Document Type
Article
Publication Date
2019
Abstract
The hypostases of being consist of the terrestrial world of corporeal forms, dense, intertwined and in shadow; then the rationalization of the corporeal forms in the angelic mind; and finally the resolution of the forms in their absolute archetypal unity. The hypostases of being are modelled in the Universal Figure of Nicolas Cusanus, with the three figures of body, soul and mind inscribed in each of the three levels of the hierarchy, containing the nine choruses of Pseudo-Dionysius in the celestial hierarchies, representing the structure of the universe, as illustrated in a diagram, “Quator dictarum Monadum Schematica explicatio,” in Kircher’s Musurgia universalis. The same hierarchy of forms, intertwined on the terrestrial level, rationalized and ordered on the celestial level, and resolved and simplified on the divine level, can be seen on the frontispiece of Kircher’s Arithmologia. The cosmic diagram is based in underlying numerical progressions and proportions in the tradition of Renaissance Humanism.
Recommended Citation
Hendrix, J. S. (2019). Theories of Perception in Renaissance Humanism. Retrieved from https://docs.rwu.edu/saahp_fp/40
