You must not dispute with these visions of the greatness of the soul, but must treat them hospitably, for they are your very own, coming to you from the regions of your Spiritual Mind which are unfolding into consciousness.

(7) The highest step in this dawning consciousness of the Oneness of All, is the one in which is realized that there is but One Reality, and at the same time the sense of consciousness that the “I” is in that Reality.  It is most difficult to express this thought in words for it is something that must be felt, rather than seen by the Intellect.  When the Soul realizes that the Spirit within it is, at the last, the only real part of it, and that the Absolute and its manifestation as Spirit is the only real thing in the Universe, a great step has been taken.  But there is still one higher step to be taken before the full sense of the Oneness and Reality comes to us.  That step is the one in which we realize the Identity of the “I” with the great “I” of the Universe.  The mystery of the manifestation of the Absolute in the form of the Spirit, is veiled from us—­the mind confesses its inability to penetrate behind the veil shielding the Absolute from view, although it will give us a report of its being conscious of the presence of the Absolute just at the edge of the boundary line.  But the highest region of the Spiritual Mind, when explored by the advanced souls who are well along the Path, reports that it sees beyond the apparent separation of Spirit from Spirit, and realizes that there is but one Reality of Spirit, and that all the “I"’s are really but different views of that One—­Centres of Consciousness upon the surface of the One Great “I,” the Centre of which is the Absolute Itself.  This certainly penetrates the whole region of the Spiritual Mind, and gives us all the message of Oneness of the Spirit, just as the Intellect satisfies us with its message of the Oneness of Matter, Energy, and Mind.  The idea of Oneness permeates all planes of Life.

The sense of Reality of the “I” that is apparent to You in the moments of your clearest mental vision, is really the reflection of the sense of Reality underlying the Whole—­it is the consciousness of the Whole, manifesting through your point or Centre of Consciousness.  The advanced student or Initiate finds his consciousness gradually enlarging until it realizes its identity with the Whole.  He realizes that under all the forms and names of the visible world, there is to be found One Life—­One Force—­One Substance—­One Existence—­One Reality—­ONE.  And, instead of his experiencing any sense of the loss of identity or individuality, he becomes conscious of an enlargement of an expansion of individuality or identity—­instead of feeling himself absorbed in the Whole, he feels that he is spreading out and embracing the Whole.  This is most hard to express in words, for there are no words to fit the conception, and all that we can hope to do is to start into motion, by means of our words, the vibrations that will find a response in the minds of those who read the words, to the end that they will experience the consciousness which will bring its own understanding.  This consciousness cannot be transmitted by words proceeding from the Intellect, but vibrations may be set up that will prepare the mind to receive the message from its own higher planes.