Paracelsus

Paracelsus held that true knowledge is attained in two ways, or rather that the pursuit of knowledge is advanced by a two-fold method, the elements of which are completely interdependent. In our present terminology, we can say that these two parts of method are intuition and experience. To Paracelsus, these could never be divided from each other.

The purpose of intuition is to reveal certain basic ideas which must then be tested and proven by experience. Experience, in turn, not only justifies intuition, but contributes certain additional knowledge by which the impulse to further growth is strengthened and developed. Paracelsus regarded the separation of intuition and experience to be a disaster, leading inevitably to greater error and further disaster. Intuition without experience allows the mind to fall into an abyss of speculation without adequate censorship by practical means. Experience without intuition could never be fruitful because fruitfulness comes not merely from the doing of things, but from the overtones which stimulate creative thought. Further, experience is meaningless unless there is within man the power capable of evaluating happenings and occurrences. The absence of this evaluating factor allows the individual to pass through many kinds of experiences, either misinterpreting them or not interpreting them at all. So Paracelsus attempted to explain intuition and how man is able to apprehend that which is not obvious or apparent.

According to Paracelsus, intuition was possible because of the existence in nature of a mysterious substance or essence — a universal life force. He gave this many names, but for our purposes, the simplest term will be appropriate. He compared it to light, further reasoning that thereare two kinds of light: a visible radiance, which he called brightness, and an invisible radiance, which he called darkness. There is no essential difference between light and darkness. There is a dark light, which appears luminous to the soul but cannot be sensed by the body. There is a visible radiance which seems bright to the senses, but may appear dark to the soul. We must recognize that Paracelsus considered light as pertaining to the nature of being, the total existence, from which all separate existences arise. Light not only contains the energy needed to support visible creatures, and the whole broad expanse of creation, but the invisible part of light supports the secret powers and functions of man, particularly intuition. Intuition, therefore, relates to the capacity of the individual to become attuned to the hidden side of life.

By light, then, Paracelsus implies much more than the radiance that comes from the sun, a lantern, or a candle. To him, light is the perfect symbol, emblem, or figure of total well-being. Light is the cause of health. Invisible light, no less real if unseen, is the cause of wisdom. As the light of the body gives strength and energy, sustaining growth and development, so the light of the soul bestows understanding, the light of the mind makes wisdom possible, and the light of the spirit confers truth. Therefore, truth, wisdom, understanding, and health are all manifestations or revelations of one virtue or power. What health is to the body, morality is to the emotions, virtue to the soul, wisdom to the mind, and reality to the spirit. This total content of living values is contained in every ray of visible light. This ray is only a manifestation upon one level or plane of the total mystery of life. Therefore, when we look at a thing, we either see its objective, physical form, or we apprehend its inner light. Everything that lives, lives in light; everything that has an existence, radiates light. All things derive their life from light, and this light, in its root, is life itself. This, indeed, is the light that lighteth every man who cometh into the world.

Thus we must come to recognize not only the shapes of thing — their colors, their numbers, and their arrangement — by the reflected light of nature; we must perceive the qualities of things their goodness, their beauty, their integrity — and we come to experience a certain affinity because of our own intuitive reaction to the radiant energy everywhere present. This invisible light, of which the visible part is merely a shadow or reflection, arises in the invisible source of light in the solar system, which is the spiritual or original sun, concealed behind or within the luminous orb of day.

Paracelsus, following the Neoplatonists and some other early mystics, was of the opinion that there were three suns in the solar system — one physical, one astral (or belonging to the psychic sphere), and one spiritual. Ihese three suns bestowed the life-light of the world according to their own natures. The light of the physical sun warms and reveals the bodies of things; the light of the psychic sun nourishes and reveals the structure of the soul; and the light of the spiritual or root sun, sustains and nourishes the human spirit. These three suns, therefore, become the causes of certain qualifications within light-life energy.

He early recognized the importance of nutrition. Food is not merely a physical substance; it is a medium for the transmission of life force.

Man possesses the power to change certain parts of himself. He can become more noble or more kindly. He can engage in activities which strengthen him, or he can neglect his needs and thus diminish his proper powers.

Man is responsible for his use of energy. Who uses it wisely, enjoys the blessings of God; who uses it unwisely is deprived of these blessings, and must wander in the darkness of ignorance and sickness. Only the good man can have good health, and only the wise man can be truly good.

