goal, and that "All is Well with the Universe".

But they do not think for a moment, or teach in the slightest degree,
that all this Unfoldment, and Plan of the Universe, has for its object
any advantage, benefit or gain to the Absolute--such a thought would be
_folly_, for the Absolute is already Perfect, and Its Perfection cannot
be added to, or taken away from. But they do positively teach that
there is a great beneficial purpose in all the Plan, accruing in the
end to the developed souls that have evolved through the workings of
the plan. These souls do not possess the qualities of the
Infinite--they are Finite, and thus are capable of receiving benefits;
of growing, developing, unfolding, attaining. And, therefore, the Yogis
teach that this building up of Great Souls seems to be the idea of the
Infinite, so far as may be gained from an observation of the Workings
of the Plan. The Absolute cannot _need these_ Great Souls for Its own
pleasure, and therefore their building-up must be for their own
advantage, happiness and benefit.

The Yogis teach, on this subject, that there can be only ONE Real
Perfect Being--Perfect without experience--Perfect from the
Beginning--but only ONE! In other words, they teach that there can be
no such thing as Absolute Perfection, outside of the Absolute
Itself--and that not even the Absolute Being can create another
Absolute Being, for in that case there would be no Absolute Being at
all, but only _two Relative Beings_.

Think over this for a moment, and you will see its truth. The ABSOLUTE
must always be "the One without a Second", as the Yogis express
it--there cannot be _two_ Perfect ones. And so, all Finite Beings,
being Finite, must work their way up toward the plane of Perfection by
The Path of Life, with all of its lessons, tasks, cares, pains, and
strivings. This is the only way open to them--and even the Absolute
cannot have it otherwise, and still be the Absolute. There is a fine
point here--the Absolute is All-Powerful, but even that All-Power is
not sufficient to enable It to destroy Its Absolute Being. And so, you
who have wondered, perhaps you may now understand our words in the
First Lesson of this series, in which we said that the message of the
Absolute to some of the Illumined has been: "All is being done in the
best and only possible way--I am doing the best I can--all is well--and
in the end will so appear."

And, as we also said in that First Lesson: "The Absolu