RAYMOND LULL
Blessed Raymond Lull Doctor Illuminatus and Martyr also known as: Doctor Illuminatus; Ramon Llull; Ramon Lull; Ramon Lullus; Raymond Lullus; Raymond Lully

THE BOOK OF LIGHT LIBER DE LUMINE

by Blessed Raymond Lull Doctor Illuminatus and Martyr

GOD With the grace and virtue of your Light We now begin the Book of Light

FOREWORD
1. Whereas the intellect reproduces species by attracting likenesses from physical and imaginable things to its coessential and natural intelligible part in which it makes them intelligible, we now write this Book of Light which enables the intellect to become fluent in the science of the General Art, and this book proceeds according to the mode of the General Art whose Principles and Rules it adopts. Now this Book is like a knot tied in a rope to prompt the memory to recollect things.

2. By virtue of its subject, this Book will enlighten the intellect and stimulate it to understand intelligible things artificially and to discover natural beings with their secrets; this Book is meant to be an Art of Understanding subsidiary to the General Art from which it arises and it deals above all with natural things associated to the intellect in providing doctrine about the light of truth. The subject of this Book is that illumination with which all other sciences are illuminated.

HOW THIS BOOK IS DIVIDED This Book has three Distinctions. The first deals with the Tree and the Principles, Rules and Definitions of the Principles of the General Art. The second deals with the Definitions of light and the ten Rules. The Third deals with Questions about the nine modes of being outside of which nothing can exist.

THE TREE

First Distinction The Tree, the Principles, Rules and Definitions of the Principles

1. In this Book we made one Tree called the Tree or Candelabrum of Light, with nine flowers as shown, and these flowers are named after the nine letters of the Alphabet, namely B. C. D. E. F. G. H. I. K. To know this Art, one must know this Alphabet by heart.

B. means Goodness, Difference, Light and Whether. C. means Greatness, Concordance, Light and What. D. means Duration or Eternity, Contrariety, Light and Of What. E. means Power, Beginning, Light and Why. F. means Wisdom, Middle, Light and How much. G. means Will, End, Light and What kind. H. means Virtue, Majority, Light and When. I. means Truth, Equality, Light and Where K. means Glory, Minority, Light, How and With what.

2. This Tree with its flowers is general for illuminating other sciences with the light that the intellect receives from it for seeing the other sciences.

3. Here are the Conditions of this Art's Candelabrum: if there is some doubtful issue that has to do with B, we investigate it with whatever B contains, and if this is not sufficient, we then apply C to B and scrutinize the content of B in conjunction with the content of C, and if C is not sufficient, we go on to D and all the way to K, combining letters with each other; this will necessarily clarify the issue because this set of combinations with B is both implicitly and explicitly general to all the particular lights that can generally be mentioned with reference to B.

4. Any investigation using the conditions of the Tree is general to every kind of light because the Tree is general, due to the above conditions. Nonetheless, before the Artist of light can do anything with this Tree, he must read the entire Book from beginning to end and become thoroughly conversant with it because the entire Book is implicitly contained in the Tree. If the doubtful issue has more to do with C than with B, then it is applied to C and if BC does not yield any explicit results, D is then applied and so on in sequence all the way to CK; and the things said here about B and C apply to all other letter combinations.

COMBINING THE FLOWERS IN THE TREE
5. In this part we give a doctrine that will enable Artists of this Art to use the Flowers of the Tree. first let us deal with the first Flower called B. Here we consider the things contained in B and if there is any doubt about anything contained in B, the doubtful issue is treated with the questions "Whether" or "What" and with reference to the things said about the Definitions of Goodness, Difference and Rule B; after this, conclusions can be drawn by making affirmative or negative statements following the above meanings brought to bear on the issue at hand without distorting or destroying the definitions of Goodness, Difference and Rule B.

6. If the doubtful issue relates to something contained in Flower C, the Artist will proceed in the way described for Flower B, namely he will refer to the definitions of Greatness and Concordance and to Rule C and assert whatever appears in the light of the above terms brought to bear on the issue, using simple or compound definitions as he sees fit.

7. If the doubtful issue has to do with terms represented by B and C, he will refer to the content of Flowers B and C, namely the Definitions and Rules in the first and second Distinctions, and assert the things he sees in the light of the said terms applied to the issue; whatever we said about BC also applies to the other flowers.

8. Let us use the Flowers to deal with doubtful issues, beginning with with Flower B, for instance, let us ask: "Can the Goodness of light be a reason for good to do good without any distinction or motion?" And it seems that it cannot, as signified by the definitions of Goodness, Difference and Rule B.

