Ayin

1. 1

   THUS saith He who formulateth in darkness:I am Lord, not of light alone.But of darkness also,For I the One am all-pervading.

   This is a hard saying and a stumbling block to many,Yet must ye consider it wellAnd ponder it in your hearts.

2. 2

   Is it not written in ExodusThat the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh,And again, in Isaiah,'I create both the evil and the good'?

   Have ye not also read,'The EYE of the Lord is in every place' ?And David saith,' If I descend into Sheol, thou art there.'

3. 3

   AYIN is that EYE,And it is in every place in very truth,Because place there is not, save in the manifested,And wherever place isThere also are light and darkness, side by side.From the mixture of light and darknessDo all things proceed,And I am Prince of DarknessAs well as King of Light.Shall there be anythingWherein I, the Lord of all, have no dominion?

4. 4

   They see crookedly who know this not,And in their deluded mindsThey divide my nature,Setting the Kingdom of LightOver against the Realm of Darkness,And thus making two gods.But the darkness is the fountain of existence,Whence the universe floweth forth,And thick darkness,Which is my habitation,Is the substance of all outward appearance.

5. 5

   Five-score and thirty is the EYEWhich is the wellspring of outward appearance.That EYE is the ONE,Multiplied through the Sephiroth.

   It is the Sun of Life and Light,Shining through the twelve tribes of heaven,And spreading their power through the Tree of Life,To make all things new.Yet does every beam of that SunCast a shadow also,For in all creationAre light and darkness mixed,And, their equilibriumIs the mystery of mystery.

   One, and not two,Is the beginning and end of all;But two are the aspects it presenteth to mankind,Because men are subject to the illusion of duality.

6. 6

   I, the Lord, destroy with darkness,But with darkness do I also create.

   The wise discern this.Fools, deluded by outward appearance,Create a demon out of the web of their folly.

   In the last day shall the demon be cast into a lake of fire;But to each man there is appointed a last day,And none knoweth the timeSave He who hath appointed it.

7. 7

   The lake of fireIs that divine understandingWhich cometh to a manWho succeedeth in contemplation.As did our father Abraham,And the last dayIs the time of that achievement.

   Then shall all things pass away for that man.And he shall behold all things anew.And the Prince of DarknessShall be cast into the lake of fire.

   For then shall that enlightened one seeThat the demon is but the shadowOf the Lord.