Chapter 7 - "The All" in All - The Kybalion

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Episode Transcript

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Chapter seven, the all in all, while all is in the all,
it is equally true that the allis in all. To him who truly
understands this truth, hath come greatknowledge the Kabalian. How often have the
majority of people heard repeated the statementthat their deity, called by many names,

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was all in all? And howlittle have they suspected the inner occult
truth concealed by these carelessly uttered words. The commonly used expression is a survival
of the ancient Hermetic maxim quoted above. As the Cabalian says, to him
who truly understands this truth, hathcome great knowledge. And this being so,

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let us seek this truth, theunderstanding of which means so much.
In this statement of truth, thisHermetic maxim is concealed one of the greatest
philosophical, scientific, and religious truths. We have given you the Hermetic teachings
regarding the mental nature of the universe, the truth that the universe is mental,

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held in the mind of the all. As the Kabalian says in the
passage quoted above, all is inthe all. But note also the co
related statement that it is equally truethat the all is in the all.
This apparently contradictory statement is reconcilable underthe law of paradox. It is,

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moreover, an exact hermetic statement ofthe relations existing between the All and its
mental universe. We have seen howall is in the All. Now let
us examine the other aspect of thesubject. The hermetic teachings are to the
effect that the All is imminent inremaining within, inherent, abiding within its

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universe, and in every part,particle, unit, or combination within the
universe. The statement is usually illustratedby the teachers by a reference to the
principle of correspondence. The teacher instructsthe student to form a mental image of
something, a person, an idea, something having a mental form, the

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favorite example being that of the authoror dramatist forming an idea of his characters,
or a painter or sculptor forming animage of an ideal that he wishes
to express by his art. Ineach case, the student will find that
while the image has its existence andbeing solely within his own mind, yet

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he, the student, author,dramatist, painter, or sculptor, is
in a sense eminent in remaining withinor abiding within the mental image. Also,
in other words, the entire virtue, life, spirit of reality in
the mental image is derived from theimminent mind of the thinker. Consider this

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for a moment until the idea isgrasped. To take a modern example,
let us say that Othello, Iago, Hamlet, Lear, Richard the Third
existed merely in the mind of Shakespeareat the time of their conception or creation.
And yet Shakespeare also existed within eachof these characters, giving them their

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vitality, spirit, and action.Whose is the spirit of the characters that
we know as Micawper, Oliver,twist Uriah Heap. Is it Dickens?
Or have each of these characters apersonal spirit independent of their creator? Have
the venus of Medica, the CistineMadonna, the Apollo Belvidere spirits and reality

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of their own? Or do theyrepresent the spiritual and mental powers of their
creators? The law of paradox explainsthat both propositions are true viewed from the
proper viewpoints. Micawber is both Micawberand yet Dickens. And again, while
Micawber may be said to be Dickens, yet Dickens is not identical with Micawber.

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Man Like Micawber may exclaim the spiritof my creator is inherent within me,
and yet I am not he.How different this is from the shocking
half truth so vociferously announced by certainof the half wives who fill the air
with their raucous cries of I amGod. Imagine poor Micawber, or the

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sneaky Uriah Heap crying I am Dickens, or some of the lowly clods in
one of Shakespeare's plays, eloquently announcingthat I am Shakespeare. The All is
in the earthworm, and yet theearthworm is far from being the all.
And still the wonder remains that thoughthe earthworm exists merely as a lowly thing

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created in having its being solely withinthe mind of the All, yet the
All is eminent in the earthworm,and in the particles that go to make
up the earthworm. Can there beany greater mystery than this of the all
in the all, and the allin all. The student will, of
course realize that the illustrations given aboveare necessarily imperfect and inadequate, for they

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represent the creation of mental images andfinite minds, while the universe is a
creation of infinite mind, and thedifference between the two poles separates them.
And yet it is merely a matterof degree, the same principle as in
operation. The principle of correspondence manifestsin each as above, so below,

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as below, so above, andin the degree that man realizes the existence
of the indwelling spirit eminent within hisbeing, so he will rise to the
spiritual scale of life. This iswhat spiritual development means, the recognition,
realization, and manifestation of the spiritwithin us. Try to remember this last

