According to the general idea Chaos and Cosmos are superlative antitheses
of each other. Chaos being regarded as a past condition of confusion and
disorder which has long since been entirely superseded by cosmic order
which now prevails.

As a matter of fact, Chaos is the seed-ground of Cosmos, the basis of all
progress, for thence come all IDEAS which later materialize as Railways,
Steamboats, Telephones, etc.

We speak of "thoughts as being conceived by the mind," but as both father
and mother are necessary in the generation of a child, so also there must
be both _idea_ and _mind_ before a _thought_ can be conceived. As semen
germinated in the positive male organ is projected into the negative
uterus at conception, so ideas are generated by a positive Human Ego in
the spirit-substance of the Region of abstract Thought. This idea is
projected upon the receptive mind, and a conception takes place. Then, as
the spermatozoic nucleus draws upon the maternal body for material to
shape a body appropriate to its individual expression, so does each idea
clothe itself in a peculiar form of mindstuff. It is then a thought, as
visible to the inner vision of composite man, as a child is to its parent.

Thus we see that ideas are embryonic thoughts, nuclei of spirit-substance
from the Region of abstract Thought. Improperly conceived in a diseased
mind they become vagaries and delusions, but when gestated in a sound mind
and formed into rational thoughts they are the basis of all material,
moral and mental progress, and the closer our touch with Chaos, the better
will be our Cosmos, for in that realm of abstract realities truth is not
obscured by matter, it is self-evident.

Pilate was asked "what is Truth," but no answer is recorded. We are
incapable of cognizing truth in the abstract while we live in the
phenomenal world, for the inherent nature of matter is illusion and
delusion, and we are constantly making allowances and corrections whether
we are conscious of the fact or not. The sunbeam which proceeds for 90
millions of miles in a straight line, is refracted or bent as soon as it
strikes our dense atmosphere, and according to the angle of its
refraction, it _appears_ to have one color or another. The straightest
stick appears crooked when partly immersed in water, and the truths which
are so self-evident in the Higher worlds are likewise obscured, refracted
or twisted out of all semblance under the illusory conditions of th