Part 2 Chapter 6

Tell me about space.

 

Space is time . . . demonstrated.

In truth there is no such thing as space—pure, “empty” space, with nothing in it. Everything is some-thing. Even the “emptiest” space is filled with vapors¹ so thin, so stretched out over infinite areas, that they seem to not be there.

Then, after the vapors are gone, there is energy. Pure energy. This manifests as vibration². Oscillations. Move-ments of the All at a particular frequency.

Invisible “energy” is the “space” which holds “mat-ter together.”

Once—using your linear time as a model—all the matter in the universe was condensed into a tiny speck⁴. You cannot imagine the denseness⁵ of this—but that is because you think that matter as it now exists is dense³.

 

Actually, what you now call matter is mostly space. All “solid” objects are 2 percent solid “matter” and 98 percent “air”! The space between the tiniest particles of matter in all objects is enormous. It is something like the distance between heavenly bodies in your night sky. Yet these objects you call solid.

At one point the entire universe actually was “solid.” There was virtually no space between the particles of matter. All the matter had the “space” taken out of it—and with the enormous “space” gone, that matter filled an area smaller than the head of a pin.

There was actually a “time” before that “time” when there was no matter at all—just the purest form of Highest Vibration Energy, which you would call anti-matter.

This was the time “before” time—before the physical universe as you know it existed. Nothing

existed as matter. Some people conceive of this as paradise, or “heaven,” because “nothing was the matter”!

 

(It is no accident that today in your language, when you suspect something is wrong, you say, “What’s the matter?”)

In the beginning, pure energy—Me!—vibrated, os-cillated, so fast as to form matter—all the matter of the universe!

You, too, can perform the same feat⁶. In fact, you do, every day. Your thoughts are pure vibration—and they can and do create physical matter! If enough of you hold the same thought, you can impact, and even create, portions of your physical universe. This was explained to you in detail in Book 1.

 

Is the universe now expanding?

 

At a rate of speed you cannot imagine!

 

Will it expand forever?

 

No. There will come a time when the energies driving the expansion will dissipate, and the energies holding things together will take over—pulling every-thing “back together” again.

 

You mean the universe will contract?

 

Yes. Everything will, quite literally⁷, “fall into place”! And you’ll have paradise again. No matter. Pure energy.

In other words—Me!

In the end, it’ll all come back to Me. That is the origin of your phrase: “It all comes down to this.”

 

That means that we will no longer exist!

 

Not in physical form. But you will always exist. You cannot not exist. You are that which Is.

 

What will happen after the universe “collapses”?

 

The whole process will start over again! There will be another so-called Big Bang, and another universe will be born.

It will expand and contract. And then it will do the same thing all over again. And again. And again. Forever and ever. World without end.

This is the breathing in and breathing out of God.

 

Well, this is all, again, very interesting—but it has very little to do with my everyday life.

 

As I said before, spending an inordinate⁸ amount of time trying to unravel⁹ the deepest mysteries of the universe is probably not the most efficient use of your life. Yet there are benefits to be gained from these simple layman’s allegories and descriptions of the Larger Process.

 

Like what?

 

Like understanding that all things are cyclical—in-cluding life itself.

Understanding about the life of the universe will help you to understand about the life of the universe inside you.

Life moves in cycles. Everything is cyclical. Every-thing. When you understand this, you become more able to enjoy the Process—not merely endure it.

All things move cyclically. There is a natural rhythm to life, and everything moves to that rhythm; everything goes with that flow. Thus it is written: “For everything there is a season; and a time for every Purpose under Heaven.”

Wise is the one who understands this. Clever is the one who uses it.

Few people understand the rhythms of life more than women. Women live their whole lives by rhythm. They are in rhythm with life itself.

Women are more able to “go with the flow” than men. Men want to push, pull, resist, direct the flow. Women experience it—then mold with it to produce harmony.

 

A woman hears the melody of flowers in the wind. She sees the beauty of the Unseen. She feels the tugs¹⁰ and pulls and urges of life. She knows when it is time to run, and time to rest; time to laugh and time to cry; time to hold on and time to let go.

