Passages similar to: The Kybalion — Chapter VIII: Planes of Correspondence
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The Kybalion
Chapter VIII: Planes of Correspondence (27)
"As Above so Below; as Below, so Above." This centuries old Hermetic axiom embodies one of the great Principles of Universal Phenomena. As we proceed with our consideration of the remaining Principles, we will see even more clearly the truth of the universal nature of this great Principle of Correspondence.
I. The Principle of Correspondence The Principle of Correspondence manifests in a certain correspondence or analogy or agreement between...
(16) I. The Principle of Correspondence The Principle of Correspondence manifests in a certain correspondence or analogy or agreement between manifestations of the various planes of activity in the Cosmos. It is indicated by the old Hermetic aphorism: "As above, so below; as below, so above," and by the Arcane axiom: "Ex Uno disce Omnes," or "From One know All." The Rosicrucians, and other ancient occultists, hold that the laws governing the nature and activity of the amoeba, likewise govern the nature and activity of man and beings higher than man. What is true of matter is true of energy and of mind. The occultists make a practical application of this universal principle, in the direction of studying the unknown by means of the known, with the knowledge that the same laws govern each. Thus, just as the solar system may be known by means of studying the atoms and molecules, so may the higher planes of being be studied by an examination of the lower planes in manifestation before us.
A writer has said of this Cosmic Principle: "There is always a correspondence between the laws and phenomena of the various planes of life and being....
(18) A writer has said of this Cosmic Principle: "There is always a correspondence between the laws and phenomena of the various planes of life and being. The grasping of this truth gives one the means of solving many a dark paradox, many a hidden secret of Nature. There are planes beyond our knowing, but when we apply the Principle of Correspondence to them we are able to understand much that otherwise would be unknowable to us. This principle is of universal application and manifestation, on the various planes of the material, mental and spiritual universe—it is an universal law. The ancient Hermetists considered this principle as one of the most important mental instruments by which man was able to pry aside the obstructions which hid from view the Unknown. Its use even tore aside the Veil of Isis to the extent that a glimpse of the face of the goddess might be caught. Just as a knowledge of the principles of Geometry enables a man to measure distant suns and their movements, while seated in an observatory, so a knowledge of the Principle of Correspondence enables man to reason intelligently from the Known to the Unknown. Studying the moneron, he understands the archangel.
Chapter 4: Of the true Eternal Nature, that is, of the numberless and endless generating of the Birth of the eternal Essence, which is the Essence of all Essences; out of which were generated, born, and at length created, this World, with the Stars and Elements, and all whatsoever moves, stirs, or lives therein. The open Gate of the great Depth. (25)
Now if you consider what preserves all thus, and whence it is, then you find the eternal Birth that has no Beginning, and you find the Original of the...
(25) For you see, feel, and find, that all these must yet have a higher Root from whence they proceed, which is not visible, but hidden; especially if you look upon the starry Heaven which endures thus unchangeably; therefore you ought to consider from whence it is proceeded, and how it subsists thus, and is not corrupted, nor rises up above, nor falls down beneath, though indeed there is neither above nor beneath there. Now if you consider what preserves all thus, and whence it is, then you find the eternal Birth that has no Beginning, and you find the Original of the eternal Principle, viz. the eternal indissoluble Band: And then, secondly, you see the Separation, in that the material World, with the Stars and Elements, are out of the first Principle, which contains the outward and third Principle in it; for you find in the elementary Kingdom or Dominion, a Cause in every Thing, wherefore it is, generates, and moves as it does: But you find not the first Cause, from whence it is so: There are therefore stwo several Principles; for you find in the visible Things a Corruptibility, and perceive that they must have a Beginning, because they have an End.
But the same is superessentially everlasting, inconvertible, abiding in itself, always being in the same condition and manner; present to all in the s...
(4) But the same is superessentially everlasting, inconvertible, abiding in itself, always being in the same condition and manner; present to all in the same manner, and itself by itself, upon itself, firmly and purely fixed in the most beautiful limits of the superessential sameness, without changing, without falling, without swerving, unalterable, unmingled, immaterial, most simplex, self-sufficient, without increase, without diminution, unoriginated, not as not yet come into being, or unperfected, or not having become from this, or that, nor as being in no manner of way whatever, but as all unoriginated, and absolutely unoriginated, and ever being; and being self-complete, and being the same by itself, and differentiated by itself in one sole and same form; and shedding sameness from itself to all things adapted to participate in It; and assigning things different to those different; abundance and cause of identity, preholding identically in itself even things contrary, as beseems the One and unique Cause, surpassing the whole identity.