9. Now if the question has to do with the content of C, for instance, if we ask: "What is candlelight in terms of Greatness and Concordance, and what does it contain in itself? And what is it in other things, and what does it have in other things?" Here we apply Rule C and base the answer on what the first and second Distinctions say about the definitions of Greatness and Concordance.

10. And if the question has to do with BC, for instance if we ask: "When the light of a candle lights a lamp, does it cause good motion as the lamp receives its influx; and what motion do they cause and compose?" Now heating is caused by the heater and what is heated, and running by the runner and what is run, and an arrow's motion by the mover and the movable, and so forth. And here the answer is given in accordance with the things signified by BC about light in the first and second distinctions. The above examples of questions made with BC are valid for making questions with BD, or CD and so forth.

PRINCIPLES

First Distinction First Part Definitions of the Principles

1. Goodness is the being on account of which good does good.
2. Greatness is the being on account of which Goodness, Eternity etc. are great.
3. Duration, or Eternity is the being on account of which Goodness, Greatness etc. are lasting.
4. Power is the being on account of which Goodness, Greatness etc. can exist and act.
5. Wisdom is the being on account of which the wise understand.
6. Will is the being on account of which Goodness, Greatness etc. are desirable.
7. Virtue is the source of union among Goodness, Greatness etc.
8. Truth is that which is true about Goodness, Greatness etc.
9. Glory is the bliss in which Goodness, Greatness etc. repose.
10. Difference is that on account of which Goodness, Greatness etc. are clear reasons without any confusion.
11. Concordance is that on account of which Goodness, Greatness etc. agree in unity and plurality.
12. Contrariety is a mutual resistance of things with divergent ends.
13. The Beginning is what comes before everything else on account of some priority.
14. The Middle is the subject through which the End influences the Beginning and the Beginning transmits its influence back to the End and that naturally participates in both.
15. The End is that in which the Beginning reposes.
16. Majority is the image of the immensity of Goodness, Greatness etc.
17. Equality is the subject in which the End of the Concordance of Goodness, Greatness etc. reposes.
18. Minority is a being close to nothingness.
19. Light is the being that illuminates substances and dispels the darkness.

To have full knowledge of light, we will later define it with the help of these definitions

rules

First Distinction Second Part The Ten Rules or Questions

1. The first Rule inquires into whether something is, or not. It has three species, namely affirmation, doubt and negation. Its condition consists in making the affirmations or negations that help the most to remember, understand and love the object: for instance, let us ask whether or not the intellect exists: now it apparently does, because the affirmation of its existence can be better remembered, understood and loved than the denial of its existence, and this follows the definitions of the principles previously given here.

2. The second Rule deals with Quiddity or definition and has four species. The first species asks what something is, for instance, "What is the intellect?" This first species simply considers the essence by asking "What is it in itself?" And the answer is that the intellect is the being of its own essence, called intelligence, or reason. The second species asks: "What does the intellect have in itself co essentially and substantially?" And the answer is that the intellect has its own innate intellectivity, intelligibility and act of understanding. The third species asks: "What is the intellect in other things?" And the answer is that in the will, the intellect is what enables the will to choose to love what is truly good and to hate what is truly evil. The fourth species asks "What does the intellect have in other things?" As in asking "What does the intellect have in the will?" And the answer is that the intellect has action in the will through the habit of conscience with which it afflicts the will. And this example using the intellect can be applied to everything else.

3. The third Question or Rule inquires into Material, and has three species. The first species asks about the origin of something, as for instance "Of what origin is the intellect?" And the answer is that the intellect consists of its own original being, meaning that it is not made or created from anything that existed before it, but simply created inasmuch as it now is and previously was not. The second species inquires into the constituent parts things are made of, as in asking "What does the intellect consist of?" And the answer is that the intellect consists of its own co essential principles, namely its own innate intellective, intelligible and act of understanding; likewise, man consists of his own body and soul; nails are made of iron, and so with other similar things. The third species inquires into the ownership of things, like "To whom does the intellect belong?" or "To whom does the realm belong?" And the answer is that the intellect belongs to man and the realm belongs to the king. And this is how this Rule asks the question "of what?".

4. The fourth Question asks "Why?" and has two species: one concerns existence and the other concerns agency, as in asking "Why is there an intellect?" And the answer, with regard to existence, is that the intellect exists because it consists of its own innate intellective, intelligible and act of understanding, like a whole that is what it is on account of its own constituent coessential parts. And with regard to agency, the intellect exists so that it can understand and move purposefully toward its end which is to understand God and the truths of other things or entities and to have the habit of science. With this rule we inquire into the "Why and wherefore" of things.

