Stolen Legacy

Page 63



Page 63

only to go through a similar process as they ascend again into Fire.

(b) It contains the elements both of the old and new, at any given moment in the process. Consequently, where night ends, there day begins; where summer begins, there spring ends; and where mortal life ends, there spiritual life begins.

(c) It also consists in the generation which results from the union of opposites (a doctrine, later to be found in Plato and Socrates).

Hence we observe that the union of male and female produces organic life; and that sharp flat notes produce harmony.

(ii) THE THEORY OF KNOWLEDGE

Since sense-knowledge, or knowledge derived from the senses is illusion, it must be avoided, and true knowledge sought for in the perception of the underlying unity of the various opposites.

This is possible for man, who is part of the all comprehending Fire, which underlies the Universe.

But in the doctrine of the upward and downward paths, true knowledge comes from the upward path which leads to the eternal Fire; whereas folly and death are the result of following the downward path.

(iii) THE DOCTRINE OF THE LOGOS

That the hidden harmony of nature ever reproduces concord from oppositions, that the divine law (dike) or universal reason (logos) rules all things; and that the primitive essence recomposes itself anew in all things according to fixed laws, and is again restored by them.

(Zeller's History of Philosophy p. 68).

(A. B. Turner's History of Philosophy p. 66-77). (Zeller's History of Philosophy p. 66-71).

(William Turner's History of Philosophy p. 53-58).