CHAPTER VII "THE ALL" IN ALL "While All is in THE ALL, it is equally true that THE ALL is in ALL.
To him who truly understands this truth hath come great knowledge."--The Kybalion.
How often have the majority of people heard repeated the statement that their Deity (called by many names) was "All in All" and how little have they suspected the inner occult truth concealed by these carelessly uttered words?
The commonly used expression is a survival of the ancient Hermetic Maxim quoted above.
As the Kybalion says: "To him who truly understands this truth, hath come great knowledge." And, this being so, let us seek this truth, the understanding of which means so much.
In this statement of truth--this Hermetic Maxim--is concealed one of the greatest philosophical, scientific and religious truths.
We have given you the Hermetic Teaching regarding the Mental Nature of the Universe--the truth that "the Universe is Mental--held in the Mind of THE ALL." As the Kybalion says, in the passage quoted above: "All is in THE ALL." But note also the co-related statement, that: "It is equally true that THE ALL is in ALL." This apparently contradictory statement is reconcilable under the Law of Paradox.
It is, moreover, an exact Hermetic statement of the relations existing between THE ALL and its Mental Universe.
We have seen how "All is in THE ALL"--now let us examine the other aspect of the subject.
The Hermetic Teachings are to the effect that THE ALL is Imminent in ("remaining within; inherent; abiding within") its Universe, and in every part, particle, unit, or combination, within the Universe.
This statement is usually illustrated by the Teachers by a reference to the Principle of Correspondence.
The Teacher instructs the student to form a Mental Image of something, a person, an idea, something having a mental form, the favorite example being that of the author or dramatist forming an idea of his characters; or a painter or sculptor forming an image of an ideal that he wishes to express by his art.
In each case, the student will find that while the image has its existence, and being, solely within his own mind, yet he, the student, author, dramatist, painter, or sculptor, is, in a sense, 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.
Consider this for a moment, until the idea is grasped.
To take a modern example, let us say that Othello, Iago, Hamlet, Lear, Richard III, 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 yet Dickens.
And, again, while Micawber may be said to be Dickens, yet Dickens is not identical with Micawber.
The Hermetic axiom that the structure of the cosmos is reflected at every scale — 'as above, so below; as within, so without' — making each level a legible map of the others.
The passage explicitly references the 'Principle of Correspondence' as an illustration for the relationship between THE ALL and its Universe.
The doctrine that the divine is present within all things and the universe itself, pervading creation rather than remaining solely transcendent above it. Distinct from unity_of_being (the general claim that all existence is one substance, agnostic about whether that substance indwells its parts) and from kingdom_within (the divine present specifically IN THE INDIVIDUAL human, accessible without mediation) — divine_immanence is the general pervading-presence claim applied to all of creation, not a human-specific indwelling.
The text defines THE ALL as 'Imminent in... its Universe, and in every part, particle, unit', making divine immanence a central theme.
Esoteric teachings reserved for those ready to receive them; outer meaning conceals an inner liberating truth.
The passage discusses how the 'inner occult truth' is concealed by commonly used expressions like 'All in All', suggesting esoteric meaning behind exoteric words.
The Hermetic doctrine that THE ALL is Mind, and the Universe is mental in nature — a created thought held in the mind of THE ALL. Distinct from unity_of_being in specifying WHAT the underlying oneness is (mind, not an unspecified single substance), and from logos (a mediating ordering word BETWEEN a transcendent God and a separate material world) in collapsing that mediation entirely — under mentalism there is no world outside mind to mediate to.
The text explicitly states 'the Universe is Mental--held in the Mind of THE ALL' and uses the analogy of mental images created by authors/artists to explain existence.