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Lesson X: The Riddle of the Universe.433
the star, and when, shortly after, it passes out of the field of vision, we say: “it
is gone,” when, in reality, the star is still in its place, but we have moved and
see it not. The shifting and changing that we think are real, are but the waves,
foam and bubbles on the bosom of the ocean, mere surface appearances—
the ocean is unchanged. The Absolute is outside of the law of cause and
effect. Cause and effect cannot touch it, because they are but relative things,
dealing with other relative things, and touching not the Reality or Absolute
at all. The Absolute has no beginning, can have no ending; has no cause,
and is not the effect of anything. From the position of the Absolute, there is
no such thing as the law of cause and effect, such law being a relative thing
having only the world of relativity for its field of operation. Cause and effect
are relative appearances within the Absolute, and having no control over it—
they are creations, mere instruments or tools of the Absolute, serving some
Divine purpose of the moment, but possessing no reality to the Absolute.
The Absolute is Free.
Eleventh. That which is not Absolute must be Relative to the Absolute, or
else Nothing at all. That which is not the Absolute Being (“the Thing in Itself”)
must be “of” it, or else must be nothing at all. This statement is a corollary of
Statements i, ii, and iii. All reality—and all relativity—must be either The
Absolute itself, or else “of” the Absolute. In other words it must be either
the Absolute (the Whole Thing as it Is), or else the Relative (“an imperfect
and incomplete view or aspect of the Whole Thing”). If it is neither of
these two things (which are really one thing, you must remember), then
it is nothing—a Lie—an Illusion of an Illusion—a mistaken judgment of
a Relative thing (or a series of such mistaken judgments), or a positive lie
having no foundation either in the Absolute or the Relative.
The Three Great Manifestations, or Relativities.
The ordinary Intellect is unable to see plainly, or comprehend fully, the
Absolute in Itself. But the relative aspects of the Absolute are apparent to
the ordinary consciousness, and a glimpse of the “thing in itself” (Spirit) may