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Lull's Book of
Propositions
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10 - Common Figure
The Common figure, like the others, is addressed to the senses and the intellect. It is universal and
should be made of copper or some material, with six closely
fitted revolving circles, each circle displaying all the letters of the alphabet that stand between
A. and S. In this way, each circle can be moved independently to
form any camera for investigating any particular issue and solving all questions and objections with
the help of T. since each circle signifies and represents all the
alphabets of the figures, namely the alphabet of A., and that of S., and likewise with V., and X. and
Theology, Philosophy, Law and the Elemental figure as
depicted in the first pages of this book.
Note well that one side of the Common figure displays the said six circles which contain and display,
as we said, the alphabets of the above figures, but on the
other side of this figure there are, in the middle, two circles of the elements, surrounded by three
circles each containing a fifteen letter alphabet signifying the
fifteen principles of T.
All the statements and principles of the said figures, namely T. and the others, must be known by heart,
and made very familiar to the intellect. Each statement or
term belonging to any figure has a letter attributed to it, so that in each alphabet the first letter,
namely B., belongs to the first term with its statements, the second
letter to the second term, the third to the third, and so on in sequence. This method must be known
by heart, and vehemently practiced until it becomes second
nature to recall which terms and statements, and how many of each are represented by any letter.
The method described above clearly shows how this Common Figure is visualized by the imagination and
understood by the intellect, and how it contains all the
other figures so that cameras can be formed for investigating any particular matter in its universality;
and the universality of this figure is broader than the
universality of other figures, as reason understands it to be an aggregate of the other figures, in
the common concordance or contrariety that they have among
themselves. Because this is the most universal of the figures, its propositions and questions are more
universal than the propositions and questions of the other
figures.
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