Now  whatever exists, is either creator or creature. Therefore the world is either GOD, or a creature.  But the world, being finite and visible, is not GOD. This truth is obvious to our senses. Therefore it exists as a created being, as the effect of a cause, and not per se, as nothing can be its own cause; thus it is simply an effect caused by GOD, as are all things in this world.

  So far we have not said anything about the orderly return to GOD of creatures from the lowest of their dwellings, as we wished to give the above preliminary information, which will be useful later on. The natural Chaos of the elements in a confused mixture is the lowest material cause of all things subject to generation and corruption, and accordingly stands at the lowest level as shown.

 First to rise out of the said confusion are compound bodies of the elements, with a continuous appetite to seek out the places that GOD  predestined for them and where their own nature is preserved in greater power, existing more simply on its own, less compounded with other elements; but as they can never fulfill their intention by remaining there, they try other places and flee from confusion with the selfsame intention and appetite and belief that they can overcome  other elements in the substantial beings they form as they enter into composition. Therefore they generate a mixed elemented body disposed in the order of elemental degrees, an order that they naturally seek, to escape confusion; and this is the initial point and first degree of ascent of  bodies subject to decay.

Next in ascending order above the said simple body the second degree of physical being arises through the process of composition, simply animated per se and containing all vegetal beings produced by the active, passive and functioning vegetative power.

 Above vegetation the third degree arises in sentient animals or beasts and follows a natural ascending scale of perfection until the highest degree of perfection in animals is attained. Some animals seem vile and imperfect as compared to higher animals, yet they have sense and movement, like oysters and similar shellfish, whose life we can sense in their stony outward aspect, and by looking within, we see that they are endowed with their own sense as well. They are visibly alive, and this is displayed in their sense of touch, a primitive sense they noticeably display by shrinking back when touched, and expanding when released. In addition, they open and close their shells with a contracting and expanding motion.

 Sentient life manifests a degree of perfection above vegetal life, which is immobile and remains in one place as do inanimate bodies or stones. Some animals like coral remain attached to stones on which they feed and are almost more like trees than animals. And lower animals have the one sense that all animals have in common, namely touch. Other  animals then arise with the same primitive sense, but greater power to move about, for they can shrink and expand to change places as do annulata or worms. These do not constitue another degree above the previous one, but other crawling creatures display increasing degrees of perfection as they have more senses, adding sight, smell, taste and even voice like snakes for instance. Other perfect animals attain even higher perfection and being, like quadrupeds as well as birds and fish, and it is impossible to know how many kinds of them exist in the diversity of greater, medium and lesser perfection.

 Imperfect animals as well as all living beings have appetite and instinct. Appetite and instinct are more or less developed in greater and lesser beings, and they all have them regardless of their degree of perfection. Now whatever can be watered and fed has appetite, but in plants it is more gross and less perceptible to the senses. Instinct can be observed in plants, although in a less apparent form, for instance, a grapevine has tendrils instead of hands to raise it as it climbs and seeks out its source of energy, instinctively forming a trunk with branches, boughs, flowers and fruit. Although imperceptible to our senses, even inanimate bodies have instinct and appetite; for they have a purpose, as nothing exists in vain. Now all created beings are imperfect compared to their prime source, and all have an appetite for better and greater perfection, an appetite that would be void of any purpose were it not for their innate GOD-given instinct, and neither GOD nor nature ever do anything without a purpose.

 Among various perfect animals, greater, medium or lesser perfection is found, for some can walk and move in all directions, but are lacking one or more senses, like moles that have no eyes, but still have the other senses.
Any animal with more senses than the primitive sense of touch is classed among perfect animals, especially walking or flying animals endowed with all five senses that also have voices for naturally expresing what they mean, and humans have an even more developed sense of voice called the affatus.

 And the said three separate degrees are found in living beings, perceived in distinct ascending order beginning with vegetation as the first degree of life; followed in the next degree by sentient animals that can move with their own contracting and expanding motion. And these are called "imperfect animals" because they do not move from place to place, but merely with the movement in which life is first detected. The heart moves with this movement in perfect animals as they first come into being, and they are said to come to life with the first heartbeat. And this visible innate movement  perceptibly continues in the absence of any other sensible cause. Thus our senses of sight and touch reveal this most basic primitive movement for instance in a decapitated bird whose heart still goes on beating, a swan's heart especially can go on living for a long time after being cut out and astonishingly, even when it is cut into pieces each piece still continues to show signs of life for a while. This shows that the heart is the principal organ of life, where life most firmly takes root, and from which life spreads to all other organs that die when primordial movement is stopped at the root source.

 The next degree of life is found in animals that can move in all directions, known as perfect animals because they are perfectly capable of moving in any direction and distance as opposed to the imperfect non-local movement described above. In their degree of perfection, they also have perfectly organized senses with which they can work and function as perfect animals.

 Then the three said degrees of life culminate in a fourth supernatural degree far above the others, namely in man in whom they are also found joined together in the same order; linked and mutually bonded with all their appendages as parts that naturally compose the human body.

