“The fewer laws there are in a given world, the nearer it is to the will of the Absolute; the more laws there are in a given world, the greater the mechanicalness, the further it is from the will of the Absolute. We live in a world subject to forty-eight ORDERS OF LAWS, that is to say, very far from the will of the Absolute and in a very remote and dark comer of the universe. Fragments: Four
“Summing up all that has been said before about the ray of creation, from world 1 down to world 96, it must be added that the figures by which worlds are designated indicate the number of forces, or ORDERS OF LAWS, which govern the worlds in question. In the Absolute there is only one force and only one law — the single and independent will of the Absolute. In the next world there are three forces or three ORDERS OF LAWS. In the next there are six ORDERS OF LAWS; in the following one, twelve; and so on. In our world, that is, the earth, forty-eight ORDERS OF LAWS are operating to which we are subject and by which our whole life is governed. If we lived on the moon we should be subject to ninety-six ORDERS OF LAWS, that is, our life and activity would be still more mechanical and we should not have the possibilities of escape from mechanicalness that we now have. “As has been said already, the will of the Absolute is only manifested in the immediate world created by it within itself, that is, in world 3; the immediate will of the Absolute does not reach world 6 and is mani-fested in it only in the form of mechanical laws. Further on, in worlds 12, 24, 48, and 96, the will of the Absolute has less and less possibility of manifesting itself. This means that in world 3 the Absolute creates, as it were, a general plan of all the rest of the universe, which is then further developed mechanically. The will of the Absolute cannot manifest itself in subsequent worlds apart from this plan, and, in manifesting itself in accordance with this plan, it takes the form of mechanical laws. This means that if the Absolute wanted to manifest its will, say, in our world, in opposition to the mechanical laws in operation there, it would then have to destroy all the worlds intermediate between itself and our world. Fragments: Five
“On the earth we are very far removed from the will of the Absolute; we are separated from it by forty-eight orders of mechanical laws. If we could free ourselves from one half of these laws, we should find ourselves subject to only twentyfour ORDERS OF LAWS, that is, to the laws of the planetary world, and then we should be one stage nearer to the Absolute and its will. If we could then free ourselves from one half of these laws, we should be subject to the laws of the sun (twelve laws) and consequently one stage nearer still to the Absolute. If, again, we could free ourselves from half of these laws, we should be subject to the laws of the starry world and separated by only one stage from the immediate will of the Absolute. Fragments: Five
“The study of the forty-eight ORDERS OF LAWS to which man is subject cannot be abstract like the study of astronomy; they can be studied only by observing them in oneself and by getting free from them. At the beginning a man must simply understand that he is quite needlessly subject to a thousand petty but irksome laws which have been created for him by other people and by himself. When he attempts to get free from them he will see that he cannot. Long and persistent attempts to gain freedom from them will convince him of his slavery. The laws to which man is subject can only be studied by struggling with them, by trying to get free from them. But a great deal of knowledge is needed in order to become free from one law without creating for oneself another in its place. Fragments: Five
“The ORDERS OF LAWS and their forms vary according to the point of view from which we consider the ray of creation. Fragments: Five