Most women leave their bodies gracefully¹¹. Most men fight the departure. Women treat their bodies more grace-fully when they are in them, too. Men treat their bodies horribly. That is the same way they treat life.

Of course, there are exceptions to every rule. I’m speaking here in generalities. I’m speaking of how things have been until now. I’m speaking in the broadest terms. But if you look at life, if you admit to yourself what you are seeing, have seen, if you acknowledge what is so, you may find truth in this generality.

 

Yet that makes me feel sad. That makes me feel as though women are somehow superior beings. That they have more of the “right stuff” than men.

 

Part of the glorious rhythm of life is the yin and the yang. One Aspect of “Being” is not “more perfect” or “better” than another. Both aspects are simply—and wonderfully—that: aspects.

Men, obviously, embody¹² other reflections of Divin-ity, which women eye with equal envy.

Yet it has been said that being a man is your testing ground, or your probation¹³. When you have been a man long enough—when you have suffered enough through your own foolishness; when you have inflicted¹⁴ enough pain through the calamities¹⁵ of your own creation; when you have hurt others enough to stop your own behav-iors—to replace aggression¹⁶ with reason, contempt with compassion¹⁷, always-winning with no-one-losing—then you may become a woman.

When you have learned that might is not “right”; that strength is not power over, but power with; that absolute power demands of others absolutely nothing; when you understand these things, then you may de-serve to wear a woman’s body—for you will at last have understood her’ Essence.

 

Then a woman is better than a man.

 

No! Not “better”—different! It is you making that judgment¹⁸. There is no such thing as “better” or “worse” in objective reality. There is only what Is—and what you wish to Be.

Hot is no better than cold, up no better than down—a point I have made before. Hence, female is no “better” than male. It just is what it Is. just as you are what you are.

Yet none of you are restricted, more limited. You can Be what you wish to Be, choose what you wish to experience. In this lifetime or the next, or the next after that—just as you did in the lifetime before. Each of you is always at choice. Each of you is made up of All of It. There is male and female in each of you. Express and experience that aspect of you which it pleases you to express and experience. Yet know that it is all open to each of you.

 

I don’t want to get off onto other topics. I want to stay with this male-female paradigm¹⁹ for a while longer. You promised at the end of the last book to discuss in much more detail the whole sexual aspect of this duality.

 

Yes—I think it is time that we talked, you and I, about Sex.

1 vapors   

n.水汽，水蒸气，无实质之物( vapor的名词复数 )；自夸者；幻想 [药]吸入剂 [古]忧郁（症）v.自夸，（使）蒸发( vapor的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• His emotions became vague and shifted about like vapors. 他的心情则如同一团雾气，变幻无常，捉摸不定。 来自辞典例句
• They have hysterics, they weep, they have the vapors. 他们歇斯底里，他们哭泣，他们精神忧郁。 来自辞典例句

2 vibration   

n.颤动，振动；摆动

参考例句：

• There is so much vibration on a ship that one cannot write.船上的震动大得使人无法书写。
• The vibration of the window woke me up.窗子的震动把我惊醒了。

3 dense   

a.密集的，稠密的，浓密的；密度大的

参考例句：

• The general ambushed his troops in the dense woods. 将军把部队埋伏在浓密的树林里。
• The path was completely covered by the dense foliage. 小路被树叶厚厚地盖了一层。

4 speck   

n.微粒，小污点，小斑点

参考例句：

• I have not a speck of interest in it.我对它没有任何兴趣。
• The sky is clear and bright without a speck of cloud.天空晴朗，一星星云彩也没有。

5 denseness   

稠密，密集，浓厚； 稠度

参考例句：

• Real estate industry is one of the typical capital denseness industries. 房地产业是一个非常典型的资本密集型行业。
• India is one of the countries that have great denseness in population. 印度是人口高度密集的国家之一。

