What Is Gnani Yoga, The Yoga Of Wisdom?

There are many major areas, or disciplines, of Yogi Philosophy.

The physical body and its control, as well as its welfare, health, preservation, and laws, are all addressed in what is known as "Hatha Yoga." What is known as "Raja Yoga" is concerned with the Mind, its control, growth, and unfoldment, among other things.

The practice of "Bhakti Yoga" is concerned with the Absolute—Love.

God's Gnani Yoga is concerned with the scientific and intellectual understanding of the big issues about life and what lies behind it—the Riddle of the Universe.

Each branch of Yoga is just a route that leads to the same goal: unfoldment, development, and progress.

Follow the path of "Hatha Yoga" if you want to first develop, control, and strengthen your physical body so that you may become a fit instrument of the Higher Self.

The path of "Raja Yoga" is followed by those who want to improve their willpower and mental abilities, as well as their inner senses and dormant powers.

The path of "Gnani Yoga" is for those who want to grow by "knowing"—by understanding the basic principles and beautiful truths that underpin Life.

And he who seeks to unite with the One Life under the power of Love takes the road of "Bhakti Yoga." it However, it should not be assumed that the learner must choose just one of these routes to power.

In reality, just a small percentage of people do.

The majority like to acquire a broad understanding of the principles of several branches by learning something from each, with a preference for those branches that appeal to them more strongly, this attraction being a sign of need or need, and thus the hand pointing out the way.

It is beneficial for everyone to have a basic understanding of "Hatha Yoga" in order to purify, strengthen, and maintain one's health in order to become a more suitable instrument of the Higher Self.

It is beneficial for everyone to have a basic understanding of "Raja Yoga," so that they may comprehend the mind's training and control, as well as the application of the Will.

Every person should acquire the knowledge of "Gnani Yoga" in order to understand the magnificent truths that lie underneath life—the science of Being.

And, without a doubt, everyone should know something about Bhakti Yogi in order to comprehend the profound lessons about the Love that underpins all existence.

We can't see how anybody could teach or study any discipline of Yoga without feeling a sense of Love and Union with the Source of all Life.

Knowing the Giver of Life is loving him, and the more we learn about him, the more love we will show.

Here, we'll look at the topic of "Gnani Yoga," or Wisdom Yoga, and try to explain some of its most significant and greatest principles.

And we hope that by doing so, we will be able to awaken in you a deeper understanding of your connection with the One, as well as a commensurate Love for the world in which you live, move, and exist.

Please accept our heartfelt condolences and help us complete our mission.

Let us start with what has been dubbed the "Questions of Questions"—the inquiry, "What is Reality?" To comprehend our question, we must first look about us and observe the observable world.

We observe vast swaths of something termed "matter" by scientists.

We witness a beautiful thing called "force" or "energy" in action in its myriad incarnations.

We observe what we term "forms of life," which range in size and appearance from the small speck of slime known as the Moneron to the form known as Man.

a However, even if we explore this realm of manifestations through science and research—which is very valuable—we will eventually get to a point where we will be unable to advance any further.

Matter dissolves into mystery, Force transforms into something else, the mystery of living forms eludes us gradually, and intellect is viewed as just a representation of something much finer.

However, in losing these things of appearance and manifestation, we are confronted with Something Else, which we know must exist underneath all of these many forms, shapes, and manifestations.

That Something Else is what we refer to as Reality, since it is real, permanent, and long-lasting.

Even though men disagree, argue, fight, and conflict over this Reality, there is one point on which they must agree: Reality is One—that underneath all forms and manifestations, there must be a single Reality from which all things flow.

And this investigation into this One Reality is the Universe's Question of Questions.

Man's greatest reason—as well as his deepest intuition—has always understood that this Reality or Underlying Being must be ONE, and that everything of Nature is just various degrees of manifestation, emanation, or expression of it.

Life is a stream that flows from One vast spring, the nature and name of which are unknown—some have claimed unknowable—to everyone.