5. The fifth Question asks about Quantity and has two species, namely simple and compound: for instance, let us ask "What is the quantity of intellect in the simplicity of its essence?" And the answer is that the intellect has the quantity of its essential being. As for composition, the answer is that the intellect has the quantity of its essence and agency, namely its own innate intellective, intelligible and act of understanding of which it consists. And this Rule serves to inquire into the number and measure of things.

6. The sixth Question asks about Quality and has two species, namely proper and appropriated quality. Let us ask, for instance, by the first species: "What quality does the intellect have?" And the answer is that the intellect has the quality of its own innate intellective, intelligible and act of understanding. And if we ask the same question by the second species, the answer is that the intellect has the qualities of the habit or intelligibility that it appropriates when it acts within its own intelligibility whereby it attains other intelligible beings. Likewise, let us ask "What is the quality of fire in its own quality, namely heat?" And the answer is that fire is a being that heats, and with the dryness it appropriates to itself from earth, it is a being with the power to dry out air, and so forth. This Rule serves to inquire into proper and appropriated qualities.

7. The seventh Question asks about Time and has as many species as the second, third, ninth and tenth Rules as we said in the chapter on the Seventh Rule in the Major Art. But here we want to give an example of the Seventh Rule using only the four species of the second Rule, and what we say about them applies to the remainder. Let us ask: "When does the intellect exist?" And by the first species we answer that the intellect exists when its being exists. By the second species we answer that the intellect exists when it has its own innate coessential parts. Further, by the third species we answer that the intellect exists in other things when it acts in them, for instance when the intellect is practically engaged in a subject. The fourth species asks "When does the intellect have something in other things?" The answer is that the intellect has something in other things when it has an understanding of their likenesses. Any topic can be dealt with in the same way as we dealt with the intellect. This Rule inquires into things as they exist within time and outside of time: for instance the intellect is within time by the third and fourth species of C but it simply exists outside of time by the first and second species of the same.

8. The eighth Rule asks about location, for instance, let us ask: "Where is the intellect?" And this Rule has as many species as the second, Third, Ninth and Tenth Rules together as was said in the General Art, but here, for the sake of brevity, we want to give an example using only the four species of the second Rule. Now the intellect, for instance, is in its own coessential and natural locus, which is its own being and essence, like a man existing in his humanity. By the second species the intellect is in its own essence and being as its parts constitute a whole. By the third species, the intellect is in the soul, or in man, or in the location where man happens to be. And by the fourth species, the intellect is located in the virtue or habit with which it has its habit of knowledge, and it is also in the subjects in which it has practical habits, and so forth. This Rule serves to inquire about things located in space and about things that simply exist without occupying any space; for instance: the intellect is located in space by the third and fourth species but does not occupy any location by the first and second species.

9. The ninth Question is about mode, or about how things exist, and it has four species. The first asks how a thing exists in itself. The second asks how one thing exists in another. The third asks about the way parts are in the whole and the whole in its parts. The fourth asks how a thing transmits its likenesses outside itself. With the first species let us ask, for instance: "How does the intellect exist as a being per se?" And we answer that the intellect has a mode of existing as a being per se inasmuch as its own essence is distinct from all other essences. The second species asks: "How is the intellect in other things and other things in it?" And we answer that the intellect has a way of existing in the will and the will in the intellect inasmuch as the intellect and the will together with memory constitute the rational soul. With the third species, let us ask, for instance: "How is the intellect in its parts and its parts in it?" And the answer is that the intellect has a way of being in its parts and its parts in it by the natural mode implemented by its own intellective, intelligible and act of understanding with the full participation of these three correlatives. With the fourth species, let us ask: "How can the intellect transmit its likenesses outside itself?" And we answer that the intellect can transmit its likenesses outside itself through its habit of science with which it understands many things as it makes them intelligible in its own innate intelligible part. This Rule serves to ask about modes according to the way in which things exist in themselves or in other things, as said above.

