be. It is this power of the human soul to differentiate
limitlessly from the Infinite that we are apt to overlook, but as
we come to realize that the soul is itself a reflection and image
of the Infinite Spirit--and a clear recognition of the cosmic
creative process shows that it cannot be anything else--we find
that it must possess this power, and that-in fact it is our
possession of this power which is the whole raison d'etre of the
creative process: if the human soul did not possess an unlimited
power of differentiation from the Infinite, then the Infinite
would not be reflected in it, and consequently the Infinite
Spirit would find no outlet for its CONSCIOUS recognition of
itself as the Life, Love, and Beauty which it is. We can never
too deeply ponder the old esoteric definition of Spirit as "the
Power which knows itself": the secret of all things, past,
present, and future is contained in these few words. The self
-recognition or self-contemplation of Spirit is the primary
movement out of which all creation proceeds, and the attainment
in the individual of a fresh centre for self-recognition is what
the Spirit GAINS in the process--this GAIN accruing to the Spirit
is what is referred to in the parables where the lord is
represented as receiving increase from his servants.

When the individual perceives this relation between himself and
Infinite Spirit, he finds that he has been raised from a position
of slavery to one of reciprocity. The Spirit cannot do without
him any more than he can do without the Spirit: the two are as
necessary to each other as the two poles of an electric battery.
The Spirit is the unlimited essence of Love, Wisdom, and Power,
all three in one undifferentiated and waiting to be
differentiated by APPROPRIATION, that is, by the individual