One of the first reports of the Intellect, concerning the Absolute, is
that it must have existed forever, and must continue to exist forever.
There is no escape from this conclusion, whether one view the matter
from the viewpoint of the materialist, philosopher, occultist, or
theologian. The Absolute could not have sprung from Nothing, and there
was no other cause outside of itself from which it could have emanated.
And there can be no cause outside of itself which can terminate its
being. And we cannot conceive of Infinite Life, or Absolute Life,
dying. So the Absolute must be Eternal--such is the report of the
Intellect.

This idea of the Eternal is practically unthinkable to the human mind,
although it is forced to believe that it must be a quality of the
Absolute. The trouble arises from the fact that the Intellect is
compelled to see everything through the veil of Time, and Cause and
Effect. Now, Cause and Effect, and Time, are merely phenomena or
appearances of the relative world, and have no place in the Absolute
and Real. Let us see if we can understand this.

Reflection will show you that the only reason that you are unable to
think of or picture a Causeless Cause, is because everything that you
have experienced in this relative world of the senses has had a
cause--something from which it sprung. You have seen Cause and Effect
in full operation all about you, and quite naturally your Intellect has
taken it for granted that there can be nothing uncaused--nothing
without a preceding cause. And the Intellect is perfectly right, so far
as Things are concerned, for all Things are relative and are therefore
caused. But back of the caused things must lie THAT which is the Great
Causer of Things, and which, not being a Thing itself, cannot have been
caused--cannot be the effect of a cause. Your minds reel when you try