10. The Tenth Rule, concerning instrumentality, asks about what things exist with and what they act with, and it has four species similar to those in the Rule of modality. For instance, let us ask: "With what is the intellect a part of the soul?" And we answer that the intellect is a part of the soul with difference, concordance and power, and with all the other principles except contrariety. With the second species, let us ask: "With what does the intellect understand things other than itself?" And we answer that the intellect understands things by acquiring species and combining them together as it places them in its own innate intelligible where it makes them intelligible and understands them, like an eye viewing its reflection in a mirror. With the third species let us ask: "With what is the intellect universal and particular?" And we answer that the intellect is universal inasmuch as it has one formal active intellective power with which it attains many things within one universal intelligible that reflects many intelligible likenesses, like many images displayed in one mirror; and it is particular when it descends to practical considerations and understands some specific species it has acquired and stored in memory. With the fourth species, let us ask: "With what does the intellect transmit its likenesses outside itself?" And we answer that the intellect transmits its likeness outside itself with its own intellective, intelligible and act of understanding with which it produces intelligible species that can be recalled by the memory so the will can choose to love or hate them. This Rule serves to inquire about spiritual and physical instruments.

We have dealt with the Questions or Rules, and they contain the solutions to the questions in the Third distinction and to all peregrine questions that can be reduced to the explicit terms in the way shown in the second distinction.

Second Distinction

1. light defined with the principles

Second Distinction Light defined with the Principles and Rules

This Distinction has two parts. In the first part light is defined with the Principles. In the second part, the Rules are applied to light. Now for the first part.

First Part

Light defined with the Principles

1. Light is a good being that naturally does good in its own way, and its own Goodness is its natural reason to do good: now candlelight is a good being that naturally does its own kind of good by lighting lamps and lighting up the air; the Sun illuminates the atmosphere to cause daylight, and daylight is a good thing because it is instrumental in destroying darkness and enabling animals to see; likewise, the Moon shines at night to dispel the darkness that does evil against good when it hinders the sight from seeing.

2. Light is a great being on account of its own natural Greatness with which it produces great Illumination; candlelight, for instance, does its great act by illuminating lamps and air. And light has a great act potentially existing in its own great, natural and coessential Greatness: now if candlelight had enough fuel, it would grow into a flame so huge that it would light up the entire sphere of air and consume all darkness and shadow.

3. Light is a being that lasts in its own natural Duration with which it causes the Goodness, Greatness, Power, Instinct, Appetite and Virtue of light to last in air, so much so that if light never ran out of matter, it would last forever without decreasing in quantity: if candlelight never ran out of wick and wax, it could effectively last forever.

4. Light is a powerful being by its very nature: its innate Power enables it to maintain its size and identity and to produce other light or lights without decreasing or going out, as when candlelight lights a lamp without decreasing or vanishing: this is because its own Goodness, Greatness etc. sustain its identity, and they cannot do this if the light runs out of material, namely its wick and its wax, or if the wind blows it out, or if it is placed where it cannot move, given that light enclosed on all sides in a small space cannot move.

5. Light is a being with a natural Instinct for doing things proper to its own nature, for instance, the light of a candle has an Instinct for lighting a lamp by using all of its own active mode and the lamp's entire passive mode: candlelight cannot light a lamp without the entirety of its mode because its Instinct cannot perform without a mode just as the intellect cannot understand things unless it has a mode for understanding them.

6. Light is a being with its own natural Appetite for illuminating things and reproducing its likenesses, and its Appetite reposes in the act of illuminating, as when a candle lights a lamp and lights up the air and when it extends its flame down to another, extinguished candle to which it is drawn through the smoke by its appetite for lighting things, as we know by experience. And likewise, the intellect reproduces the likenesses it acquires to make them intelligible and exercise the natural acts of its own Goodness, Greatness etc. in its own understanding of itself.

7. Light is a being that arises with its own Virtue from a flame, and as it is infused in the air or in a lamp, it optimizes its virtuous Goodness and magnifies its virtuous Greatness, as when the Virtue of candlelight lights up air and lights lamps with its own Virtue.

8. Light is a being that truly illuminates air and lamps with itself, from itself, from its own Goodness, Greatness etc. and with its own Goodness, Greatness etc. while Truth makes this a true visual experience; and the intellect, likewise, in its own way, truly enlightens scholars with the science it teaches when its matter and the scholar's matter are not impeded by ignorance.

9. Light is a being that delights in existing and acting: in existing because it is what it is and in acting because it reproduces itself, like candlelight that has natural delight in lighting up lamps and space. And likewise, the light of intellect delights in understanding and reproducing its likenesses in itself and in the humans who use it to learn science; in this way, when the intellect is joined to a body, it delights in attracting to itself the things it can reach through the senses and the imagination, and it delights in making all this intelligible within itself so it can have repose.

