without beginning nor end...

The history of universal existence is therefore the history of an endless chain of alternations between potential being and actual becoming.

Thus the universe is undergoing an evolution which is being worked out according to strict karmic law and not by mere chance, as materialists think, nor by arbitrary commands of a personal creator, as religionists think.

The modern scientific notion of evolution is only a half truth.

The real process is a rhythm of growth and decay, evolution and dissolution, following each other with inevitable sequence.

It is the combination of these two phases which makes up a universal movement that knows no finality.

If cosmic nebulae develop into solar systems, these in turn dissolve eventually into cosmic nebulae again.

The universe of forms ever returns to its starting point; it is without beginning and will be without end;

this is why it is subject to birth and death, degeneration and renewal, that is to change.

It is like an ever rolling wheel moving onward through these alternating aeons of activity and rest.

Hence the ancient teachers represented it under the figure of a revolving Swastika wheel.



The Wisdom of the Overself, Chapter III, The Birth of the Universe.
Paul Brunton