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...more powerful than all that is powerful. I say: the Sage has placed a trace of this in existing things, in that the soul is subtler than the body yet more powerful than it and governs it through itself;
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and for this reason the forebears would swear: 'As the Lord lives, who made for us this soul' (Jer. 38:16).
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Likewise wisdom is subtler than the soul yet more powerful than it and governs through it — and for this reason you find it expressly attributed to the Creator: 'The Lord with wisdom founded the earth; He established the heavens with understanding' (Prov. 3:19).
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Indeed, in the four elements we observe the same: water is subtler than earth yet more powerful, for it penetrates it and can uproot it; air is subtler than water yet more powerful, for it moves water and can lift it;
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and fire is more powerful than all, for the sphere of fire encompasses everything, and through its perpetual motion the earth and all upon it settle at the center;
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and the supernal eastward motion that rotates the outermost celestial sphere — no one knows any motive cause for it except the command of its Creator, blessed and exalted, who is subtler than all and more powerful than all.
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It is thus demonstrated that whatever is subtler in meaning than another thing is more powerful than it.
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Having established these meanings, I think it right to address most of the attributes and phrases about which questions arise in this regard — what comes to mind, what is found in scripture, and what is heard from the words of the believer.
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As a preliminary I make a comprehensive statement: whatever is indicated in this regard — whether substance, accident, or an attribute of substance or accident — none of it, much or little, applies in the meaning of the Maker;
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for this Maker, blessed be He, has been established for us as the Maker of everything — so that no substance, accident, or attribute-bearer remained that was not classified and distinguished, and it became clear that this Maker is its maker; and therefore it has become impossible
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...and out of the question that anything He made be said of Him.
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And whatever attributes of substance or accident are found in the books of the prophets — there must exist in the language for them meanings other than corporealization, so that what rational inquiry demands is upheld.
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And whatever we, the community of believers, say in His attributes that resembles corporealization — that is approximation and analogy on our part; it does not refer to a corporeal subject when we say the like about people.
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Since I have now explained these three principles, let no one mislead you, O reader of scripture, or introduce doubts with your saying 'He was,' or your saying 'He willed,' or your saying 'He was pleased' or 'He was angry,' and what resembles this;
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and likewise what is found in scripture itself — for these expressions are only used by us after the foundational principle has been established as I have set it out above, so that they may be referred back to it and understood in light of it;
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for a builder builds from the foundation upward, not from above downward — so do not be unsettled by an attribute you find in scripture or on which you find us in agreement, and turn it into a doubt about the principle that has been soundly and truly established.
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Section 9. I will now spread these meanings across the ten categories and speak about each as is fitting.
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I say: some people think that this meaning constitutes a substance, and they disagreed about it — some said 'human,' some said 'fire,' some said 'air,' some said 'space,' and others said other things besides these.
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But since it has been established that He is the Creator of every human, every air, every fire, every space, and every existing and knowable thing — all these imaginations have been demolished by rational proof.
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And just as this has been established by reason, so too by scripture — for the existing things are five in kind: