" [I]f someone were to turn his mind's sight to the possibility, or power, of oneness: he surely would see in every number and in all plurality only oneness's power"
— Nicholas of Cusa (1401-1464)
Author
Work Title
Date
1464
Metaphor
" [I]f someone were to turn his mind's sight to the possibility, or power, of oneness: he surely would see in every number and in all plurality only oneness's power"
Metaphor in Context
CARDINAL
I propose to disclose to you now this readily accessible route which was not previously communicated openly and which I consider to be most secret: viz., (1) that all precision-of-speculation is to be fixed only on Possibility and its manifestation and (2) that all men who have seen accurately have endeavored to express this truth. For those men who affirmed there to be only the One looked unto Possibility. Those who said there to be both the One and the many looked unto both Possibility and its many manifested modes-of-being. Those who maintained that nothing new is possible to occur looked unto the Possibility of all possibility-to-be or possibility-to-become. Those who affirm the newness of the world and of its events turned their minds to the manifestations of Possibility. By way of illustration: if someone were to turn his mind's sight to the possibility, or power, of oneness: he surely would see in every number and in all plurality only oneness's power, than which nothing is more powerful; and he would see that every number is only a manifestation of the innumerable and interminable power of oneness, for numbers are only special modes-of-manifestation of the power of oneness. [...]
(14, p. 1429)
I propose to disclose to you now this readily accessible route which was not previously communicated openly and which I consider to be most secret: viz., (1) that all precision-of-speculation is to be fixed only on Possibility and its manifestation and (2) that all men who have seen accurately have endeavored to express this truth. For those men who affirmed there to be only the One looked unto Possibility. Those who said there to be both the One and the many looked unto both Possibility and its many manifested modes-of-being. Those who maintained that nothing new is possible to occur looked unto the Possibility of all possibility-to-be or possibility-to-become. Those who affirm the newness of the world and of its events turned their minds to the manifestations of Possibility. By way of illustration: if someone were to turn his mind's sight to the possibility, or power, of oneness: he surely would see in every number and in all plurality only oneness's power, than which nothing is more powerful; and he would see that every number is only a manifestation of the innumerable and interminable power of oneness, for numbers are only special modes-of-manifestation of the power of oneness. [...]
(14, p. 1429)
Categories
Provenance
Browsing http://www.cla.umn.edu/jhopkins/DeApice12-2000.pdf
Citation
Nicholas of Cusa. Selected Spiritual Writings. Trans. H. Lawrence Bond. New York: Paulist Press, 1997.
Date of Entry
04/24/2005
