also look up and see many rungs above us to which we have not yet attained.
Just as men are standing even now on each of the rungs below us, so that we
can see the stages by which man has mounted, so also are there men standing
on each of the rungs above us, so that from studying them we may see how
man shall mount in the future. Precisely because we see men on every step
of this ladder, which leads up to a glory which as yet we have no words to
express, we know that the ascent to that glory is possible for us. Those
who stand high above us, so high that They seem to us as gods in Their
marvellous knowledge and power, tell us that They stood not long since
where we are standing now, and They indicate to us clearly the steps which
lie between, which we also must tread if we would be as They.




Chapter III

THE FORMATION OF A SOLAR SYSTEM


The beginning of the universe (if ever it had a beginning) is beyond our
ken. At the earliest point of history that we can reach, the two great
opposites of spirit and matter, of life and form, are already in full
activity. We find that the ordinary conception of matter needs a revision,
for what are commonly called force and matter are in reality only two
varieties of Spirit at different stages in evolution and the real matter or
basis of everything lies in the background unperceived. A French scientist
has recently said: "There is no matter; there are nothing but holes in the
æther." This also agrees with the celebrated theory of Professor Osborne
Reynolds. Occult investigation shows this to be the correct view, and in