LIBER CHAOS Bl. Raymond Lull Doctor Illuminatus

Part I

The Form and Matter of Chaos

2. In the essence called igneity, there is one simple form and one simple matter, namely the ignificative and the ignificable, one of which is a purely active form and the other a purely passive form in our manner of speaking. This form and this matter are called substantial because they are apt to constitute substance, and the same applies to aereity, aqueity, etc. 

3. Further, igneity has several accidental forms, both active and passive. The active ones are: quantifying, qualifying, relating, active, timing, locating, situating and habituating forms. The passive forms, likewise, are those that can be quantified, qualified, related, passive, timed, located, situated and habituated. And this also applies to the other essences of Chaos. 

4. All the said forms proceed from substantial forms, so that the active accidental forms proceed from active substantial forms, namely the ignificative, aerificative, etc. And the passive accidental forms proceed from passive substantial forms, namely the ignificable, aerificable, etc. Hence, the ignificative produces active quantity in itself, and passive quantity in the ignificable. Here, the ignificative acts with its own instrument, namely with the motive and active quantity with which it moves moveable and passive quantity in the ignificable. This also applies to the other essences and actions of Chaos existing under the said four forms, as shown above. 

5. Chaos stands under substantial prime form and prime matter and accidental forms and matters stand under this. Here we see how prime form and prime matter transmit their influence to their four general powers, namely the four elements and their accidents both inside and outside Chaos, as each element seeks simplicity by splitting away from the others, only to form new compounds by merging again into composition with the others: therefore prime form and prime matter are understood to exist throughout all of Chaos and all the individuals included in it, as explained above. 

6. The form of fire has its own fiery matter on which it ceaselessly acts with its own innate instrumental forms, enabling their action and passion. And the other elements proceed likewise in all compound forms throughout Chaos. Hence, the ignificative has its own ignificable in itself, and another ignificable in the other essences, namely those of air, water and earth. And what we said about one element equally applies to the others in their different ways.

7. The ignificative has its own intrinsic ignificable, and accidentally has another ignificable in the other essences, as we said, and thus it proceeds from the generating agent through successive degrees in a straight line, namely through the first, second and third degrees of Chaos. This is how fire, together with the other essences, materially produces its newly aggregated form and matter. The new form had existed potentially and is brought into act in the new matter, as the time and number of this form are situated and habituated in Chaos through the process of generation and decay. 

8. Now the substantial being of any elemented thing is composed of four forms and four matters, namely those of fire, air, etc., under one new common form distinct from the said four forms, and one new common matter likewise distinct from the said four matters. So the substantial elemented being that results from this, belongs to a species totally foreign to the species of fire, air, etc. 

9. In any elemented thing, the ignificative has its own ignificable, and the aerificative has its own aerificable, and likewise with the other elements; from this substantial form and matter, elemented things result so that every one of the four elements is substantially present in every elemented thing. Indeed, no elemented substance could have substantial form and matter if the elements were not present in it with their own substantial forms and matters. And this does not mean that there are four bodies in elemented things, but rather one single body aggregated from a mixture of the four elements. 

10. Active fiery form is the ignificative actively informing its own passive form, also called its passive matter, namely the very matter in which the agent acts with its own essence, and hence its active form and active matter are called form, and its passive form and passive matter are called matter. 

11. The pure form of fire is one active form and there is another active form which is the entirety of substantial fiery being, or the fiery aggregate of matter and form, as pure fire ignites an alien ignificable in the other elements. Therefore there are different kinds of fiery action and  fiery passion, and they cannot exist without each other for all of them are included in each and every choleric elemented thing. 

12. Active form moves all of its matter to passion with its own active motion through all the passive matter. Now form moves matter to constitute substance, and the entirety of substance moves with an intent that is entirely in all of the substance. Otherwise, the entirety of substance would not exist in the two points called form and matter, and in their active and passive motion numerically identical to this matter and form. 

13. The first human being actively produced form in the second human, and the second in the third through the influence of prime Chaos; the same likewise applies to all successive generations of animated beings on earth up to the present. And what we said shows how the father is an actively producing form, and the son is a form passively produced down the line of succession in the Chaos. 

14. In substance, form is superior to matter, as seen in man, for the human soul is superior to the human body. However, since matter is entirely passive under form, a proportional equality arises between them, without which form and matter could not exist together as they would have no entity, which is false, because they are indeed distinct entities joined together through quantity, quality, etc.