The factors involved in motion are listed by Aristotle as (a) that which directly causes motion, (b) that which is in motion, and (c) that in which motion takes place, namely time. Moreover, every motion proceeds from something and to something. For instance, ‘perishing’ entails change from being to non-being, whereas ‘becoming’ entails change from non-being to being (Phys, V.224a–b). In summary, it could be stated that three types of being are distinguished by Aristotle in terms of motion: that which is moved but does not move (primary matter); that which is moved and moves (all natural things); and that which causes motion without moving, namely God.99 A kind of kinetic hierarchy is thus established with God at the summit, primary matter at the bottom, and the world of natural things in between.
Aristotle’s discussion of motion culminates in his celebrated notion of the Prime Mover. Since motion is continuous, Aristotle reasons, there must be an ultimate first cause of all motion in the cosmos. As stated in the Physics, “Since there must always be motion without intermission, there must necessarily be something, one thing or it may be a plurality, that first imparts motion, and this first movent must be unmoved” (VIII.258b). The Prime Mover is then described as the unmoved mover which is one and eternal (VIII.259a).
In Book 12 of the Metaphysics, the Prime Mover is associated with God, with Aristotle writing as follows: “We say therefore that God is a living being, eternal, most good, so that life and duration continuous and eternal belong to God; for this is God”; and also, “The first mover, then, exists of necessity; and in so far as it exists by necessity, its mode of being is good, and it is in this sense a first principle. On such a principle, then, depend the heavens and the whole of nature” (XII.1072b). Thus, Aristotle recognizes the dependence of the cosmos on an extraneous first principle, the Prime Mover. And since the latter is the ultimate cause of all motion in the cosmos, we contend that the Prime Mover is the equivalent of the divine Intellect, or Mind, of Anaxagoras and Diogenes.
By combining the Aristotelian theory of motion with Neoplatonic metaphysical principles in his work Elements of Physics, Proclus arrives at the following hierarchy of motion, arranged from higher to lower levels of reality: (i) The unmoved movers (the Forms); (ii) the primary self-movers (souls) and the secondary self-movers (en-souled bodies); (iii) things moved by another and moving others (en-mattered forms); and (iv) things moved by another but not moving others (physical bodies). The third category, en-mattered forms, is sometimes equated by Proclus with Nature.100 This category is therefore the realm in which the Forms act upon matter to produce physical objects, in turn representing the fourth and lowest category of motion.
The colossal importance of motion is illustrated by its role as cosmic link between space and time. In the traditional Indo-European understanding, time is the complement of space, just as energy is the complement of matter.101 However, time can only be measured indirectly by means of relating it to space through the intermediary of movement. In other words, motion provides the link between space and time as far as measurement is concerned. In its turn, space constitutes the ‘field’ (Sanskrit, kshetra) within which bodily manifestation occurs. This ‘space-time’ interaction is depicted in physical and mathematical theories that treat of ‘space-time’ as a single and indivisible whole. As a matter of fact, time is only comparable to a fourth dimension in equations of movement, where time acts as a fourth co-ordinate added to the three dimensions of space.102 The physical model of ‘space-time’ as a four-dimensional continuum, as postulated in the Theory of Special Relativity, is therefore also metaphysically valid, at least in terms of motion.
Furthermore, since time is the measurement of the changing positions of objects in space, it implies that before the beginning of the cosmos there was no time, just as in the beginning there were no objects in space. Therefore, Jonathan Black reasons, in the absence of matter, space, and time, the original cosmic event must have been a mental event. In theistic terms, this primal mental event was God reflecting on Himself, and in that reflection, He saw beings like Himself, possessing freedom, creativity, love, and intelligence. Therefore, matter emerged from the mind of God—it was created to provide the conditions in which the human mind (housed as it is in a physical body) would be possible. And since the human mind ultimately derives from the universal Mind, it is feasible that matter is moved by the human mind in a similar way, albeit certainly not to the same extent, in which it is moved by the mind of God.103
Scientific Relevance
The famous paradox of Schrödinger’s cat, formulated by the Austrian physicist Erwin Schrödinger in 1935, is noteworthy in this regard. In terms of this ‘thought experiment’ (as he called it), a cat in a sealed box containing a radio-active source could be either alive or dead, which can only be confirmed by an observer opening the box. This ‘observer effect’ was already implicit in the equally celebrated Uncertainty Principle, as formulated by the German physicist Werner Heisenberg in 1927. It states that the more precisely the position of a sub-atomic particle is determined, the less precisely its momentum can be known, and vice versa. Finally, after decades of disputation and contention, the observer effect was empirically verified by means of the double-slit experiment, as reported in 1998. This was conducted by scientists at the Weizmann Institute in Israel, revealing how a beam of electrons is affected by the act of observation. It thereby confirms a basic premise of quantum theory, namely that by the very act of watching, the observer affects the observed reality.104
According to the Western tradition of philosophical Idealism, from Pythagoras in the sixth century B.C. to Rudolf Steiner in the twentieth century, reality has been conceived as a series of thoughts emanating from the universal Mind. Jonathan Black explains that these thought-emanations occur in the following sequence: from pure mind to energy, to ethereal matter, to gas, to liquid, and to solids. In other words, the various states of matter are none other than energy becoming increasingly dense.105 This process whereby physical reality emanates from the metaphysical realm has been described in detail by the Neoplatonists. We have already noted some of their contributions to cosmology and metaphysics, and more of their insights will follow in the chapters ahead.
A fascinating application of the notion of universal Mind is found in the biological work of Alfred Russel Wallace (1823–1913), the British naturalist and founder of the science of biogeography. Having done extensive fieldwork in Amazonia and Malaysia, Wallace conceived a theory of evolution by means of natural selection independently of Charles Darwin and at the same time as his more famous colleague. However, in due course Wallace moved from a reliance on natural selection to a kind of natural theology that incorporated organic evolution. In 1869, Wallace wrote a review of the tenth edition of his friend Charles Lyell’s famed Principles of Geology, in which he argued that human intelligence is too great to have been facilitated by natural selection. As a matter of fact, since natural selection is guided by the principle of utility, it would be an effective barrier to the development of such an order of intelligence. Therefore, Wallace concluded, another cause must be involved, which he called an Overruling Intelligence.106 We suggest that this is none other than the Universal Mind of Anaxagoras and the divine Intellect