The All In All [Brahma]

The quote above leads to the Law of Paradox.

THE ALL is Inherent in its Universe, as embodied in the Principle of Correspondence.

The student is told to form a Mental Image of something, a person, an idea, something having a mental form.

The image has its existence and being solely within his own mind. Yet the student, author, painter, or sculptor, is immanent in, remaining within, or abiding within the mental image also.

In other words, the entire virtue, life, spirit, of reality in the mental image is derived from the “immanent mind” of the thinker.

Shakespeare

Let us say that Othello, Iago, Hamlet, Lear, Richard 3rd, existed merely in the mind of Shakespeare, at the time of their conception or creation. And yet, Shakespeare also existed within each of these characters, giving them their vitality, spirit, and action.

Whose is the “spirit” of the characters that we know as Micawber, Oliver Twist, Uriah Heep?

Is it Dickens, or have each of these characters a personal spirit, independent of their creator?

Have the Venus of Medici, the Sistine Madonna, the Apollo Belvidere, spirits and reality of their own, or do they represent the spiritual and mental power of their creators?

The Law of Paradox explains that both propositions are true, viewed from the proper viewpoints.

Micawber is both Micawber and Dickens.

Micawber is Dickens, yet Dickens is not Micawber.

Man, like Micawber, may say: “The Spirit of my Creator is inherent within me— and yet I am not HE!”

The half-wise will say: “I am God!”.

Imagine each character in Shakespeare’s plays eloquently announcing: “I Am Shakespeare!”

THE ALL is in the earthworm, and in the particles that go to make up the earth-worm.. Yet the earth-worm is far from being THE ALL.

There are many:

• planes of Being
• sub-planes of Life
• degrees of existence.

All of these depend on the advancement of beings in the scale.

• The lowest point is the grossest matter
• The highest point is being separated only by the thinnest division from the SPIRIT of THE ALL.

Upward and onward along this Scale of Life, everything is moving.

All are on the Path, whose end is THE ALL. All progress is a Returning Home. All is Upward and Onward, in spite of all seemingly contradictory appearances.

Outpouring Versus Indrawing

At the beginning of the Creative Cycle, THE ALL projects its Will toward its aspect of “Becoming” and the process of creation begins. It lowers Its Vibration which then creates the grossest form of Matter.

This process is called the stage of Involution, in which THE ALL becomes “involved,” or “wrapped up,” in its creation.

This is like the mental process of an artist, writer, or inventor, who becomes so wrapped up in his mental creation as to:

• almost forget his own existence
• almost “live in his creation”

This Involuntary stage of Creation is sometimes called the “Outpouring” of the Divine Energy, just as the Evolutionary state is called the “Indrawing.”

• The extreme pole of the Creative process is the farthest from THE ALL.
• The beginning of the Evolutionary stage is the beginning of the return swing of the pendulum of Rhythm
  • It is a “coming home” idea, being held in all of the Hermetic Teachings.

The Teachings are that during the “Outpouring,” the vibrations become lower and lower until finally the urge ceases

The return swing then begins.

But there is a difference.

In the “Outpouring”, the creative forces manifest compactly and as a whole.

• But from the beginning of the Evolutionary or “Indrawing” stage, there is manifested the Law of Individualization, as the tendency to separate into Units of Force.

In this way, whatever left THE ALL as unindividualized energy returns to its source as countless highly developed Units of Life, having risen higher and higher in the scale by means of Physical, Mental and Spiritual Evolution.

• “Meditation” is the process of mentally creating the Universe in the Mind of THE ALL.
• “Contemplation” is similar, except this emphasizes the Divine Attention.
• “Attention” means “to reach out or stretch out”. Thus, attention is really a mental “reaching out; extension” of mental energy.
• “Evolution” is when THE ALL has meditated Creation and has established the material foundations of the Universe, and then awakens from its Meditation. It “evolves” from the material, mental, and spiritual planes.

In evolution:

• Matter becomes less gross
• the Units spring into being
• the combinations begin to form
• Life appears and manifests in higher and higher forms
• Mind becomes more and more in evidence—the vibrations constantly becoming higher.

