the earth.
This power is none other than the breathings of the Holy Spirit and the
mighty inflow of the Word of God.

24: O SPIRITUAL YOUTH! PRAISE THOU GOD THAT THOU HAST ...

O spiritual youth! Praise thou God that thou hast found thy way into the
Kingdom of Splendours, and hast rent asunder the veil of vain imaginings,
and that the core of the inner mystery hath been made known unto thee.

This people, all of them, have pictured a god in the realm of the mind,
and worship that image which they have made for themselves. And yet that
image is comprehended, the human mind being the comprehender thereof, and
certainly the comprehender is greater than that which lieth within its
grasp; for imagination is but the branch, while mind is the root; and
certainly the root is greater than the branch. Consider then, how all the
peoples of the world are bowing the knee to a fancy of their own
contriving, how they have created a creator within their own minds, and
they call it the Fashioner of all that is--whereas in truth it is but an
illusion. Thus are the people worshipping only an error of perception.

But that Essence of Essences, that Invisible of Invisibles, is sanctified
above all human speculation, and never to be overtaken by the mind of man.
Never shall that immemorial Reality lodge within the compass of a
contingent being. His is another realm, and of that realm no understanding
can be won. No access can be gained thereto; all entry is forbidden there.
The utmost one can say is that Its existence can be proved, but the
conditions of Its existence are unknown.

That such an Essence doth exist, the philosophers and learned doctors one
and all have understood; but whenever they tried to learn something of Its
being, they were left bewildered and dismayed, and at the end, despairing,
their hopes in ruins, they went their way, out of this life. For to
comprehend the state and the inner mystery of that Essence of Essences,
that Most Secret of Secrets, one needs must have another power and other
faculties; and such a power, such faculties would be more than humankind
can bear, wherefore no word of Him can come to them.

If, for example, one be endowed with the senses of hearing, of taste, of
smell, of touch--but be deprived of the sense of sight, it will not be
possible for one to gaze about; for sight cannot be realized through
hearing or tasting, or the sense of smell or touch. In the same way, with
the facul