LIBER CHAOS Bl. Raymond Lull Doctor Illuminatus

Part II
5 Universals

D - Difference

1. Difference in the first degree of Chaos is universal, given that in igneity there is form and matter, whence there is difference between the agent and the patient in the essence of this Chaos, and the same applies to aereity etc. from which the Chaos is produced, so that there is one universal substantial difference composed of the ignificative and the ignificable, the aerificative and the aerificable and so forth.

2. The ignificative acts in one way in its natural matter, namely its own ignificable, but in another way in remote matter, namely in the matter of air, water and earth. The same applies likewise to air etc. and this is because the matter of fire is passive under the form of fire in a way in which it is not passive under the form of air etc. The same applies to air etc. which shows clearly enough that difference is something universal in the first degree of Chaos.

3. In the first degree of Chaos, as form acts, it depures itself from matter and consequently, as matter is passive, it is depured from form, whence follow the diversificative and the diversificable in the subject, namely the third Chaos, which is produced from form and matter; now the diversificative is form and the diversificable is matter, and consequently, the Chaos is a diversified thing.

4. As the form of Chaos acts and differentiates itself from matter, this form differentiates itself from matter by accident, whence follows the universal difference between substance and accident, i.e. between substantial form and accidental form; now substantial form is the action of Chaos with the essence of all the elementatives and accidental form is the quantification, qualification etc. of the substantial form; and similarly there is substantial and accidental difference in the matter of Chaos, now the substantial one is the passion aggregated from the essence of all the elementables and the accidental one is the quantificability, qualificability etc. of this matter according to the ways in which the essences of air, water and earth are passive under the ignificative, and likewise with the other elements, and this shows clearly enough that universal difference exists in the Chaos substantially and accidentally.

5. God, to whom praise and glory be given, produced from the essence of this substantial difference in the first degree of Chaos all the substantial natural differences in the second and third degrees of Chaos, thus giving the upper universal difference a way to influence all the differences in the second degree of Chaos and in the third, and the same likewise applies to the differences among the accidents, or nine predicates, now from this supreme universal difference of accidents in the Chaos God produced difference between quantity, quality etc. in men, lions etc.

6. As God was creating the first degree of Chaos, He created all species in it in potentiality, and He brought them to act as He was creating the second degree of Chaos, so that through the generation of the second they would be reduced from the first to the third, and thus the difference which exists between one species and another in the third degree was something real, and hence, as it now exists in the third degree, it must be something real, or else it would have existed neither in potentiality in the first degree, nor as an accidental form, nor could it have diversified itself through near and remote matter.

7. Given that in God there are Ideas as He knows all past, present and future things; in the first, second and third degrees of Chaos, difference is diffused through species and individuals substantially and accidentally, universally and in particulars. Therefore difference is clearly something real and an object of God's Ideas in the first, second and third degree of Chaos, otherwise there could not be any Ideas in God; however, we do not mean that there are many Ideas, as this plurality only refers to representation, given that the Chaos is situated and habituated with the five universals and ten predicates throughout its first, second and third degrees, difference is present in it, which can be adequately understood as FG discourse with T through its five universals and ten predicates.

8. In a wheat grain, difference is potentially universal to many future differences in many grains which can be generated from it, now the difference between the form and matter of this grain is universal to all the differences which exist between quantity, quality and so forth, as well as between one quality and another etc. namely between heat and cold and so forth.

9. Universal and particular differences are seen to exist in the grain which gets corrupted as it generates other grains, now inasmuch as this grain is particular, it has particular difference, which is corrupted along with the grain as it is numerically identical, but because this grain communicates itself to many grains when it generates them from itself and from the influence of the first degree of Chaos, it follows that the universal difference in this grain is the essence of many future grains, so that particular difference is corrupted and its essence is restored in many future grains in other numerical identities of new, proper and specific essences.

10. Just as difference descends from the first degree of Chaos to the third through generation, so does it revert from the third to the first through corruption, and all this occurs in one and the same locus, given that the first degree of Chaos is omnipresent within the lunar sphere, and hence the generated difference, at the time of its corruption, reverts through the four species of mixture to the first degree, or else, if the corrupted grain's essence vanished into nothingness, the first degree of Chaos could naturally be annihilated, which is impossible.

11. Difference is universal to the point that no one grain is numerically identical to another, nor are they without dissimilarities, although they belong to one and the same species, and this is because in the corrupted grain from which many grains are generated, there were countless parts situated in the single numerical identity of this grain, all the more as the first Chaos never ceases instilling into the essence of every generating grain, countless distinct and diverse parts which will be situated in the great many grains to be generated in the future, and the very same applies likewise to metals and animals.

12. In a grain, no difference is as universal as that of substance, now this grain is but one substance aggregated from one form and one matter, but its difference is diffused through countless parts situated in this grain by the four elements as each of these parts has a numerical identity distinct from the others, however none of them on its own is a body or a substance, but together, without distinction, they are all one substance with one numerical identity.

13. In elemented things, substance differs in one way from quantity, in another way from quality and so forth; and thus, as said above, we can note that in the difference between substance and difference, substance is one thing with one numerical identity and difference is another thing, although it is essentially inseparable because one cannot possibly exist without the other.

14. The essence of substance is pure form and pure matter, and hence the difference between form and matter is substantial, and therefore form and matter are the essence of this difference as they coexist with this difference as one and the same substantial essence, but because this difference is not the same as the ones between quantity, quality etc. this substantial difference is something universal from whose virtue all accidental differences spring, but because this difference is distinguished and distinctly diffused in countless parts, it moves away from the substantial essence and actually has accidental being as it exists under accidental forms, i.e. under quantity, quality etc.

15. Substantial difference is the one which refers to species, like the difference between man and lion etc. and to individuals, like between this man and that man, this lion and that lion and so forth; and this springs from the generality of the difference between substantial form and matter making up substance.