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produce” (poetically, artistically, as mimesis and aiesthesis),90 to Philo’s choice of κτιζειν over δημιουργεω, and then, to the Stoic notion of λόγος.
90 Though Yahweh, in the Book of Job, lays the foundations and boundaries of the physical and animal world in perfect measure (38:4-39:30), including those of the beasts Behemoth (40:15-24) and Leviathan (40:26-41:34), there is no sense of Grecian ποίησις-aiesthesis in his act of Creation. Yahweh says Leviathan is of “comely proportion” (41:12), and affirms that, not only is Yahweh the supreme, infinitely powerful creator of all things beneath the heavens (41:11), but his omniscience perceives the nature of fauna and of all things (38:18-24, 39:1-30); his omnipotence controls all heavenly and natural phenomena (38:25-35); and his being sustains and provides for all things (38:36-41, 39:1-30). Moreover, because Yahweh is the source of wisdom and understanding, he places these qualities in the heart of his creatures (38:36) but can equally deprive them of them (39:17). In Plato’s Timaeus, the kosmos is a symphony of “unity” because it unifies the four absolute elements made of triangles, two from the macrocosm (fire and air) and two from the microcosm (earth and water), into a harmonious, perfect whole. It is a symphony of “proportion” because the Craftsman arranges the four elements proportionally and geometrically. It is a symphony of “perfection” because it is modelled after the Forms; hence it has being, intelligence, and soul. Because it is complete, not lacking parts, it is one and perfect, and it does not admit opposites. Moreover, the one’s centre, equidistant and self-sufficient, is moved by understanding and intelligence spinning on its oneness. Though there are similarities in that an orderly cosmos, governed by intelligence and wisdom, is created in both cosmogonies out of measure, perfection, and proportion, Plato’s conception of the Demiurge-poet of the universe is a poetic-aesthetic not a religious speculation (though this does not necessarily imply an absolute rupture between both conceptions). His Craftsman is neither a Historical nor Supreme Personal Being, as Yahweh is one. He is solely the Maker of the cosmos who is all-knowing, all- good, most perfect, and most excellent and, unlike Yahweh, free from jealousy (Ex. 34:14 shows Yahweh to be jealous by nature). Motivated by excellence and supremacy, Plato’s Demiourgos-poet creates in his image from the eternal, true model of the Forms, an intelligent, living, most excellent, everlasting universe endowed with soul. Because the Demiourgos-poet is intelligent, he creates an intelligent universe given that intelligence is better than non-intelligence. Because only the soul possesses intelligence (I argue that this form of intelligence is ποίησις, not λόγος) the universe, thus, is a World Soul. Because the Demiourgos- poet is all-knowing, he knows how to mix the many into the one,and dissolve the one into the many. Because he is omni-benevolent, he creates only what is good. Because the Good shares in the attributes of Perfection, Justice, and the Beautiful, it can neither accept its opposite, nor be the source of evil (defined as “that which impedes”), nor of chaos in the form of Leviathan in the Judaic tradition. Plato.
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