Men may disagree on the nature of this one, but they all know that it can only be One.

Only when mankind attempt to identify and study this One do they get perplexed.

Let's take a look at what men have said and thought about this One; it may help us grasp the essence of the issue.

The materialist argues that this one is called Matter, and that it is self-existent, everlasting, and infinite, holding the potentiality of Matter, Energy, and Mind within itself.

Another school, strongly associated with materialists, claims that this One is Energy, of which Matter and Mind are just modalities of motion.

The Idealists believe that the One is a concept known as Mind, and that Matter and Force are just concepts inside that Mind.

Theologians believe that this One is a personal God, to whom they ascribe many traits, characteristics, and other attributes, which differ according to their creeds and dogmas.

According to the Naturistic school, this One is Nature, which is continually expressing itself in innumerable forms.

The One was a Being whose Life included the life of all living things, according to occultists of various Oriental and Occidental schools.

All philosophies, science, and religions tell us that this world of shapes, forms, and names is just a phenomenal or shadow world—a showworld—behind which lies Reality, known by the teacher's name.

But keep in mind that every worthwhile philosophy is founded on some kind of monism—Oneness—whether the idea is a known or unknown deity; an unknown or unknowable principle; a material; an Energy, or a Spirit.

There is only One—there can only be One—as the greatest human reason, intuition, or faith must inevitably conclude.

Similarly, the same argument tells us that this One Life must pervade all visible forms of life, and that all apparent material forms, forces, energies, and principles must be emanations from it, and so “of” it.

It may be argued that creeds teaching a personal god do not hold this view, since they teach that their God is the creator of the Universe, which he has separated from himself in the same way that a craftsman separates his work.

But this argument is moot, since where could such a creator get the material for his cosmos except from himself; where could he get the energy unless from the same source; and where could he get the life unless from his One Life? In the end, it is clear that there must be only One—not two, even if we prefer the words God and his Universe, since the Universe must have originated with God, and can only live, move, act, and think because of his Essence pervading it.

We are struck by the fact that the different schools of thought seem to have a one-sidedness in their beliefs, seeing just what fits in with their theories and disregarding the rest as we pass by their ideas.

Although recent scientific investigations have shown us Matter fading into Nothingness—the Eternal Atom being split into countless particles called Corpuscles or Electrons, which at the end seem to be nothing but a unit of Electricity, tied up in a “knot in the Ether”—although Science does not dare to guess what the Ether is—the Materialist speaks of infinite and eternal matter.

And Energy seems to be unimaginable unless it is working via matter, and always appears to be acting under the operation of Laws—and Laws without a Law giver, and a Law giver without mind or anything higher than Mind, appears to be impossible.

And Mind, as we know it, seems to be tied up with matter and energy in a magnificent combination, and is seen to be subject to laws outside of itself, as well as changing, inconstant, and changeable, characteristics that cannot be thought of as belonging to the Absolute.

The highest occult teachers believe that Mind, like Matter and Energy, is merely an appearance and a relativity of something far more fundamental and enduring, and we are forced to return to that old term that wise men have used to describe that Something Else that lies behind and beneath Matter, Energy, and Mind—and that word is “Spirit.” We have no way of knowing what the term "Spirit" means since we have no words to express it.

However, we may interpret it as the "essence" of Life and Being—the Reality that underpins Universal Life.

Of fact, there is no name that can adequately characterize this One.

However, we have used the phrase "The Absolute" in prior classes and believe it is appropriate to continue using it, though the student may use any other name that he prefers.

We don't use the term Deity (unless seldom to bring out a shade of meaning) not because we dislike it, but because doing so would risk associating The Absolute with some notion of a personal god with specific theological characteristics.

We don't like the term "principle" because it conjures up images of a cold, unfeeling, abstract entity, while we see the Absolute Spirit or Being as a warm, lively, alive, acting, and feeling Reality.

