Select Works, Section 359

The Hermetic axiom that the structure of the cosmos is reflected at every scale — 'as above, so below; as within, so without' — making each level a legible map of the others.

The passage states that 'one thing is known by way of another, a cause in the light of the caused, the sequent as rising from its precedent, the compound from the constituents which must make themselves known in the linked total,' expressing the legibility of cosmic structure across levels.

The Stoic and Plotinian doctrine that all parts of the cosmos are bound by hidden affinities, so that a movement in one part resonates through the whole; the metaphysical basis for astrology, magic, and divination.

The text describes how configurations have efficacy on minds naturally disposed to be impressed by them without prior experience, reflecting the doctrine of hidden affinities binding the cosmos.

A chain of divine beings or principles flowing downward from a single transcendent source (the One or the Father), each level less perfect than the one above.

The passage explicitly traces the universe 'further back, to the more primal forces, to the principles by which that seed itself takes shape,' establishing a cascade from higher to lower ontological levels.

Augustinian and Plotinian doctrine that evil has no positive being of its own but is a lack, distortion, or absence of the good — denying ontological dualism while preserving moral seriousness.

The passage addresses whether 'the transmission of any evil is due to the gods' and concludes that evil arises from Matter's inability to receive form properly and from the individual's own contribution, rather than from any positive divine agency.

The doctrine that the cosmos unfolds as a structured descent of spirit into matter — a directional process traced stage by stage from an unconditioned principle down through successive planes to full materialization — complemented by its own eventual return ('evolution'). Distinct from emanation_hierarchy (the static structure of the resulting levels of the cascade) and cosmogony (a single originating event rather than an ongoing staged process) in naming the directional cosmic PROCESS of descent itself, paired with its own complementary ascent.

The passage describes a directional descent from 'more primal forces' through spermatic reasons into the material realm where Matter 'receives it as something else,' mapping a staged process of spirit unfolding into matter.

The void or emptiness outside the pleroma; the realm of matter, ignorance, and deficiency.

Matter is characterized as 'the reasonless' and as 'the underlie, which being given one thing receives it as something else, and is unable to make the best of what it takes,' fitting the definition of a realm of deficiency and distortion.

The divine reason, word, or ordering principle through which the universe was created; mediates between the transcendent God and the material world.

The passage explicitly mentions 'Reason-Principles' shaping forces and communicating in Nature, aligning with the definition of divine reason as an ordering principle.

The absolutely simple, undivided first principle from which all multiplicity and existence flows.

The passage asserts 'all is unity sprung of unity' and references 'the living existence of a unity' as the source from which all sequence and relation derives.

The doctrine that all existence is ultimately one substance or one divine reality; non-duality as a theological claim.

The declaration that 'all is unity sprung of unity' and that the kosmos is a single living whole whose parts are mutually intelligible expresses the fundamental oneness of all existence.