And just as THE ALL arouses itself from the meditation upon the Universe, so does Man (in time) cease from manifesting upon the Material Plane, and withdraws himself more and more into the Indwelling Spirit, which is indeed "The Divine Ego." There is one more matter of which we desire to speak in this lesson, and that comes very near to an invasion of the Metaphysical field of speculation, although our purpose is merely to show the futility of such speculation.
We allude to the question which inevitably comes to the mind of all thinkers who have ventured to seek the Truth.
The question is: "WHY does THE ALL create Universes" The question may be asked in different forms, but the above is the gist of the inquiry.
Men have striven hard to answer this question, but still there is no answer worthy of the name.
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?
Others have sought the answer in the idea that THE ALL "wished something to love" and others that it created for pleasure, or amusement; or because it "was lonely" or to manifest its power;--all puerile explanations and ideas, belonging to the childish period of thought.
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.
Strictly speaking, there cannot be said to be any "Reason" whatsoever for THE ALL to act, for a "reason" implies a "cause," and THE ALL is above Cause and Effect, except when it Wills to become a Cause, at which time the Principle is set into motion.
So, you see, the matter is Unthinkable, just as THE ALL is Unknowable.
Just as we say THE ALL merely "IS"--so we are compelled to say that "THE ALL ACTS BECAUSE IT ACTS." At the last, THE ALL is All Reason in Itself; All Law in Itself; All Action in Itself--and it may be said, truthfully, that THE ALL is Its Own Reason; its own Law; its own Act--or still further, that THE ALL; Its Reason; Its Act; is Law; are ONE, all being names for the same thing.
In the opinion of those who are giving you these present lessons, the answer is locked up in the INNER SELF of THE ALL, along with its Secret of Being.
Attributing human characteristics, emotions, or form to the divine; embodied divine imagery.
The passage explicitly critiques anthropomorphic explanations (loneliness, pleasure, gain) as 'puerile,' thereby acknowledging the concept while rejecting its validity for THE ALL.
Describing the divine only by negation—God transcends all positive categories and concepts; the via negativa.
The passage repeatedly emphasizes the unknowability of THE ALL, stating it is 'Unthinkable,' 'Unknowable,' and that there is no 'Reason' for its action in human terms.
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 text explicitly references the 'Law of Correspondence' when postulating that THE ALL's inner nature corresponds to man's creative instinct and desire.
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 passage describes THE ALL as possessing Will, Desire, and Reason, acting through an 'Inner Nature' akin to human mental faculties, aligning with the Hermetic view that the Universe is mental in nature.
The human being as a small-scale image of the entire cosmos; the body, soul, and intellect mirroring the structure of the heavens and the divine — distinct from correspondence in that it makes the human the privileged mirror.
The text draws a parallel between THE ALL's 'inner nature' and man's 'creative instinct,' suggesting the human reflects the divine structure.
The absolutely simple, undivided first principle from which all multiplicity and existence flows.
THE ALL is described as the singular source from which Universes are created and into which Man withdraws, functioning as the absolutely simple first principle.
Using apparent contradiction, reversal, or riddle to destabilise ordinary understanding and induce insight.
The passage uses paradoxical statements like 'THE ALL ACTS BECAUSE IT ACTS' and 'the difficulty that lies at the root of the problem' to convey the ineffability of divine action.