We do not use the term Nature, which many like, since it has a materialistic connotation in many people's thoughts, despite the fact that we love the phrase when it refers to the outer manifestation of the Absolute Life.

Of fact, we can know almost nothing about the true nature of The Absolute since it transcends all human experience and Man has no means of measuring the Infinite.

“To define God is to reject him,” argued Spinoza, since any attempt to define is, of course, an attempt to restrict or make finite the infinite.

To define anything is to associate it with something else—but where is that something else to associate the Infinite with? The Relative cannot be used to describe the Absolute.

It is not Something, despite the fact that it contains the truth that underpins Everything.

Because it is the ALL, it cannot be claimed to have the characteristics of any of its seemingly distinct components.

It is the whole of reality. It is beyond our understanding of Matter, Force, and Mind, but these things radiate from it and must be part of its essence.

Because what is manifested must be manifestor—no stream can rise higher than its source—the result cannot be bigger than the cause—you cannot create anything from nothing.

However, since it is difficult for the human mind to grasp That which is beyond its experience—many philosophers believe it is impossible—we must conceive of the Absolute in terms of its greatest expression.

We find Mind higher on the scale than Matter or Energy, so we are justified in speaking of the Absolute in terms of Mind rather than Matter or Energy—so let us try to imagine an Infinite Mind, whose powers and capacities are raised to an infinite degree—a Mind of which Herbert Spencer said was “a mode of being as much transcending intelligence and will, as thesauruses”—a Mind of which Herbert Spencer said was “a mode of being as much transcending intelligence and will.

While it is true (as all occultists know) that the greatest knowledge on the Absolute comes from areas of the Self higher than Intellect, we have a responsibility to investigate the Intellect's reports on the One.

The Intellect has been created in us for a specific purpose—to examine, analyze, and think—and it is incumbent upon us to utilize it.

By directing it toward this goal, we not only strengthen and expand it, but we also get access to knowledge that would otherwise be unavailable to us.

Furthermore, we may uncover numerous fallacies and mistakes that have come into our thoughts as a result of other people's views and dogmas, as Kant put it: "The main, and probably the only, utility of a philosophy of pure reason is a negative one." It is a discipline for restricting, not an organon for expanding! Its humble purpose is to protect against mistake, not to seek truth.”

Let us now listen to the Intellect's report, as well as the reports of the higher domains of mentation.

One of the earliest reports from the Intellect about the Absolute was that it had to have been and would continue to exist indefinitely.

Whether seen through the eyes of a materialist, philosopher, occultist, or theologian, there is no way to avoid this conclusion.

The Absolute could not have arisen from Nothing, and it could not have arisen from any other source but itself.

And there can't be anything outside of itself that can put an end to its existence.

We can't imagine Infinite Life, or Absolute Life, passing away.

As a result, the Absolute must be Eternal, according to the Intellect's assessment.

Although the human mind is compelled to assume that it must be a characteristic of the Absolute, this concept of the Eternal is virtually incomprehensible to it.

The difficulty comes from the Intellect's inability to perceive everything through the curtain of Time and Cause and Effect.

Cause and Effect, as well as Time, are now just phenomena or appearances of the relative universe, with no place in the Absolute and Real.

Let's see if we can make sense of this.

Reflection will reveal that the only reason you can't imagine or conceive of a Causeless Cause is because everything you've encountered in this relative world of the senses has had a cause—something from which it arose.

You've seen Cause and Effect in action all around you, and your Intellect has automatically assumed that there can be nothing uncaused—nothing without a prior cause.

And, in terms of Things, the Intellect is completely correct, since everything is relative and hence caused.

But behind the caused things must be THAT which is the Great Causer of Things, and which cannot have been caused—cannot be the result of a cause since it is not a Thing itself.

When you attempt to create a mental picture of That which has no cause, your thoughts spin because you have no experience of such a thing in the sense world, and you fail to make the image there.

It is outside of your experience, and you are unable to create a mental image.

Your mind, however, is forced to think that there must have been an Original One, who could not have existed for no reason.