In the above we have but one of the many applications of the Principle of Correspondence, which teaches that "As above, so below; as below, so...
(23) In the above we have but one of the many applications of the Principle of Correspondence, which teaches that "As above, so below; as below, so above;" and that "From One know All." II. The Principle of Law and Order The Principle of Law and Order manifests in the presence and manifestation of a regular sequence, and orderly procession of phenomena in the universe of things. It is voiced by the celebrated axiom of a leading scientist that "The Universe is governed by laws." The spirit of this principle of truth is embodied in the very term "The Cosmos," which term is derived from the Greek term "Kosmos," meaning: "The world or universe considered in connection with perfect order and arrangement, as opposed to Chaos." In the occult teachings of the Rosicrucians it is impressed upon the student that "there is no such thing as Chance," in so far as Chance is used in the sense of "uncaused happening." The student is taught that even in the instances in which Blind Chance seems to rule, there is still the manifestation of Law and Order and Causation, though the Causes may lie outside of human knowledge. The term "Chance" is now employed by careful thinkers only in the sense of "The unknown, or unforeseen cause or causes of an event." In the Cosmos the same Causes, manifesting under the same circumstances always produce the same Effects. All of our science and thought is based upon this universal fact, and intelligent reasoning would be impossible without the tacit assumption of the truth of this principle. There is no room for Chance or haphazard, lawless happenings in the Cosmos. Everything, every happening, and every event, must have its "causes" and its "becauses." Everything happens "because" of so-and-so. Given certain causes, there must ensue certain results and effects. "Nothing ever happens" says the old proverb—and nothing ever does "happen" except for definite causes, and in pursuance with universal laws. As someone has said: "There is no room in the universe for anything outside of and independent of Law and Order. The existence of such an outside Something would render all Cosmic Law ineffective, and would plunge the universe into chaotic disorder and lawlessness." A writer has said regarding this: "A careful examination will show that what we call 'Chance' is merely the idea of obscure causes, causes that we cannot understand. The word 'Chance' is derived from a word meaning "to fall" (as the falling of dice from the box onto the board), the essence of the idea being that the fall of the dice are merely 'happenings' unrelated to any cause. And this is the sense in which the term is generally employed. But when the matter is closely examined it is seen that there is no chance whatsoever about the fall of the dice. Each time a die falls, and displays a certain number, it obeys a law as infallible as that which governs the revolution of the planets around the sun, and the movement of the sun itself. Back of the fall of the die are causes, or chains of causes, running back further than the mind can follow. The position of the die in the box; the amount of muscular energy expended in the throw; the condition of the table; etc., etc., all are causes, the effect of the combination of which may be seen in the fall and position of rest of the die. But back of these perceived causes there are chains of unseen preceding causes, all of which have had a bearing upon the position of the die as it comes to rest on the table. If the die be cast a great number of times, it will be. found that the numbers shown will be about equal, that is, there will be an equal number of one-spot, two-spots, etc., coming uppermost. Toss a penny in the air, and it may come down either heads' or tails.' But make a sufficient number of tosses, and the heads and tails will even up. This is the operation of the Law of Average. But bath the average and the single toss come under the Law of Cause and Effect." The same writer says: "There is no original happening; and every happening is merely a link in a great chain of happenings. There is a continuity between precedent happenings, the present happenings, and future happenings. There is always the relation between what has gone before, and what is happening now, and what will happen in the future. For instance: A stone is dislodged from the mountain-side and crashes through the roof of a cottage in the valley below. At first sight this seems to be a chance effect, but when we examine the matter we find a great chain of causes behind it. In the first place, there was the rain which softened the earth supporting the stone and which allowed or caused' it to fall. Then back of that there was the influence of the sun, other rains, etc., which gradually disintegrated the rock from a larger piece. Then there were the causes which led to the formation of the mountain, and its upheaval by convulsions of nature, and so on ad infinitum. We might follow up the causes behind the rain. Then we might consider the existence of the cottage just at that place at that particular moment. In short we would soon find ourselves involved in a mesh of cause and effect from which we would soon strive vainly to extricate ourselves." But the Rosicrucians do not believe in Fatalism in the ordinary