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Nature Mysticism
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Publisher: Nicolebooks
Pages: 62
Weight: 0.21
Height: 0.13 Width: 6.00 Depth: 9.00
Language: English
ANAXIMENES AND THE AIR
H
itherto our attention has been almost exclusively fixed upon the mys-
tical influences of water in motion or at rest. And even though we went
no farther afield, a fair presentment has been gained ofwhat a modern nature-
mystic might advance in explanation and defence of his characteristic views
and modes of experience. We now turn to consider other ranges of phys-
ical phenomena, which, though of equal dignity and significance, will not
meet with equal fullness of treatment-otherwise the limits proposed for this
study would be seriously exceeded.
We have seen how and why Thales deemed water to be the Welt-stoff. His
immediate successors, while adhering to his principles and aims, were not
content with his choice. They successively sought for something less mate-
rial. One of them, Anaximenes, was attracted by the qualities and functions
of the atmosphere, and his speculations will serve as an introduction to the
mysticism of winds and storms and clouds. Only a single statement of his is
preserved in its original form; but fortunately it is full of significance. As
our soul (said the sage), which is air, holds us together, so wind and air
3 JOHN EDWARD MERCER
encompass the whole world. This, interpreted in the light of ancient com-
ments, shows that Anaximenes compared the breath of life to the air, and
regarded the two as essentially related-indeed as identical. For the breath,
he thought, holds together both animal and human life; and so the air holds
together the whole world in a complex unity. He reached the wider doc-
trine by observing that the air is, to all appearance, infinitely extended, and
that earth, water, and fire seem to be but islands in an ocean which spreads
around them on all sides, penetrating their inmost pores, and bathing their
smallest atoms. It was on such facts and appearances that he based his main
doctrine. If we think of the modern theory of the luminiferous ether, we
shall not be far from his view-point. But the simpler and more obvious qual-
ities of the air would of course not be without their influence-its mobility
and incessant motion; its immateriality; its inexhaustibility; its seeming eter-
nity. It is, therefore, not astonishing that with his attention thus focussed on
a group of truly wonderful phenomena, the old nature-philosopher should
have selected air as his primary substance-as the universal vehicle of vital and
psychic force.
It is of especial interest to the nature-mystic to find that Anaximenes was
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