ad of being cut short, not for want of material, but for
want of workmen capable of using the tools of the builders' craft--the
Law as "Strength" and the Word as "Beauty."

The Descending Arc of the Circle of Being is therefore that of the
Involution of Spirit into denser and denser modes of Substance,--a
process called in technical language by the Greek name "Eleusin," and
the process continues until a point is reached where Spirit and
Substance are in equal balance, which is where we are now. Then comes
the tug of war. Which of the two is to predominate? They are the
Expansive and Constrictive primal elements, the "rouah" and "hoshech" of
the Hebrew Genesis.

If the Constrictive element be allowed to go further than giving
necessary form to the Expansive element, it imprisons the latter. The
condensation becomes too dense for the Ego to receive or send forth
vibrations according to its free will, and so the Individuality becomes
lost. If the condensation process be not carried far enough, no
Individuality can be built up, and if it be carried too far, no
Individuality can emerge; so in both cases we get the same result that
there is no one to speak the Word of Power without which "Nature unaided
fails."

Thus we are now exactly at the bottom of the Circle of Being. We have
completed the Descending Arc and reached the point where the realization
of the Distinctness of Conscious Individuality enables us to choose our
own line, whether that of progressing through the stages of the
Ascending Arc of Being, or of falling out from the living Circle of
Progression, at least for a period, into what is sometimes mystically
spoken of as "the Moon," or (in descending order) the "Eighth Sphere,"
and which is called in Scripture "The Outer Darkness,"--the rigidity
which stops the action of Life.

Therefore it is with regard to this stage of our career that the Bible
lays so much stress on the conflict between the Spirit and the Flesh--it
is a fact in the course of our evolution, and the purpose of the Bible
is to teach us how to move forward along the Ascending Arc of the Circle
of Being, so as to build up individualities which will be able to use
the tools of Intelligence and Will in the great work of Evolution, both
Personal and Cosmic.

Now what is shown diagrammatically as the Ascending Arc of the Circle of
Life is the Return from its lowest point, or the _Full Consciousness of
Personal Distinctness_, gained through _the