This is a difficult job for the Intellect, but with time it recognizes the source of the problem and stops raising objections to the voice of the higher self.

When the Intellect attempts to conceive of an Eternal—something that exists above and beyond Time—it has a similar problem.

We see Time in action all around us, and we take it for granted that it is a genuine thing.

This, however, is a perceptual error. In fact, there is no such thing as time. Time just exists in our heads.

It is just a mode of perception through which we convey our awareness of the changing nature of things.

We can only conceive of Time in terms of a series of changes in our awareness, whether they be external objects or the passage of thinking objects through our minds.

A day is just the awareness of the passage of the sun—an hour or minute is simply the division of the day—or the awareness of the movement of the clock hands—merely the awareness of the movement of Things—the symbols of changes in Things.

There would be no such thing as Time in a world without changes in Things. Time is just a construct of the mind. This is according to the Intellect's report.

And, in addition to the results of pure abstract thinking about Time, we may observe numerous examples of Time relativity in our daily lives.

We all know that when we are engaged in something, time appears to fly by, while when we are bored, it drags on inexorably.

We all know that when we are happy, Time moves at the speed of a meteor, while when we are sad, Time creeps at the pace of a tortoise.

Because we do not observe the Things as carefully when we are engaged or pleased, our attention is mainly distracted from the changes happening in things.

And when we're unhappy or bored, we notice the little nuances in Things, and how they change, until the passage of time seems endless.

In a few minutes, a small insect mite may and does live a lifetime of birth, development, marriage, reproduction, old age, and death, and no doubt its existence seems as rich as the elephant's hundred years.

Why? Because there were so many things that went wrong! When we are aware of a lot of things going on, we get the sense and feeling of time passing.

The more aware you are of things, the more aware you are of Time.

When we are so engrossed in chatting to a loved one that we forget about everything else going on around us, the hours pass us by unnoticed, but the same hours seem like days to someone who is not interested or preoccupied with something else.

Men have nodded, and in the seconds before waking up, they have dreamt of events that seemed to have taken years to occur.

Many of you have had similar experiences, and science has documented a number of them.

On the other hand, one may fall asleep and stay unconscious for hours without having any dreams, and then wake up insisting that he just nodded.

Time is a relative concept that has no place in the Eternal or Absolute.

The Intellect then instructs us to see the Absolute as infinite in space, present everywhere, Omnipresent.

There is nothing outside of it that can restrict it, therefore it can't be limited.

There is no such thing as a location called Nowhere. Everywhere is in every location.

And the All—the Infinite Reality—the Absolute—can be found everywhere.

And, just like with the concept of Time, we find it very difficult, if not impossible, to imagine an Omnipresent—that which fills Infinite Space.

This is due to the fact that everything our brains have encountered has had dimensions and bounds.

The truth is that, like Time, Space has no actual existence outside of our conscious experience of the relative positions of Things—material things.

This is what we see here, and this is what we see there. Nothing exists in the space between them.

We use another item, such as a yardstick, to measure the Nothingness between the two things, and we refer to this measurement as Distance.

Even yet, we couldn't possibly have measured Nothingness.

What exactly have we accomplished? Simply put, this defined the number of yardstick lengths that could be placed between the other two items.

We call this procedure "measuring space," yet space is nothing, and all we've done is figure out where things are in relation to one another.

To "measure space," we need three things or objects:

(l) the object from which we begin measuring;
(2) the object with which we measure; and
(3) the object with which we finish measuring.

Because we lack the third item in the measuring process—the concluding object—we are unable to comprehend Infinite Space.

We may start with ourselves, and the mental yardstick is always handy, but where is the item on the other side of Infinity of Space by which the measuring can be completed?

It's missing, and we can't imagine the conclusion without it.

Let's start with yourself and picture a million million miles, then magnify it by a million million times.

What have we accomplished? Simply stretch our mental yardstick to an imagined point in the Nothingness that we name Space a particular number of times.

