62 PARACELSUS 



"A man who loves to lead an animal life is an animal 

 ruled by his interior animal heaven.^ The same stars 

 (qualities) that cause a wolf to murder, a dog to steal, a cat 

 to kill, a bird to sing, &c., make a man a singer, an eater, 

 a talker, a lover, a murderer, a robber, or a thief. These 

 are animal attributes, and they die with the animal 

 elements to which they belong ; but the divine principle 

 in man, which constitutes him a human being, and by 

 which he is eminently distinguished from the animals, is 

 not a product of the earth, nor is it generated by the 

 animal kingdom, but it comes from God; it is God, and is 

 immortal, because, coming from a divine source, it cannot 

 be otherwise than divine. Man should therefore live in 

 harmony with his divine parent, and not in the animal 

 elements of his soul. Man has an Eternal Father who 

 sent him to reside and gain experience within the animal 

 elements, but not for the purpose of being absorbed by 

 them, because in the latter case man would become an 

 animal, while the animal principle would have nothing to 

 gain," and would thus be led individually to speedy anni- 

 hilation {Be Fundamento Sapientice). 



What, then, can be the true object of human life, except 

 to attain the consciousness of one's own true and divine 

 state, and to realise that one is not an animal, but a god- 

 like being inhabiting a human animal form. All the 

 divine powers are latent in man's divine nature. If he 

 once realises what he actually is, he will be able to use 

 them and be himself a creator of forms. 



^ " Heaven " — the interior kingdom, the mind. 



