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1. I behold a small dark orb, wheeling in an abyss ofinfinite space. It
is minute among a myriad vast ones, dark amid a myriadbright ones.

2. I who comprehend in myself all the vast and the minute,all the bright
and the dark, have mitigated the brilliance of mine unutterablesplendour,
sending forth V.V.V.V.V. as a ray of my light, as a messengerunto that
small dark orb.

3. Then V.V.V.V.V. taketh up the word, and sayeth:

4. Men and women of the Earth, to you am I come from theAges beyond the
Ages, from the Space beyond your vision; and I bringto you these words.

5. But they heard him not, for they were not ready toreceive them.

6. But certain men heard and understood, and through themshall this
Knowledge be made known.

7. The least therefore of them, the servant of them all,writeth this book.
 

8. He writeth for them that are ready. Thus is it knownif one be ready,
if he be endowed with certain gifts, if he be fittedby birth, or by wealth,
or by intelligence, or by some other manifest sign. Andthe servants of the
master by his insight shall judge of these.

9. This Knowledge is not for all men; few indeed are called,but of these
few many are chosen.

10. This is the nature of the Work.

11. First, there are many and diverse conditions of lifeupon this earth.
In all of these is some seed of sorrow. Who can escapefrom sickness and
from old age and from death?

12. We are come to save our fellows from these things.For there is a life
intense with knowledge and extreme bliss which is untouchedby any of them.

13. To this life we attain even here and now. The adepts,the servants of
V.V.V.V.V., have attained thereunto.

14. It is impossible to tell you of the splendours ofthat to which they
have attained. Little by little, as your eyes grow stronger,will we unveil
to you the ineffable glory of the Path of the Adepts,and its nameless goal.
 

15. Even as a man ascending a steep mountain is lost tosight of his
friends in the valley, so must the adept seem. They shallsay: He is lost
in the clouds. But he shall rejoice in the sunlight abovethem, and come
to the eternal snows.

16. Or as a scholar may learn some secret language ofthe ancients, his
friends shall say: [Look! he pretends to read this book.But it is
unintelligible --- it is nonsense.] Yet he delights inthe Odyssey, while
they read vain and vulgar things.

17. We shall bring you to Absolute Truth, Absolute Light,Absolute Bliss.

18. Many adepts throughout the ages have sought to dothis; but their words
have been perverted by their successors, and again andagain the Veil has
fallen upon the Holy of Holies.

19. To you who yet wander in the Court of the Profanewe cannot yet reveal
all; but you will easily understand that the religionsof the world are but
symbols and veils of the Absolute Truth. So also arethe philosophies. To
the adept, seeing all these things from above, thereseems nothing to choose
between Buddha and Mohammed, between Atheism and Theism.

20. The many change and pass; the one remains. Even aswood and coal and
iron burn up together in one great flame, if only thatfurnace be of
transcendent heat; so in the alembic of this spiritualalchemy, if only the
zelator blow sufficiently upon his furnace all the systemsof earth are
consumed in the One Knowledge.

21. Nevertheless, as a fire cannot be started with ironalone, in the
beginning one system may be suited for one seeker, anotherfor another.

22. We therefore who are without the chains of ignorance,look closely into
the heart of the seeker and lead him by the path whichis best suited to his
nature unto the ultimate end of all things, the supremerealization, the
Life which abideth in Light, yea, the Life which abidethin Light.