“As within, so without.” In 2017, a surprisingly wise physical therapist said this to me. Just a random remark, during a therapy session, while she was tugging on my arm or something. Who would have ever thought I would get philosophical input during a physical therapy session. Sometimes, I really love people.
I liked this quote enough to feel the urge to capture it in a quick drawing. While googling (well, ‘duck-duck-going‘) the origin of this quote in 2021, I come across even more wonderful things. Goodreads tells me this quote might be related to the quote below, by Hermes Trismegistus. I’m sticking with the word ‘might’, because as a [former] historian, I know how difficult it is to determine with absolute certainty what some dude said in the xth century B.C. This quote is supposed to be found in the so-called Emerald Tablet [*curiosity and imagination instantly triggered to the max*] [excuse me while I disappear into Wikipedia].
As within, so without.
As the universe, so the soul."
Wikipedia says: “According to another common interpretation, the verse refers to the structural similarities (…) between the macrocosm (from Greek makros kosmos, “the great world”; the universe as a whole, understood as a great living being) and the microcosm (from Greek mikros kosmos, “the small world”; the human being, understood as a miniature universe.”
Apparently, Hermes Trismegistus was ‘stolen’ later on by the occultists and New Age peoples (no offense, I’m becoming a hippie myself). Worth noting is that apparently, the Arabic texts that are probably the basis for the whole thing have a slightly different phrasing. English translation of the Arabic (according to Wikipedia):
"That which is above, is from that which is below,
and that which is below, is from that which is above."
(image used in the first quote is from Goodreads)