10. Light is a being that lights up colors and shapes and enables the power of sight to see colored objects: as the intellect attains the truth about things by telling them apart, likewise, light disposes distinct colors and figures in the physically visible world, now if there is no light, the power of sight cannot perform its act of seeing.

11. Light is a being that accords visibility to visible subjects so that the power of sight can objectify things and attain one light through its concordance with another light: now candlelight and lamplight both belong to the same genus as they light up a house; and so do sunlight and firelight because the Sun effectively increases the heat of fire as the Sun convenes with fire in the genus of light and heats bodies here below with the heat of fire.

12. Light, or brightness, is the color of fire and of the Sun, and darkness cannot resist this color unless some opaque body impedes it; this is because darkness and shadow are the colors of earth which air receives in its great transparency, taking on these colors wherever light is partly blocked out as when a crystal placed on green, blue or red colors receives and takes on these colors; now transparency is the color of air, fire and air agree in heat while light drives out and dispels darkness and lends its color to air as we see when the Sun shines by day and when candles illuminate courtyards at night.

13. Light is the supreme source of color because the luminaries of heaven convene with the light of fire in the same genus; now the colors of the luminaries in heaven are not in the same genus as the colors of earth, water or air.

14. Light is the form used by fire to move lightable matter that is lit whenever form and matter repose in light.

15. Light is a being that quantifies things with its quantity, and it has two kinds of quantity, namely continuous and discrete. It is continuous, for instance, in the various sources of light in a house, or in sunlight by day and moonlight at night; and it is discrete in Saturn and Jupiter etc. in heaven and in the Sun by day and in the Moon at night, and in a lamp in a room and in a candle in a courtyard.

16. Light is a being with the quality of showing things and it shows that the subject of brightness consists of its innate bright parts and this subject lends brightness to other subjects that do not shine by themselves, as the Sun illuminates the Moon and candlelight lights up the air, lamps, etc.

17. Light is a being that relates to things by showing them and it shows that sunlight - or the Sun's body - and fire both have substantial, coessential, innate related parts namely the lucificative, lucificable and their act of lucification that give rise to accidental, peregrine light when light illuminates and colors the air.

18. Light is a being that acts by illuminating air and coloring and brightening it with light, and its action overcomes darkness as was shown above.

19. Light is a passive form whose matter is the general illuminability in which peregrine luminaries receive light. And light is a passive form or power when opaque bodies stop it from dispelling darkness and from growing and expanding in quantity and movement.

20. Light is a habit of air illuminated by the Sun in daytime or by a candle in a room and thus light is a being situated in the subject in which it exists, namely in the air's length, breadth and depth, in the Sun's and Moon's roundness, in the triangular shape of flames, in potentiality in a covered lamp and in motion when a stone is struck with iron.

21. Light is a being that produces times and seasons and participates in motion more closely than any other being; now light cannot be without motion, and since motion accords with time, light participates in sequential motion more closely than any other being does.

22. Light is a being that locates itself in the air that it lights up and that locates air within itself in every place to which its radiance extends. And here we see how one color is contained in another; and as every proper color is inseparable from its own subject, we see how bodies in mixture stand within one another as when elements mix together in elemented things, or when gold and silver are mixed in coins, or when substance and accident are mixed in compounds.

23. Light is a being that habituates the things it illuminates: as when candlelight habituates and clothes illuminated air by coloring it with its light, or when it clothes a rose with light shining through the air; and likewise the intellect habituates itself with science in its own innate intelligibility by acquiring peregrine species habituated with intelligibility.

24. Light is a subject that exists in space within a horizon in which the color of air is joined to the color of fire, by the Sun in daylight and by the Moon at night, and by a candle flame in a room where continuous and undivided light shines on every extreme of every wall as candlelight lights up the air and as the air lets light shine through its transparency, which cannot happen unless the light and the air mix together to make one compound that occupies the entire space within the horizon both formally and materially.

25. Light is the end in which the colors of fire and air repose as does the power of sight which cannot see anything without light: they repose when their appetite is joined to the desired object, as when the lover is joined to the beloved and when the knower is joined to knowledge, which comes about in an act of illumination, when the act of loving joins the lover to the beloved and the act of knowing joins the knower to the knowledge.

26. Light is an image of God's immense Magnitude, Goodness, Eternity, Power, Wisdom, Will, Virtue, Truth and Glory; now if a lit candle had an infinite amount of fuel placed at its disposal, it could, with its act of illuminating, make its lucificative luminance shine out into infinity; but since candlelight cannot do this for lack of fuel and space, this power of light only exists potentially, as does the light of human intellect, memory and will. And here we see the Greatness of God the creator displaying the outward signs of his intrinsic operation and Trinity.

