Microcosm–macrocosm analogy

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The microcosm–macrocosm analogy (or, equivalently, macrocosm–microcosm analogy) refers to a historical view that posited a structural similarity between the human being (the microcosm, i.e., the small order or the small universe) and the cosmos as a whole (the macrocosm, i.e., the great order or the great universe). Given this fundamental analogy, truths about the nature of the cosmos as a whole may be inferred from truths about human nature, and vice versa. One corollary of this view is that the cosmos may be considered alive, and thus to have a mind or soul (the world soul), a position advanced by Plato in his Timaeus. Moreover, this cosmic mind or soul was often thought to be divine, most notably by the Stoics and those who were influenced by them, such as the authors of the Hermetica. Hence, it was sometimes inferred that the human mind or soul was divine in nature as well. Apart from this important psychological and noetic (i.e., related to the mind) application, the analogy was also...

Read on Wikipedia · Image Johann Theodor de Bry Fludd, Robert Utriusque cosmi historia Faksimile-Ausgabe der Erstausgabe Oppenheim/Frankfurt, 1617–1621, Public domain