The Reconciliation of the Elements

But come what may, I have once more spoken for Truth, and in conclusion shall say this much again. Elsewhere I have called this subject the “heavenly slime” and the middle nature. The philosophers call it the venerable nature; yet among all the claimants I have not found one who could tell me why. Hear me, then, so that whenever you attempt this work you may do so reverently, with less confidence and more care than some proud, ignorant doctor. This chaos contains the four elements, which are contrary natures in themselves; but God’s wisdom has placed them so that their very order reconciles them. For example, air and earth are adversaries: one is hot and moist, the other cold and dry. To reconcile them God placed water between them, a middle nature with a temperament intermediate between the two extremes. For she is cold and moist: through coldness she shares the nature of earth, which is cold and dry; through moisture she shares the nature of air, which is hot and moist. Hence air and earth, contrary

in themselves, agree and embrace in water, a middle nature proportioned to both which tempers their extremes. Yet this remedy does not completely repair the breach. Although water reconciles two elements like a friendly third party, she herself fights a fourth, namely fire. Fire is hot and dry, whereas water is cold and moist: clear contraries. To prevent their discord God placed air between them, a substance hot and moist. Through heat it agrees with fire, which is hot and dry; through moisture it agrees with water, which is cold and moist. Thus air’s mediation makes friends of the other two extremes, fire and water, and reconciles them. You see, then, as I said at first, that contrary elements are united by the order and texture in which the wise God has placed them. Now allow me to tell you that this agreement or friendship is only partial: a very weak love, cold and skittish. For although these principles agree in one quality, they differ in two, as you can easily calculate. They therefore greatly need a stronger, more capable mediator to confirm and preserve their weak unity, upon which the creature’s very eternity and incorruptibility depend. This blessed

cement and balsam is the Spirit of the living God, which some ignorant scribblers have called a quintessence. This very Spirit is in the chaos; and, to speak plainly, fire is his throne, for in fire he is seated, as we have sufficiently told you elsewhere. This is why the Magi called the first matter their venerable nature and their blessed stone. Seriously, what do you think: is it not so? This blessed Spirit strengthens and perfects the elements’ existing weak disposition towards union and peace—for God works with Nature, not against her—and finally brings them into a beautiful structure of a particular species. If you ask where the soul is all this while, or the form, as the schoolmen misuse her name, and what she is doing, I answer that she is subject and obedient to God’s will, as all instrumental agents ought to be, awaiting the perfection of her body. It is God who unites her to the body, and the body to her. Soul and body alike are God’s work. The soul is not the builder of her house: whatever can make a body can also repair it and prevent death; but the soul cannot do this. It belongs to God’s power and wisdom. In a word, saying that the soul formed the body because she is in it is like saying the jewel made the cabinet because the

Anthroposophia.

jewel is in the cabinet; or that the sun made the world because it is in the world and nourishes every part of it. Learn, therefore, to distinguish agents from their instruments. If you attribute to the creature what belongs to the Creator, you endanger yourselves with hellfire; for God is a jealous God and will not give his glory to another. I therefore advise my doctors, theologians and physicians alike, against rash judgements and against the imperious discourse I have known among some professors of medicine. They would correct and belittle their colleagues while themselves being most shamefully ignorant. Ten or twelve years’ experience of drugs and sops cannot acquaint a person with the mysteries of God’s creation. “Take this, and make a world” and “Take I know not what, and make a pill or enema” are different prescriptions. We should therefore consult our judgement before venturing our tongues, and speak only when sure that we understand. I knew a gentleman who met an adept philosopher and was courteously admitted to conversation. He attended very well to the first instructions; but when this magician left my friend’s familiar road and began to touch and turn the

great wheel of Nature, my gentleman promptly took up the cudgels. Citing every authority which, in his vain judgement, supported his position, he overwhelmed this noble philosopher with clamorous, empty abuse. It was a fine sight, worthy of our imitation, to see the admirable patience with which the other received him. But this wandering knight finally concluded that lead or quicksilver must be the subject, and that Nature worked upon one of them. The adept replied: “Sir, perhaps it is so at present; but if hereafter I find Nature among those old elements where I have sometimes seen her very busy, I shall refute your opinion at our next meeting.” That was all he said, and a little more than he did. Their next meeting was deferred to the Greek calends: despite a thousand requests, he could never afterwards be seen. Talkative babblers like this gentleman, running to every doctor for an opinion and following every bird they flush like a spaniel, are unfit to receive these secrets. They must be serious, silent people, faithful to the art and most faithful to their teachers. We should always remember Zeno’s doctrine: Nature, he said, gave us one tongue but two ears so that we might hear much and speak little. Let no one, therefore,

be ready to vomit forth his own shame and ignorance. Let him first examine his knowledge, especially his practice, lest experience of a few violent tricks makes him presume to judge Nature in her utmost sobriety. To conclude: if you know the first matter, know certainly that you have discovered Nature’s sanctuary. Nothing stands between you and her treasures except the door, which must indeed be opened. If your desire now leads you towards practice, carefully consider what kind of person you are and what you wish to do, for it is no small matter. You have resolved to cooperate with the Spirit of the living God and minister to him in his work of generation. Take care, therefore, not to hinder his work. If your heat exceeds the natural proportion, you stir up the anger of the moist natures: they rise against the central fire, and the central fire against them, bringing a terrible division within the chaos. But the sweet Spirit of peace, the true eternal quintessence, will depart from the elements, leaving both them and you in confusion. Nor will he apply himself to that matter while it remains in your violent, destructive hands. Take care, then, lest you become the devil’s partner,

for from the world’s beginning the devil has intended to set Nature at variance with herself, wholly to corrupt and destroy her. “Do not add to fate”: do not further his designs. I do not doubt that many will laugh at this; but upon my soul I say nothing except what I have known through very good experience. Believe me, therefore. For my own part, I always desired to bury these things in silence or depict them in shadows. I have spoken so clearly and openly through my affection for certain people who have deserved much more from me. It is true that I once intended to present the world with a larger work, promised in my Anthroposophia. Since then, however, I have become acquainted with that world and found it base and unworthy. I shall therefore remain in my original, happy solitude: noise means nothing to me, and I seek no one’s applause. If my God wills to call me forth, and if it may honour his name, for that purpose I may write again; for I do not fear human judgement. Meanwhile, here shall be an end.

THE END.