So far, so good, but the mind instinctively understands that there is a potential for an endless extension of yardsticks beyond that imaginary point at the end of the previous yardstick—an infinite capacity for such expansion.

What is the extension of? Space? No! Yard‐sticks! Things! Objects! Space is inconceivable without tangible things.

It doesn't exist outside of our awareness of Things.

Real Space does not exist.

Space is just the ability to expand things indefinitely.

Nothingness is simply referred to as "space." If you imagine an item being swept out of existence with nothing to replace it, that Nothing is termed Space, with the word suggesting the ability to put anything there without displacing anything else.

Size is, of all, just another way of expressing distance.

Let us not forget that, just as Space may be thought of as infinite in the sense of largeness, it can also be thought of as endless in the sense of smallness.

We may conceive of every item, no matter how tiny, as being susceptible of subdivision, and so on indefinitely.

In this direction, too, there are no bounds.

“The idea of the endlessly minute is as little capable of being understood by us as the thought of the indefinitely great,” Jakob remarked.

Regardless, the acceptance of the fact of infinity, both in terms of grandeur and minuteness, is unavoidable.”

“The notion of Space is simply an inescapable illusion of our Consciousness, or of our limited nature, and does not exist outside of ourselves,” Radenhausen stated.

The perfected microscope has opened up a world of beautiful smallness and minuteness to us, just as the telescope has opened up concepts of spectacular vastness and grandeur to us.

A drop of water, according to the latter, is an universe of minute life things that live, eat, battle, reproduce, and die.

The mind is capable of imagining a universe occupying no more space than one million millionth of a speck visible under the most powerful microscope—and then imagining such a universe containing millions of suns and worlds similar to our own, inhabited by living forms similar to ours—living, thinking men and women, identical in every way to ourselves.

Indeed, as some philosophers have stated, if our Universe were suddenly shrunk to this size—with the relative proportions of everything preserved, of course—we would be completely unaware of the change, life would continue as usual, and we would be of the same importance to ourselves and the Absolute as we are now.

The same would be true if the Universe was suddenly multiplied by a million million.

In fact, none of these adjustments would make a difference.

When seen from the Absolute, the smallest particle and the biggest sun seem to be almost identical in size.

We've gone over these points to help you understand the relativity of Space and Time, as well as the fact that they're only symbols of Things utilized by the mind to cope with finite objects and have no actual meaning.

When this is understood, the concept of Infinity in Time and Space becomes more understandable.

As Radenhausen puts it, "There is no Space nor Time outside the realm of human reason; they are arbitrary ideas of man, at which he has arrived by comparing and arranging various sensations acquired from the outside world." The succession of different forms that fill Space, through which the external world appears to the particular man, gives birth to the notion of Space.

Time is seen as a series of different forms that vary in space (motion), through which the external world affects on the particular man, and so on.

But the distinction between repletion of Space and mutation of Space does not exist externally to ourselves, because each is in constant transmutation, whatever is filling and changing at the same time—nothing is at a standstill,” and to quote Ruckert, “the world has neither beginning nor end, in space nor in time.” Everywhere is a center and a turning point, and eternity exists in a single moment.” The Intellect then instructs us to conceive of the Absolute as holding all of the Power that exists, since there can be no other source or reservoir of Power, and no Power outside of the AllPower.

Outside of the Absolute, no power can restrict, constrain, or fight with It.

Any laws of the Universe must have been imposed by It, since there is no other lawgiver, and any manifestation of Energy, Force, or Power seen or apparent in Nature must be a portion of the Absolute's Power acting in accordance with its rules.

We will witness this Power emerging along the lines of Life as we know it in the Third Lesson, which will be named The Will to Live.

The Intellect then tells us that it is forced to conceive of the Absolute as having all conceivable Knowledge or Wisdom inside Itself, since there can be no Knowledge or Wisdom outside of It, and therefore all possible Wisdom and Knowledge must be included within It.

