Page:The Philosophy of Creation.djvu/314

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ence, or correspondential forms. All forces are a unit in the Creator. As they first proceed from Him their effort is to produce His image and likeness in the highest degree. Man, being the highest form, must fully reflect His image and likeness. As the creative force descends the degrees, it becomes less full, and though ever reproducing His image, it does so with less perfection. The creative force finally operating on the planes from which plants are produced, His image is still preserved. Consequently both the plant and man are forms in Correspondence with the force within. It necessarily follows that man and the plant are formed by the same force, the forces in the higher degrees form man, and in the lower only a plant. The force that produces the plant is the same human force that makes a man, only it is not operative on so high planes and with such fulness. It results that the plants and man have a common likeness, since they are formed by the same force operating in different degrees, and no force can build other than a form in Correspondence with its own nature and activity.

The analogy between a tree and man suggests their Correspondence. First it may be observed that the tree has wood, bark, and sap, as man has flesh, skin, and blood. The full Correspondence