CHAPTER III 



THE INFINITE UNIVERSE THE MIRROR OF GOD l 



IN the contemplation of the infinite, writes Bruno, man 

 attains his highest good. All things aspire to the end 

 for which they are ordained, and the more perfect its 

 nature the more nobly and effectively does each aspire. 

 Man alone, however, as endowed with a twofold nature, 

 pursues a twofold good, " on the boundary line of 

 eternity and time, between the archetypal world and the 

 copy, the intelligible and the sensible, participating in 

 either substance." 2 Human effort can find satisfaction 

 in none but the highest and first truth and goodness. 

 Neither our intellect nor our will ever rests. It is clear 

 therefore that their end lies not in particular goods or 

 truths which lead us on from one to another and to 

 another, but in universal good and truth, outside of 

 and beyond which no good or truth exists. So long 

 as we believe that any truth is left to know, or any 

 good to gain, we seek always further truth, desire 

 always further good. The end of our inquiry, therefore, 

 and of our effort cannot be in a truth or in a good that 

 is limited. In each and all is the desire in-born to 

 become all things. Such infinite desire implies the 

 existence in reality of that which will satisfy it. If 



1 De Immcnso : de /' Infinite: sfcrotismus, etc. 2 Op. Lot. i. I. p. 202. 



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