14. What! Would nothing exist (in the sense-world) if matter did not
exist? Nothing! It is as with a mirror; remove it, and the images
disappear. Indeed, that which by its nature is destined to exist in
something else could not exist in that thing; now the nature of every
image is to exist in something else. If the image were an emanation
of the causes themselves, it could exist without being in anything
else; but as these causes reside in themselves, so that their image
may reflect itself elsewhere, there must be something else destined
to serve as location for that which does not really enter into it;
something which by its presence, its audacity, its solicitations, and
by its indigence, should as it were forcibly obtain (what it desires),
but which is deceived because it does not really obtain anything;
so that it preserves its indigence, and continues to solicitate
(satisfaction[72]). As soon as Poverty exists, it ceaselessly "begs,"
as a (well-known Platonic) myth tells us;[97] that shows clearly enough
that it is naturally denuded of all good. It does not ask to obtain all
that the giver possesses; it is satisfied with the possession of some
of it, thus revealing to us how much the images that appear in matter
are different from real beings. Even the very name of Poverty, which is
given to matter, indicates that it is insatiable. When Poverty is said
to unite with Abundance, we do not mean that it unites with Existence
or Fulness, but with a work of wonderful skill, namely, a thing that
is nothing but specious appearance.[74],[98]
THE MIRACLE IS THAT MATTER PARTICIPATES IN EXISTENCE WITHOUT
PARTICIPATING IN IT.
It is indeed impossible that that which is outside of existence should
be completely deprived of it; for the nature of existence is to produce
beings. On the other hand, absolute nonentity cannot mingle with
existence. The result is something miraculous: matter participates in
existence without really participating in it, and by approaching to
it obtains something, though by its nature matter cannot unite with
existence. It therefore reflects what it receives from an alien nature
as echo reflects sound in places that are symmetrical and continuous.
That is how things that do not reside in matter seem to reside in it,
and to come from it.