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A further question arose: Assuming that ultimately the elements of knowable
existence are but two, the One or Definite, and the Manifold or Indefinite,
it was argued by some that there must be some third or higher principle
governing the relations of these; there must be some law or harmony which
shall render their intelligible union possible. This principle of union was
God, ever-living, ever One, eternal, immovable, self-identical.
This was the supreme reality, the Odd-Even or Many in One, One in Many, in
whom was gathered up, as in an eternal harmony, all the contrarieties of
lower existence. Through the interchange and intergrowth of these
contrarieties God realises Himself; the universe in its evolution is the
self-picturing of God. God is diffused as the seminal principle throughout
the universe; He is the Soul of the world, and the world itself is God in
process. The world, therefore, is in a sense a living creature. At its heart
and circumference are purest fire; between these circle the sun, the moon,
and the five planets, whose ordered movements, as of seven chords, produce
an eternal music, the ‘Music of the Spheres.’ Earth, too, like the planets,
is a celestial body, moving like them around the central fire.
By analogy with this conception of the universe as the realisation of God,
so also the body, whether of man or of any creature, is the realisation for
the time being of a soul. Without the body and the life of the body, that
soul were a blind and fleeting ghost. Of such unrealised souls there are
many in various degrees and states; the whole air indeed is full of spirits,
who are the causes of dreams and omens.
A History of Greek Philosophy /
PYTHAGORAS AND THE PYTHAGOREANS