sense of that term. Fatalism denies that preceding events have any causal relation to preceding events, and holds that the fated event would have happened in spite of any precedent event. Fatalism makes the fated event stand apart from the Law of Cause and Effect, and implies that the event arose from the operation of some arbitrary degree or will. The following quotation from an authoritative source will serve to point out the essential distinction between Fatalism and the Determination of Cosmic Law: "Fatalism is the doctrine that the course of events is so determined that what an individual wills can have no effect on that course. Fatalism must be carefully distinguished from Determinism, as the confusion of these two conceptions has been responsible for much of the popular prejudice existing against Determinism. Fatalism, as has been said, denies that Will has efficacy in shaping events. Determinism maintains that this causally efficient Will is itself to be causally accounted for; this is entirely different for the fatalistic assertion that Will counts for nothing. In fact Determinism and Fatalism are fundamental antagonistic. Determinism asserts that events are determined by some of the events that immediately precede them; that if the latter were different the former would be different. Fatalism denies that immediately preceding events have anything to do with the origination of events immediately following: it asserts that the latter would occur even if the former were changed. To say that one's death is fixed by Fate is to deny that it takes place by natural law. Or, more accurately, it is to say that however much one varies the cause, one cannot vary the effect. The fatalist's position is that the end is predetermined, but not the means; the determinist's position is that the events now occurring lead by causality to other events, which are thus fixed because their causes are actually existent. Or, to put it still another way, for the fatalist what actually determines the event is not another event immediately preceding, but some mysterious decree issued by some mysterious agent ages before the event. This enables us to see that Fatalism gives no scope to the Will. But Determinism, which merely asserts that every event has its determining conditions in its immediate antecedents, includes among those antecedents the human Will. Thus Determinism is consistent with a belief in the efficacy of Will, and Fatalism is not." In the above we have illustrations of some of the many applications of the Principle of Law and Order, which teaches that "Nothing happens by Chance, but everything happening is in accordance with Law, Order, and Causation." III. The Principle of Vibration The Principle of Vibration manifests in the manifestation of a state of vibration in everything in the Manifested Cosmos. It is voiced by the old occult axiom: "Everything vibrates." Modern science has advanced to the position of the ancient occultists who asserted that everything in the Cosmos was in a state or condition of continuous vibration. Science now tells us that not only is every particle of matter, or every mass of matter, in a state of continual vibration, but also that light, heat, magnetism, electricity and every other form of natural force results from a state of vibration.
After discovering the operation of certain principles in one thing we may safely reason by analogy based upon the assumption that these principles...
(17) After discovering the operation of certain principles in one thing we may safely reason by analogy based upon the assumption that these principles exist in other things on a higher plane, and thus discover the nature of the unknown " x ." Thus the occultist reasons that there is Law and Order manifest on every plane of being; that there is a Principle of Vibration manifest on every plane of being; that there is a Principle of Rhythm manifest on every plane of being; that there is a Principle of Cycles manifest on every plane of being; that there is a Principle of Polarity manifest on every plane of being; that there is a Principle of Sex manifest on every plane of being. And the further that human investigation is pushed into the Unknown, the greater is the proof of the existence of these Cosmic Principles reasoned out by the ancient occultists upon the fundamental basis of the Principle of Correspondence.
The Principle of Rhythm The Principle of Rhythm manifests that universal regular swing or time-beat which is apparent in all the manifested world, fro...
(28) So truly does advanced modern scientific thought recognize the nature of vibrations, that the axiom is announced that "The difference in things consists entirely of difference in vibrations." This axiom is akin to the ancient occult aphorism that "Things manifest differences according to their rate of vibrations." So, it is seen, all human investigation tends to prove the truth of the old occult axiom that "Everything vibrates." IV. The Principle of Rhythm The Principle of Rhythm manifests that universal regular swing or time-beat which is apparent in all the manifested world, from its highest to its lowest manifestation. The ancient occult axiom "Everything beats time" expresses this fundamental fact of the Cosmos.
All things descend from Heaven to Earth, to Water and to Air. ’Tis Fire alone, in that it is borne upwards, giveth life; that which [is carried]...
