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perpetual air, nor live, nor remain there, so long
as we have a mortal body. [rubric:] How the four elements are
This clarity that we have spoken to you about, // placed
which is called the spiritual air, where the angels
have their abode, encircles the world with the four
elements that God created and placed one inside the other.
Of these, the first is fire, the second is air, the third is
water, and the fourth is earth. Each of these is held tightly
inside the next, and each sustains the other in such a way
that the earth is held in the middle. First, fire
encloses the air where we are, and that air
encloses the water, which surrounds the
earth. This is just like with an egg,
where the white surrounds the yolk, and in the middle
of the yolk there is as it were a drop of fat that
is not held in any part. And that fat which is there
does not touch anything else. In just such a manner
is the earth placed in the middle of the sky, so that it
is equally far from the sky above it as the sky below. You can see this