Mind, Wisdom, and Knowledge are expressed through relative forms of Life, and they must originate from the Absolute in accordance with specific rules established by It, otherwise there would be no such wisdom, etc., since there is nowhere outside of the All from which it could arise.

It is impossible for the effect to be larger than the cause.

If the Absolute is unaware of anything, finite minds will never be aware of it.

As a result, ALL KNOWLEDGE that is, has been, or may be vested in the One—the Absolute—must now be vested in the One—the Absolute.

This is not to say that the Absolute thinks in the same way that Man does.

Without Thinking, the Absolute must Know.

It does not need to acquire knowledge via the act of thinking, as Man does—such an idea would be absurd, since where could knowledge originate from outside of itself? When man thinks, he takes Knowledge from the Universal source via the Mind's activity, while the Absolute has nothing to draw on except itself.

As a result, we can't picture the Absolute being forced to think the way we do.

But, should we be misled on this point, the greatest occult teachings tell us that the Absolute manifests a quality similar to constructive thinking, and that such "thoughts" develop into objectivity and manifestation, and so into Creation.

According to Occult beliefs, created things are "Thoughts of God." Do not allow this thought bother you or make you feel as though you are nothing since you were created by a Thought of the Infinite One.

Even the Absolute understands that the Real portion of its Creations must be a part of itself expressed via its thinking, because the Thought of the Infinite must be Real, and a part of Itself, for it cannot be anything else, and to call it Nothing is just playing with words.

Even the faintest Thought of the Infinite One would be far more real than anything man could create—as solid as a mountain, as hard as steel, as durable as a diamond—for, verily, even these are emanations of the Infinite Mind, and are things of but a day, whereas the higher Thoughts—the soul of Man—contains within it a spark from the Divine Flame itself—the Spirit of the Infinite.

However, as we go through this series, these items will emerge in their own right.

At this point, we've just given you a little food for thought in relation to the Absolute Mind.

So, good friends and students, the Intellect informs us that, despite its best efforts, it is compelled to report that the One—the Absolute—That which it is compelled to admit exists—must be a One possessed of a nature so far transcending human experience that the human mind lacks the proper concepts, symbols, and words with which to think of It.

Regardless, the Intellect is compelled by its own rules to hypothesize the existence of such a being.

We have nothing but human characteristics with which to measure the One, and It so far surpasses such measures that the mental yardsticks stretch out into infinity and are lost sight of.

The most elevated efforts of their reason force them to state that the One—in Itself—cannot be talked of as having characteristics or qualities capable of being described in human words used to describe the Things of the relative world—and all of our words are such.

All of our words come from such thoughts, and all of our ideas, directly or indirectly, come from our experiences.

So, despite our Intellect informing us that Reality exists beyond our experience, we lack the vocabulary to conceive about or speak of that which transcends experience.

Philosophy is incapable of doing anything else than confronting us with lofty contradictions.

Science's quest of Truth finds it deftly evading it and eluding its grasp.

And we think that the Absolute intends for this to happen so that, in the end, Man will be forced to seek for the Spirit inside himself, which is the only place where he can find it.

This, we believe, is the solution to the Sphinx's Riddle: "Look Within for that which Thou requirest." While the Spirit can only be detected by searching inside ourselves, we find that once the mind understands that the Absolute Is, it may perceive numerous evidences of its activity and existence by watching manifested Life outside.

The Absolute's Life Power and Will pervade everything of life.

Life is only One to us—the Universe is a living Unity, pulsing, exciting, and pulsating with the Absolute's Will to Live.

There is only One—One Life, present everywhere and manifesting in an infinite variety of shapes, forms, names, forces, elements, principles, and substances—behind all visible shapes, forms, names, forces, elements, principles, and substances.

All separate lives are just foci of awareness in the underlying One Life, and their unfoldment, expression, and manifestation are all dependent on it.

Some may mistake this for Pantheism, however it is not the same as Pantheism seen in schools and cults.

