The Star in the West

254 THE STAR IN THE WEST Earth , and from which Heaven and Earth sprung ? Nay , what is there superior to Space and which moves in Space ? The great Tao is the parent of Space , and Space is the parent of Heaven and Earth , and Heaven and Earth produced men and things ...” A similar conception of the Wisdom is held in the Chaldaic , Memrah ; in the Vach , or word , of the Rig Veda ; in the Honover or word , of the Zend Avesta ; in the Avalôkitêsvara , or Kwan - Yin , the Sakti of Amitâbha , the boundless light of the later Mahayana Buddhists . Again we find it in the conception of Prana or life spirit of ancient India ; the Atharva -veda says : “ Rever ence to Prana , to whom the universe is subject , who has been lord of all , on whom all is supported .” Prana is the Purusha or aum , the totality of Brahman , Vishnu , and Siva , of Past , Present , and Future . The Wisdom of the Book of Proverbs , and the later Book of Wisdom ; it is also the same power as the Eden illa - ah of the Zohar , the Be ' Raisheeth of many Qabal ists and Talmudists , the Logos of Philo and St. John , and the Sophia of Plato . All the above are Absolute ideals , and so can bear only a relationship and no proportionate value what ever to our finite understanding , they can only be watched , and have never been realized ; and for this reason is it that they have never been appreciated by the mass of their so - called believers : I will not look at her ; I dare not stay . I will go down and mingle with the throng , Find some debasing dulling sacrifice , Some shameless harlot with thin lips grown grey In desperate desire , and so with song And wine fling hellward ... ? 1 The Temple of the Holy Ghost , vol . i, p . 169 .