(2) All things descend from Heaven to Earth, to Water and to Air. ’Tis Fire alone, in that it is borne upwards, giveth life; that which [is carried] downwards [is] subservient to Fire. Further, whatever doth descend from the above, begetteth; what floweth upwards, nourisheth. ’Tis Earth alone, in that it resteth on itself, that is Receiver of all things, and [also] the Restorer of all genera that it receives. This Whole, therefore, as thou rememberest, in that it is of all,—in other words, all things, embraced by nature under “Soul” and “World,” are in [perpetual] flux, so varied by the multiform equality of all their forms, that countless kinds of well-distinguished qualities may be discerned, yet with this bond of union, that all should seem as One, and from “One” “All.” III
On the Integral Omnipresence of the Authentic Existent (2) (3)
If this principle is the Authentic Existent and holds unchanging identity, does not go forth from itself, is untouched by any process of becoming or,...
(3) If this principle is the Authentic Existent and holds unchanging identity, does not go forth from itself, is untouched by any process of becoming or, as we have said, by any situation in place, then it must be always self-gathered, never in separation, not partly here and partly there, not giving forth from itself: any such instability would set it in thing after thing or at least in something other than itself: then it would no longer be self-gathered; nor would it be immune, for anything within which it were lodged would affect it; immune, it is not in anything. If, then, not standing away from itself, not distributed by part, not taking the slightest change, it is to be in many things while remaining a self-concentrated entire, there is some way in which it has multipresence; it is at once self-enclosed and not so: the only way is to recognise that while this principle itself is not lodged in anything, all other things participate in it- all that are apt and in the measure of their aptitude.
Thus, we either cancel all that we have affirmed and the principles laid down, and deny the existence of any such Nature, or, that being impossible, we return to our first position:
The One, numerically identical, undistributed, an unbroken entire, yet stands remote from nothing that exists by its side; but it does not, for that, need to pour itself forth: there is no necessity either that certain portions of it enter into things or again that, while it remains self-abiding, something produced and projected from it enter at various points into that other order. Either would imply something of it remaining there while the emanant is elsewhere: thus separated from what has gone forth, it would experience local division. And would those emanants be, each in itself, whole or part? If part, the One has lost its nature, that of an entire, as we have already indicated; if whole, then either the whole is broken up to coincide point for point with that in which it is become present or we are admitting that an unbroken identity can be omnipresent.
This is a reasoning, surely, founded on the thing itself and its essential nature, not introducing anything foreign, anything belonging to the Other Order.
We have shown the inevitability of certain convictions as to the scheme of things: There exists a Principle which transcends Being; this is The One,...
(10) We have shown the inevitability of certain convictions as to the scheme of things:
There exists a Principle which transcends Being; this is The One, whose nature we have sought to establish in so far as such matters lend themselves to proof. Upon The One follows immediately the Principle which is at once Being and the Intellectual-Principle. Third comes the Principle, Soul.
Now just as these three exist for the system of Nature, so, we must hold, they exist for ourselves. I am not speaking of the material order- all that is separable- but of what lies beyond the sense realm in the same way as the Primals are beyond all the heavens; I mean the corresponding aspect of man, what Plato calls the Interior Man.
Thus our soul, too, is a divine thing, belonging to another order than sense; such is all that holds the rank of soul, but there is the soul perfected as containing Intellectual-Principle with its double phase, reasoning and giving the power to reason. The reasoning phase of the soul, needing no bodily organ for its thinking but maintaining, in purity, its distinctive Act that its thought may be uncontaminated- this we cannot err in placing, separate and not mingled into body, within the first Intellectual. We may not seek any point of space in which to seat it; it must be set outside of all space: its distinct quality, its separateness, its immateriality, demand that it be a thing alone, untouched by all of the bodily order. This is why we read of the universe that the Demiurge cast the soul around it from without- understand that phase of soul which is permanently seated in the Intellectual- and of ourselves that the charioteer's head reaches upwards towards the heights.
The admonition to sever soul from body is not, of course, to be understood spatially- that separation stands made in Nature- the reference is to holding our rank, to use of our thinking, to an attitude of alienation from the body in the effort to lead up and attach to the over-world, equally with the other, that phase of soul seated here and, alone, having to do with body, creating, moulding, spending its care upon it.
On the Integral Omnipresence of the Authentic Existent (1) (13)
There is no such extension. Sense-perception, by insistence upon which we doubt, tells of Here and There; but reason certifies that the Here and There...