In short, the entire process of Evolution, in all of its phases, begins, and proceeds according to the established “Laws of the Indrawing” process.

All of this occupies aeons upon aeons of Man’s time, each aeon containing countless millions of years, but yet the Illumined inform us that the entire creation, including Involution and Evolution, of an Universe, is but “as the twinkle of the eye” to THE ALL.

At the end of countless cycles of aeons of time, THE ALL withdraws its Attention—its Contemplation and Meditation—of the Universe, for the Great Work is finished.

All is withdrawn into THE ALL from which it emerged.

But Mystery of Mysteries—the Spirit of each soul is not annihilated, but is infinitely expanded—the Created and the Creator are merged.

The above illustration of the “meditation,” and subsequent “awakening from meditation,” of THE ALL, is of course but an attempt of the teachers to describe the Infinite process by a finite example. And, yet: “As Below, so Above.”

The difference is merely in degree.

THE ALL arouses itself from the meditation on the Universe. Likewise, Man (in time) ceases from manifesting on the Material Plane, and withdraws himself more and more into the Indwelling Spirit – “The Divine Ego.”

The ALL Created the Universe for No Reason

“WHY does THE ALL create Universes?”

Some have imagined that:

• THE ALL had something to gain by it.
  • But this is absurd, for what could THE ALL gain that it did not already possess?
• THE ALL “wished something to love”
• THE ALL wanted pleasure or amusement
• THE ALL “was lonely”
• THE ALL wanted to show its power

These are all childish answers.

Others have sought to explain the mystery by assuming that THE ALL found itself “compelled” to create, by reason of its own “internal nature”—its “creative instinct.”

This idea is in advance of the others, but its weak point lies in the idea of THE ALL being “compelled” by anything, internal or external.

If its “internal nature,” or “creative instinct,” compelled it to do anything, then the “internal nature” or “creative instinct” would be the Absolute, instead of THE ALL, and so accordingly that part of the proposition falls. And, yet, THE ALL does create and manifest, and seems to find some kind of satisfaction in so doing.

And it is difficult to escape the conclusion that in some infinite degree it must have what would correspond to an “inner nature,” or “creative instinct,” in man, with correspondingly infinite Desire and Will.

It could not act unless it Willed to Act; and it would not Will to Act, unless it Desired to Act and it would not Desire to Act unless it obtained some Satisfaction thereby. And all of these things would belong to an “Inner Nature,” and might be postulated as existing according to the Law of Correspondence.

But, still, we prefer to think of THE ALL as acting entirely FREE from any influence, internal as well as external. That is the problem which lies at the root of difficulty—and the difficulty that lies at the root of the problem.

THE ALL has no “Reason” whatsoever for THE ALL to act since THE ALL is above Cause and Effect, except when it Wills to become a Cause, at which time the Principle is set into motion.

Thus, the matter is Unthinkable, just as THE ALL is Unknowable.

THE ALL merely “IS”

And so we are compelled to say:

• “THE ALL ACTS BECAUSE IT ACTS”
• “THE ALL is All Reason in Itself”
• “THE ALL is All Law in Itself”
• “THE ALL is All Action in Itself”
• “THE ALL is Its Own Reason, Its own Law, Its own Act
• “THE ALL, Its Reason, Act, and Law are ONE

All of those are just different names for the same thing.

The answer is locked up in the INNER SELF of THE ALL, along with its Secret of Being.

We Hermetic teachers think that the Law of Correspondence reaches only to that aspect of THE ALL, which may be spoken of as “The Aspect of BECOMING.”

Back of that Aspect is “The Aspect of BEING” in which all Laws are lost in LAW. All Principles merge into PRINCIPLE. These are ONE AND THE SAME:

• THE ALL
• PRINCIPLE
• BEING

Therefore, Metaphysical speculation on this point is futile*.

Hermetic Teachers applied the Principle of Correspondence to answer the question with the result of the “Inner Nature” conclusion.

When HERMES was asked this question by his advanced students, he gave no answer.

• He meant that his advanced students did not possess the Understanding for the answer.