we could imagine a time when no beings existed,
this imagination would be the denial of the Divinity of God. Moreover,
absolute non-existence cannot become existence. If the beings were
absolutely non-existent, existence would not have come into being.
Therefore, as the Essence of Unity, that is the existence of God, is
everlasting and eternal--that is to say, it has neither beginning nor
end--it is certain that this world of existence, this endless universe, has
neither beginning nor end. Yes, it may be that one of the parts of the
universe, one of the globes, for example, may come into existence, or may
be disintegrated, but the other endless globes are still existing; the
universe would not be disordered nor destroyed; on the contrary, existence
is eternal and perpetual. As each globe has a beginning, necessarily it
has an end, because every composition, collective or particular, must of
necessity be decomposed; the only difference is that some are quickly
decomposed, and others more slowly, but it is impossible that a composed
thing should