[lit-ideas] Re: [lit-ideas] "Sphera Infinita Cuius Centrum Est Ubique, Circumferentia Vero Nusquam"
- From: Michael Chase <goya@xxxxxxx>
- To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sun, 05 Sep 2004 12:57:52 -0700
Le 4 sept. 04, =E0 13:43, Jlsperanza@xxxxxxx a =E9crit :
> In a message dated 9/4/2004 3:16:43 PM Eastern Standard Time,=20
> goya@xxxxxxx
> writes:
> Deus est sphera infinita cuius centrum est ubique, =3D
> circumferentia=3D20
> vero nusquam
>
>
> "This proposition has been given by imagining the first Cause =3D
> itself in
> its own life as the center.
> Indeed, the circle of its manifestation is above, exactly where =3D
> it
> ends at the outside. This is why its center is everywhere, since it=20=
> has
>
> no dimension for common notions. When it seeks the circumference of=20=
> its
>
> sphericity, it will say it rises as far as infinity, because all that
> is without dimensions is as the Creator also was at the beginning, =
and
>
> thus his limit is nowhere.
> The proposition is thus evident."
> ----
>
> The proposition may be evident for Mme Hudry, but not for me (I wonder=20=
> if
> it's evident for Geary).
M.C. Nota bene, por favor : the phrase "The proposition is thus=20
evident" does not originate with Madame Hudry, but with the anonymous=20
author of the Book of the 24 philosophers. Madame Hudry remarks in a=20
note that the phrase "=A0et sic patet propositum=A0" is not uncommon in=20=
13th century Latin texts, and according to her the Book of the 24=20
Philosophers was constituted, on the basis of ancient materials,=20
between 1210 and 1230 at Toledo (Spain, that is, and not Ohio).
>
> I mean, I can understand what Nicholas of Cusa meant, but I'm slightly
> unhappy with the identification he goes on to state between what lies=20=
> on the right
> of the 'est' ("sphera infinita, etc.") and what lies on the left =20
> ("Deus").
M.C. Nota bene otra vez, por favor=A0: the text I've quoted is *not* by=20=
Nicolas=A0; it was written more than two centuries before his birth by =
an=20
anonymous Hermetist.
>
> It seems that the identification is _synthetic_, hardly evident, and =20=
> maybe
> even artificial.
M.C. By "synthetic" I take it you refer to the distinction between=20
propositions that are analytic and those that are synthetic. It was my=20=
understanding - and here I hope Robert Paul will correct me - that the=20=
validity of this distinction was demolished by Quine in the 1950's.
Hardly evident? Maybe. But it was for the author, who may have =
been=20
thinking of Empedocles, who describes the primordial state of the=20
universe as follows (fr. 27 Diels-Kranz =3D fr. 33 in Brad Inwood, The=20=
Poems of Empedocles, Toronto 1992, p.=A0223)=A0:
There the swift limbs of the sun are not discerned...
Thus it is fixed in the dense cover of harmony,
a rounded sphere, rejoicing in its joyous solitude (*sphairos=20
kukloter=EAs moni=EAi perig=EAthei gai=F4n*)
and in fr. 28 D/K =3D 34 Inwood=A0:
But it indeed is equal to itself on all sides and totally =
unbounded,
A rounded sphere rejoicing in its surrounding solitude.
"For Empedocles", to quote Pierre Hadot (The Inner Citadel, Harvard=20
1998, p.=A0119), "the Sphairos denoted that unified state of the =
universe=20
when it is dominated by Love, as opposed to the state of division it is=20=
in when dominated by Hate. While in its state of unity, the universe is=20=
perfectly round, delighting in its joyful immobility=A0". In Roman=20
philosophy, as Hadot shows, this state of tranquil sphericity became=20
the model for the Sage, who is, in the words of Horace (Satries, 7, 86)=20=
"completely within himself, well-rounded and spherical, so that nothing=20=
extraneous can adhere to him, becuase of his smooth and polished=20
surface". Marcus Aurelius takes this simile even further (Meditations,=20=
12, 3, in the lousy translation by Long @=20
http://classics.mit.edu/Antoninus/meditations.12.twelve.html, I'm too=20
lazy to retype Hadot's translation)=A0:
"The things are three of which thou art composed, a little body, a=20
little breath (life), intelligence. Of these the first two are thine,=20
so far as it is thy duty to take care of them; but the third alone is=20
properly thine. Therefore if thou shalt separate from thyself, that is,=20=
from thy understanding, whatever others do or say, and whatever thou=20
hast done or said thyself, and whatever future things trouble thee=20
because they may happen, and whatever in the body which envelops thee=20
or in the breath (life), which is by nature associated with the body,=20
is attached to thee independent of thy will, and whatever the external=20=
circumfluent vortex whirls round, so that the intellectual power exempt=20=
from the things of fate can live pure and free by itself, doing what is=20=
just and accepting what happens and saying the truth: if thou wilt=20
separate, I say, from this ruling faculty the things which are attached=20=
to it by the impressions of sense, and the things of time to come and=20
of time that is past, and wilt make thyself like Empedocles' sphere,
All round, and in its joyous rest reposing; and if thou shalt strive to=20=
live only what is really thy life, that is, the present- then thou wilt=20=
be able to pass that portion of life which remains for thee up to the=20
time of thy death, free from perturbations, nobly, and obedient to thy=20=
own daemon (to the god that is within thee)"
What I find perhaps most interesting in our Hermetic text is the =
idea=20
that the sphere is without dimensions ("nulla habens in communia=20
dimensionem=A0"). One is reminded of the universe's situation about 15=20=
billion years ago, just prior to the Big Bang, a situation it may well=20=
return to, if its average matter density ever exceeds the critical=20
point of 10 to the -29 of a gram per cubic centimeter, thereby=20
reversing the universe's expansion.
Might the Hermetist - and all the people who quoted him, like N. =
of=20
Cusa, simply be claiming that God is identical with Universe, which is=20=
infinite?
Best, Mike.
P.S. On the image of the infinite circle, see for instance =
Georges=20
Poulet, " Le symbole du cercle infini dans la litt=E9rature et la=20
philosophie=A0", Revue de m=E9taphysique et de morale 64 (1959)
>
Michael Chase
(goya@xxxxxxxxxxx)
CNRS UPR 76
7, rue Guy Moquet
Villejuif 94801
France
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