Imagination must have its play. An immeasurably long time before anything existed, before there was consciousness, there was a dark mist – al ama. Its darkness was so black that not a thing was perceived. It preceded existence; it is beyond anything fathomable. In itself it is mystery, the darkest of mysteries. It is the original void; its vacuum holds all that is hidden, all that is unknowable and undefinable.

In the beginning, something was perceived and out of this dark mist came a stir – spirit. This stir was so tremendous, so great that infinity arose, and with its arising the infinitude of itself split into infinite darkness, unconsciousness, "Who are you?" and into infinite light, consciousness, "I am." Thus out of this dark mist, everything that was meant to be came and creation formed into numerous vapors – spirits.

We have come out of that dark mist. That mist is spirit; we are spirits. We have come out of God not into light, but into a darkness wherein shadows play. It is in this darkness that we find ourselves and have found no escape. It is because we ourselves have the make-up of this darkness, being shadows; and until that quality is erased, until we become light, there is no escape. Escape is impossible on one's own; we are helpless to find the light without a superior being's intervention.

This help has come for ages and ages from one source, the Ancient One, or the Original Soul, who was the first to disturb that dark mist. It is he who became Personal God. He has come in different ages with different names to help, and now as Meher Baba. The Ancient One alone controls the power of light, for aeons and aeons ago he was the first to conquer the powers of darkness. He conquered darkness by becoming light itself. He took all there was and made it into spirit. He realized that all of it was his spirit – "I am everyone; I am everything."

This darkness we find ourselves existing in has been called many things – maya, illusion, nature, nothingness, the necessary evil. By whatever word man calls it, it remains overshadowing, allowing him but a glimpse of his true potential, his true worth. Man thus remains confined to the mind's limitation, incapable of perceiving beyond the depths of the darkness – the soul.

Our age is riddled with darkness. The ignorance and horror comes in every shape and manner. Excessive forces created the dream of materialism; now that dream has become a nightmare at the extreme cost man had to pay. Unnaturalness took over and surrounds us. Our age was suffering for the return of the Avatar and he has come. Yet mankind still