William Walker Atkinson book discussion

 Kicking off the third chapter of Swami Vivekananda's Raja Yoga is this interesting discussion of what makes up the universe:

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According to the philosophers of India, the whole universe is composed of two materials, one of which they call Âkâśa. It is the omnipresent, all penetrating existence. Everything that has form, everything that is the result of compounds, is evolved out of this Âkâśa. It is the Âkâśa that becomes the air, that becomes the liquids, that becomes the solids; it is the Âkâśa that becomes the sun, the earth, the moon, the stars, the comets; it is the Âkâśa that becomes the body, the animal body, the plants, every form that we see, everything that can be sensed, everything that exists. It itself cannot be perceived; it is so subtle that it is beyond all ordinary perception; it can only be seen when it has become gross, has taken form. At the beginning of creation there is only this Âkâśa; at the end of the cycle the solids, the liquids, and the gases all melt into the Âkâśa again, and the next creation similarly proceeds out of this Âkâśa.

 

By what power is this Âkâśa manufactured into this universe? By the power of Prâna. Just as Âkâśa is the infinite omnipresent material of this universe, so is this Prâna the infinite, omnipresent manifesting power of this universe. At the beginning and at the end of a cycle everything becomes Âkâśa, and all the forces that are in the universe resolve back into the Prâna; in the next cycle, out of this Prâna is evolved everything that we call energy, everything that we call force. It is the Prâna that is manifesting as motion; it is the Prâna that is manifesting as gravitation, as magnetism. It is the Prâna that is manifesting as the actions of the body, as the nerve currents, as thought force. From thought, down to the lowest physical force, everything is but the manifestation of Prâna. The sum‑total of all force in the universe, mental or physical, when resolved back to its original state, is called Prâna. “When there was neither aught nor naught, when darkness was covering darkness, what existed then? That Âkâśa existed without motion.” The physical motion of the Prâna was stopped, but it existed all the same. All the energies that are now displayed in the universe we know, by modern science, are unchangeable. The sum‑total of the energies in the universe remains the same throughout, only, at the end of a cycle, these energies quiet down, become potential, and, at the beginning of the next cycle, they start up, strike upon the Âkâśa, and out of the Âkâśa evolve these various forms, and, as the Âkâśa changes, this Prâna changes also into all these manifestations of energy. 
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