132 PARACELSUS 



thing. But if man is to inherit the kingdom of God, 

 how, then, can he be a child of the constellation, which is 

 doomed to perish ? Where, then, shall we seek for true 

 wisdom, except in that which is higher than all the stars, 

 namely, God ? " ^ (Be Inventione Artium). 



Ignorance is the cause of imperfection. " Men do not 

 know themselves, and therefore they do not understand 

 the things of their inner world. Each man has the 

 essence of God, and all the wisdom and power of the 

 world (germinally) in himself; he possesses one kind of 

 knowledge as much as another, and he who does not 

 find that which is in him cannot truly say that he does 

 not possess it, but only that he was not capable of suc- 

 cessfully seeking for it." 



The exercise of inner sight requires tranquillity and 

 peacefulness of the mind. " Sleeping is waking in 

 regard to such arts, because it is the inner light of 

 Nature that acts during sleep on the invisible man, who, 

 notwithstanding his invisibility, is existing as truly as 

 the visible one. The inner man is the natural man, and 

 knows more than the one formed of flesh." ^ 



" How can any one instruct others in regard to the 

 works of God if he does not keep His laws ? How can 

 any one teach Christ if he does not know Him ? How 

 can that which is not eternal know the eternal ? How 

 can a fool teach divine wisdom ? Verily, the nearer we 

 approach the judgment-day the more will there be wise- 

 acres and pretended instructors ; but on that day those 

 who were the first will be the last, and the last ones the 

 first. Our sciences are worthless if they do not spring 

 from the foundation of the true faith " (^Lib. Fhilos.). 



" Nature is the universal teacher. Whatever we can- 



^ All phenomenal science springs from a knowledge of phenomena, and 

 is therefore only relative and subject to change. 



2 During sleep the soul, so to say, separates itself to a certain extent from 

 the body, and lives in its own sphere. If a man does not remember his 

 soul experiences after his body awakens, it is because the union of his 

 personal mind with his spiritual understanding has not yet taken place. 



