Page:The Philosophy of Creation.djvu/131



Discrete degrees are said to be in successive order when conceived of as one following after another from the highest to the lowest. Conceiving our universe in successive order, the sun is thought of as the highest, the atmospheres as lower, and the earth as the lowest. Discrete degrees are said to be in simultaneous order when conceived of from inmost to outermost. In simultaneous order the sun would be thought of as the center, the earth as the circumference, and the atmospheres as intermediates. The highest in successive order always becomes the center or inmost in simultaneous order, the lowest in successive order becomes the circumference or outermost in simultaneous order; and the degrees between the highest and the lowest in successive order become intermediates in simultaneous order. Simultaneous order is conceived of as the same things in successive order, as it were pressed down into a plane. The simultaneous order of discrete degrees in all things natural or spiritual, in particular or in general, is formed from the successive order of the same degrees. In thinking of things being put forth in the process of creating, they are to