(46) And the young Man said; Thy Ornament is mine already, I [will] use thee according to my Will; in that thou sayest I shall be broken, (corrupted or destroyed,) yet my Worm is eternal, I will rule with that; and yet I will dwell in thee, and cloath thee with my Garments.

(6) O ye proud Christians! wretched, weary ones! Who, in the vision of the mind infirm Confidence have in your backsliding steps, Do ye not comprehend that we are worms, Born to bring forth the angelic butterfly That flieth unto judgment without screen? Why floats aloft your spirit high in air? Like are ye unto insects undeveloped, Even as the worm in whom formation fails! As to sustain a ceiling or a roof, In place of corbel, oftentimes a figure Is seen to join its knees unto its breast, Which makes of the unreal real anguish Arise in him who sees it, fashioned thus Beheld I those, when I had ta'en good heed. True is it, they were more or less bent down, According as they more or less were laden; And he who had most patience in his looks Weeping did seem to say, "I can no more!"

(76) Which may be likened to the round globe of the sun, which shineth upwards, downwards, and on every side; and so the splendour, together with all the powers, goeth forth from the Son of God in the whole Father.

(3) But in the world of sense we can perceive That evermore the circles are diviner As they are from the centre more remote Wherefore if my desire is to be ended In this miraculous and angelic temple, That has for confines only love and light, To hear behoves me still how the example And the exemplar go not in one fashion, Since for myself in vain I contemplate it." "If thine own fingers unto such a knot Be insufficient, it is no great wonder, So hard hath it become for want of trying." My Lady thus; then said she: "Do thou take What I shall tell thee, if thou wouldst be sated, And exercise on that thy subtlety. The circles corporal are wide and narrow According to the more or less of virtue Which is distributed through all their parts. The greater goodness works the greater weal, The greater weal the greater body holds, If perfect equally are all its parts. Therefore this one which sweeps along with it The universe sublime, doth correspond Unto the circle which most loves and knows.

(3) And for this reason doth the smallest round Seal with its signet Sodom and Cahors, And who, disdaining God, speaks from the heart. Fraud, wherewithal is every conscience stung, A man may practise upon him who trusts, And him who doth no confidence imburse. This latter mode, it would appear, dissevers Only the bond of love which Nature makes; Wherefore within the second circle nestle Hypocrisy, flattery, and who deals in magic, Falsification, theft, and simony, Panders, and barrators, and the like filth. By the other mode, forgotten is that love Which Nature makes, and what is after added, From which there is a special faith engendered. Hence in the smallest circle, where the point is Of the Universe, upon which Dis is seated, Whoe'er betrays for ever is consumed." And I: "My Master, clear enough proceeds Thy reasoning, and full well distinguishes This cavern and the people who possess it. But tell me, those within the fat lagoon, Whom the wind drives, and whom the rain doth beat, And who encounter with such bitter tongues,

(5) "The secret teaching explains the reason for this reference by the symbolism of the prehistoric races. The 'First Cause' had no name in the beginnings. Later, it was pictured in the fancy of the thinkers as an ever invisible Bird that dropped an Egg into Chaos, which Egg became the Universe. Hence, Brahm was called 'Kalahansa,' the Swan of Eternity which laid at the beginning of each Mahamanvantara a 'Golden Egg.' It typifies the great Circle, or O, itself a symbol for the universe and its spherical bodies. * * * The first manifestation of the Kosmos in the form of an egg was the most widely diffused belief of antiquity. It was a symbol adopted among the Greeks, the Syrians, Persians, and Egyptians. In the Egyptian Ritual, Seb, the god of Time and of the Earth, is spoken of as having laid an egg, or the Universe. Ra is shown like Brahma gestating in the Egg of the Universe. With the Greeks the Orphic Egg was a part of the Dionysiac and other mysteries, during which the Mundane Egg was consecrated and its significance explained. The Christians—especially the Greek and Latin Churches—have fully adopted this symbol, and see in it a commemoration of life eternal, or salvation and resurrection. This is found in and corroborated by the custom of 'Easter Eggs.' From the 'Egg' of the pagan Druids, to the red Easter Egg of the Slav, a cycle has passed. And, yet, whether in civilized Europe, or among the abject savages of Central America, we find the same archaic, primitive thought; if we only search for it and do not disfigure—in the haughtiness of our fancied mental and physical superiority—the original idea of the symbol." The concept of the World Soul, in some form of interpretation and under some one of many names, may be said to be practically universal. Among many of the ancient schools of philosophy it was taught that there was an Anima Mundi, or World Soul, of which all the individual souls were but apparently separated (though not actually separated) units. The conviction that Life was One is expressed through nearly all of the best of ancient philosophies; and, in fact, in subtly disguised forms, may be said to rest at the base of the best of modern philosophies.

(16) These cruel haters, these evil-doers, these vilest of men, I hurl always into the wombs of the demons in the cycle of births and deaths.

