Cause Principle Unity

A general account of bonding
force of bonding, which cannot be designated by one name, does not bind
because of the nature or the sensitivity of matter. A body does not have any
feeling on its own, but only because of a certain force which resides in it
and which emanates from it. This force is called, metaphorically, the ‘hand
which binds’, and it is oriented and adapted to bonding in multiple ways.
2. Effects of the bonding agent. As the Platonists say, it is this bonding agency
which adorns the mind with orderly ideas; which fills the soul with sequential
arguments and harmonious discourse; which makes nature fertile for
various seeds; which structures matter in innumerable ways; which vivifies,
soothes, caresses and activates all things; which orders, generates,
rules, attracts and inflames all things; and which moves, reveals, illuminates,
purifies, pleases and completes all things.
3. How art binds. An artisan binds with his art, for art is the excellence of
the artisan. Even someone who is stupid and dull witted will see the beauty
of natural and artificial things, even though he cannot at the same time
grasp and admire the talent which has generated all things. For him, ‘the
stars do not speak of the glory of God’. 1 Rather, like a brute animal, he will
shower his affections not on God but on His effects.
4. Humans are bound in many ways. Of all the things which bind, certainly
more of them bind humans than brute animals, and more of them bind
those who have an active character than those who are dull witted; those
who are well endowed in their faculties and powers are aware of more
details, circumstances and purposes, and thus, they are moved by more
desires.
5. How the senses are panderers for the bonding agent. Dull witted people are
bound by lusts, which are aroused infrequently and by natural impulses,
and which are few in number and limited to base nourishments. Such people
are not soothed by eloquent speech, nor are they won over by beauty,
music, painting or by any of the other attractions of nature.
6. Why only one bond is not enough. As I am bound by more things, I become
aware of the many things which bind me, for there are many different kinds
of beauty. Thus, I am inflamed and bound in a relationship by one thing in
one way and by other things in other ways. If every relationship were
reduced to one, then perhaps one thing would be welcomed for all purposes
1 This is the first line of Psalm 18, to which Bruno has added the negative.
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