A Series of Lessons in Gnani Yoga: The Yoga of WisdomAtkinson, William Walker
Religion
A Series of Lessons in Gnani Yoga: The Yoga of Wisdom
Atkinson, William Walker
Yoga, Jñana
Therefore All Things _emanate from_, and are _contained in_ the One
Reality. We shall consider "just how" later on, but the question which
confronts us, and which has been called the "Final Question"--and that
which we pronounce unanswerable--is this: "Why has the Infinite
manifested and emanated Finite forms of being?" You will see the nature
of the question when you stop to consider: (1) The Infinite cannot have
Desire, for that is a Finite quality; (2) It cannot lack anything, for
that would take away from its Infinity; (3) and even if it did lack
anything, from whence could it expect to acquire it; for there is
nothing outside of itself--if It lacks anything, it must continue to
always lack it, for there is no outside source from which It could
obtain anything which it does not already possess. And Desire would be,
of course, a _wanting_ for something which it lacked--so It could not
Desire unless it Lacked--and it would know that Desire would be
hopeless, even if indeed it did Lack.
So you see that if we regard the Infinite Reality as Perfect, we must
drop all ideas of It Desiring or Lacking--and of it Growing or
Improving--or of it obtaining more Power, or Knowledge. These ideas are
ridiculous, for an Absolute, Infinite Reality, must possess
All-Knowledge; All-Power; All-Presence, else it is not Absolute and
Infinite. And, if It does not possess these attributes of Being, then
It can never hope to acquire them, for there is Nowhere from whence
they could be acquired--there is no Source outside of the All-Source. A
Finite Thing, may lack, and desire, and improve and develop, for there
is the Universal Source from which it may draw. But the Infinite has no
Universal Source, for it is Its own Source. Do you see the nature of
the Final Question? If not we will again state it--it is this:
"Why should the Infinite Reality, which possesses all that may be
possessed, and which in itself is the only Source of Things--WHY should
It Desire to manifest a Universe from and within Itself?"
A little consideration will show you that there is no intelligent
answer to the "Why," either in your own minds, or in the writings and
teachings of the greatest minds. The matter is important, to those who
are confronted every day with some of the many attempts to answer this
Final Question--it is well that our students inform them regarding the
futility of such questioning. And with this end in view, we shall
herein give a few of the wise "guesses" at the answer, and our reasons
for considering them inadequate. We ask the student to consider
carefully these remarks, for by so doing he will post himself, and will
be saved much tedious and perplexing wandering along the dangerous
places in the Swamp of Metaphysics, following the will-o'-the-wisp of
Finite Mind masquerading as the Infinite Wisdom! Beware of the False
Lights! They lead to the quagmire and quicksands of thought!
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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