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definition, that of spiritual development.It contains the truth of true religion.
There are many planes of being,many subplanes of life, many degrees of
existence in the universe, and alldepend upon the advancement of beings in the
scale of which scale the lowest pointis the grossest matter, the highest being

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separated only by the thinnest division fromthe spirit of the all. And upward
and onward along this scale of life, everything is moving, All are on
the path whose end is the All. All progress is returning home, all
upward and onward. In spite ofall seemingly contradictory appearances, such as the

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message of the Illumined, the hermeticteachings concerning the process of the mental creation
of the universe are that at thebeginning of the creative cycle. The all,
in its aspect of being, projectsits will toward its aspect of becoming,
and the process of creation begins.It is taught that the process consists

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of the lowering of vibration until avery low degree of vibratory energy is reached,
at which point the grossest possible formof matter is manifested. This process
is called the stage of involution,in which the all becomes involved or wrapped
up in its creation. This processis believed by the hermetis to have a

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correspondence to the mental process of anartist, writer, or inventor, who
becomes so wrapped up in his mentalcreation as to almost forget his own existence,
and who for the time being almostlives in his creation. If instead
of rap we use the word rapped, perhaps we will give a better idea

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of what is meant. The involuntarystage of creation is sometimes called the outpouring
of the divine energy, just asthe evolutionary state is called the indrawing.
The extreme pole of the creative processis considered to be the furthest removed from
the all, while the beginning ofthe evolutionary stage is regarded as the beginning

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of the return swing of the pendulumof rhythm, a coming home idea being
held in all of the hermetic teachings. The teachings are that during the outpouring,
the vibrations become lower and lower,until finally the urge ceases and the
return swing begins. But there isthis difference that while in the outpouring the

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creative forces manifest compactly and as awhole, yet from the beginning of the
evolutionary or indrawing stage there is manifestedthe law of individualization, that is,
the tendency to separate into units offorce, so that finally that which left
the all as unindividualized energy returns toits source as countless highly developed units of

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life, having risen higher and higherin the scale by means of physical,
mental, and spiritual evolution. Theancient Hermitis use the word meditation in describing
the process of the mental creation ofthe universe in the mind of the all,
the word contemplation also being frequently employed, but the idea intended seems to

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be that of the employment of thedivine attention. Attention is a word derived
from the Latin root meaning to reachout, to stretch out, and so
the act of attention is really amental reaching out extension of mental energy,
so that the underlying idea is readilyunderstood when we examine the real meaning of

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attention. The hermetic teachings regarding theprocess of evolution are that the all,
having meditated upon the beginning of thecreation, having thus established the material foundations
of the universe, having thought itinto existence, then gradually awakens or rouses
from its meditation, and in sodoing starts into manifestation the process of evolution

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on the material, mental, andspiritual planes, successively and in order.
Thus the upward movement begins, andall begins to move spiritward. Matter becomes
less gross, the units spring intobeing, the combinations begin to form,
Life appears and manifests in higher andhigher forms, and the mind becomes more

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and more in evidence, the vibrationsconstantly becoming higher. In short, the
entire process of evolution, in allits phases, begins and proceeds according to
the established law of the indrawing process. All of this occupies eons upon eons
of man's time, each eon containingcountless millions of years. But yet the

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illumined inform us that the entire creation, including involution and evolution of a universe
is but as the twinkle of theeye to the All. At the end
of the countless cycles of eons oftime, the All withdraws its attention,
its contemplation and meditation of the universe, for the great work is finished,

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and all is withdrawn into the Allfrom which it emerged. But mystery of
mysteries, the spirit of each soulis not annihilated, but infinitely expanded.
The created and the creator are merged, such as the report of the illumined.
The above illustration of the meditation andsubsequent awakening from meditation of the All

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is of course, but an attemptof the teachers to describe the infinite process
by a finite example. And yet, as below, so above, the
difference is merely in degree. Andjust as the All arouses itself from the
meditation upon the universe, so doesman in time cease from manifesting upon the

