THE WESTER!\ 1\IEDITERRANEA!\ Kli'\CDOM 1200-1500Llull aimed to reach his audience directly, writing in Arabic
or Catalan. He had already composed several substantial
books when, in 1274, he underwent a mystical experience
while contemplating God in the seclusion of Mount Randa
in Majorca. He later maintained that it was at this point that
God revealed to him the method he must adopt in address-
ing unbelievers, though there are so many indications in his
earlier works that he was already beginning to formulate
this method that the experience on Mount Randa must be
seen as a stage in a much longer intellectual and spiritual
journey. He elaborated in the several hundred long books
and short pamphlets that he wrote from 1274 onwards a
system for describing and explaining the entire structure of
the universe (what he called his 'Art'); anyone who under-
stood this system would be bound, he believed, to accept
Christianity as the true religion. Llull's 'Art' was the medi-
eval predecessor of the Grand Unifying Theory beloved of
modern cosmologists such as Stephen Hawking:
If we do discover a complete theory, it should in time be under-
standable in broad principle by evet)'One, not just a few scient-
ists. Then we shall all, philosophers, scientists, andjust ordinary
people, be able to take part in the discussion of the question
of why it is that we and the universe exist. If we find the answer
to that, it would be the ultimate triumph of human reason -for
then we would know the mind of God.~'Llull's 'Art' was also, so he believed, eminently reasonable,
a means of classifying all levels of existence from inanimate
objects such as stones to the attributes of God Himself in a
structured and logical form, a 'spiritual logic' as Johnston
has termed it, deeply rooted in early medieval interpreta-
tions of Plato's view of the cosmos. For Llull did not invent
his system from scratch; the ninth-centurywriter.John Scotus
Eriugena was undoubtedly a major influence upon him.~·~ To
the fundamental distinctions that guide our perception of
the world in which we live, such as plants, minerals, animals,
correspond categories at a higher, spiritual, level; particularly
important is Llull's categorisation of the Divine Attributes- S.W. Hawking, A. briel history of time (London, 1988), p. 175.
- F. Yates, Lull and Bruno, ed. .J.B. Trapp and .J.N. Hillgarth (London,
1982), pp. 9-125; Yates perhaps underestimated the changes that
took place in Llull's theory owT the n·ars.