Week Seven 19/02/2008 14:03:00

Tillyard is saying that you modern readers will have some problem
understanding. He will try to explain it to his generation.

At the top we are talking about the microcosm, total reality. You start with
god, not with the angels. God is the supreme being. As a supreme being, he
is omnipotent, powerful is everyway. God is omniscient, he knows
everything. God is pure spirit. And god is the creator of the cosmos. God’s
creation was perfect, the celestial elements, and the terrestrial elements
were perfect when he created them. He is perfect so he created a perfect
thing. And it was created as a perfect world, for his prized creation,
humanity. God created humans in his image. That does not mean that
humans had the same physical appearance as god. God is pure spirit, he
does not have a physical appearance. It means that we share in gods
spiritual nature, in divine intelligence, and like god we have free will. That it
is the unique feature that humans and god share. They are the only being
that have free will. All of this is evident from what Tillyard says.

god does not create the angels, they are spiritual beings. God is chief of the
spiritual beings. The angels role is to adore god and carry out his wishes.
They are not omnipotent, and do not have free will. Pride is a theme that
runs through. The sin that humans share with Lucifer is pride and wanting to
be close to god. They have a will but it is in complete accordance to god.
macrocosm: you have to include god.
the angels are the next after god. There are three tiers, and each tier has
three groups. The higher tier is closest to god, and the lower tier protect
humans. They are arranged hierarchy. The basis of the hierarchy is on
contemplation versus action. In this universe to think divine thought is the
highest thing they can do. The highest angels are the ones that have the
capacity to think pure divine thoughts. Pg. 41. the direct knowledge of god is
the highest attainment. Not even all the angels are capable of that. Humans
are not pure spirit, only the angels are. Humans are living in-between
(mataxy). Pg. 41-43, the characteristics of the angels are described. The
angels choose to love and praise god because their will is like his. Pure
intellect, pure will, spiritual in nature. Arranged in hierarchies. From the
highest to the lower that are gods agents for action in the lower realms. They
are intermediaries between god and humans. They are messengers. They are
also the guardians of humans. And then there are also evil angels. How they
became evil is beyond the scope of our class.
stars and fortune:
they are present in the visible heavens. The terrestrial world is made from
has nothing to do in shaping the world. There has to be something external
that shapes the world, and that are the stars. The seasons, life cycle of
plants and animals are regulated by the planets and the fixed stars. You are
influenced by the stars and they tell you when you should plant crops and so
on. All kinds of things are dictated by the movement of the heavens. Stars,
fortune and free will. To what extent are humans determined by fortune and
to what extent they have free will. Pg. 53, 55, 57. Imagine a TV station
broadcasting the waves. You need to have a receiver tuned to receive what is
being broadcast. Plants are on one channel, animals in another and so on.
The stars are different after the fall. When god created the universe, put the
celestial orders in place, they were perfect, they were no disturbances. And
humans were perfect. After the fall, god sets the celestial orders out of order.
To so they fall apart, but just enough so that it will no longer be perfect. Mars
the god of war, Venus the goddess of love. They counterbalance each other.
The stars in their post-lapserian (after the fall). The sources of order, but they
are still obeying the will of god. The stars and the planets can affect humans
in the bodies and emotions and through them can affect free will in order for
them to make bad choices. The intellect and reason is not controlled by the
stars or fortune. Humanity is in some aspects by the stars and fortune, but
ultimately the divine part is beyond and above fate. Around page 57.

the elements:
in a pure form they have their own hierarchy. Fire, air, water, earth.
humanity:
to issues to deal with. Humans are a microcosm of the macrocosm. The
macrocosm is the totality of reality. Humans are made up of everything in the
macrocosm. Another key issue is that while humans are unity beings, that is
a microcosm, no other created thing is a microcosm. This gives humanity a
certain majesty, but also a fundamental problem. Being part of the material
world, and the spiritual world above them. Humans are caught in between
and are pulled by their material physical side and their spiritual side.
MAGNUM MIRACULUM (great miracle).
connection between self knowledge and knowledge of god. Pg. 66. God made
humans so they could love him and love everything else he had created. He
had used all the resources already, so he created humans from a mixture of
everything. God also gave humans the capacity of free will and to actualize
whatever part they want. Humans can act like a plant, like a animal, or like
an angel. Once he becomes an angel they become the son of god. Humans
can either be like dirt or be god. He angels do what they do because they are
angels. Humans are the only ones that can ascent by their own accord into
the heavenly realm and be with god. Humans can surpass angels and have a
direct participation with god.