Wrong physical habits, resulting in the corruption of natural processes, will ultimately endanger life. Of such, Paracelsus wrote extensively He mentions the overloading of the stomach with excessive food, and injury to its functions caused by excessive drinking and the use of condiments. As the reward for such total disregard for the natural laws governing nutrition and digestion, the unreasonable individual becomes dvspeptic and his entire health is threatened. Paracelsus also indicated that wrong associations among persons may injure health by inviting intemperance or creating situations in which the normalcy of conduct is in some way compromised.

Our old physician points out that nature is indeed a patient mother, and if we will correct our ways and cease our abuses, health can be restored in many cases. If, however, we continue to cater merely to appetites, no doctor can give us remedies that will really compensate for our own foolishness. Man was originally provided with instincts to care for such things, but by degrees, his mental and emotional intensities so greatly increased that he could no longer depend upon the normal demands of his appetites. He must therefore re-learn the art of normal living.

There seems to be a hint that Paracelsus believed in rebirth, for he implies that spiritual causes of sickness might be due to conditions which existed before birth, and these conditions must be regarded as violations of natural law through ignorance or intent. Nothing in the world happens without a cause. That which cannot be explained in reference to a present lifetime, must be referable to some antecedent causation. Paracelsus therefore says that the presence of a good physician is a miraculous indication of divine intercession; whereas the presence of a bad physician indicates that the patient does not deserve to recover. This rather sarcastic attitude probably reflects the feud between Paracelsus and his professional associates.

In nature, sympathetic attraction of things always manifests as like attracting like. This is true spiritually, philosophically, emotionally, psychologically, and materially. This attraction, however, has both a benevolent and dangerous aspect. If like attracts like, attraction is primarily upon the ievel of vibration. Things of similar vibration are drawn toward each other, either inwardly or outwardly, sometimes both. Sympathy continually pulls things together, antipathy pushes them apart. Sympathy operates through understanding; antipathy through misunderstanding. Wisdom is a uniting power; ignorance a separating force. Virtue brings man into sympathy with all that is virtuous; whereas vice attracts that which is similar to itself.

In formal histories of medicine, it is customary to orient Paracelsus as the last of the great medieval doctors and the first modern physician. He was bound to the past by his numerous metaphysical, magical, and talismanic theories; but he was also a man far ahead of his time in his chemical researches, his ideas of hygiene and eugenics, and his emphasis upon psychotherapy, diet, biochemistry, and sanitation. He may also be considered as one of the last great philosophers of medicine, and a staunch supporter of the use of religion in the treatment of disease.

According to Paracelsus, sickness always arises from disobedience to the divine or natural laws which relate to health.

Paracelsus also had another theory which perhaps will seem incredible to us, yet it deals with a subject which we have never satisfactorily solved. This has to do with the problem of germs, bacterial organisms, and viruses — those microforms of life that are so dangerous to the health of ordinary mortals. Paracelsus believed that the germ, or its equivalent, is a psychic entity created by creatures possessing mental and emotional powers. He pointed out that epidemical disease usually accompanies outbreaks of destructive human intensity. War, for example, is nearly always accompanied by a plague, and also by violent seismic disorders.

Two other kinds of creatures belong to the elementals and were not born of Adam. These are the giants and dwarfs. St. Christopher was a giant, but of human birth. But certain other famous giants — as Bern, Sigenot, Hildebrand, Dietrich, and !i dwarfs like Laurin, have their origin in the world of the elemen| tals. The giants come from the forest people; the dwarfs from the gnomes. Both are monsters and misbirths. These monster creations are as rare among elementals as they are among human beings. When such a birth occurs, God has again some special purpose in mind, which I do not now feel called upon to explain.

The giants and the dwarfs are alike in their great strength; also in that there is no propagation among them. They are born, live, and die with no heirs and no soul. The giants are the outcome of certain conjunctions, the same as comets, earthquakes, and so forth. Such things are not created according to common natural law, but for a reason that God alone knows, which can never be appropriately explained except lay the study of astrology. Comets, meteors, and other universal phenomena can be  fathomed also only by this means.

To sum up finally what I have written before, I now disclose that God has set guardians and watchers over all that he has made. The Creator wants his children to progress and become like himself. That which is against his plan, he destroys by his many agencies.

Source: Manly P. Hall, Paracelsus - His Mystical and Medical Philosophy, The Philosophical Research Society, 1964.