To the Occultist the universe is a symbol and every part of it is symbolical. Although essentially an Idealist he does not attempt the rôle of those visionaries who would argue the universe out of existence. He may call it elusive but not an illusion, for his own existence depends on his consciousness of the world about him and his well-being upon the degree to which he understands and observes the laws of that universe of which he is an integral part. For if it be said that the world has no existence apart from our consciousness, it may with equal truth be said that our consciousness has no existence apart from the world to which it is related. What we understand as the laws of the universe are formulated in terms of our thought, but inasmuch as the laws of thought are imposed on us by existence, it is clear that we do not ourselves impose cosmic laws, but we merely apprehend them. It is not in the Idealistic sense that the universe is a symbol, but in the real sense of it being the embodiment or out-realizing of the Supreme Life and Mind. As symbol the universe is the revelation of all time, of the past and the future; the repository of all history, the source of all prophecy, the synthesis of actuality. That Consciousness which is simultaneously immanent in all the universe is called the Universal Mind. The Platonic definition of God as “That whose centre is everywhere and whose circumference is illimitable” comes as nearly to this conception of the Divine Mind as it is possible for words to compass. Man is a centre of consciousness in the Divine Mind from the time that he realizes his spiritual existence, a soul investing a cell in the Brain of the Grand Man. As such he becomes subject to the higher spiritual laws of Being and enters into the Divine Conspiracy. The evolving monads circulate and finally become impounded in one or another of the various organs of the Grand Man, in agreement with their several states of evolution, passing from one to another of them during the successive incarnations of the Deity. In his effort to reach a higher sphere of consciousness and activity, a wider sphere of influence and a greater measure of free will, man comes to realize that obedience to the law of his being is the means of attainment. Thus every man is a law unto himself, and the truly wise are they who are able to say in all consciousness: “Thy will be done.” For human safety and happiness are only assured by devotion to the highest good, and this is the occult view of the dependence of mankind on an all-seeing and beneficent Spirit “in whose service is perfect freedom.”