6 feat   

n.功绩；武艺，技艺；adj.灵巧的，漂亮的，合适的

参考例句：

• Man's first landing on the moon was a feat of great daring.人类首次登月是一个勇敢的壮举。
• He received a medal for his heroic feat.他因其英雄业绩而获得一枚勋章。

7 literally   

adv.照字面意义，逐字地；确实

参考例句：

• He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
• Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候，她不走到真正要昏厥了，决不肯坐下来。

8 inordinate   

adj.无节制的；过度的

参考例句：

• The idea of this gave me inordinate pleasure.我想到这一点感到非常高兴。
• James hints that his heroine's demands on life are inordinate.詹姆斯暗示他的女主人公对于人生过于苛求。

9 unravel   

v.弄清楚（秘密）；拆开，解开，松开

参考例句：

• He was good with his hands and could unravel a knot or untangle yarn that others wouldn't even attempt.他的手很灵巧，其他人甚至都不敢尝试的一些难解的绳结或缠在一起的纱线，他都能解开。
• This is the attitude that led him to unravel a mystery that long puzzled Chinese historians.正是这种态度使他解决了长期以来使中国历史学家们大惑不解的谜。

10 tugs   

n.猛拉( tug的名词复数 )；猛拖；拖船v.用力拉，使劲拉，猛扯( tug的第三人称单数 )

参考例句：

• The raucous sirens of the tugs came in from the river. 河上传来拖轮发出的沙哑的汽笛声。 来自辞典例句
• As I near the North Tower, the wind tugs at my role. 当我接近北塔的时候，风牵动着我的平衡杆。 来自辞典例句

11 gracefully   

ad.大大方方地；优美地

参考例句：

• She sank gracefully down onto a cushion at his feet. 她优雅地坐到他脚旁的垫子上。
• The new coats blouse gracefully above the hip line. 新外套在臀围线上优美地打着褶皱。

12 embody   

vt.具体表达，使具体化；包含，收录

参考例句：

• The latest locomotives embody many new features. 这些最新的机车具有许多新的特色。
• Hemingway's characters plainly embody his own values and view of life.海明威笔下的角色明确反映出他自己的价值观与人生观。

13 probation   

n.缓刑(期)，(以观后效的)察看；试用(期)

参考例句：

• The judge did not jail the young man,but put him on probation for a year.法官没有把那个年轻人关进监狱，而且将他缓刑察看一年。
• His salary was raised by 800 yuan after his probation.试用期满以后，他的工资增加了800元。

14 inflicted   

把…强加给，使承受，遭受( inflict的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• They inflicted a humiliating defeat on the home team. 他们使主队吃了一场很没面子的败仗。
• Zoya heroically bore the torture that the Fascists inflicted upon her. 卓娅英勇地承受法西斯匪徒加在她身上的酷刑。

15 calamities   

n.灾祸，灾难( calamity的名词复数 )；不幸之事

参考例句：

• They will only triumph by persevering in their struggle against natural calamities. 他们只有坚持与自然灾害搏斗，才能取得胜利。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• One moment's false security can bring a century of calamities. 图一时之苟安，贻百年之大患。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

16 aggression   

n.进攻，侵略，侵犯，侵害

参考例句：

• So long as we are firmly united, we need fear no aggression.只要我们紧密地团结，就不必惧怕外来侵略。
• Her view is that aggression is part of human nature.她认为攻击性是人类本性的一部份。

17 compassion   

n.同情，怜悯

参考例句：

• He could not help having compassion for the poor creature.他情不自禁地怜悯起那个可怜的人来。
• Her heart was filled with compassion for the motherless children.她对于没有母亲的孩子们充满了怜悯心。

18 judgment   

n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见

参考例句：

• The chairman flatters himself on his judgment of people.主席自认为他审视人比别人高明。
• He's a man of excellent judgment.他眼力过人。

19 paradigm   

n.例子，模范，词形变化表

参考例句：

• He had become the paradigm of the successful man. 他已经成为成功人士的典范。
• Moreover,the results of this research can be the new learning paradigm for digital design studios.除此之外，本研究的研究成果也可以为数位设计课程建立一个新的学习范例。