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Articles or Abstracts > The Antagonist
The 04 Dec. 2009 at 15:04The existence of the contrary
Mardānfarrox deals with the existence of the contrary which is of different substance (VII) and of different principle (VIII).
VII
1. Another [chapter]: Concerning the existence of the contrary of different substance
As I have demonstrated above: 2-6. From the composing, constituting and appropriating of things so sagaciously, as well, from their parts which are connected, it is clear, necessary, convincing, and manifest that their agent, composer, connector and constitutor is sagacious. The sagacity of His composition of each of them is manifest through the constituting and appropriating of their own separate functions. And the sagacity of His action demonstrates that His action is reasonable (/with a motive) and causal. Because, every action of the sagacious should be reasonable and causal. The reason and cause of an action arise first, and then the action itself arises.
7-10. From the manifoldness of His action, it is manifest that His action is voluntary and desired. For, there are two modes of action by an agent: either, voluntary, it is manifold corresponding to his will; or, natural, it is monotype as it is naturally constituted.
11-21. From the manifold actions of the creator, it is manifest that His actions are voluntary and desired. His will is different in definition from His desire. Because, His will is a desire, in potential, of the Principle. The reason and cause of an action are before its desire. Because until the reason of the desire of an action does not occur, the desire does not exist. The reason of an action proceeds from the cause which incites the desire of that action. “To desire” is to be willing of a causal thing. The cause of desiring something does not arise from it-self. Because the cause arises from without, therefore, the reasonable action of the sagacious is demonstrated. The reason comes from a cause; the cause from a hurry; the hurry from without; the outside from an injurer; and the injurer from an opponent; sine controversia.
22-25. I have shown, in this chapter, through necessary knowledge and through syllogism, that the world and its parts and organs are made and naturally constituted. From the making and constitution of the world are manifested an agent who naturally constituted it, and the making through the reasonable action of the sagacious Creator. From the making through the reasonable action is manifested the existence of an Injurer from without.
VIII
1. Further: Concerning the existence of the contrary of different principle.
2-14. This is manifest through good and evil in the world, and especially through the good agent having His own definition. Such as darkness and light, erudition and ignorance, fragrance and stench, life and death, sickness and health, justice and injustice, offence and freedom, and other contrary factors which exist and are visible in every country and land at all times, so that no country or land whatever exists, nor yet any time has been or shall be wherein these names, and especially those of good and evil have not existed or do not exist. And nowhere and never is it possible to say that good and evil change their own quality essentially.
15-23. There are also other contraries whose difference is not of substance, but of operation, kind and or nature, such as the difference of those of the same substance, one as regards the other, such as the male and female nature, the [different] scents, tastes and colours, the sun, moon and stars whose difference is not difference of substance, but of operation, nature and composition, each being required to its own operation. The difference of good and evil, light and darkness, and other substantially different things, is a difference not of operation, but of substance; their incompatibility of nature and mutually injuriousness are manifest. So that where goodness is, evil undoubtedly is not; when light has entered, darkness is expelled. Similarly there are other contraries, incompatible and mutually injurer, owing to the cause of difference of substance. Thus in the material world is manifest the contrariety of substance and mutually injuriousness of things.
24-34. The material world is the result of the Immaterial, and the Immaterial is its base. For result is obtained through a base. Likewise, it is clear to any knowing that [the result] gives testimony [of the base]. The material world is the result and the Immaterial the base is manifest by the fact that: every visible and tangible thing comes from an unmanifest state to a manifest state. This is explicitly manifest. Because, man and other creatures, who are visible and tangible, are known to be generated from the Immaterial which is invisible and intangible. Such as the (external) body form that in the mirror has the same length, breadth and depth as itself. The body of man and other creatures is unmanifest and invisible in the seed of their fathers. The seed itself became manifest and visible and tangible in the back of the fathers. It is now necessary and possible to know that: This world which is visible and tangible has been created from the Immaterial which is invisible and intangible. Similarly, [to return] from visibility and tangibility into invisibility and intangibility which are proper to an immaterial state, is unquestionable.
35-38. Since we have seen in the material world contrariety of substance, incompatibility, and mutual injuriousness, there can be no doubt that it is the same in the things of the Immaterial, which is the base of the material world, and the material things are its results. This is that which is manifest as regards the contrariety of substance.
39-45. Moreover, I have shown above that: the reason and cause for the sagacious action of the Creator, who created the creatures, indicate the existence of the Antagonist. For it is well-known that, action proceeds from an agent in two modes:
– voluntary;
– or, natural.
The voluntary action is of three modes:
Two are due to the wise and sagacious:
Either, for seeking and appropriating the advantage and benefit;
or, for repelling and withholding the loss and harm which are from without.
46-47. And one is due to the ignorant and foolish, done absurdly and without reason.
48-51. From the wise and sagacious, it is not right to arise actions without any reason and cause. Since the wise creator, omniscient and of perfect power, is complete and perfect in Himself, then He has no need to seek any advantage or increase from without. Therefore, it is possible and worthy to know that the reason and cause for His actions is all of one mode:
– to repel and ward off whatever harm which there might be from the external Antagonist and Injurer, which is itself the reason and cause for creation.
52-56. This too: the sagacious Creator’s will is good. His will is all good. He created creation in accordance with His will. The complete success of that sagacious whose will is good is the abolition and annihilation of evil. For so long as evil is not abolished, He whose will is good has not perfectly realised His will.
