A Collection of Several Philosophical Writings of Dr. Henry More

...nature is such that everyone must admit they are the proper subjects of sympathy and perception. Therefore, to conclude that something occurs by sympathy—when we can demonstrate it does not occur by mere mechanical powers—is not to hide in the common refuge of ignorance. Rather, it is to identify the most direct and immediate cause of a phenomenon, which is to practice philosophy at its highest level.

To conclude briefly: I have demonstrated with evidence as clear as a mathematical proof that there are incorporeal non-physical or spiritual substances, and that all substance is in some sense extended original: extentional. This is because there is no substance that is not—or at least cannot be—essentially present to Matter. It necessarily follows from this that incorporeal substance is in some way extended in space. Consequently, a soul or spirit is capable of no other unity or "oneness" than that which consists in indiscerpibility the quality of being impossible to divide or pull apart and in a vital shared activity and sympathy of its parts. Therefore, finally, when we experience phenomena in ourselves or observe them in other things that exceed the mere mechanical laws of matter, resolving them into this "Vital Oneness" (consisting of shared activity and sympathy) is not a useless repetition or simply saying a thing is so because it is so. Instead, it is a clear indication of the proper and immediate cause. All these things, when laid together and seriously considered, will easily prevent whatever objections anyone might otherwise imagine against the idea of a Spirit having extension in space.

The properties and duties of the Spirit of Nature further clarified and confirmed.

13. The second point of dissatisfaction concerns the Spirit of Nature, specifically that I have not granted it the power of perception. I believe I have demonstrated as clearly as anything can be shown in philosophy that there is a Spirit of Nature—that is to say, an incorporeal substance that involves itself in bringing about the more general phenomena of the world. Nor can a man doubt that it is an universal principle if he considers the nature of God and the divine fruitfulness, and the use of this Spirit wherever there is matter that can be managed for some useful end for the good of the whole creation. Furthermore, there are testimonies of its "omnipresence," so to speak, as it performs the same actions at vast distances.

For example, it pulls a stone down toward the center of the Earth just as well when the Earth is in the constellation of Aries as when it is in Libra; it prevents the waters from bulging out from the Moon; it constrains the matter of the Sun into a round shape (which would otherwise be oblong); it restrains the crusty parts of a star from flying into pieces into the surrounding ether; it carries along those large regions of looser particles together with the comets in their travels from one vortex to another; and everywhere it directs magnetic atoms on their right path. This is in addition to all the molding roles original: Plastick services; refers to the formative force that grows and shapes biological life it performs in both plants and animals.

This Spirit, therefore, being a silent copy of the eternal Word (that is, of that Divine Wisdom which is entirely present everywhere), is naturally appointed in every part to perform the best services that Matter is capable of. It acts according to specific modifications and according to that blueprint of which it is the transcript—by which I mean the understanding and purpose of those Ideas of things which exist in the eternal intellect of God. From this it is plain that there is no need for any other seminal forms original Greek: λόγοι σπερματικοὶ (logoi spermatikoi), the generative principles or "seeds" of things in Stoic and Neoplatonic philosophy than this one, which virtually contains all others everywhere, and is therefore rightly called The Universal Spirit of Nature. It is also plain that this Spirit does not need to be per-