Correspondence (philosophy)

“ That law of relation between internals and their ultimates; that law according to which affections clothe themselves with thoughts, and thoughts with acts; that law by which ends pass by causes to effects, whereby there is produced in ultimates a representation of things interior, is the law of Correspondence. End, cause, and effect are always related according to the law of Correspondence. ”

“ Hence we are driven back to correspondence with fact as constituting the nature of truth. It remains to define precisely what we mean by 'fact', and what is the nature of the correspondence which must subsist between belief and fact, in order that belief may be true. ”

“ In a word, all things which exist in nature, from the least to the greatest, are correspondences. They are correspondences, because the natural world and all that belongs to it exists and subsists from the spiritual world, and both from the Divine. ”

“ In the nature of the world, in its triple kingdom, all things which there exist according to order, are forms of uses, or effects formed from use for use; wherefore the things which are there, are Correspondences. ”

“ For correspondence to its object, and intentional selection of both the object and the sort of correspondence, constitute the two possible relations of idea and object. If the bare correspondence determines neither Being nor truth, the intention must determine both Being and truth. In other words, the Being to which any idea refers is simply the will of the idea more determinately, and also more completely, expressed. ”

“ We give up a correspondence in which there is a little life to enjoy a correspondence in which there is an abundant life. What though we sacrifice a hundred such correspondences? We make but the more room for the great one that is left. ”

“ Thus man is the conductor of correspondences, and also the modifier; for, in making what use of things he pleases, man draws down new and different influences from the spiritual sphere, which give rise to new and appropriate extensions of the creation.
In fine, the science of correspondence is the most mathematical, mechanical, or intellectual of the sciences. The foundation of it is justice or equation, and the working of the law ensures permanent equilibrium in the world. ”

“ Correspondence is the relation between one discrete degree of the creation and another. As it man is an epitome of the universe, a microcosm in whose nature are gathered all its substances, forms, orders, degrees, and relations, we can find in him holds equally between small and large things, and as perfect examples and illustrations of the nature of Correspondence. We all know that man's affections and thoughts manifest or represent themselves in his looks, speech, and the motions of the body. ”

“ Few men have a larger private correspondence, and his letters have the clearness, the directness, the exquisite tactfulness, and the absolute freedom from all affectation which characterize his conversation. ”

“ And bare correspondence, the mere possession of common characters in idea and in object not only fails to define, but, as we now see, can never lead us to define, the Being of either idea or object, and in no sense shows or explains to us the relation whereby the idea means, selects, and is in just this way true of just this one object. ”

“ Unless he really loved correspondence, as some men do, I believe, I cannot conceive that even so conscientious a man as he should have kept his correspondence in such perfect order, answered letters of every kind so faithfully, so fully, and so agreeably. ”

“ But, quitting the ground of number or measure, we may assert on other grounds, that the positive root of the doctrine of correspondences, as of all universal doctrines, lies in the admission of the Divine Humanity. ”

“ It surprises me the more that you, my dearest lass, are silent, who write with such apparent facility and impress your expressions with the graces of your nature—the true secret to make correspondence delightful—when that which I have long loved in yourself breathes through your letters and gives them the air of your conversation. ”

“ If an idea is to be correspondent to an object, our first impression is that the idea must always possess some one predestined sort or degree of likeness or similarity to its object. Is this necessary? Is it once for all predetermined that its object, as a finished fact, required the idea to be like it? The relation of correspondence, in general, apart from the special problem about ideas and objects, has been most elaborately studied in mathematics, where correspondence is, in the most various forms, a constant topic of exact inquiry. ”

“ No accomplishment within the scope of human knowledge is so beautiful in all its features as that of epistolary correspondence. Though distance, absence, and circumstances may separate the holiest alliances of friendship, or those who are bound together by the still stronger ties of affection, yet the power of interchanging thoughts, words, feelings, and sentiments, through the medium of letters, adds a sweetness to the pain of separation, renovating to life, and adding to happiness. ”

“ To begin with, the simple type of correspondence we have been exhibiting can hardly occur when words are substituted for images, because, in word-propositions, relations are usually expressed by words, which are not themselves relations. ”

“ Formal correspondence can be indulged in between any persons who may be related, very dear friends, or even mere acquaintances. With the first two classes, a gentleman can correspond formally at any and all times, unless expressly solicited not to do so by the lady’s parents, or guardians, or herself. ”

“ Such men they liken to owls, which see in darkness, but in light see nothing.
↑ How far the knowledge of correspondences excels other knowledges (n. 4280) . The knowledge of correspondences was the chief knowledge of the ancient people ”

“ If those which were actually written and sent were to be printed in parallel columns with those mentally formed but not written out responses and comments, the reader would get some idea of the internal conflicts an honest and not unamiable person has to go through, when he finds himself driven to the wall by a correspondence which is draining his vocabulary to find expressions that sound as agreeably, and signify as little, as the phrases used by a diplomatist in closing an official communication. ”

“ General or regular correspondence is useless, baneful, and in most cases impossible; but special correspondence, born of the necessities of man as a social being, and circumscribed by them, may be from time to time possible. ”

“ Correspondence is a thing which every man should be able to do well in all its branches, whether social or business, whether formal or otherwise, whether brief or extended in its subject-matter. A gentleman should always be able to write sensible letters, and to the point, without deviating from the general topic. When corresponding with other men keep strictly, unless with a very close friend, to the subject in question. ”

