DE LEGE LIBELLVM
infinite energy of the whole Universe is therein, what then is
possible but that it return to its own First Intention, dissolv-
ing itself little by little into that Light which is its most se-
cret and most subtle Nature?
For this Universe is in Truth Zero, being an equation
whereof Zero is the sum. Whereof this is the proof, that if
not, it would be unbalanced, and something would have
come from Nothing, which is absurd. This Light or Noth-
ing is then the Resultant or Totality thereof in pure Perfec-
tion; and all other states, positive or negative, are imperfect,
since they omit their opposites.
Yet, I would have you consider that this equality or iden-
tity of equation between all things and No thing is most
absolute, so that you will remain no more in the one than you
did in the other. And you will understand this greatest Mys-
tery very easily in the light of those other experiences which
you will have enjoyed, wherein motion and rest, change and
stability, and many other subtle opposites, have been re-
deemed to identity by the force of your holy meditation.
The greatest gift of the Law, then, cometh forth by the
most perfect practice of the Three Lesser Gifts. And so
thoroughly must you travail in this Work that you are able
to pass from one side of the equation to the other at will:
nay, to comprehend the whole at once, and for ever. This
then your time-and-space-bound soul shall travel according
to its nature in its orbit, revealing the Law to them that walk
in chains, for that this is your particular function.
Now here is the Mystery of the Origin of Evil. Firstly,
by Evil we mean that which is in opposition to our own
wills: it is therefore a relative, and not an absolute, term.
For everything which is the greatest evil of some one is the
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