for it points the difference between half-wisdom and wisdom.  While to the infinite all, the Universe, its Laws, its Powers, its life, its Phenomena, are as things witnessed in the state of Meditation or Dream; yet to all that is Finite, the Universe must be treated as Real, and life, and action, and thought, must be based thereupon, accordingly, although with an ever understanding of the Higher Truth.  Each according to its own Plane and Laws.  Were the all to imagine that the Universe were indeed Reality, then woe to the Universe, for there would be then no escape from lower to higher, divineward—­then would the Universe become a fixity and progress would become impossible.  And if Man, owing to half-wisdom, acts and lives and thinks of the Universe as merely a dream (akin to his own finite dreams) then indeed does it so become for him, and like a sleep-walker he stumbles ever around and around in a circle, making no progress, and being forced into an awakening at last by his falling bruised and bleeding over the Natural Laws which he ignored.  Keep your mind ever on the Star, but let your eyes watch over your footsteps, lest you fall into the mire by reason of your upward gaze.  Remember the Divine Paradox, that while the Universe is not, still it is.  Remember ever the Two Poles of Truth the Absolute and the Relative.  Beware of Half-Truths.

What Hermetists know as “the Law of Paradox” is an aspect of the Principle of Polarity.  The Hermetic writings are filled with references to the appearance of the Paradox in the consideration of the problems of Life and Being.  The Teachers are constantly warning their students against the error of omitting the “other side” of any question.  And their warnings are particularly directed to the problems of the Absolute and the Relative, which perplex all students of philosophy, and which cause so many to think and act contrary to what is generally known as “common sense.”  And we caution all students to be sure to grasp the Divine Paradox of the Absolute and Relative, lest they become entangled in the mire of the Half-Truth.  With this in view this particular lesson has been written.  Read it carefully!

The first thought that comes to the thinking man after he realizes the truth that the Universe is a Mental Creation of the all, is that the Universe and all that it contains is a mere illusion; an unreality; against which idea his instincts revolt.  But this, like all other great truths, must be considered both from the Absolute and the Relative points of view.  From the Absolute viewpoint, of course, the Universe is in the nature of an illusion, a dream, a phantasmagoria, as compared to the all in itself.  We recognize this even in our ordinary view, for we speak of the world as “a fleeting show” that comes and goes, is born and dies—­for the element of impermanence and change, finiteness and unsubstantiality, must ever be connected with the idea of a created Universe when it is contrasted with the idea of the all, no matter what may be our beliefs concerning the nature of both.  Philosopher, metaphysician, scientist and theologian all agree upon this idea, and the thought is found in all forms of philosophical thought and religious conceptions, as well as in the theories of the respective schools of metaphysics and theology.