evil hateth the light, neither cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved.  But he that doeth truth cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought in God” (John iii:  19-21).  In physical science these things have an exact parallel in “Ohm’s Law” regarding the resistance offered by the conductor to the flow of the electric current.  The correspondence is very remarkable and will be found more fully explained in a later chapter.  The Primary Darkness, both of Substance and of Mind, has to be taken into account, if we would form an intelligent conception of the twofold process of Involution and Evolution continually at work in ourselves, which, by their combined action, are able to lead to the limitless development both of the individual and of the race.

According to all teaching, then, both ancient and modern, all life and energy have their source in a Primary Life and Energy, of which we can only say that IT IS.  We cannot conceive of any time when it was not, for, if there was a time when no such Primary Energizing Life existed, what was there to energize it?  So we are landed in a reductio ad absurdum which leaves no alternative but to predicate the Eternal Existence of an All-Originating Living Spirit.

Let us stop for a moment to consider what we mean by “Eternal.”  When, do you suppose, twice two began to make four?  And when, do you suppose, twice two will cease to make four?  It is an eternal principle, quite independent of time or conditions.  Similarly with the Originating Life.  It is above time and above conditions—­in a word it is undifferentiated and contains in itself the potential of infinite differentiation.  This is what the Eternal Life is, and what we want for the expansion of our own life is a truer comprehension of it.  We are like Tiamat, and must enter into intelligent and loving union with the Spirit of Light, in order to realize the infinite possibilities that lie before us.  This is the ultimate meaning of the maxim “Omne vivum ex vivo.”

We see, then, that the material universe, including our own bodies, has its origin in the undifferentiated Universal Substance, and that the first movement towards differentiation must be started by some initial impulse, analogous to those which start vibrations in the ether known to science; and that therefore this impulse must, in the first instance, proceed from some Living Power eternal in itself, and independent of time and conditions.  Now all the ancient religions of the world concur, in attributing this initial impulse to the power of Sound; and we have seen, that as a matter of fact, sound has the power of starting vibrations, and that these vibrations have an exact correspondence with the quality of the sound, what we now call synchronous vibration.