CENTRAL THOUGHT. There is but One Life—­a Universal Life—­in the world.  This One Life is an emanation from the Absolute.  It infills all forms, shapes and manifestations of Life, and is the Real Life that each imagines to be his personal property.  There is but One—­and you are centres of consciousness and expression in that One.  There is a Unity and Harmony which becomes apparent to those who enter into the consciousness of the One Life.  There is Peace and Calm in the thought.  There is Strength and Power in the knowledge.  Enter ye into your Kingdom of Power—­possess yourselves of your Birthright of Knowledge.  In the very center of your being you will find a holy of holies in which dwells the Consciousness of the One Life, underlying.  Enter into the Silence of the Shrine within.

THE FIFTH LESSON

THE ONE AND THE MANY.

As we have stated in previous Lessons, all philosophies which thinkers have considered worthy of respect, find their final expression of Truth in the fundamental thought that there is but One Reality, underlying all the manifold manifestations of shape and form.  It is true that the philosophers have differed widely in their conception of that One, but, nevertheless, they have all agreed upon the logical necessity of the fundamental conception that there is, at least, but One Reality, underlying All.

Even the Materialists have conceded this conclusion, and they speak and think of a something called “Matter,” as the One—­holding that, inherent in Matter, is the potentiality of all Life.  The school of Energists, holding that Matter in itself is non-existent, and that it is merely a mode of manifestation of a something called “Energy,” asserts that this something called Energy is One, fundamental, real, and self-sufficient.

The various forms of Western religious thought, which hold to the various conceptions of a Personal Deity, also hold to a Oneness, inasmuch as they teach that in the beginning there was God, only, and that all the Universe has been created by Him.  They do not go into details regarding this creation, and, unlike the Oriental teachers, they fail to distinguish between the conception of the creation of shape and form, on the one hand; and the creation of the substance of these shapes and forms, on the other hand.  But, even accepting the premises of these people who hold to the Personal Deity conception, it will be seen that the Reason requires the acceptance of one or two ideas, viz., (1) That the Deity created the substance of these shapes and forms from Nothing; or else (2) that he created them out of his own substance—­out of Himself, in fact.  Let us consider, briefly, these two conceptions.