 Therefore they are elevated to their utmost in man and through man they attain the purpose and perfection they crave by natural appetite. And here they find rest as they are raised up by humanity which informs them with one spiritual and immortal form created by GOD as through it man remembers, understands and finally above all loves GOD, for there are two created natures namely spiritual nature existing above the heavens in angels (or separated substances or intelligences) and physical nature, namely the prime mobile, the starry sky and the seven planetary spheres, with the chaos of elements beneath, and natural physical bodies subject to generation and decay. The two essences and natures are altogether different, and have naturally separate places and subjects and almost nothing in common apart from the fact that they are both creatures created by GOD out of nothingness and parts of the universe - as shown in the first Figure - , so as to form one formal and material world through the wisdom, free will and power of the Creator.

 As there must be no vacuum in such a noble work of creation and no lack of mutual solidarity among all parts in mere natural separation without any perfect union, man is naturally composed from all that exists in creation so that all created beings can participate in the unity of one nature, which is human nature. Therefore man is the center of the whole universe, where all created beings fulfill their purpose and through man, as said above, all physical things attain their end. Here the diligent reader can see in which created being GOD brought creation to its perfect fulfillment, and the purpose for which He created everything, and the idea He objectified in His eternal mind before creation.

 Creatures arise in ascending levels through clearly visible degrees from a degree of obvious imperfection continuously through a gradual ascent that finally leads them to man, in whom as we have said they can attain perfect fulfillment of purpose and ultimate bliss. And this would be impossible without goodness, greatnes, duration, power, wisdom, will, virtue, truth and glory, and even more impossible without the intrinsic natural acts of these dignities, namely active good, passive good and functioning good and the same with the rest.

 And in these principles all created beings find their origin and source of production. From each principle, whatever exists is actual, by first and second acts. Now without goodness nothing can be good, and without the essence of goodness no being can originate as whatever exists must be good. Good and Being are said to be convertible and identical. And by the same principles all things can naturally be known as they are principles and causes of everything.

 But the said principles can in no way constitute anything without certain other respective principles for if there were no difference between the principles and their operations, nothing could be truly actual, since all action requires active and passive parts, from which action must proceed. Whenever something has even a little actual being, this actual being must be good, and even this little is created from goodness. And goodness has no power at all to act as a substantially productive being without the existence of active good and passive good. and this is why difference is necessary as a natural principle, without which nothing could have any beginning. And as this is necessarily so, concordance must mutually concur with all principles with their acts that mutually influence each other and also influence themselves inwardly. Therefore if concordance is destroyed, its opposite, namely contrariety remains which cannot exist without appetite for divergent ends, always desirous of producing separation. This is why it is found in corruption more than anywhere else.

 The beginning must begin what is begun, as a cause must cause its effect. Therefore all beings must necessarily have a beginning. And the middle must be a principle as well, so the beginning can pass through the middle on its way to the perfect end. And by the same token the end must also be a necessary principle since nothing can be complete or perfect without an end. Now the end moves the beginning to come to it through the intervening medium that receives the influence of the end on the beginning, and the beginning retransmits its influence to the end through the same medium. The end is therefore greater than the beginning, it its the principle to which all principles flow, and as the beginning reaches toward the end and has not yet attained it, it is a lesser principle. But the midle, as it participates with both is rightly called the middle.

 And thus the principles of majority, equality and minority are necessary in all things, for without them there cannot be any natural order, peace or tranquility  or any movement from lesser to greater being but only confusion and separation and  consequently, neither any cognition nor any operation.

 We can therefore see that our being, operation, cognition, life and existence in time all originate in the selfsame priniples. And thus all Raymond's science depends on the said primordial, necessary and simply universal principles.

 And as any doubtful matter about which man can be ignorant consists of nine things, namely GOD, angels, the heavens, man, imagination, sense, vegetation, elements and artificial things, and as we can either be in error or  act rightly regarding these subjects, he mentions them in the Art.

 But doubts can arise regarding the above principles and subjects and the things implied by them, in nine or ten ways. Often doubts occur about whether a thing exists, then about what it is, then about what it consists of, and why it exists, and in what quantity, what quality, when, where, how and with what means.

 And through his knowledge of these distinctions and questions Raymond investigated practically everything, on these the whole Art is artificially based, and we wrote this part, which disposes the human mind to learn it more easily. It is really very difficult for those who are not really disposed to learn it, because this is a new art, separate from all old principles. And many find it strange, for its principles are altogether new and unknown and its way of treating the subject matter is astonishing and even more strange. In addition its practical modes are bewilderingly diversified on account of seldom used terms and of the use of letters to signify various things, as we will see, GOD willing. And all this will be dealt with, if GOD permits, in a way to make it easily learned and remembered. This is why we propose to draw visual figures wherever necessary.

End of LeMyesiers introductory text to the brief practical summary of Blessed Raymond's Art (Breviculum). This is immediately followed by the first, second, third tree-like diagrams or mindmaps which reflect in ever increasing detail the content of the above text. The first two mindmaps can be seen on this site both as single, large maps and as multimaps or large maps divided into smaller ones.

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