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Highest good and heavenly priority

rechten vnd wahren Gut / aller höchste Gut / besten theil

The true or highest good is a criterion by which lesser goods are ordered, not simply another name for plentiful money.

From the book

The Sophic Hydrolith, Water Stone of the Wise

Anonymous and companion authors · Diotimos Editions · 2026

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Orientation

At a Glance

  • The wordThe true or highest good is a criterion by which lesser goods are ordered, not simply another name for plentiful money.
  • In the Sophic HydrolithPart III: benefits and their rank · unit 14 condemns pursuit of the art merely for temporal honour, riches and pleasure.
  • In this editionThe English conclusion retains 'or at least', 'both together' and 'as I consider it, almost impossible'.
  • A place to readMisused wealth blocks attainment of genuine good and perverts what is otherwise right.

Meaning

The true or highest good is a criterion by which lesser goods are ordered, not simply another name for plentiful money. Part Four names the very highest good as Jesus Christ, Saviour and Redeemer. Part Three distinguishes that good from possessions made obstructive through misuse. The emblematic poem gives wisdom the related title of best portion, sustaining its figure amid ridicule and suffering.

These expressions form a family of valuation without erasing their different subjects. Christ is not reduced to a useful possession; wisdom is not merely successful wealth-getting; and earthly riches are not declared intrinsically evil. The contrast depends on ends, use and priority.

Use in the book

Part III: benefits and their rank · unit 14 condemns pursuit of the art merely for temporal honour, riches and pleasure. Yet its parenthesis explicitly denies that wealth is bad in itself and recalls scriptural praise of it as God's gift. Shameful misuse turns wealth into a hindrance to the true good and disorders other right things. The adverse judgment is therefore ethical and relational, not a blanket denial of created value.

Part IV: the spiritual comparison · unit 3 explains why bodily figures can help weak human understanding approach the heavenly mystery. Christ, who acquires salvation through obedience and merit, is the highest good presented through such figures. The visible stone's value follows from its capacity to portray a greater gift, rather than superseding that gift.

The conclusion states a concrete order of undertaking. One should know and prepare the heavenly stone before beginning the earthly work, or at least earnestly begin both spiritual and bodily preparations together. The alternative is important: the author does not require the first to be fully completed in every case. He then calls earthly attainment without knowledge of Christ 'almost impossible', expressly marking this as his own judgment.

Closing epigrams · unit 4 depicts wisdom as the figure's best portion and treasure. Worldly honour and the world's hostility both lose their governing power. Courageous endurance follows from possessing a different source of worth. This poetic image complements the argument about priority without supplying a technical definition of the material stone.

Places to read

  1. Part III: benefits and their rank · unit 14Misused wealth blocks attainment of genuine good and perverts what is otherwise right.
  2. Part IV: the spiritual comparison · unit 3Christ is the highest good, only saviour and redeemer of the whole human race.
  3. Conclusion · unit 2One should know and prepare the heavenly stone first, or at least seriously begin both works together.
  4. Closing epigrams · unit 4Wisdom is the personification’s best portion and treasure, allowing endurance of worldly hostility.

Translation

The English conclusion retains 'or at least', 'both together' and 'as I consider it, almost impossible'. Those are substantive limitations: an absolute prohibition or unqualified impossibility would misstate the passage. Likewise, the wealth paragraph's 'not because wealth is evil in itself' must travel with its condemnation. The edition's note 137 explicitly highlights the alternative of jointly beginning both preparations, agreeing with the inspected bilingual wording.

Attested forms

rechten vnd wahren Gut; hindernus; verkehrtes Wesen; aller höchste Gut; Heylandt; Erlöser; nit eher; zum wenigsten; beyde; fast vnmüglich; besten theil; Schatz; Weißheit