tta_ was finite, of course, and was bound and governed by the Laws
of Finite Mind, imposed upon it by the Will of The Absolute. Everything
that is Finite is governed by Laws imposed by the great LAW which we
call The Absolute. Then began the Great INVOLUTION which was necessary
before Evolution was possible. The word "Involve," you know, means "to
wrap up; to cover; to hide; etc.;" and the word "Evolve" means "to
unwrap; to unfold; to un-roll; etc." Before a thing can be "evolved,"
or "unfolded," it must first have been "involved" or "folded-in, or
wrapped up, etc." Everything must be "involved" before it can be
"evolved;" remember this, please--it is true on all planes, mental,
physical, and spiritual. A thing must be "put in" before it may be
"taken out." This truth, if remembered and applied to metaphysical
problems, will throw the clearest light upon the darkest problems. Make
it your own.

Therefore before the process of Evolution from the gross forms of
Matter up to the higher, and then on to the Mental, from higher to
higher, and then on the Spiritual plane--that Evolution which we see
being performed before our sight today--before that Evolution became
possible there was a necessary Involution, or "wrapping-up." The Spirit
of the Absolute first "involved" itself in its Mental Image;
Thought-Form, or Creation, of the Mind Principle, just as you may
"involve" yourself in an earnest thought in deep meditation. Did you
never "lose yourself" in thought, or "forget yourself" in an idea? Have
you not spoken of yourself as having been "wrapped in thought?" Well,
then you can see something of what is here meant, at least so far as
the process of "involution" is concerned. You involve yourself in your
meditations--the Absolute involves Itself in Its Mental Creations--but,
remember the one is Finite, and the other Infinite, and the results are
correspondingly weak or strong.

Obeying the laws imposed upon it, the Mental Principle then involved
itself in the Energy Principle, or _Prana_, and the Universal Energy
sprang into existence. Then, in obedience to the same Laws, the _Prana_
involved itself in the _Akasa_, or Universal Matter Principle. Of
course each "involving" practically "created" the "wrapper," "sheath"
of the lower Principle. Do you see this? Each, therefore, depends upon
the Principle higher than itself, which becomes its "Parent Principle,"
as the Yogis express it. And in this process of Involution the extr