(13) But how account, at this, for its extension over all the heavens and all living beings?
There is no such extension. Sense-perception, by insistence upon which we doubt, tells of Here and There; but reason certifies that the Here and There do not attach to that principle; the extended has participated in that kosmos of life which itself has no extension.
Clearly no participant can participate in itself; self-participation would be merely identity. Body, then, as participant does not participate in body; body it has; its participation must be in what is not body. So too magnitude does not participate in magnitude; it has it: not even in addition of quantity does the initial magnitude participate in magnitude: the two cubits do not themselves become three cubits; what occurs is that an object totalling to a certain quantity now totals to another: for magnitude to participate in magnitude the actual two cubits must themselves become the new three .
If, then, the divided and quantitatively extended is to participate in another Kind, is to have any sort of participation, it can participate only in something undivided, unextended, wholly outside of quantity. Therefore, that which is to be introduced by the participation must enter as itself an omnipresent indivisible.
This indivisibility must, of course, not be taken in any sense of littleness: littleness would be still divisible, could not cover the extension of the participant and could not maintain integral presence against that expansion. Nor is it the indivisibility of a geometric point: the participant mass is no single point but includes an infinity of points; so that on the theory this principle must be an infinity of points, not a simultaneous entire, and so, again, will fail to cover the participant.
If, then, the participant mass in its entirety is to contain that principle entire, the universe must hold that one soul present at its every point.
Chapter 9: Of the Paradise, and then of the Transitoriness of all Creatures; how all take their Beginning and End; and to what End they here appeared. The Noble and most precious Gate [or Explanation] concerning the reasonable Soul. (29)
Thus now in the Essence of all Essences, there are three several distinct Properties, which yet are not parted asunder, with one Source [or Property]...
(29) Thus now in the Essence of all Essences, there are three several distinct Properties, which yet are not parted asunder, with one Source [or Property] far from the other; but they are in one another as one only Essence, and yet the one does not comprehend the other. As these three Elements, Fire, Air, Water, are all three in one another, and neither of them comprehends the other; and as one Element generates another, and yet is not of the Essence nor Source [or Property] thereof; so the three Principles are in one another, and one generates the other, and yet no one of them all comprehends the other, and none of them is the Essence [or Substance] of the other. The Depth in the Center [or Ground.]
How comes it that the same surface causes produce different results? There is moonshine, and one man steals and the other does not: under the influenc...
(2) But to halt at these nearest determinants, not to be willing to penetrate deeper, indicates a sluggish mind, a dullness to all that calls us towards the primal and transcendent causes.
How comes it that the same surface causes produce different results? There is moonshine, and one man steals and the other does not: under the influence of exactly similar surroundings one man falls sick and the other keeps well; an identical set of operations makes one rich and leaves another poor. The differences amongst us in manners, in characters, in success, force us to go still further back.
Men therefore have never been able to rest at the surface causes.
One school postulates material principles, such as atoms; from the movement, from the collisions and combinations of these, it derives the existence and the mode of being of all particular phenomena, supposing that all depends upon how these atoms are agglomerated, how they act, how they are affected; our own impulses and states, even, are supposed to be determined by these principles.
Such teaching, then, obtrudes this compulsion, an atomic Anagke, even upon Real Being. Substitute, for the atoms, any other material entities as principles and the cause of all things, and at once Real Being becomes servile to the determination set up by them.
Others rise to the first-principle of all that exists and from it derive all they tell of a cause penetrating all things, not merely moving all but making each and everything; but they pose this as a fate and a supremely dominating cause; not merely all else that comes into being, but even our own thinking and thoughts would spring from its movement, just as the several members of an animal move not at their own choice but at the dictation of the leading principle which animal life presupposes.
Yet another school fastens on the universal Circuit as embracing all things and producing all by its motion and by the positions and mutual aspect of the planets and fixed stars in whose power of foretelling they find warrant for the belief that this Circuit is the universal determinant.
Finally, there are those that dwell on the interconnection of the causative forces and on their linked descent- every later phenomenon following upon an earlier, one always leading back to others by which it arose and without which it could not be, and the latest always subservient to what went before them- but this is obviously to bring in fate by another path. This school may be fairly distinguished into two branches; a section which makes all depend upon some one principle and a section which ignores such a unity.
