i32 PARACELSUS 



to the physician, for his usefulness does not consist in 

 merely possessing theoretical knowledge, but in his ability 

 to restore health. He must learn to know these sub- 

 stances by studying the light of Nature, not by seeking 

 them in his own imagination ; he should become able 

 to see Nature as she is, and not as he or others may 

 imagine her to be. His art should be baptized in the 

 fire ; he must have himself been born from the fire, and 

 tested in it seven times and more. No one is born a 

 physician out of himself, but out of the light of Nature, 

 and this light is the great world. He should pass through 

 thd examination of Nature and know her laws. He 

 should not seek for wisdom in his own fancy, but in 

 the light of Nature, and from the ability to recognise 

 this light springs the true science. Not in the books, 

 but in the light of Nature is to be found true wisdom 

 and art, theory and practice ; but those who cannot find 

 wisdom in that light, and seek for it in their own fancy, 

 will continually err." ^ 



" There is nothing in man which would naturally cause 

 him to be a physician. He has the capacity to collect 

 ideas intellectually, but this alone does not constitute 

 art. This faculty is like an empty box, useful only to 

 store up useful things. Let us look at two examples • 

 the glass-maker and the carpenter. The glass-maker 

 did not learn his art from himself, he found it in the 

 light of Nature, for Nature showed him how to melt the 

 materials by means of the fire, and discovered the glass 

 for him ; but a carpenter who builds a house constructs 

 it according to his own ideas, provided he has the neces- 

 sary materials. A physician may have the necessary 

 materials — i.e., the patient and the remedies — but he is 

 not a true physician as long as he has not the true 



1 Sankaracharya says: "The first necessary requisite for the attain- 

 ment of real knowledge is the possession of the power to distinguish the 

 enduring (spirit) from the non-enduring (matter)." That which hinders 

 man to see the truth is the delusion of " self. " 



