PREFACE

This is a quote from Genesis 2:7.

Microcosm, that is, he is called a small world, since his body, taken from the earth and formed, encompasses all earthly and heavenly powers.

Therefore, Man, placed by his Creator in this most magnificent and beautiful theater of Divine works, is like a compendium of the entire worldly structure. For this reason, he is not without cause called a microcosm original: "μικρόκοσμος", meaning "little world", as his body is taken from the earth and formed to embrace all terrestrial and celestial powers. The matter of man. For this reason, he consists of a sensitive soul containing astral virtues and properties, and a body that serves as the dwelling place of that soul. Since these are sensory, he is considered equal to the nature and instinct of other animals. Earth. Many believe that this terrestrial dust, or mud, from which the body of man was formed by the Almighty Creator, was not simple earth. Instead, they think it was a kind of extract of the earth, in which terrestrial and astral virtues human? being? existence? met and existed together. That mud was a thick and condensed water which had been separated from the subtler "higher waters." Nevertheless, it retained the virtues and properties of those Higher Waters within itself. This is evident from the fact that the earth always longs for the higher waters. By their force and efficacy, the earth provides nourishment and food for all animals, by which that astral soul is fed, increased, multiplied through its own species, and preserved until its end. Thus, Man has his matter in common with the rest of the train? of creatures? created things: specifically, that water shaped by astral light, or earth, harboring the astral or sidereal spirit in its embrace. In this matter, the Higher and Lower forces and virtues are joined. They produce the sensory soul, or animal faculty, by which man is placed on the same level as other animals after the Fall and corruption. the number? of all? at the same? time? living? numbered? Therefore, he is also called an animal and is named the "Natural Man" by the Apostle. A reference to St. Paul's description of the "animalis homo" in 1 Corinthians 2:14, often translated as the "natural" or "unspiritual" man. THE TEXT OF GENESIS. The body of man. This is the one part of man that constitutes his body. Although it is composed of various and diverse parts, it nonetheless encompasses two primary parts like the greater world: the higher waters and the lower waters. The former constitute the animal Spirit, or life, and the animal soul; the latter constitute the thicker body and the dwelling place of that spirit. That Spirit dwells within, diffused through the whole body so that it governs all its members. The Sidereal and Astral Spirit. If anyone calls this the Sidereal or Astral Spirit, he will not be mistaken. That animal Spirit, flourishing with the nature and powers of the higher waters, is clearly sidereal. Since it is clothed in the powers of the stars, it rightly and deservedly takes its name from its origin. Nor should those be judged foolish who assert that man consists of body, spirit, and soul. They seek this division from the stated foundation, yet they do not contradict those who divide man into simply Body and soul. Those who try to move a lawsuit in this matter and stir up controversy are merely engaging in a word-battle original: "λογομαχία", a dispute over terminology. They are stirring up waves in a ladle and quarreling over "goat's wool" An ancient idiom for arguing about something completely worthless.. They achieve nothing other than clashing the innocent ignorance of the unskilled in a contest that is unnecessary and lacks any benefit. The nature of the body A weightier question is whether this body,

of man before and after the fall. endowed with that astral spirit and shaped by that immortal soul, was the same before the Fall as it became after corruption and the Fall, and as it is still seen today in every man. For since it was made from the earth, it necessarily consists of the same principle as the earth and encompasses the same things as the lands. Therefore, it has not only its bare matter but also a spirit that governs and forms its matter. Certainly, the body of man was formed from the earth before that immortal soul was infused and breathed into it by God, as is clearly evident from the Sacred Text of Genesis 2, verse 7. This is the Natural Man. This is the "Natural Man" of the Apostle, whom our first parents are expressly said in Holy Scripture to have introduced into human nature after the Fall and corruption, or rather to have stirred up within it by their disobedience. By this disobedience, they moved out of their original principle, in which they lay hidden and covered in innocence at that time. Anyone who does not refuse to agree with the truth of self-love original: "φιλαυτῷ", meaning an excessive or misplaced love of oneself notices this in himself. However, it seems altogether likely and credible that there was a supreme difference between the first Body of Adam created by God and that other later body which the horrendous Fall and detestable disobedience corrupted and depraved. For if one were to think that The body before the fall. before the Fall, the body did not consist of such thick and corruptible members, but of far subtler, more spiritual members that felt no corruption, he would perhaps not wander far from the path of truth. Arguments supporting this opinion are not lacking. For God created man perfect and absolute in every way, according to His own image, and indeed lacking all corruption. He gave him dominion over all creatures, so that he could be harmed by none of them. Yet after the Fall, he finds almost all creatures hostile, and can even be killed by a vile and wretched fly. He was not exposed to the injuries of the thick elements; he felt neither the harmful qualities of heat nor cold. He was not distressed by any inconveniences of air, water, or fire, nor afflicted by diseases, as one who lived in Paradise and was made a partaker of all blessedness and happiness. Indeed, the curse that followed after the Fall argues that the earth itself The face of the earth was different before the fall. had a far different appearance and was in a far different condition. The curse made the earth itself a partaker of that common calamity and corruption, while Adam was condemned to labor and sweat, and Eve to the pains of childbirth. They were punished and cast out of the garden of Eden, or Paradise. The Creator saw that all things were good, and consequently man and the earth itself were good, with all evil excluded. Whether that evil lay hidden in its internal principle and exerted itself from potentiality into act through the Fall and disobedience of our First Parents, or whether it was introduced into nature and thus arrived from the outside, we feel and notice it enough and more in ourselves, alas! Indeed, we encounter it everywhere in the whole Nature of things. Total nature is corrupted. That the whole of Nature is corrupted and infected by evil is witnessed by that memorable passage of the Apostle Paul to the Romans, The passage from Paul. chapter 8, verses 19 through 22: For the earnest expectation of the creature waiteth for the manifestation of the sons of God. For the creature was made subject to vanity, not willingly, but...