The particles in an animate creature’s body do not disperse but are assembled in groups and systems peculiar to each limb, and without scattering, preserve their position within the storms of the elements, which flow like floods,  and  remain regular and  in order. Since  this  self-evidently does  not occur through themselves but through the mystery of Self-Subsistence, and since each body is like a well-ordered regiment and each species like a regular army, these particles proclaim the mystery of Self-Subsistence with innumerable tongues in the same way that the continuance  and motion of animate creatures and their assemblages on the earth and that of the stars in the world of space proclaim it.

S e c o n d   M a t t e r : This station requires that some of the benefits and instances of wisdom in things connected with the mystery of Self-Subsistence are pointed out.

The wisdom in the existence of things, and the aims of their natures, the benefits in their creation, and the results of their lives are of three sorts.

The First Sort looks to each thing itself and to man and to man’s affairs.

The Second Sort is more important. It is the meanings of all things being set out for  innumerable readers, for each is a sign, a missive, a book, an ode for conscious beings  to  study,  an  indication  making  known  the  manifestation  of  the  Glorious Creator’s names.

The Third Sort: This concerns the Glorious Maker and looks to Him. While one

of the benefits and results of things look to the things themselves, countless look to the Glorious Maker. For the Glorious Maker beholds the wonders of His art Himself, He observes  the manifestation of His names in the beings which He Himself has fashioned. In regard to this mighty third sort, it is sufficient if beings live only for a second.

Another mystery of Self-Subsistence that requires the existence of all things will be explained in the Third Ray.

At  one  time  I  was  investigating  the  talisman  of  the  universe  and  riddle  of creation, which lies in its being a manifestation, together with the instances of wisdom and benefits in beings, and I asked: “I wonder why these things display themselves in this way, then swiftly vanish and are lost? I look at their individual features; they have been attired, decked out and adorned in an orderly, purposeful fashion and sent to this display and exhibition. But then they disappear in a day or two, and some of them within a few minutes; uselessly and in vain they vanish. What is the purpose in their being seen by us for this brief time?” I was most curious.

Then, through divine favour, I discovered an important instance of wisdom in the fact that beings, in particular animate beings, come into the place of instruction that is this  world.  It  was  as  follows:  each  being,  and  especially  if  it  is  animate,  is  an extremely meaningful word, missive, dominical ode and divine proclamation. After it has been studied by intelligent beings and has stated its  meaning to innumerable readers, its corporeal form, which is like a letter or a word, disappears.