The Equinox (Volume III, Number I)

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 123