(1) Appeared before me with its wings outspread The beautiful image that in sweet fruition Made jubilant the interwoven souls; Appeared a little ruby each, wherein Ray of the sun was burning so enkindled That each into mine eyes refracted it. And what it now behoves me to retrace Nor voice has e'er reported, nor ink written, Nor was by fantasy e'er comprehended; For speak I saw, and likewise heard, the beak, And utter with its voice both 'I' and 'My,' When in conception it was 'We' and 'Our.' And it began: "Being just and merciful Am I exalted here unto that glory Which cannot be exceeded by desire; And upon earth I left my memory Such, that the evil-minded people there Commend it, but continue not the story." So doth a single heat from many embers Make itself felt, even as from many loves Issued a single sound from out that image. Whence I thereafter: "O perpetual flowers Of the eternal joy, that only one Make me perceive your odours manifold,

(9) Others, again, offer the oblation of knowledge and worship Me either as one with them or as distinct from them; and still others in various ways worship Me, whose form is the whole universe.

(1) From centre unto rim, from rim to centre, In a round vase the water moves itself, As from without 'tis struck or from within. Into my mind upon a sudden dropped What I am saying, at the moment when Silent became the glorious life of Thomas, Because of the resemblance that was born Of his discourse and that of Beatrice, Whom, after him, it pleased thus to begin: "This man has need (and does not tell you so, Nor with the voice, nor even in his thought) Of going to the root of one truth more. Declare unto him if the light wherewith Blossoms your substance shall remain with you Eternally the same that it is now; And if it do remain, say in what manner, After ye are again made visible, It can be that it injure not your sight." As by a greater gladness urged and drawn They who are dancing in a ring sometimes Uplift their voices and their motions quicken; So, at that orison devout and prompt, The holy circles a new joy displayed In their revolving and their wondrous song.

(178) O thou fair world, how does heaven complain of thee? How dost thou trouble the elements? O wickedness and malice! when wilt thou leave, and give over? Awaken! awaken! and bring forth, thou sorrowful woman; behold thy Bridegroom cometh, and requireth fruit at thy hands: Why dost thou sleep? Behold, he knocketh!

(37) Timaeus: and the circle of the Same, spinning truly, declares the facts, reason and knowledge of necessity result. But should anyone assert that the substance in which these two states arise is something other than Soul, his assertion will be anything rather than the truth. And when the Father that engendered it perceived it in motion and alive, a thing of joy to the eternal gods, He too rejoiced ; and being well-pleased He designed to make it resemble its Model

(57) Behold, thou poor Soul in thy Bath of Thorns, where is thy Home? Art thou at Home in this World? Why then dost thou not seek the Favour and Friendship of the World? Why dost thou not hunt after the temporal Honour, after Pleasure and Riches, that it may go well with thee in this World? Why dost thou make thyself a Fool to the World, and art every one's Owl and Footstool? Why dost thou suffer thyself to be despised and abused by those that are inferior to thee, and know less than thou? Why shouldst thou not be stately and brave with those seeming holy Hypocrites? And then thou wouldst be beloved, and no Body would abuse thee; and thou wouldst be more safe and secure in thy Body and Goods, than in this Way, wherein thou art but the World's Owl and Fool.

(74) ["The angelical king is the centre or fountain; as Adam's soul is the beginning and centre of all souls. And, as from the place of the sun was created and generated the planetic wheel or sphere, wherein each star is desirous of the splendour and power of the sun, so the angels are desirous of their Cherubim or prince; all according to God, and to his similitude."]

(36) I tell thee, Peter, the cock shall not crow this day, before that thou shalt thrice deny that thou knowest me.

(2) “The shining circlets of his golden hair,

Which ev’n the Graces might be proud to wear,

Instarr’d with gems and gold, bestrow the shore

(4) The Bear up there that turneth round itself, and carries round the whole cosmos with it - Who is the owner of this instrument? Who He who hath set round the sea its bounds? Who He who hath set on its seat the earth? For, Tat, there is someone who is the Maker and the Lord of all these things. It cound not be that number, place and measure could be kept without someone to make them. No order whatsoever could be made by that which lacketh place and lacketh measure; nay, even this is not without a lord, my son. For if the orderless lacks something, in that it is not lord of order's path, it also is beneath a lord - the one who hath not yet ordained it order.

(7) Take me into understanding from grief, and take me from understanding and grief. Receive me into yourselves from other places ugly and destroyed. And steal from the good even in their ugliness. Out of shame take me to yourselves shamelessly. Without shame and with shame, rebuke what is mine in you and come to me, you who know me and you who know my members, and make great ones among small first creatures. Come to childhood and don't despise it, because it is small and tiny. Don't turn away the great in parts from the small, for the small is known from the great. Why do you curse and honor me? You wound me and have mercy. Don't separate me from the first you have known. Don't cast out or turn away, turn away and not know. . . . I know the first ones, and those after them know me. I am perfect mind and rest. . . . I am the knowledge of my search, the finding of those who look for me, the command of those who ask about me, the power of powers in my knowledge of angels sent at my word, and of gods in their seasons sent by my counsel, and of spirits of all who exist with me and of women who live in me.

(17) Therefore if a man would liken the Father to anything, he should liken him to the round globe of heaven.

(45) While thou livest in this struggling or striving birth or geniture thou must buckle to, and suffer the devil to ride upon thee; but so hard as he striketh thee, so hard thou must strike him again, if thou wilt defend thyself. For when thou tightest against him, thou stirrest up his wrath-fire, and destroyest his nest, and this is then as a great combustion, and as a great strong battle maintained against him.