f the
existence of the Universe. Then if the Universe is neither THE ALL, nor
Nothing, what Can it be? Let us examine this question.

If the Universe exists at all, or seems to exist, it must proceed in
some way from THE ALL--it must be a creation of THE ALL. But as
something can never come from nothing, from what could THE ALL have
created it. Some philosophers have answered this question by saying that
THE ALL created the Universe from ITSELF--that is, from the being and
substance of THE ALL. But this will not do, for THE ALL cannot be
subtracted from, nor divided, as we have seen, and then again if this be
so, would not each particle in the Universe be aware of its being THE
ALL--THE ALL could not lose its knowledge of itself, nor actually BECOME
an atom, or blind force, or lowly living thing. Some men, indeed,
realizing that THE ALL is indeed ALL, and also recognizing that they,
the men, existed, have jumped to the conclusion that they and THE ALL
were identical, and they have filled the air with shouts of "I AM GOD,"
to the amusement of the multitude and the sorrow of sages. The claim of
the corpuscle that: "I am Man!" would be modest in comparison.

But, what indeed is the Universe, if it be not THE ALL, not yet created
by THE ALL having separated itself into fragments? What else can it be--
of what else can it be made? This is the great question. Let us examine
it carefully. We find here that the "Principle of Correspondence" (see
Lesson I.) comes to our aid here. The old Hermetic axiom, "As above so
below," may be pressed into service at this point. Let us endeavor to
get a glimpse of the workings on higher planes by examining those on our
own. The Principle of Correspondence must apply to this as well as to
other problems.

Let us see! On his own plane of being, how does Man create? Well, first,
he may create by making something out of outside materials. But this
will not do, for there are no materials outside of THE ALL with which it
may create. Well, then, secondly, Man pro-creates or reproduces his kind
by the process of begetting, which is self-multiplication accomplished
by transferring a portion of his substance to his offspring. But this
will not do, because THE ALL cannot transfer or subtract a portion of
itself, nor can it reproduce or multiply itself--in the first place
there would be a taking away, and in the second case a multiplication or
addition to THE ALL, both thoughts being an absurdity. Is