27. Light is a subject in which the final concordance between the illuminative and illuminated equally reposes in their act of illuminating; and the same is understood about the light of intellect and the flame of love in the knower, knowledge and act of knowing and in the lover, beloved and act of loving; here we see how spiritual things are signified by corporeal ones.

28. Light is a being whose minority makes it exist in proximity to nothingness; and it really has minority because it is deprived of being when it is deprived of material and when its opposite, namely darkness comes into being. Light also exists in minority and close to naught when it potentially exists in a stone without the presence of external agents, like motion and a collision with iron or with another stone without which it cannot manifest its act.

We used definitions to show how the general Principles apply to light, and as we applied them to light, they can be applied to different beings in different ways.

2. the rules applied to light

*

rule B
*

rules C to K

rule B

Second Distinction Second Part The Rules Applied to Light Rule B

In this part we apply the ten Rules or Questions to light following the mode used in the second part of the first distinction. And now we begin with the first Rule.

The first Rule is signified by B. and deals with possibility.

1. We ask: "Does the light of a candle generate light in a lamp without decreasing itself? We answer that it does, because if candlelight did not generate lamplight from itself it would produce it artificially and it would not belong to the same genus as lamplight, which is impossible; and candlelight visibly produces lamplight without diminishing itself or decreasing in quantity.

2. Given that candlelight, which is less powerful than an Angel, can produce lamplight, we ask whether an Angel can generate another Angel? And the answer is that it cannot, because an Angel does not have discontinuous matter, its matter cannot reproduce, whereas candlelight has secondary matter under prime matter, and this secondary matter exists due to the transition of prime matter into lamplight by way of generation.

3. We ask whether candlelight moves on its own. And the answer is that it does because light exists invisibly and potentially in the wick and wax and visible light brings it into act by generating its species and exhausting itself in its upward movement where it transmutes itself into the species of smoke, as we see.

4. We ask whether candlelight illuminates air within its own essence, and the answer is that it does, because fire's essential illuminating power illuminates air in fire's innate illuminable part, and the illuminating quality does not belong to air itself but air appropriates it from fire; now illumination could only be air's own quality if it did not receive it in and from the illumination that is proper to fire.

5. We ask whether a lit candle transmutes the transparency of air into its own light while the transparency of air still remains what it is, and the answer is that it does: now, as imagination internally reproduces likenesses of outwardly sensible beings which still retain their own identity, so does candlelight internally transmute the transparency of air into brightness while the transparency retains its identity.

6. We ask whether candlelight is joined to the power of sight in viewing colored things, and we answer that it is not because they do not have the same proper subjects, although they work together like an agent with its instrument when the power of sight attains illuminated and colored objects through illuminated air.

7. We ask whether candlelight vegetates the light of the lamp it lights, and the answer is that it does not, since candlelight and lamplight are purely elemented bodies in which vegetation cannot be sustained because of excessive motion and heat.

8. We ask whether the four elements exist in act in candlelight, and the answer is that they do, in order to constitute a full three dimensional body comprised of its own form and matter wherein the elemental accidents are sustained.

9. We ask whether lamplight is lit by candlelight through necessity or by contingency, and the answer is given in two distinct ways: now inasmuch as candlelight lights lamplight, it does so by natural causation; but it does so by contingency inasmuch as the artificer does not naturally light lamplight with candlelight but rather does so through contingency occasioned by need.

We solved the above questions with the first general Question which is "Whether?" and we followed its conditions, namely that things are to be affirmed or negated as the soul remembers, understands and loves them more; here we see the general nature of the said Rule with its conditions.

rules C to K

Second Distinction Second Part The Rules Applied to Light Rules C to K

The second Rule, regarding Quiddity, signified by C.
1. What is light? The solution to this question is signified by the second Question or Rule in the second part of the first distinction. Light is a being that illuminates things, for instance, candlelight illuminates lamplight and air, and a Doctor enlightens himself with the habit of science as he enlightens his students.
2. What does light have in itself coessentially and naturally? The solution to this question is signified by the second Rule in the first distinction; now light has in itself its own innate constituent parts, namely the illuminative, illuminable and their act of illuminating: like the light of a candle whose innate illuminative, in its own innate illuminable, illuminates illuminated air and produces illuminated lamplight in its own illuminable as it brings it from potentiality into act by way of generation: likewise, an Angel acts on things below with its innate powers in its own innate matter whereby it perceives colors in general without using eyes, voices without using ears and moving bodies without using touch, etc.
3. What is light in other things? The solution to this question is signified by the second Rule in the first distinction, now light is a disposing agent in air as it enables the power of sight to attain white color that disperses the sight and black color that focuses the sight.
4. What does light have in other things? The solution to this question is signified by the second Rule in the first distinction, now light has action in the air it illuminates and passion in the power of sight that uses it to see color, and light with its virtue has action in the power of sight, as in the eye which is an illuminated organ joined to the power of sight that endows it with sense and the power to see.

