Physics

Table of Contents
SS. John of Damascus & Comas the Hymnographer.

Metaphysics

Starting with being in the most generically generic sense, we may differentiate it positively into corporeal & negatively into incorporeal. That which is incorporeal is then called spirit, and that which is corporeal, body. We may then do the same with body into animate & inanimate, where the animate is called life, & the inanimate, mineral. Again, with life, into sentient & insentient, then called animal & plant. And again, animal into rational & irrational, called man & beast.

Having gone then from most abstract—i.e. generic—to most immanant—i.e. specific—we may no longer differentiate according to species, but enumeration, i.e. Peter, Paul, John &c.

The Porphyrian Tree.

So we have then formed the image of a tree, with the most specific species as the roots, and the supreme genus as the tip.

Causes

In an example of a table: the wood is the material cause, the carpenter’s thought is the formal cause, the carpenter’s tool is the efficient cause, and dining on is the perfect cause.

See Luke Smith’s article.

Unions

Matter

Material bodies exist as the concurrent composition of the following qualities:

Each property in itself is not matter but a conception of thought.

Elements

Element (stœchī̂on) Attributes
Fire (pŷr) Hot & Dry
Air (aḗr) Hot & Wet
Water (hýdōr) Cold & Wet
Earth (gē̂) Cold & Dry

Some class æther as a fifth element (quintessence), while others consider it a special kind of fire. At any rate, it is stellar.

Measurements

The foot was standardized by that of Agrippa—general of Augustus and husband of his daughter Julia the Elder—when he built what would become the Church of the Panagia and the Martyrs, Italy.

The pound is based on weight of coins, e.g. 72 solidii = 1 lb.

£ & λͅ are abbreviation signs for libra (Latin) & lítra (Greek) respectively. The former is only used contemperarily for British money.

Colors

White is the dilation of light, and black, the contraction of light; yellow, red, and blue then being ratios of white and black.

The rainbow is composed of seven colors: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. But the gay pride flag omits indigo, thus making it a false rainbow.

Soul

Imagination, and so sense-perception, functions through the anterior ventricles of the brain, reason, through the middle ventricle, and memory, through the posterior ventricle.

The separate senses are collected together by imagination, which then communicates it, via reason, to the mind.

Body

Touch is usually omitted as a common background sense.

The eleental mean of each sense is: fire for sight, air for hearing, water for smell, and earth for taste.

Food is eaten through the mouth, passed down to the stomach, which converts what is nutritious into a liquid and gives it to the liver, and sends what isn’t nutritious down to the intestines to be exited. The liver converts the liquid from the stomach into blood, and then distributes it throughout the body via the veins. The kidneys catch the spent watery part of the blood, which acted as its vehicle along the veins, and sends it down to the bladder to be exited.

Air is inhaled through the nostrils into the lungs, which hold it. The heart takes the air from the lungs according to its rhythem, heats, then distributes breath throughout the body via the arteries. It also takes the expired breath from the arteries and sends it to the lungs to be exited. As the arteries contract with pulsation, the blood from the veins is drawn into the artery and infused with breath, which then sends it back out into the veins with pulsation.

Medicine

Plants

Minerals

A stone is formed by a dry exhalation of the earth, while a metal is formed by a moist exhalation.

Some count tin & lead as one kind of metal, while distinguishing quicksilver from silver. Some others distinguish quicksilver, but omit bronze by reason of it being a metal alloy.

To alloy a metal is to mix it with another, less valuable, metal, e.g. lead. This will produce compound metal, such as bronze—which is brass alloyed with lead or tin. A recent contemporary metall alloy is steel—which is iron alloyed with brass.

See Astronomy for precious stone associations with the months & zodia.

Precious Stone Color
Pearl White
Amethyst Opaque Red
Jacinth Opaque Blue
Chrysoprase Striped Yellow
Topaz Clear Yellow
Beryl Opaque Green
Chrysolyte (Peridot) Opaque Yellow
Sardius Clear Red
Onyx Striped Red
Emerald Clear Green
Calcedony Striped Green
Sapphire (Lapis Lazuli) Striped Blue
Jasper Clear Blue
Carbuncle (cf. Chalcedony)
Agate (cf. Jacinth)
Ligure (cf. Chrysoprase)
Opal (cf. Chrysoprase)
Diamond (cf. Jasper)

According to Christians, Moses wrote on the stones for the chief priest’s breastplate, and Solomon built the temple, using diamond.

References

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