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August 29, 2007
beauty is a light
To put a great deal into a few words, Goodness is said to be the outstanding characteristic of God. Beauty is a kind of force or light shining from Him through everything, first through the Angelic Mind, second through the World-Soul and the rest of the soul, third through Nature, and forth through Corporeal Matter; it fills the mind with a series of Ideas; it fills the soul with a series of Concepts; it sows Nature with Seeds; and it provides Matter with Forms. In much the same way, in fact, that the single light of the sun lights up four bodies, fire, air, water, and earth, so the single light of God illuminates the Mind, Soul, Nature, and Matter. Anyone seeing the light in these four elements sees the beam of the sun, and through this beam is directed to the perception of the supreme light of the sun itself. In the same way, whoever sees and loves the beauty in these four, Mind, Soul, Nature, and Body, sees the glow of God in these and through this kind of glow sees and loves God himself.
Marsilio Ficino
Posted by amin at August 29, 2007 1:18 PM