The third Rule, "Of What" signified by D.
1. Of what origin is light? The solution to this question is signified by the third Rule in the second part of the first distinction; now the Sun's light exists primordially in its own right, as does the motion of the eighth sphere because at their natural origin they are not derived from anything else.
2. What does light consist of? The solution to this question is signified by the third Rule in the second part of the first distinction: now light consists of its own coessential lucificative, lucificable and their act of lucification, the light of a lamp is made from that of a candle and elemented candlelight consists of the light of simple fire; and the light of air is peregrine because it accidentally consists of candlelight; and moonlight is made of sunlight; and Saturn's motion consists of the motion of the eighth sphere at the antipodes that drives planets from west to east in our side of the sky like water moving a mill wheel by driving its lower part so that the upper part moves. To whom does light belong? The solution to this question is signified by the third species of the Rule in the first distinction: now candlelight belongs to sunlight because the heavenly bodies above effectively and virtually possess bodies here below; like divine intellect possesses human intellect, and the heat of fire possesses the heat of air and that of hot water.

The Fourth Rule, "Why?" signified by E
1. Why is there light? The solution to this question is signified by the fourth Rule in the second part of the first distinction; now candlelight is necessarily caused by its own constituting coessential, substantial and natural lucificative, lucificable and lucification, and the light of a lamp is naturally caused by candlelight but it is occasioned by contingency when someone happens to light a lamp with light from a candle; and the light in air exists because its cause exists, namely candlelight that causes the peregrine light in air, outwardly in its own necessary lucificable.
2. Why is there candlelight? The solution to this question is signified by the fourth Rule in the second part of the first distinction; now candlelight exists for lighting up the air and light exists in air to dispel the darkness in it so that sighted beings can see objects that cannot be seen if the air is not lit up.

The Fifth Rule or Rule of Quantity, signified by F What is the quantity of candlelight? The solution to this question is signified by Rule F in the second part of the first distinction; now candlelight in continuous quantity is one body in one undivided quantity through all its discrete quantities sustained in its physical parts, namely the lucificative, lucificable and their act of lucification. And candlelight has two quantities, one proper and one appropriated or peregrine. Its proper quantity is its own quantifying quantity and its peregrine quantity is the quantity of light in air derived from the said proper quantity, and this peregrine quantity illuminates stones, horses, etc. Now the quantity sustained in the lucificative, lucificable and their act of lucification is neither visible nor measurable, it is only visible as the light of a flame with shape and color and situation inasmuch as it is joined to physical being, and even so it cannot be sensed by touch although its color is visible.

The Sixth Rule, or Rule of Quality, signified by G. What is the quality of candlelight? The solution to this question is signified by Rule G in the second part of the first distinction; now candlelight has two qualities: proper and appropriated. The proper quality is the light of simple fire whose color causes compound candlelight, so the color of candlelight is a subalternate quality that rules the peregrine color of light in air where light causes color in the light reflected by a stone or a rose illuminated by light acting as an appropriated quality of air.

The Seventh Rule, or the Rule of "When?" signified by the letter H. When is there candlelight? The solution to this question is signified by Rule H in the second part of the first distinction; now candlelight exists when its own being and number exist; it existed potentially in stone and iron and in a candle before it was lit. And candlelight is in successive becoming when it moves from potentiality to act and it is in corruption when it gradually consumes the wick and wax of the candle. It also exists in numeric alteration when the light that potentially existed in the wick and wax actually corrupts the flame's body by successively depriving its previous number, without this, candlelight could never move from potentiality to act.

The Eighth Rule, or Rule of "Where?" signified by I. Where is candlelight? The solution to this question is signified by Rule I in the second part of the first distinction; now candlelight is in its own number and it is sustained in its own constituent lucificative, lucificable and their lucification; and it is in the room where it exists like the content in its container; as a body it is in substance and accident because physical bodies are composed of substance and accidents; and it is in air, like the efficient cause in its effect; and it is also in motion, and so forth.

