"I say, life and figure are distinct attributes of one substance, and as one and the same body may be transmuted into all kinds of figures; and as the perfecter figure comprehends that which is more imperfect; so one and the same body may be transmuted from one degree of life to another more perfect, which always comprehends in it the inferior. We have an example of figure in a triangular prism, which is the first figure of all right lined solid triangular prism, which is the first figure of all right lined solid bodies, where into a body is convertible; and from this into a cube, which is a perfecter figure, and comprehends in it a prism; from a cube it may be turned into a more perfect figure, which comes nearer to a globe, and from this into another, which is yet nearer; and so it ascends from one figure, more imperfect to another more perfect, ad infinitum; for here are no bounds; nor can it be said, this body cannot be changed into a perfecter figure: But the meaning is that that body consists of plane right lines; and this is always chageablee into a perfecter figure, and yet can never reach to the perfection of a globe, although it always approaches nearer unto it; the case is the same in diverse degrees of life, which have indeed a beginning, but no end; so that the creature is always capable of a farther and perfecter degree of life, ad infinitum, and yet can never attain to be equal with God; for he is still infinitely more perfect than a creature, in its highest elevation or perfection, even as a globe is the most perfect of all other figures, unto which none can approach."
Quote Details
Added by wikiquote-import-bot
Unverified quote
0 likes
Essayists from EnglandQuakersPhilosophers from EnglandNon-fiction authors from EnglandWomen from England
Original Language: English
Available Languages (1)
Sources
Imported from EN Wikiquote
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Anne_Conway
Revision History
No revisions have been submitted for this quote.
Categories
Anne Conway
8 quotes on TrueQuotesView all quotes by Anne Conway →
Related Quotes
"The framework of Conway's system is a tripartite ontological hierarchy of ‘species’, the highest of which is God, the…"
"She explains evil as a falling away from the perfection of God, and understands suffering as part of a longer term pr…"
"My philosophical views approach somewhat closely those of the late Countess of Conway, and hold a middle position bet…"
"I perceive and bless God for it, that my Lady Conway was my Lady Conway to her last Breath; the greatest Example of P…"
"She distinguishes three distinct kinds of being, God, Christ, and creation, which are differentiable from each other …"
"Anne Conway embraces the fundamental tenet of the occult philosophers that God was not a vindictive Father who wanted…"
"Some pre-Socratic “Greek” thinking conceived of the world as a composite whole made up of indivisible parts (atoms) a…"
"The more I thought about it, the more obsessed I became with the idea of a swimming journey. I started to dream ever …"
"From water level, I observed the mating joined in flight like refuelling aircraft, and the random progress of the clo…"
"It is through trees that we see and hear the wind: woodland people can tell the species of a tree from the sound it m…"