There is one more matter of which we desire to speak in this lesson, and that comes very near to an invasion of the Metaphysical field of speculation, although our purpose is merely to show the futility of such speculation.  We allude to the question which inevitably comes to the mind of all thinkers who have ventured to seek the Truth.  The question is:  “Why does the all create Universes” The question may be asked in different forms, but the above is the gist of the inquiry.

Men have striven hard to answer this question, but still there is no answer worthy of the name.  Some have imagined that the all had something to gain by it, but this is absurd, for what could the all gain that it did not already possess?  Others have sought the answer in the idea that the all “wished something to love” and others that it created for pleasure, or amusement; or because it “was lonely” or to manifest its power;—­all puerile explanations and ideas, belonging to the childish period of thought.

Others have sought to explain the mystery by assuming that the all found itself “compelled” to create, by reason of its own “internal nature”—­its “creative instinct.”  This idea is in advance of the others, but its weak point lies in the idea of the all being “compelled” by anything, internal or external.  If its “internal nature,” or “creative instinct,” compelled it to do anything, then the “internal nature” or “creative instinct” would be the Absolute, instead of the all, and so accordingly that part of the proposition falls.  And, yet, the all does create and manifest, and seems to find some kind of satisfaction in so doing.  And it is difficult to escape the conclusion that in some infinite degree it must have what would correspond to an “inner nature,” or “creative instinct,” in man, with correspondingly infinite Desire and Will.  It could not act unless it Willed to Act; and it would not Will to Act, unless it Desired to Act and it would not Desire to Act unless it obtained some Satisfaction thereby.  And all of these things would belong to an “Inner Nature,” and might be postulated as existing according to the Law of Correspondence.  But, still, we prefer to think of the all as acting entirely free from any influence, internal as well as external.  That is the problem which lies at the root of difficulty—­and the difficulty that lies at the root of the problem.

Strictly speaking, there cannot be said to be any “Reason” whatsoever for the all to act, for a “reason” implies a “cause,” and the all is above Cause and Effect, except when it Wills to become a Cause, at which time the Principle is set into motion.  So, you see, the matter is Unthinkable, just as the all is Unknowable.  Just as we say the all merely “Is”—­so we are compelled