atom again is a complete whole, but it must combine with other atoms to
form a molecule, and so on. But if the atom be imperfect as an atom, how
could it combine with other atoms?

Thus we see that however infinitesimal any part may be as compared with
the whole, it must also be a complete whole on its own scale, if the
greater whole is to be built up. On the same principle, our recognition
that our personality is an infinitesimal fraction of an inconceivably
greater Life, does not mean that it is at all insignificant in itself,
or that our individuality becomes submerged in an indistinguishable
mass; on the contrary, our own wholeness is an essential factor towards
the building up of the greater whole; so that as long as we keep before
us the building up of the Great Whole as the "main motif," we need never
fear the expansion of our own individuality. The more we expand, the
more effective units we shall become.

We must not, however, suppose that Unity means Uniformity. St. Paul puts
this very clearly when he says, if the whole body be an eye, where would
be the hearing, etc. (1 Cor. xii, 14). How could you paint a picture
without distinction of form, colour, or tone? Diversity in Unity is the
necessity for any sort of expression, and if it be the case in our own
bodies, as St. Paul points out, how much more so in the expressing of
the Eternal Life through endless ages and limitless space! Once we grasp
this idea of the unity and progressiveness of Life going on _ad
infinitum_, what boundless vistas of possibility open before us. It
would be enough to stagger the imagination were it not for our old
friends, the Law and the Word. But these will always accompany us, and
we may rely upon them in all worlds and under all conditions. This Law
of Unity is what in natural science is known as the Law of Continuity,
and the Ancient Wisdom has embodied it in the Hermetic axiom "Sicut