“There is only one Nature through which God created everything…”. Michael Sendivogius’s alchemico-philosophical concept of Nature

Abstract

Nature was the central idea on which Michael Sendivogius based his alchemico-philosophical system. Therefore, the aim of this article is to show what the Polish alchemist understood as Nature and what was its function in the world according to him. Sendivogius believed that the material world originated from the will of the good God. However, the act of divine creation was reduced to the moment of its coming into being through the creation of the matter (ex nihilo) and general organization of its universum. Nature, on the other hand, is responsible for the present form of the material world. For Sendivogius, Nature is an element with which the world has been enriched by the will of God, and which is responsible for its permanent creation. According to our alchemist, the world is constantly being created and transformed, and Nature is its creative principle. This article explains how Nature creates this world and particular beings existing in it. Furthermore, it discusses the problem of the nature of Nature itself. Sendivogius considered Nature to be not only a creative principle but also a kind of law determining interactions of beings which ensured their unity and harmony. Nature is not everlasting but created in the same way as the world. Therefore, the article presents also what the Alchemist thought about the Nature’s relation to its Creator, that is to God.