Pantheism is described as "the belief that God is comprised of the combined energies and laws revealed in the existent Universe," or "the Universe as a whole is God." These definitions do not suit the Yogi Philosophy's notion of the Absolute; they seem to breathe only refined materialism.

The Absolute is neither "the universe as a whole" nor "the united forces and rules revealed in the cosmos." Instead, even when considered as a whole, the Universe, its forces, and laws have no existence in and of itself, but are just expressions of the Absolute.

Surely, this is not the same as Pantheism.

We teach that the Absolute is present in and abides in all kinds of life in the Universe, as well as its forces and laws—all of which are expressions of the One's Will.

We also teach that this One is superior to all kinds of manifestations, and that Its existence and being are unaffected by manifestations, which are just consequences of the Cause.

The Pantheistic Universe—God is just a phenomenal appearance, but the Absolute is the very Spirit of Life—a Living, Existing Reality, and would remain so even if all manifestations were removed from appearance and expression—drawn back into the source from whence they originated.

The Absolute is SPIRIT—LIFE—BEING—REALITY—the ONE THAT IS.

It is greater than Mountain or Ocean—Electricity or Gravitation—Monad or Man.

These are Man's best phrases, but they only feebly depict a shade cast by the One Itself.

Omnipotent, Omnipresent; Omniscient; Eternal; Infinite; Absolute; these are Man's greatest words, but they only feebly reflect a shadow cast by the One Itself.

The Absolute is not a distant Being guiding our affairs from afar, nor is it an absentee Deity, but an Immanent Life in and around us all, manifesting in us and forming us into unique centers of awareness in accordance with some grand rule of being.

Furthermore, rather than being an indifferent and unmoved observer of its own creation, the Absolute is a living, yearning, active, suffering, joyful, feeling Spirit, participating in the emotions of its manifestations rather than callously observing them.

It is alive in us, with us, and through us.

Behind all of the world's suffering, there may lie a tremendous emotion and suffering love.

The world's suffering is not retribution or proof of divine anger, but rather the byproducts of some cosmic design, in which the Absolute is the Actor, acting via the forms of Its manifestations.

“All is being done in the best and only conceivable way—I am doing the best I can—all is well—and in the end will appear,” the Absolute has said to some of the Illumined.

The Absolute is not a personal Deity, but it does include all that goes into the making of every personality and human relationships.

It contains a father, mother, child, and friend.

In adoring the Absolute, all kinds of human love and the need for compassion, understanding, and friendship may find shelter.

Despite the fact that the Absolute is always present in our lives, we have been looking for it in the outside world, asking it to reveal itself and prove its presence.

“Hast thou been so long with me, and hast thou not known me?” it may well ask.

The great tragedy of life is that the Spirit comes to us, its own, and we don't recognize It.

We are deafeningly deafeningly deafeningly deafeningly deafeningly deafeningly deafeningly deafeningly deafeningly de Yes, I am the one who is saddened by you.

Your anguish is my anguish, right down to the last syllable.

I bear all of my suffering through you—and yet I rejoice beyond you, for I know that it is through you, and with you, that I will triumph.” And this is only a sliver of what we think the Absolute is.

We will witness it in action in many aspects of life, as well as in ourselves, in the teachings that follow.

We'll get up close and personal with Its powerful Will—with Its Heart of Love.

Carry the lesson's central thought with you: THOUGHT CENTER.

In the universe, there is only one life.

The Absolute, living, feeling, suffering, rejoicing, yearning, striving in and through us, is underneath that One Life—Its Real Self—Its Essence—Its Spirit.

The Absolute is everything that really is, and by Its Will, all of the visible Universe and forms of Life are expressions of It.

We don't have sufficient terms to explain the Absolute's essence, therefore we'll utilize two words to convey its inmost nature as best we can.

LIFE and LOVE are two terms that describe the outside and interior natures, respectively.

As a symbol of our origin and inner essence, let us express both Life and Love.

Pages

Pages