Do you desire to look on the face of Good?
Then look around at the whole universe,
full of the light of the sun.
Look at the light of the material world,
full of all forms in constant movement;
take away the matter, leave the rest.
You have the soul, an incorporeal light
that takes all shapes and is full of change.
Once again, take from this the changeability,
and now you have reached
the intelligence of the angels,
the incorporeal light,
taking all shapes but unchanging.
Take away from this that diversity
by which any form differs from the light,
and which is infused into the light from elsewhere,
and then the essence of the light
and of each form is the same;
the light gives form to itself
and through its own forms
gives form to everything.
-Marsilo Ficino
