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her; even in its unlikeness; it still comes to likeness in this sphere; too; by virtue of action and production; in its action it still contemplates; and its production produces Ideal…forms… divine intellections perfectly wrought out… so that all its creations are representations of the divine Intellection and of the divine Intellect; moulded upon the archetype; of which all are emanations and images; the nearer more true; the very latest preserving some faint likeness of the source。     8。 Now comes the question what sort of thing does the Intellectual…Principle see in seeing the Intellectual Realm and what in seeing itself?     We are not to look for an Intellectual realm reminding us of the colour or shape to be seen on material objects: the intellectual antedates all such things; and even in our sphere the production is very different from the Reason…Principle in the seeds from which it is produced。 The seed principles are invisible and the beings of the Intellectual still more characteristically so; the Intellectuals are of one same nature with the Intellectual Realm which contains them; just as the Reason…Principle in the seed is identical with the soul; or life…principle; containing it。     But the Soul (considered as apart from the Intellectual…Principle) has no vision of what it thus contains; for it is not the producer but; like the Reason…Principles also; an image of its source: that source is the brilliant; the authentic; the primarily existent; the thing self…sprung and self…intent; but its image; soul; is a thing which can have no permanence except by attachment; by living in that other; the very nature of an image is that; as a secondary; it shall have its being in something else; if at all it exist apart from its original。 Hence this image (soul) has not vision; for it has not the necessary light; and; if it should see; then; as finding its completion elsewhere; it sees another; not itself。     In the pure Intellectual there is nothing of this: the vision and the envisioned are a unity; the seen is as the seeing and seeing as seen。     What; then; is there that can pronounce upon the nature of this all…unity?     That which sees: and to see is the function of the Intellectual…Principle。 Even in our own sphere 'we have a parallel to this self…vision of a unity'; our vision is light or rather becomes one with light; and it sees light for it sees colours。 In the intellectual; the vision sees not through some medium but by and through itself alone; for its object is not external: by one light it sees another not through any intermediate agency; a light sees a light; that is to say a thing sees itself。 This light shining within the soul enlightens it; that is; it makes the soul intellective; working it into likeness with itself; the light above。     Think of the traces of this light upon the soul; then say to yourself that such; and more beautiful and broader and more radiant; is the light itself; thus you will approach to the nature of the Intellectual…Principle and the Intellectual Realm; for it is this light; itself lit from above; which gives the soul its brighter life。     It is not the source of the generative life of the soul which; on the contrary; it draws inward; preserving it from such diffusion; holding it to the love of the splendour of its Prior。     Nor does it give the life of perception and sensation; for that looks to the external and to what acts most vigorously upon the senses whereas one accepting that light of truth may be said no longer to see the visible; but the very contrary。     This means in sum that the life the soul takes thence is an intellective life; a trace of the life in the 'divine' Intellect; in which alone the authentic exists。     The life in the Divine Intellect is also an Act: it is the primal light outlamping to itself primarily; its own torch; light…giver and lit at once; the authentic intellectual object; knowing at once and known; seen to itself and needing no other than itself to see by; self…sufficing to the vision; since what it sees it is; known to us by that very same light; our knowledge of it attained through itself; for from nowhere else could we find the means of telling of it。 By its nature; its self…vision is the clearer but; using it as our medium; we too may come to see by it。     In the strength of such considerations we lead up our own soul to the Divine; so that it poses itself as an image of that Being; its life becoming an imprint and a likeness of the Highest; its every act of thought making it over into the Divine and the Intellectual。     If the soul is questioned as to the nature of that Intellectual…Principle… the perfect and all…embracing; the primal self…knower… it has but to enter into that Principle; or to sink all its activity into that; and at once it shows itself to be in effective possession of those priors whose memory it never lost: thus; as an image of the Intellectual…Principle; it can make itself the medium by which to attain some vision of it; it draws upon that within itself which is most closely resemblant; as far as resemblance is possible between divine Intellect and any phase of soul。     9。 In order; then; to know what the Divine Mind is; we must observe soul and especially its most God…like phase。     One certain way to this knowledge is to separate first; the man from the body… yourself; that is; from your body… next to put aside that soul which moulded the body; and; very earnestly; the system of sense with desires and impulses and every such futility; all setting definitely towards the mortal: what is left is the phase of the soul which we have declared to be an image of the Divine Intellect; retaining some light from that sun; while it pours downward upon the sphere of magnitudes 'that is; of Matter' the light playing about itself which is generated from its own nature。     Of course we do not pretend that the sun's light 'as the analogy might imply' remains a self…gathered and sun…centred thing: it is at once outrushing and indwelling; it strikes outward continuously; lap after lap; until it reaches us upon our earth: we must take it that all the light; including that which plays about the sun's orb; has travelled; otherwise we would have a void expanse; that of the space… which is material… next to the sun's orb。 The Soul; on the contrary… a light springing from the Divine Mind and shining about it… is in closest touch with that source; it is not in transit but remains centred there; and; in likeness to that principle; it has no place: the light of the sun is actually in the air; but the soul is clean of all such contact so that its immunity is patent to itself and to any other of the same order。     And by its own characteristic act; though not without reasoning process; it knows the nature of the Intellectual…Principle which; on its side; knows itself without need of reasoning; for it is ever self…present whereas we become so by directing our soul towards it; our life is broken and there are many lives; but that principle needs no changings of life or of things; the lives it brings to being are for others not for itself: it cannot need the inferior; nor does it for itself produce the less when it possesses or is the all; nor the images when it possesses or is the prototype。     Anyone not of the strength to lay hold of the first soul; that possessing pure intellection; must grasp that which has to do with our ordinary thinking and thence ascend: if even this prove too hard; let him turn to account the sensitive phase which carries the ideal forms of the less fine degree; that phase which; too; with its powers; is immaterial and lies just within the realm of Ideal…principles。     One may even; if it seem necessary; begin as low as the reproductive soul and its very production and thence make the ascent; mounting from those ultimate ideal principles to the ultimates in the higher sense; that is to the primals。     10。 This matter need not be elaborated at present: it suffices to say that if the created were all; these ultimates 'the higher' need not exist: but the Supreme does include primals; the primals because the producers。 In other words; there must be; with the made; the making source; and; unless these are to be identical; there will be need of some link between them。 Similarly; this link which is the Intellectual…Principle demands yet a Transcendent。 If we are asked why this Transcendent also should not have self…vision; our answer is that it has no need of vision; but this we will discuss later: for the moment we go back; since the question at issue is gravely important。     We repeat that the Intellectual…Principle must have; actually has; self…vision; firstly because it has multiplicity; next because it exists for the external and therefore must be a seeing power; one seeing that external; in fact its very essence is vision。 Given some external; there must be vision; and if there be nothing external the Intellectual…Principle 'Divine Mind' exists in vain。 Unless there is something beyond bare unity; there can be no vision: vision must converge with a visible object。 And this which the seer is to see can be only a multiple; no undistinguishable unity; nor could a universal unity find anything upon which to exercise any act; 

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