The Secret Teachings of All Ages

THE PROBLEM OF DIVERSITY.

In the above diagram, Kircher arranges eighteen objects in two vertical columns and then determines the number of arrangements in which they can be combined. By the same method, Kircher further estimates that fifty objects may be arranged in 1,273,726,838,815,420,339,851,343,083,767,005,515,293,749,454,795,408,000,000,000,000 combinations. From this, it is evident that infinite diversity is possible, for the countless parts of the universe may be related to each other in an incalculable number of ways. Through the various combinations of these limitless subdivisions of being, infinite individuality and infinite variety must inevitably result. Thus, it is further evident that life can never become monotonous or exhaust the possibilities of variety.

[paragraph continues] Regarding the philosophy of Aristotle, the same author says:

"The goal of Aristotle's moral philosophy is perfection through the virtues, and the goal of his contemplative philosophy is a union with the one principle of all things."

Aristotle conceived philosophy to be twofold: practical and theoretical. Practical philosophy embraced ethics and politics; theoretical philosophy included physics and logic. He considered metaphysics the branch of philosophy dealing with the first principles of things, such as being, knowing, substance, and cause to be the science concerning that substance which has the principle of motion and rest inherent to itself.

To Aristotle, the soul is that by which man first lives, feels, and understands. Hence, he assigned three faculties to the soul: nutritive, sensitive, and intellective. He further considered the soul to be twofold—rational and irrational—and in some particulars, he elevated sense perceptions above the mind. Aristotle defined wisdom as the science of First Causes. The four major divisions of his philosophy are dialectics, physics, ethics, and metaphysics.

God is defined as the First Mover, the Best of beings, an immovable Substance, separate from sensible things, without physical bulk original: "void of corporeal quantity", without parts, and indivisible. Platonism is based upon a priori reasoning from theoretical deduction or self-evident propositions rather than from observation reasoning; Aristotelianism is based upon a posteriori reasoning from observed facts or specific experiences to general principles reasoning. Aristotle taught his pupil, Alexander the Great, to feel that if he had not done a good deed, he had not truly reigned that day. Among his followers were Theophrastus, Strato, Lyco, Aristo, Critolaus, and Diodorus.

Regarding Skepticism as proposed by Pyrrho of Elis (365–275 B.C.) and by Timon, Sextus Empiricus said that those who seek must either find, or deny they have found or can find, or persevere in the inquiry. Those who suppose they have found truth are called Dogmatists; those who think it is incomprehensible are the...