nceptions of Deity conceived of by men in their ignorance. No!
the whole effort of the Divine Will seems to be in the direction of
"raising up" Individual Egos to higher and still higher forms. And in
order to produce such Egos the process of "Involution" of Principles
seems to have been caused, and the subsequent wonderful Evolutionary
process instituted. What that "Reason" is, is Unknowable, as we have
said over and over again. We cannot pry into the Infinite Mind of the
Absolute, but we may form certain conclusions by observing and studying
the Laws of the Universe, which seem to be moving in certain
directions. From the manifested Will of the Divine One, we may at least
hazard an idea as to its purposes. And these purposes seem to be always
in an "upward" lifting and evolution. Even the coming of the "Night of
Brahm" is no exception to this statement, as we shall see in future
lessons.

From the starting of the process of Involution from the Mental
Principle, down to the extreme downward point of the grossest
Manifestation of Matter, there were many stages. From the highest
degree of the Finite Mind, down to lower and still lower degrees; then
on to the plane of Force and Energy, from higher to lower degrees of
Principle within Principle; then on to the plane of Matter, the
Involutionary urge proceeded to work. When the plane of Matter was
reached, it, of course, showed its highest degree of manifested
Matter--the most subtle form of Ether, or _Akasa_. Then down, down,
down, went the degrees of Matter, until the grossest possible form was
reached, and then there was a moment's pause, before the Evolutionary
process, or upward-movement, began. The impulse of the Original Will,
or Thought, had exhausted its downward urge, and now began the upward
urge or tendency. But here was manifested a new feature.

This new feature was "The Tendency toward Individualization." During
the downward trend the movement was _en masse_, that is, by Principle
as _Principle_, without any "splitting up" into portions, or centers.
But with the first upward movement there was evidenced a tendency
toward creating Centers of Energy, or Units of activity, which then
manifested itself, as the evolutionary movement continued, from
electrons to atoms; from atoms to man. The gross matter was used as
material for the formation of finer and more complex forms; and these
in turn combined, and formed higher, and so on, and on. And the forms
of Energy