LIBER CHAOS
Bl. Raymond Lull
Doctor Illuminatus

bullet1 Part I

bullet2 Potentiality and Act in Chaos

1. In the first degree of Chaos, all beings existed potentially by way of creation and the Chaos was their subject. Then God, their prime agent, created the second degree of Chaos and in this second degree all specific forms were created. As a cup exists potentially in a lump of gold until it is brought into act by the craftsman's artifice, likewise, but much more so in a grain of wheat existing in the third degree of Chaos there is, potentially, the specific form and matter of another grain of the same species, and they are brought into act by the work of universal form and prime matter in the first degree of Chaos transmitting its influence to the third degree. This is how potentially existing form is brought into act, and this proceeds through the successive degrees of Chaos, so as to preserve the species of wheat; and the same likewise applies to other species. 

2. Form and matter in the first degree of Chaos always exist in act, as principles universal to all things found in the third degree and in the sequence of numerous potential and actual forms, reproduced from the second degree up to the present through the process of generation and decay. 

3. In the third degree, the grain of wheat exists as a substantial thing with its specific form and matter, with which it is numerically identical in act. But this substantial thing potentially holds a great number of grains of wheat, and this is because the first degree transmits its influence to the third degree which receives it. And as the the third degree receives influence from the first, the first degree potentially infuses into this grain new forms which potentially exist in the matter of the grain. And here, by the influence of the first degree, and by the appetite of the first grain for generating another grain like itself, a second grain is brought from potentiality into act while the first grain decays. 

4. The essence of a grain of wheat from which other grains are to be generated loses its individual numerical identity when the form and matter of the corrrupted grain cease to constitute this grain. But the essence of the matter and form which actually had constituted this grain, namely prime matter and form, still remain as the specific essence of wheat even when the individual grain is corrupted. And because they no longer constitute this grain of wheat after it has been corrupted, they are no longer the matter and form of this particular grain of wheat, but merely the matter and form of wheat. Therefore, what used to be the matter and form of the grain remains as the essence of wheat, which is impelled to grow by the influence of the first degree of Chaos and to give its own substantial likeness to this growth. In this way, many other grains are further produced from Chaos, from the essence of the matter and form of the said grain. Therefore, in a grain of wheat from which other grains are to be generated, and in other similar things, only individual identity is corrupted. But in the things that pass from one specific form of being to another specific form of being, individual identity and specific essence are both corrupted. For instance, as bread and vegetables etc. are eaten, the bread and vegetables etc. are corrupted not only in their individual identity, but also in their specific essence, because what once existed under the species of bread and vegetables, etc. is now transmuted into the species of flesh and blood, etc. by the nutritive power's virtue. 

5. When the generating grain is corrupted, only its individual identity and particular substantial being are corrupted along with its individualized accidents; and as the specific essence of wheat remains after the grain is corrupted, so do the specific accidents constituting this essence. Now as Chaos with its essence influences the generating grain of wheat, it also influences its accidents. Thus, the essence of the corrupted grain of wheat, as it receives increase from Chaos both essentially and accidentally, generates new grains both essentially and accidentally. 

6. All accidents were created in a potential state in the first degree of Chaos by supreme providence, and disposed in order in the second degree; these accidents are ceaselessly produced from potentiality into act, successively through the second and third degrees, until this present moment. And what we said shows clearly enough how generated accidents originate in accidents which are potentially in the first degree of Chaos and are brought into act through the second degree into the third. The same likewise applies to the essence of form, for the essence of form is produced from the substantial essence of the first degree of Chaos, and the same likewise applies to matter, as clearly shown above.