the tips of thousands of chains or lines in the states and conditions of beings are fastened to the mystery of Self-Subsistence, which, if the comparison is not mistaken, is like the centre or central pole of telephone and telegraph lines. If they did not rely on that luminous point of support, thousands of unending sequences of causes would be necessary, which according to scholars is an impossible and false notion; in fact, there would have to be as many of these absurd unending sequences of causes as there are beings. For example, one thing (protection or light or existence or sustenance, for instance) in one respect relies on the next thing, and that on the next, and that on the next, until finally since it cannot be infinite, it has to come to an end.

Thus, the end of all such lines and sequences lies in the mystery of Self-Subsistence. But when the mystery of Self-Subsistence has been understood, the links and the meaning of each thing relying on the next in those imaginary sequences do not remain, they disappear, and everything is seen to look directly to the mystery of Self-Subsistence.