u dost carefully consider this matter, thou
wilt see that a lower plane can never comprehend a higher. The mineral
kingdom, for example, which is lower, is precluded from comprehending the
vegetable kingdom; for the mineral, any such understanding would be
utterly impossible. In the same way, no matter how far the vegetable
kingdom may develop, it will achieve no conception of the animal kingdom,
and any such comprehension at its level would be unthinkable, for the
animal occupieth a plane higher than that of the vegetable: this tree
cannot conceive of hearing and sight. And the animal kingdom, no matter
how far it may evolve, can never become aware of the reality of the
intellect, which discovereth the inner essence of all things, and
comprehendeth those realities which cannot be seen; for the human plane as
compared with that of the animal is very high. And although these beings
all co-exist in the contingent world, in each case the difference in their
stations precludeth their grasp of the whole; for no lower degree can
understand a higher, such comprehension being impossible.

The higher plane, however, understandeth the lower. The animal, for
instance, comprehendeth the mineral and vegetable, the human understandeth
the planes of the animal, vegetable and mineral. But the mineral cannot
possibly understand the realms of man. And notwithstanding the fact that
all these entities co-exist in the phenomenal world, even so, no lower
degree can ever comprehend a higher.

Then how could it be possible for a contingent reality, that is, man, to
understand the nature of that pre-existent Essence, the Divine Being? The
difference in station between man and the Divine Reality is thousands upon
thousands of times greater than the difference between vegetable and
animal. And that which a human being would conjure up in his mind is but
the fanciful image of his human condition, it doth not encompass God's
reality but rather is encompassed by it. That is, man graspeth his own
illusory conceptions, but the Reality of Divinity can never be grasped:
It, Itself, encompasseth all created things, and all created things are in
Its grasp. That Divinity which man doth imagine for himself existeth only
in his mind, not in truth. Man, however, existeth both in his mind and in
truth; thus man is greater than that fanciful reality which he is able to
imagine.

The furthermost limits of this bird of clay are these: he can flutter
along for s