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material plane, and withdraws himself moreand more into the indwelling spirit, which
is indeed the divine Ego. Thereis one more matter of which we desire
to speak in this lesson, andthat comes very near to an invasion of
the metaphysical field of speculation. Althoughour purpose is merely to show the futility

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of such speculation. We allude tothe question which inevitably comes to the mind
of all thinkers who have ventured toseek the truth. The question is why
does the All create universes? Thequestion may be asked in different forms,
but the above is the gist ofthe inquiry. Men have striven hard to

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answer this question, but still thereis no answer worthy of the name.
Some have imagined that the All hadsomething to gain by it, but that
is absurd, for what could theAll gain that it did not already possess.
Others have sought the answer in theidea that the All wished something to
love, and others that it createdfor pleasure or amusement, or because it

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was lonely, or to manifest itspower. All puerile explanations and ideas belonging
to the childish period of thought.Others have sought to explain the mystery by
assuming that the All found itself compelledto create by reason of its own internal
nature, its creative instinct. Thisidea is in advance of the others,

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but its weak point lies in theidea of the All being compelled by anything
internal or external. If its internalnature or creative instinct compelled it to do
anything, then the internal nature orcreative instinct would be the absolute instead of
the all. And so accordingly thatpart of the proposition fails. And yet

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the All does create and manifest,and seems to find some kind of satisfaction
in so doing. And it isdifficult to escape the conclusion that in some
infinite degree it must have what wouldcorrespond to an inner nature or creative instinct
in man with correspondingly infinite desire andwill. It could not act unless it

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will to act, and it wouldnot will to act unless it desire to
act, and it would not desireto act unless it obtains some satisfaction thereby.
And all of these things would belongto an inner nature, and must
be postulated as existing according to thelaw of correspondence. But still we prefer

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to think of the All as actingentirely, free from any influence internal as
well as external. That is theproblem which lies at the root of difficulty,
and the difficulty that lies at theroot of the problem. Strictly speaking,
there cannot be said to be anyreason whatsoever for the All to act

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for a reason implies a cause,and the All is above cause and effect,
except when it wills to become acause, at which time the principle
is set into motion. So yousee, the matter is unthinkable, just
as the All is unknowable. Justas we say the all merely is.
So, we are compelled to saythat the All acts because it acts.

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At the last, the All isall reason in its self, all law
in itself, all action in itself. And it may be said truthfully that
the All is its own reason,its own law, its own act,
or still further, that the all, its reason, its act, its

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law are one, all being namesfor the same thing. In the opinion
of those who are giving you thesepresent lessons, the answer is locked up
in the inner self of the All, along with its secret of being.
The law of correspondence, in ouropinion, reaches only to that aspect of
the All, which may be spokenof as the aspect of becoming. Back

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of that aspect is the aspect ofbeing, in which all laws are lost
in law, all principles merge intoprinciple, and the all, principle and
being are identical one and the same. Therefore, metaphysical speculation on this point
is futile. We go into thematter here merely to show that we recognize

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the question and also the absurdity ofthe ordinary answers of metaphysics and theology.
In conclusion, it may be ofinterest to our students to learn that while
some of the ancient and modern Hermeticteachers have rather inclined in the direction of
applying the principle of correspondence to thequestion with the result of the inner nature

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conclusion, still legends have it thatHermes the Great, when asked this question
by his advanced students, answered themby pressing his lips tightly together and not
saying a word, indicating that therewas no answer. But then he may
have intended to apply the axiom ofhis philosophy that the lips of wisdom are

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closed except to the ears of understanding, believing that even his advanced students did
not possess the understanding which titled themto the teaching. At any rate,
if Hermes possessed the secret, hefailed to impart it. And so far
as the world is concerned, thelips of Hermes are closed regarding it.

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And where the great Hermes hesitated tospeak, what mortal dare to teach but
remember that whatever be the answer tothis problem, if indeed there be an
answer, the truth remains that whileall is in the all, it is
equally true that the all is inthe all. The teaching on this point

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is emphatic, and we may addthe concluding words of the quotation. To
him who truly understands this truth,hath come great knowledge. End of chapter seven.