Of this last opinion we will have something to say, but for the moment we will deal with the former, taking the others in their turn.
This doctrine was first expounded by Plato. His disciple, Aristotle, set it forth in these words: "We say that this Sensible World is an image of...
(47) This doctrine was first expounded by Plato. His disciple, Aristotle, set it forth in these words: "We say that this Sensible World is an image of another; therefore since this world is vivid or alive, how much more, then, that other must live. * * * Yonder, therefore, above the stellar virtues, stand other heavens to be attained, like the heavens of this world; beyond them, because they are of a higher kind, brighter and vaster; nor are they distant from each Other like this one, for they are incorporeal. Yonder, too, exists an earth, not of inanimate matter, but vivid with animal life and all natural terrestrial phenomena like this one, but of other kinds and perfections. There are plants, also, and gardens, and flowing water; there are aquatic animals but of nobler species. Yonder is air and life appropriate to it, all immortal. And although the life there is analogous to ours, yet it is nobler, seeing that it is intellectual, perpetual and unalterable. For if anyone should object and ask, How in the world above do the plants, etc. above mentioned find footing, we should answer that they do not have objective existence, for they were produced by the primal Author in an absolute condition and without exteriorization. They are, therefore, in the same case as intellect and soul; they suffer no defect such as waste and corruption, since the beings yonder are full of energy, strength and joy, as living in a life sublime and being the issue of one fount and of one quality, compounded of all like sweet savors, delicate perfumes, harmonious color and sound, and other perfections. Nor do they move violently about nor intermix nor corrupt each other, but each perfectly preserves its own essential character; and they are simple and do not multiply as corporeal beings do."
Of this I'll give thee here on earth an instance, which the eye can see. Regard the animals down here - a man, for instance, swimming! The water...
(8) Of this I'll give thee here on earth an instance, which the eye can see. Regard the animals down here - a man, for instance, swimming! The water moves, yet the resistance of his hands and feet give him stability, so that he is not borne along with it, nor sunk thereby. A: Thou hast, Thrice-greatest one, adduced a most clear instance. H: All motion, then, is caused in station and by station. The motion, therefore, of the cosmos (and of every other hylic to the cosmos, but by things interior [outward] to the exterior - such [things] as soul, or spirit, or some such other thing incorporeal. 'Tis not the body that doth move the living thing in it; nay, not even the whole [body of the universe a lesser] body e'en though there be no life in it.
Whenever we see a phenomenal quality, property or characteristic, a state or a condition, we are fully justified in assuming the existence of an...
(41) Whenever we see a phenomenal quality, property or characteristic, a state or a condition, we are fully justified in assuming the existence of an opposite to it, which opposite thing will be found to act in the opposite and contrasted direction to it. This is an infallible and invariable rule of phenomenal existence.
On the Integral Omnipresence of the Authentic Existent (2) (8)
This because it seems reasonable and imperative to dismiss any notion of the Ideas lying apart with Matter illumined from them as from somewhere above...
(8) For my part I am satisfied that anyone considering the mode in which Matter participates in the Ideas will be ready enough to accept this tenet of omnipresence in identity, no longer rejecting it as incredible or even difficult. This because it seems reasonable and imperative to dismiss any notion of the Ideas lying apart with Matter illumined from them as from somewhere above- a meaningless conception, for what have distance and separation to do here?
This participation cannot be thought of as elusive or very perplexing; on the contrary, it is obvious, accessible in many examples.
Note, however, that when we sometimes speak of the Ideas illuminating Matter this is not to suggest the mode in which material light pours down on a material object; we use the phrase in the sense only that, the material being image while the Ideas are archetypes, the two orders are distinguished somewhat in the manner of illuminant and illuminated. But it is time to be more exact.
We do not mean that the Idea, locally separate, shows itself in Matter like a reflection in water; the Matter touches the Idea at every point, though not in a physical contact, and, by dint of neighbourhood- nothing to keep them apart- is able to absorb thence all that lies within its capacity, the Idea itself not penetrating, not approaching, the Matter, but remaining self-locked.
