EPISTLE

...although they may not have agreed at all on other theorems of their doctrine, yet in this part, though they used different words, they are very much in agreement on the same meanings. Namely, that the weakness of the human mind is so great that it is only very rarely able to penetrate to true Beings Entia; a philosophical term for things as they exist in their true reality, rather than how they appear to our senses., as they are, but for the most part, it captures and carries about shadows instead of a solid body, like the dog in Aesop's fables Maier refers to the fable of the dog who drops a real piece of meat to snap at its larger-looking reflection in the water, losing both.. From this come those diversities of minds and opinions regarding one and the same thing; from this come so many sects in all disciplines, which are again split into infinite opinions and separated from one another and from the unity of Truth. From this come so many dreams of those who are awake and the phantasms of those possessed by the itch to write. Whatever one person establishes as certain, another mocks, and vice versa. What is believed by one to be the naked and plain truth itself, to another seems to reflect scarcely a footprint of truth, let alone its face. Just as one of the aforementioned philosophers Referring to Heraclitus, mentioned on the previous page. best expressed the cause of all these things, so the first of them Socrates. frankly acknowledged the effect in himself. In addition to the obscurity of things themselves and the dark garment with which truth is covered, there is the cataract of the mind's eyes original: "glaucoma oculorum mentis". In this period, "glaucoma" was often used to describe any clouding of the eye or cataract that obstructs vision. and the variety of languages. Since these two factors differ greatly across the whole world according to the depression or elevation of the sun and the pole Maier is suggesting that different geographic locations and climates affect the physical and mental disposition of peoples., it follows that those with eyes that are either too dull or imbued with another color do not see the truth lurking in the shadows, but they think they see it—much like certain old men suffering from this defect who mistake one thing for another. Or, through ignorance of a foreign language, one person understands another differently than he intended. Thus it happens that, like archers [pursuing] a wild beast hiding in thick thickets...