The Ninth Rule, or Rule of "How?" signified by K How does candlelight exist? The solution to this question is signified by Rule K in the second part of the first distinction; now candlelight has a way to be what it is and not to be what it is not; and it exists because it contains parts that exist within one another, like its form in its matter and vice versa; it also has a way of existing because of its innate mobility, like a flame whose mobility enables it to live from wax and wick, because its nutritional moisture exists.

The Tenth Rule, or Rule of "With What?" signified by K With what does candlelight exist? The solution to this question is signified by Rule K in the second part of the first distinction; now candlelight exists with the mixture of its constituting elements, and with the concordance of fire and air in heat and of fire and earth in dryness and with the opposition of earth and air in dryness and moisture; and it exists with the concordance of air and fire in heat and of air and water in moisture and with the opposition of water and fire in cold and heat. And candlelight exists with the concordance of water and air in moisture and of water and earth in cold and with the opposition of air and earth in moisture and dryness. Further, candlelight exists with the concordance of earth and fire in dryness and of earth and water in cold, and with the opposition of fire and water in cold and heat, which shows that the motion of candlelight is derived from and influenced by the said concordances and contrarieties existing in one and the same subject. Further, candlelight exists with its Goodness because it is good, with its Greatness because it is great, with its Duration with which it lasts and with its Power with which it is powerful, and so forth.

We have dealt with the Rules applied to light, and this application is a general locus from which you can fully extract solutions to any questions that can be asked about light.

Third Distinction: Questions

Third Distinction Questions

This distinction deals with peregrine questions and their solutions are referred to the first distinction where they are implicit and to the second distinction where they are more explicitly signified. Now the questions are divided into nine parts, namely into nine beings which are the following: God, Angel, Heaven, Soul, Imagination, Sense, Vegetation, Elements, Artifice. There are actually no more than these nine because whatever exists or can exist must be included in its way within the nine above terms.

We have five loci to refer to for solving questions, namely: the Tree, the first and second parts of the first distinction and the first and second parts of the second distinction. Now let us deal with the first part of the third distinction.

God

Third Distinction First Part Questions about God

1. Question: Is there good, infinite and eternal production within God? The solution to this question is signified by the definitions of Goodness, Greatness and Eternity and by BC of the Tree, especially Rules B and C.

2. Question: Do the divine dignities or reasons have their own equal acts in God's essence? Solution: apply B, C, G, and I to the loci in the first and second distinctions.

3. Question: Is God the being of his own essence? Solution: go to the first species of Rule C in the first and second distinctions.

4. Question: What does God have naturally and coessentially within Himself? Solution: Go to the second species of Rule C in the first and second distinctions.

5. Question: Does God represent his intrinsic, coessential and natural operation to the human intellect in this life? Solution: Go to the third species of Rule C.

6. Question: What does God have in his effect? Solution: Go to the fourth species of Rule C in the second distinction.

7. Question: Can God produce something else from Himself without diminishing Himself? Solution: Go to the first Rule in the second distinction, the first paragraph on B.

8. Question: Must there necessarily be some differentiation within the Godhead? Solution: Go to the second distinction, the ninth paragraph of rule B and to the second species of Rule C in the first and second distinctions.

9. Question: Is there nature in God? Solution: Go to the definitions of Goodness, Greatness and Power and to the second species of Rules C and D.

10. Question: What does God consist of? Solution: Go to the second species of Rule D in the first and second distinctions.

11. Question: Is God a necessary being? Solution: Go to Rule E.

12. Question: Is God as great in his intrinsic act as in his existence? Solution: Go to Rules E and G and to Flowers B, C and G in the Tree.

13. Question: Is there any properly numeral quantity in God? Solution: Go to Flowers C, D and F and then to the Rules and definitions signified by them in the first and second distinctions.

14. Question: Are there any properties in God? Solution: Go to B, C, D, and G and then to the things they signify in the first and second distinctions.

15. Question: Where is God? Solution: Go to Rule I in the first and second distinctions and to the second species of Rule C.

16. Question: How does God exist and how does He act within Himself? Solution: Go to the second species of Rule C and to the ninth Rule K. However, note that God in Himself is not divided into parts, but has infinite and eternal properties as indicated by Rules B and C.

17. Question: With what does God exist and with what does He act within Himself? Solution: Go to the definitions of Goodness, Greatness etc. and to Rule K in the divine mode and go to the second species of Rule C.

We have dealt with the questions about God and shown how to find solutions to questions in the above loci, and all other questions about God can be solved in the same way..

THANKS BE TO GOD