In a conversation one brother asked about the relative and absolute realities.

The Master said:

"The caterpillar is the materialist; its cocoon - the idealist; and the butterfly - the realist. I use these words symbolically. Imagine a room in which a person lives. This room is closed up on all sides. The room is illuminated. The person who is in this room is exploring it. He is the materialist. Another man makes a hole in the wall and explores what is outside. This is the idealist. The realist is the one who freely walks everywhere - inside and outside the room.

"When we say that matter is not real, we merely seek to imply that the material things are the result. This result could not exist if at least two to three powers were not at work. When observing the material, one should not separate it from the Divine and the spiritual, because the material is a manifestation - a result of the spiritual. The material and the spiritual are one and the same thing. They are the two currents of the whole Life. If you are not able to understand the material life, you are not able to understand the spiritual and vice versa.

"We consider that which we see to be reality. This is correct, but that Which we do not see - that, too, is reality.

"The world beyond and this world are one and the same world. This one is a small sector - a small projection - of the other world.

"The Angelic world is more real than ours.

"How is the Universe created? This question in and of itself is irrelevant, because the Universe exists. But when I say this, I imply the Real World; the physical world is but a shadow. When one speaks about the creation of the physical world - this is not Creation, but a Manifestation. Because the Real Light which exists eternally is beyond the physical world. The shadow can appear, disappear, then appear again, and so on.

"We now live in a transient world. Someone sleeps for seven hours;

he dreams that he has graduated from the University, has received his diploma, has been appointed as a teacher, and then awakens. How it is possible for him to complete his education and become a teacher within seven hours? In the dream, this is considered to be reality, but actually, it is an illusion. On earth, illusory things exist; and when we awaken to the World of Reality, we see that all which exists on earth is illusory. Not that it is an illusion, but is less real.

"The World as God perceives it is the World of Absolute Reality. The way in which the most mindful people perceive it - this is relative reality."