57-63. This too: The goodness of the sagacious Creator is manifest: through creativeness, nourishing, and protection, and teaching the way of cutting off the path of evil and the means of defending oneself against crime; and also through the four powers of the body to repel and withhold the pain and sickness from without, and the malady that is the opponent of the body[-health], whenever they come to the body; and through maintenance, maturation and growth of animals and plants by the preserving and nutritive power – this power cooperates with Nature, and its scriptural (Avestan) name is Fravarti –; and through the four growth-promoting powers, that is, the attractive, the retentive, the digestive, and the propulsive, which, owing to the Creator’s all-sagacity, withhold, jointly and with moderate power, the pain and sickness of various kinds inflected by the Antagonist who acts at random and whose will is evil; and [through] other [powers] which are united in strength and cooperate with each other, the good will of the Creator is manifest.
64-80. Further that: pain and death that are the disturber and destroyer of the body, do not come from the Creator whose will is good, and who preserves and nourishes the body. This is manifest from this too, that the sagacious Creator neither repents or regrets His acts, nor does He disturb His own creatures or make them disabled, for He is sagacious and omniscient. It is proper to attribute repentance and regret to one of deficient knowledge, imperfect wisdom, and ignorance of the final outcome. For from the wise and sagacious does not arise an action without reason or cause. Similarly, the actions of the unwise, unenlightened who is ignorant of the final outcome are all absurd, without reason or cause. The Sagacious acts and arouses, with sagacity and skill, to withhold from His creatures the one whose actions are absurd and who is ignorant of the final outcome; and He has made the one of absurd actions hedged in and entangled into the net [of the material world]. For it is well-known that: it is not possible to withhold or annihilate a moving and living substance within a limitless void, nor is it possible to become fearless from injuriousness unless he is entangled, hedged in, and made captive. In entanglement and captivity, the “remedy” (against the one of absurd action) is suffering pain and grievous punishment. But until he becomes full conscious of his suffering pain and fully aware of his own ignorant activity, he thinks falsely as to what has befallen him; and the complete power of the omnipotent Creator [becomes manifest through this] perception of suffering and pain. After the complete perception of suffering and pain, under the omnipotence of the sagacious Creator, [the Creator] casts him idle into the limitless Void. Then the good creation will have no fear of him; it will be immortal and free from hostility. That is the complete and skilful sagacity and foreknowledge of the remedy of the omniscient Creator of the good.
81-83. Through observation of things the difference of things is manifest. The difference [of things] is of two modes as mentioned above:
– One is difference in operation;
– The other is difference in substance.
84-91. Difference of operation involves cooperation and union of forces. Difference of substance involves discordance and opposition. It is manifest that [different] things cannot be in one place. If the things were one, then One would be nameless. For it is through the possession of a name that one thing can be recognised from another. The existence of evil as different in principle from good means that neither is the cause of the other. For, each one is existent through its own essence, as is manifest from the perpetual injury and opposition between the two.
92-102. If someone were to object that: “Since there is a multiplicity of contraries, such as good and evil, darkness and light, fragrance and stench, life and death, sickness and health, pleasure and sorrow, and many others, so there should be a great number and variety of principles”, then the reply is that:
Even if the contraries may have many names and be of many kinds, yet all are comprised under two names, and these names are the seeds comprising them, that is: good and evil. The [contraries] of different names and kinds are tokens of these two names. There has not been, nor will be anything which is neither good nor bad, or a mixture of the two. Hence it is explicitly manifest that there are two principles, not more; and also that good cannot proceed from evil, nor evil from good.
103-116. From this too it is possible to know that: what is complete and perfect in goodness, no evil can proceed from it. If it could, then it would not be perfect. For if a thing is said to be perfect, there is no place for anything else. If there is no place for anything else, nothing else can proceed from it. If God is perfect in goodness (- wisdom) and knowledge, then it is known that ignorance and evil cannot come from him. If they could come from Him, then He would not be perfect. If He were not perfect, He should not be praised as God and completely good. If both good and evil could proceed from God, then He would be incomplete as far as goodness is concerned. If He is incomplete in respect of goodness, then He is incomplete in respect of knowledge. If He is incomplete in respect of knowledge, then He is incomplete in respect of intellect, intelligence, science, recollection and other organs of wisdom. If He is incomplete in respect of intellect, intelligence, recollection and science, then He is incomplete in respect of wholesomeness. If He is incomplete in respect of wholesomeness, He is apt to become sick. If He is apt to become sick, He is incomplete in respect of life.
117-123. If someone should object that: “I see that both good and evil, indeed, proceed from a single substance, such as man”, then [the reply is thus:]
This is because man is not at all perfect. And because of his incompleteness in respect of goodness, evil proceeds from him. And because of incompleteness in respect of wholesomeness, he falls sick; and for the same reason he dies. For the cause of death is the conflict of two contrary accidents in one substance. Where there are two contrary accidents in one substance, the occurrence of sickness and death is acknowledged.
124-135. If someone should object that: “Good and evil are actions, which do not exist until they are performed”, then the reply is that:
An action can no more exist without an agent than an accident without a substance, in which it belongs. Moreover, it is acknowledged that its own existence and establishment cannot be of itself. For when a man is angry, Good-Thought is far from there. When Good-Thought takes room, anger is not there. When a man tells a lie, truth is far from there; [and that man is called liar]. When he speaks the truth, falsehood has no place there; and that man is called truthful. Similarly, when sickness comes, health is not there. When health has come, sickness departs. For a substance which does move is possible, but no movement is possible except when it belongs to a substance.
136-137. Concerning this chapter, too, I contented myself to explain succinctly. May you observe subtly and distinctly thereon.