284 PARACELSUS 



when the earthly tabernacle is broken, the spirit, attracted 

 by His love, His eternal home, may return to it, having 

 grown in knowledge, being clothed in purity and illu- 

 mined by divine wisdom." 



" The wisdom of God is not made up of pieces, but is 

 only one. While we are on this earth we ought to keep 

 our mirror in God, so as to be in every respect as a child 

 is like its father. Thus we ought to be made out of the 

 whole cloth, and not be patched up. The wise man in 

 God has his wisdom in God, and he will teach in a way 

 that nobody can contradict or resist him, and his teaching 

 will harm no one, but bring joy and gladness and glory 

 to all who will receive it " {Be Fundamento Sapientice). 



Spirit passes into the body, and out of it, like a breath 

 of air passing through the strings of an MoMslii harp. 

 If we succeed in binding it there, we will create a source 

 of undying harmony and create an immortal being. But 

 to bind spirit we must be able to bind thought. Man 

 is a materialised thought ; he is what he wills. To 

 change his nature from the mortal to the immortal state 

 he must change his material mode of thinking, and even 

 rise above the sphere of thought. He must cease to 

 hold fast in his thoughts to that which is illusory and 

 perishing, and hold on to that which is eternal. The 

 visible universe is a thought of the eternal mind thrown 

 into objectivity by its will, and crystallised into matter 

 by its power. Look at the everlasting stars ; look at the 

 indestructible mountain-peaks. They are the thoughts 

 of the universal mind, and they will remain as long as 

 the thoughts of that mind do not change. If we could 

 hold on to a thought we would be able to create. But 

 who but the enlightened, who live above the region of 

 mentality in the kingdom of spirit, can hold on to a 

 thought ? Are not the illusions of the senses continually 

 destroying that which we attempt to create ? Men do 

 not think what they choose, but that which comes into 

 their mind. If they could control the action of their 



