Let us now proceed to a consideration of the nature of the Universe, as a whole and in its parts.  What is the Universe?  We have seen that there can be nothing outside of the all.  Then is the Universe the all?  No, this cannot be, because the Universe seems to be made up of many, and is constantly changing, and in other ways it does not measure up to the ideas that we are compelled to accept regarding the all, as stated in our last lesson.  Then if the Universe be not the all, then it must be Nothing—­such is the inevitable conclusion of the mind at first thought.  But this will not satisfy the question, for we are sensible of the existence of the Universe.  Then if the Universe is neither the all, nor Nothing, what Can it be?  Let us examine this question.

If the Universe exists at all, or seems to exist, it must proceed in some way from the all—­it must be a creation of the all.  But as something can never come from nothing, from what could the all have created it.  Some philosophers have answered this question by saying that the all created the Universe from itself—­that is, from the being and substance of the all.  But this will not do, for the all cannot be subtracted from, nor divided, as we have seen, and then again if this be so, would not each particle in the Universe be aware of its being the all—­the all could not lose its knowledge of itself, nor actually become an atom, or blind force, or lowly living thing.  Some men, indeed, realizing that the all is indeed all, and also recognizing that they, the men, existed, have jumped to the conclusion that they and the all were identical, and they have filled the air with shouts of “I am god,” to the amusement of the multitude and the sorrow of sages.  The claim of the corpuscle that:  “I am Man!” would be modest in comparison.

But, what indeed is the Universe, if it be not the all, not yet created by the all having separated itself into fragments?  What else can it be—­ of what else can it be made?  This is the great question.  Let us examine it carefully.  We find here that the “Principle of Correspondence” (see Lesson I.) comes to our aid here.  The old Hermetic axiom, “As above so below,” may be pressed into service at this point.  Let us endeavor to get a glimpse of the workings on higher planes by examining those on our own.  The Principle of Correspondence must apply to this as well as to other problems.