Is this spirit a living being, is it Satan, a devil, or what is it? What is its explanation? What is its origin? The best explanation is that it is like a smooth silken thread which becomes tangled at and ties itself into a knot. But in the place where it is a knot and where it is very difficult to unravel, it is still the same silken thread; only, it is in a condition where it is difficult for it because it is not free, and it is difficult for others because they cannot unravel it. And so the same soul which has divine breath in it, which has come from heaven, which represents God on earth, when it is turned into a knot has difficulty with itself, difficulty with others, and others have difficulty with it. In this way it becomes inharmonious, and it creates inharmony; it finds itself in a kind of inharmonious condition. This only means that it has lost its natural, original condition, its smoothness and softness; and yet it remains silk, it has not turned into cotton, it is still silk. Call it Satan or devil or whatever you like, but if once one knows the source, the origin, one cannot call it anything else but a condition. Thus what is most important in the work of brotherhood, is to develop that spirit in ourselves by getting above all knots and difficulties, in order that we may not only be able to follow the rules of brotherhood, but that all which comes naturally from ourselves may express brotherhood.