Paracelsus Opera (Huser Edition)

A ...is no different than a wall: For we stand among the ethers Etheren: Refers to the subtle, celestial regions or the spirits inhabiting the air., destined like everything else to be wiped out and brought to nothing. Even the tablets where the image is set are perishable and can be burned; so too is our Great Mystery Mysterium Magnum: In Paracelsian thought, the "Great Mystery" is the primordial, chaotic source from which all specific forms of matter and life were separated by the Creator., and we along with them. And so, as all things among the creatures pass away with this Mystery, they are wiped out and diminished like a great forest that is reduced to a few ashes; and those same ashes become a little glass original: "Vitrum.", and that same glass becomes a small beryl original: "Berillen." Likely referring to a crystalline or highly refined state of matter., and the beryl becomes a wind. In this way, we will be consumed from one state to another, for as long as nothing of us remains. For just as the origin of all creatures is, so too is their passing. If a great cypress tree can grow from a tiny grain, it can just as easily become small again, back to its first grain. For the grain and the beryl are held to be alike: as the seed begins, so the beryl ends. And once this separation has occurred, and each thing is in its own essence, it is as it was in the first beginning—as nothing. Then there is nothing transient left among the ethers, but only the eternal. For that which comes from the eternal will establish itself there more firmly than before the beginning of creation, and it has no decay within it. Like a glass that cannot be consumed by the creaturely world, so too that same eternal essence cannot be brought to nothing by the eternal realm.

The Twenty-third Text.

And because the last separation is a breaking of all creations, where one is consumed after another and passes away, the time of such things is recognized. After the birth of these creations, there will be no decay within them, because the seed fills the place of the old things that have passed. Thus, the eternal remains within the transient without diminishing, to renew the seed of another.
B This is something the philosopher In this context, a "Philosophus" is a student of the hidden laws of nature and alchemy. does not know. For no seed can abandon the eternal, though it may certainly rot. When that which is eternal is ordained toward the eternal, then man alone among all creatures has the eternal within him inside the transient. Since the transient and the eternal stand beside one another, it is to be understood that the transient prepares an essence for the "stomach" and bears the merit of the body. This comes solely from the origin: that the eternal part of man lives eternally, and the transient part dies a mortal death. As is the body, so is the eternal that comes from it. It is a wonder of all philosophy original: "Philosophiæ." that a transient thing should master and lead the eternal according to its pleasure, and thus man looks upon his own free home. Therefore, he has more power over his eternal part than the one from whom the transient and his eternal part here come. By this, it is to be noted that the transient parts of all creatures dwell together—the rational and the irrational—each serving the other; and everything transient is given to the eternal and is in its power, dwelling together as equals. Therefore, Philosophy teaches that all which dwells together without strife, war, falsehood, or deceit—the good and the evil—cannot be consumed except one against the other. Yet for those in whom the eternal is not present, no judgment is found; but in those where the eternal is, it cannot pass without judgment. So, when this discord exists, one eternal part must give an accounting to the other and satisfy the debts for what was done by one to the other. And because this debt belongs to the eternal, it does not happen through the transient. For although bodies tolerate each other and unite, whatever remains is eternal. Therefore, only the eternal in us judges; so when an accounting must happen, one to the other, all transient things that have the eternal within them are forced to die, so that only the
C eternal remains without the body and thus appears at the Judgment. For that alone is eternal and nothing more; that is the final death of everything at the end. Now, when those who have the eternal within them have died, nothing remains but the thing that held, guided, and nourished that eternal part. For what is not useful does not remain in the creature; they are only there for the sake of the eternal. Therefore, it follows that along with that which has the eternal within it, all things that contained it pass away and die; but the eternal alone does not. Thus, the "end" of bodily things is found—that is, the "nothing" into which all things come. For they are separated from their essence into nothing—that is, from "something" into nothingness original: "nihilum.". But in man, the perfect separation is missing—that is, the separation of the eternal from the mortal. For there the Judgment is found, which shows the decay of all things to everyone dwelling among the ethers. And if no accounting were found regarding the transient, then there would be no decay in the creatures, but all would be eternal. But this is the cause: because we mortals do not dwell in justice and do not give right judgment among ourselves, and have no power to judge the eternal, this must happen in the eternal realm. Because this must happen, we must all come together; and so the dissolution Zergehung: The process of melting away, dissolving, or passing from a material state into a spiritual one. of all things is found.

The Twenty-fourth Text.

Now, since all things were created out of the first Great Mystery and thus pass away, it is subsequently to be noted that it is a "Great Mystery." Although it is nothing—just as if a house were made out of a word—this is to be understood as belonging to the Highest alone. It is like a man making a fire where there is none, and out of no fire. For the flint original: "Kisslung." has no fire, even though it gives fire. So it is to be recognized that in the Great Mystery, all mysteries...

[The translation ends here as the source text cuts off at "all mysteries..."]