Man has two kinds of natures. His physical organism is a product of that nature which he received from his terrestrial parents; his mental organisation is the result of a higher and quite different kind of evolution. His terrestrial nature includes not only his visible organism, but also the organisation of his astral form and his mental constitution.
“There are two kinds of flesh. The flesh of Adam (the physical body) is gross earthly flesh; the flesh that is derived from Adam is of a subtle kind. It is not made of gross matter, it penetrates through all walls without requiring doors or holes; nevertheless both kinds of flesh have their blood and bones, and both differ again from the spirit.” (Paracelsus, “De Nymphis.”)
Man having within himself the same essences and powers, and there being only one universal law of evolution, there takes place in him a development similar to, if not identical with, the development in eternal and internal nature. Accords and discords in his nature can grow and swell into harmonies or disharmonies, and constitute the whole man a symphony or cacophony, colouring his whole being and transmitting this to his offspring. A seed of wheat and a seed of barley resemble each other, and nevertheless wheat grows out of one and barley out of the other. The ovum of a human being shows no essential difference from that of a monkey; nevertheless out of the one grows a human being and out of the other a monkey. The nature of man is fully expressed in every part of his organism, and in the sperm of the father is contained not only the quality of this or that part of his nature, but the potentiality of the whole.[34]
The quality of the constitution of a man determines the length of his natural life.
“If a child is born, its firmament (astral body and mind, etc.) is born with it, containing the seven principles, of which each has its own potencies and qualities. What is called ‘predestination’ is only the quality of the powers in man. The weakness or strength of his constitution determines whether his life is to be short or long, according to natural laws; the planets in him run their course whether he has a long or a short life, only in the former case the course of his planets is of a longer, and in the other case of a shorter duration. The quality of the constitution which a man receives at his birth determines the length of his natural life, just as the quantity of sand in an hour glass determines the time when it will have run down.” (“Paramirum,” L. I., Tr. iii., C. 5.)
The Ens Naturæ therefore refers to those beginnings in man’s constitution which are the result of the quality of his body, soul and mind as he received them from nature, and includes all inherited physical diseases, qualities of temperament and mental peculiarities; for the earthly part of the mind (Káma Manas) belongs to terrestrial nature and its tendencies are inherited; while the spiritual part of the mind (Manas Buddhi) is not inherited from the parents, but belongs to the spiritual man whose parent exists in eternity.[35]
This class includes all internal diseases originating from disorders arising among the interaction of the physiological functions of the organs of the body, or of the interaction between these and those of the soul (the emotions) and mind (thoughts).
This system of Paracelsus includes the whole realm of modern physiology and pathology; but it penetrates deeper, for it investigates the functions of soul and mind, and follows the development of an evil desire or thought until it ultimately finds its expression in an external manifestation of visible pathological states. To enter into the details of this field of pathology is not possible within the limits of this book.
There is no indication that the sympathies and antipathies, in other words the physiological relations existing between the different organs in the human body, are better known at the present time than they were at the time of Paracelsus: on the contrary, he speaks of the currents of the life-principle taking place between these organs, while modern anatomy speaks only of nerves, which are in regard to the “life-fluid” what electric wires are in regard to electricity.
“The heart sends its spirit (will power) through the whole of the body, as the sun his power to all the planets and earths; the