animals, plants, and metals:

this group along with humans represents the totality of god’s creation in the
terrestrial world. Keep in mind that this a creation created by god. This
category is the plentitude, the order and in its unity. The abundance of
creation. Plentitude means that god’s exhausted every possibility that matter
could contain when god created the terrestrial world. Everything that could
be created, was created.
order:
the most simple inanimate thing up through the most animate things.
Moving up to humans. There is order. When god created, he did not do so in
a random way. Everything is ordered in a way that if you investigate the
animals, plants and metals you see increasingly amount of complexity in
nature. You can explain plants, and you can figure out logically and rationally
this type of connections between the series. The top of each class, links or
connects to the next section. Each class also has a singular particular. Gold
among the metals is superior. Within each there is the highest that can
reach. The primacy: this is in relation to singular particular. Primacy is
comparing one link to the adjoining link. Primacy is looking at an object as
what they are good at comparing it to the next link. They are looking at this
as god’s creations. So see within the categories of metals, plants and
animals. Objects for human use. God created this things for humans to enjoy,
to use. God created things to make human’s life comfortable and enjoyable.
Each thing has some relationship to humans. That human benefit can be
something practical, or symbolical, or metaphorical. Everything has some
kind of use.

angels understand intuitively. Humans need reason. Humans even though

they may rival the angels, the humans have the capacity of learning.

there is an ongoing struggle between the two. Humanity is the microcosm

and has free will to do whatever it wants. From a rock to the child of god. In
order to reach the highest potential, to be a child of god, requires knowledge
and reason.

Pg. 73. Humans have to sift through data supplied by the senses. Looking for
things that will help humanity learn what they need to know.
memory: humanity was born perfect. Had perfect knowledge, but through
sin, through the fall, had that knowledge broken. It only has dim remnants of
that knowledge. But if you are hungry for that knowledge and direct toward
that proper study some of that knowledge starts to come back. You can being
to remember. This are hidden memories. Plato called this amnesia. The
recovery of the divine or of reality. Memory is that effort to recall knowledge.

fancy: human imagination or human construction of knowledge. You get

some information through the sense. You have some knowledge that is
already knowledge. It is not discovery, but recovery. Humans are capable of
sifting through information and adding to their storage of information.
(imagination or creativity). Humans beings can through the sense discern the
mathematical relation in music, the world and other things. Once you
understand the mathematical relations of music, you can add to music and
make it better. Building shelter is another example. So it is this creative
dimension that moves from elemental levels. From your senses you
experience the world and being to ask questions. You discover and being to
put things together. You are able to recall knowledge and move toward a
higher level. Fancy is more like imagination or creativity. It can however be
dangerous. If you have the wrong information you can make things worse.
The fancy can been corrupted, but properly trained can be added to the
storage of knowledge.

humans are body and mind, and there is a tug. You have to get control f the
physical or the material in order to recover or rediscover things that are part
of the higher faculty of knowledge. Pg. 72 is self-knowledge. It does not
mean selfish knowledge. The ultimate knowledge is that humans are created
by god. They are spiritual and should be the one given the most attention.
Humans are the only ones capable of learning, but they are also the only
ones required to learn. Angels know, they do not have any kind of self doubt.
Humans have to know. But why are they ignorant. With the fall, humanity
fractured the relationship with god. Humans have to work very hard in order
to recall knowledge that is essential to them.
ecstasy: you leave the body behind and experience true knowledge of god. A
mystical experience. An out of body experience in which there is a direct
alignment and understanding of god. This experience is necessary for some
human beings in order to tell humanity about it.

Pg. 74,75. With the fall, the parts of humanity are no longer in balance. Pg.
75. Read over page 20-22 about sin. Through the study of nature we can
discover its order, beauty and harmony. It is “natural revelation”. Nature
studied properly can show the truth about god and humanity and its ultimate
potential and destiny.

exam stuff.
19/02/2008 14:03:00
19/02/2008 14:03:00