Discourse on Curious Matters

—to be secured, but rather sought a means to keep the body healthy and to prolong life; for at the very least he judged that if the temperament original: Temperatur—the balance of the four bodily humors (blood, phlegm, yellow bile, and black bile) believed to govern health and personality of the body were maintained, the enemy of life referring to Death would not so easily claim it as his prize.

Furthermore, the anxious sorrow regarding one's livelihood would likewise appear as a cause to move a person to be concerned with a means of obtaining his necessities original: Nothdurfft—referring to basic survival needs like food and shelter. To this end, he exerts himself to the utmost, seeking by what means he might achieve this with a good conscience.

Just as the bitterest anguish is commonly the cause of a pleasure, so this concern—born from fear and sorrow for the sake of one's life—provides the opportunity and guidance to contemplate the nature of all things. Then, the most noble understanding finds a sharper investigation of this as well: that death was established for the sake of wickedness original: Boßheit—referring to the theological idea that death entered the world through human sin. Yet, death must in turn serve to liberate original: liberiren the purely created essence original: Essenz from harmful accidents original: Accidente—in the philosophical tradition of Aristotle, these are qualities that do not belong to the essential nature of a thing; here, it refers to the corruptible physical traits that hide the divine core, so that the glorification of the being could emerge from this ultimate matter original: ultima Materia—the final, perfected state of a substance in the alchemical process of transformation. Already, man finds pleasure in the contemplation of the being