68 PARACELSUS 



the earth, and forms tissues, muscles, and bones, and be- 

 comes visible and tangible to other similarly constituted 

 beings as the material or animal body of man.i 



Man may therefore be looked upon as a twofold being 

 — a visible and an invisible man (or as having a material 

 and a spiritual aspect), linked together by an astral soul. 

 "The form of a corporeal thing is one thing, and that 

 which produces the form is another thing ; the form of 

 a thing arises from the form of the mystery (character). 

 If a builder wants to build a house, the form of the 

 house exists in his mind before he executes the building, 

 even if it is seen by no one except by the builder him- 

 self" {De Fodagris, II.). The visible man consists of 

 such originally invisible elements as have become visible 

 in his body ; the invisible man consists of feelings and 

 thoughts whose origin is in the Macrocosm, and their 

 light is reflected and impresses itself upon matter. Man 

 is therefore the quintessence of all the elements, and a 

 son of the universe, or a copy in miniature of its Soul, 

 and everything that exists or takes place in the universe, 

 exists and can take place in the constitution of man. 

 The congeries of forces and essences making up the con- 

 stitution of what we call man, is the same as the con- 

 geries of forces and powers that on an infinitely larger 

 scale is called the Universe. Everything in the Universe 

 reflects itself in man, and may come to his consciousness ; 

 and this circumstance enables man, when he knows him- 

 self, to know the Universe, and to perceive not only that 

 which exists invisibly in the Universe, but to foresee and 

 prophesy future events. On this intimate relationship 

 between the Universe and Man depends the harmony by 

 which the Infinite becomes intimately connected with the 



^ Those anatomists, physiologists, and other scientists who claim to 

 know all about the constitution of man, because they have studied the 

 organisation of his physical body, and deny the existence of a soul and 

 spirit, know only a part —and in fact the most unimportant part — of the 

 constitution of man, 