We take it, then, that the Idea, say of Fire- for we had best deal with Matter as underlying the elements- is not in the Matter. The Ideal Fire, then, remaining apart, produces the form of fire throughout the entire enfired mass. Now let us suppose- and the same method will apply to all the so-called elements- that this Fire in its first material manifestation is a multiple mass. That single Fire is seen producing an image of itself in all the sensible fires; yet it is not spatially separate; it does not, then, produce that image in the manner of our visible light; for in that case all this sensible fire, supposing that it were a whole of parts , must have generated spatial positions out of itself, since the Idea or Form remains in a non-spatial world; for a principle thus pluralized must first have departed from its own character in order to be present in that many and participate many times in the one same Form.
The Idea, impartible, gives nothing of itself to the Matter; its unbreaking unity, however, does not prevent it shaping that multiple by its own unity and being present to the entirety of the multiple, bringing it to pattern not by acting part upon part but by presence entire to the object entire. It would be absurd to introduce a multitude of Ideas of Fire, each several fire being shaped by a particular idea; the Ideas of fire would be infinite. Besides, how would these resultant fires be distinct, when fire is a continuous unity? and if we apply yet another fire to certain matter and produce a greater fire, then the same Idea must be allowed to have functioned in the same way in the new matter as in the old; obviously there is no other Idea.
Chapter 2: An Introduction, shewing how men may come to apprehend The Divine, and the Natural, Being. And further of the two Qualities. (26)
If the whole wheel, circumference or sphere of the stars be well considered, then it is soon found that the same is the mother of all things, or the...
(26) If the whole wheel, circumference or sphere of the stars be well considered, then it is soon found that the same is the mother of all things, or the nature out of which all things are come, and wherein all things stand and live, and whereby everything moveth; all things are made of these powers, and therein they all abide eternally.
I think, therefore, that those ancient sages, who sought to secure the presence of divine beings by the erection of shrines and statues, showed...
(11) I think, therefore, that those ancient sages, who sought to secure the presence of divine beings by the erection of shrines and statues, showed insight into the nature of the All; they perceived that, though this Soul is everywhere tractable, its presence will be secured all the more readily when an appropriate receptacle is elaborated, a place especially capable of receiving some portion or phase of it, something reproducing it, or representing it, and serving like a mirror to catch an image of it.
It belongs to the nature of the All to make its entire content reproduce, most felicitously, the Reason-Principles in which it participates; every particular thing is the image within matter of a Reason-Principle which itself images a pre-material Reason-Principle: thus every particular entity is linked to that Divine Being in whose likeness it is made, the divine principle which the soul contemplated and contained in the act of each creation. Such mediation and representation there must have been since it was equally impossible for the created to be without share in the Supreme, and for the Supreme to descend into the created.
The Intellectual-Principle in the Supreme has ever been the sun of that sphere- let us accept that as the type of the creative Logos- and immediately upon it follows the Soul depending from it, stationary Soul from stationary Intelligence. But the Soul borders also upon the sun of this sphere, and it becomes the medium by which all is linked to the overworld; it plays the part of an interpreter between what emanates from that sphere down to this lower universe, and what rises- as far as, through soul, anything can- from the lower to the highest.
Nothing, in fact, is far away from anything; things are not remote: there is, no doubt, the aloofness of difference and of mingled natures as against the unmingled; but selfhood has nothing to do with spatial position, and in unity itself there may still be distinction.
These Beings are divine in virtue of cleaving to the Supreme, because, by the medium of the Soul thought of as descending they remain linked with the Primal Soul, and through it are veritably what they are called and possess the vision of the Intellectual Principle, the single object of contemplation to that soul in which they have their being.
In this chart is set forth a summary of Fludd's theory of universal music. The interval between the element of earth and the highest heaven is...
(22) In this chart is set forth a summary of Fludd's theory of universal music. The interval between the element of earth and the highest heaven is considered as a double octave, thus showing the two extremes of existence to be in disdiapason harmony. It is signifies that the highest heaven, the sun, and the earth have the same time, the difference being in pitch. The sun is the lower octave of the highest heaven and the earth the lower octave of the sun. The lower octave (Γ to G) comprises that part of the universe in which substance predominate over energy. Its harmonies, therefore, are more gross than those of the higher octave (G to g) wherein energy predominates over substance. "If struck in the more spiritual part," writes Fludd, "the monochord will give eternal life; if in the more material part, transitory life." It will be noted that certain elements, planets, and celestial spheres sustain a harmonic ratio to each other, Fludd advanced this as a key to the sympathies and antipathies existing between the various departments of Nature.