“ Some friends, inspired by an equal love of truth and 380moral beauty, who have arrived at the same conviction by different roads, and who view with serener eye the ground over which they have travelled, have thought that it might be profitable to present a few of these resolutions and epochs of thought. They propose to represent these and certain excesses of the inquiring reason in the form of two young men, of unequal character, engaged in epistolary correspondence. ”

“ In the analogy between conversation and correspondence may, perhaps, be found a key to the problem. Those of us who are not lovers, school-girls, or spinsters are not desirous of keeping up a colloquy, day in and day out. ”

“ TWO STYLES. ONE of the peculiarities of correspondence is witnessed at this office every day, to which we desire to call the attention of our growing girls and boys, who ought to know that there is a long way and a short way of saying things on paper; a right way and a wrong way to express thoughts on a postal card, just as there is in conversation. We all admire the business man who is terse and to the point, and we dislike the man who hangs on to the door knob as though life was a never-ending summer dream, and refuses to say good-bye. It's so with correspondence. ”

“ I suppose you know from your own experience how a man in public position, with his hands full of work, will sometimes put off his correspondence with a friend from day to day, waiting for an hour of leisure and composure, which will never come. ”

“ Connected with various societies, clubs, institutions, etc., besides being known far and near as a giving man, he was accustomed every day of his life to receive numerous letters, begging and otherwise, which it was my business to open and answer, his private correspondence always bearing a mark upon it which distinguished it from the rest. ”

“ The law of correspondence, according to which its language is constructed, is universally accepted by the men of the church upon evidence that is perfectly conclusive to their minds, and this can lead but to one mode of interpretation. ”

“ This is a branch of correspondence which fully demands a volume alone to provide for the various phases incident to Love, Courtship and Marriage. Few persons, however otherwise fluent with the pen, are able to express in words the promptings of the first dawn of love, and even the ice once broken how to follow up a correspondence with the dearest one in the whole world and how to smooth the way with those who need to be consulted in the matter. ”

“ Shall go to-day.' So we are in correspondence again, aren't we? She means of course that you've something to tell me from her, hey? But if you have, why haven't you let a fellow know?" He waited for no answer to this, he had so much to say. ”

“ Any one who would examine the style of their epistolary correspondence, the form of their invitation cards, and the phraseology of their polite discourses, must see, that, professedly at least, "they esteem every other better than themselves," which is the foundation of politeness. ”

“ This law, as already stated, is that of correspondence, which means a relation similar to that existing between the soul and the body. It is in the nature of every spiritual principle to go forth and embody itself under some outward form. And the form must correspond to the living principle that enters into, creates and sustains it. We see this tendency of the human spirit constantly manifested here on earth; for even here the affections of every man are forever seeking embodiment, and they first create for themselves certain correspondential forms in the thought of the understanding. ”

“ It is such a pity that we live so far from each other. How nice it would be if we could exchange thoughts and ideas. Things can be expressed so much better in spoken than in written words. But our correspondence is very pleasant to me, we meet at so many points. ”

“ Open your correspondence with another smile, and when you answer it, try to put into what you write just the little touch of friendly cheerfulness that will win your correspondent's heart. It is amazing how a little touch of personal affection will brighten up the dull routine of business correspondence like a grain of gold in the sand. ”

“ If the creations of an infinite Being, or the house and do main in which man is to dwell, are necessarily correspondences, so also are whatever revelations he vouchsafes for the edification of his finite creatures. If, in a real sense, there be a Word of God,—if that Word be not the fruit of an exalted enthusiasm of our finite faculties, but the outward gift of Heaven,—then as the world is made by correspondence, so must the Word be written by correspondence ”

“ Some of my experiences led me to wonder if there is a correspondence course for economists and statesmen. Anyway, I have been coming into contact with thinkers, the perfection of whose theories can only be accounted for on the hypothesis that they are graduates of a correspondence school. They have world-shaping plans that could only be excused on the plea that those who propound them either know God's plan or have a better one. Only a correspondence school could give a man such sublime self-confidence. ”

“ We may, therefore, now pass on to finite man, as the secondary fountain of correspondence, or the modifying principle of the universe. Let us, then, narrow our field for a time to this convenient limit, and illustrate the law of correspondency from our own familiar actions and objects.
Now, what is the series and procession of all human works? Man undoubtedly lives for a multiplicity of ends, which arise to him one after another; and he proposes them to himself, in the sevenfold ages of his lifetime. These ends, we must repeat, are not abstractions, but objects containing indefinite details. ”

“ And still more neglected has been the conception of the relation that constitutes any supposed object the genuine object of an idea, whether the idea be true or false. As to the problem about correspondence, how much must an idea resemble its object in order to be true? A photograph resembles the man whom it pictures. Must a true idea be even so a sort of photograph of its object? Or, perhaps, may an idea be very unlike an object, and still so correspond therewith as to be a true idea? Are not the items in a ledger very unlike the commercial transactions that they ideally depict? ”

“ When the relations of what we call a thing are told, no caput mortuum of intrinsicality, no 'nature,' is left. The relations soak up all there is of the thing; the 'items' of the world are but foci of relation with other foci of relation; and all the relations are necessary. ”