But they do not think for a moment, or teach in the slightest degree, that all this Unfoldment, and Plan of the Universe, has for its object any advantage, benefit or gain to the Absolute—­such a thought would be folly, for the Absolute is already Perfect, and Its Perfection cannot be added to, or taken away from.  But they do positively teach that there is a great beneficial purpose in all the Plan, accruing in the end to the developed souls that have evolved through the workings of the plan.  These souls do not possess the qualities of the Infinite—­they are Finite, and thus are capable of receiving benefits; of growing, developing, unfolding, attaining.  And, therefore, the Yogis teach that this building up of Great Souls seems to be the idea of the Infinite, so far as may be gained from an observation of the Workings of the Plan.  The Absolute cannot need these Great Souls for Its own pleasure, and therefore their building-up must be for their own advantage, happiness and benefit.

The Yogis teach, on this subject, that there can be only ONE Real Perfect Being—­Perfect without experience—­Perfect from the Beginning—­but only ONE!  In other words, they teach that there can be no such thing as Absolute Perfection, outside of the Absolute Itself—­and that not even the Absolute Being can create another Absolute Being, for in that case there would be no Absolute Being at all, but only two Relative Beings.

Think over this for a moment, and you will see its truth.  The ABSOLUTE must always be “the One without a Second”, as the Yogis express it—­there cannot be two Perfect ones.  And so, all Finite Beings, being Finite, must work their way up toward the plane of Perfection by The Path of Life, with all of its lessons, tasks, cares, pains, and strivings.  This is the only way open to them—­and even the Absolute cannot have it otherwise, and still be the Absolute.  There is a fine point here—­the Absolute is All-Powerful, but even that All-Power is not sufficient to enable It to destroy Its Absolute Being.  And so, you who have wondered, perhaps you may now understand our words in the First Lesson of this series, in which we said that the message of the Absolute to some of the Illumined has been:  “All is being done in the best and only possible way—­I am doing the best I can—­all is well—­and in the end will so appear.”

And, as we also said in that First Lesson:  “The Absolute, instead of being an indifferent and unmoved spectator to its own creation, is a striving, longing, active, suffering, rejoicing, feeling Spirit, partaking of the feelings of Its manifestations, rather than callously witnessing them.  It lives in us—­with us—­through us.  Back of all the pain in the world, may be found a great feeling and suffering love.”  And in this thought there is comfort to the doubting soul—­peace to the troubled mind.

In the Sixth Lesson, we shall proceed to deliver to you the further Message of Truth, concerning “how” the One Absolute manifests Its Mental Images as Universe; Universal Life; and Forms and Shapes; and Individualities, and Personalities.  We had hoped to include the whole Message in this Fifth Lesson, but now find that we have merely laid the steps by which the student may reach the Essential Truth.