50 PARACELSUS 



primordial essence manifests its activity. Such a differ- 

 ence is caused by the different grades through which 

 such forms have passed in the progress of their evolution 

 and development. 



[Note. — If we compare the teachings of the Eastern sages with 

 the cosmology taught by Paracelsus, and substitute the Sanscrit or 

 the Tibetan terms used by the former for those invented by the 

 latter, we find the two systems almost, if not wholly, identical. 

 According to the Eastern sages, there is a ceaseless activity going 

 on during the state of Pralaya (the night of Brahm), in that incom- 

 prehensible eternal First Cause that may be looked upon in one 

 of its many aspects as being Matter, Motion, and Space, in an 

 absolute sense, which is beyond the grasp of our relative concep- 

 tion. Its motion is the unconscious latent life inherent in it. 

 This is the Yliaster of Paracelsus, the "root of Matter," or 

 Mulaprakriti of the Vedantins, out of which Prakriti (Matter) 

 and Purusha (Space) become manifest as body and form. In this, 

 The Absolute^ Infinite, and Unconditioned, being the endless aggre- 

 gation of everything conditioned and finite, the germs or poten- 

 tialities of all things are contained. It is the Limbus Chaos of 

 Paracelsus, and the germs contained in it are developed by the action 

 of the Universal Mind, Dyan-Chohans, and the power of Wisdom, 

 Fo-hat — to use the Tibetan words. Thus the Universe may be said 

 to be a product of Cosmic Ideation and Cosmic Energy, acting, not at 

 random or in an arbitrary manner, but according to a certain order 

 produced by previous causes, which are themselves the effects of 

 other causes, and which constitute the Law. The existence of this 

 inevitable and unchangeable law is frequently alluded to by Para- 

 celsus. He says, for instance, in his book, " De Origine Morborum 

 Invisibilium " : " Does not holy writ say that God spoke : Am I 

 not the God who made the dumb and the deaf, the blind and the 

 seeing ? What else does this mean, but that he is the creator of all 

 things, of good and of evil ? " The writings of the Buddhists teach 

 the same doctrine, saying that there is only One Power, Swabhdvat. 

 It cannot act otherwise than according to the law of cause and effect, 

 and that makes a useful tree grow as well as a useless stone in the 

 bladder, according to the causes that have been produced by pre- 

 vious effects. Each act and each thought has a cause, and the 

 cause of the cause is the Law.] 



Man, as such, is the highest being in existence, because 

 in him Nature has reached the culmination of her 

 evolutionary efforts. In him are contained all the powers 



