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COSMOS THE BODY OF GOD: ISA PURUSHA TATVA<br />
M.M.NINAN<br />
NINE<br />
MAN AS A MICROCOSM<br />
The idea <strong>of</strong> man as a microcosm is most commonly associated with St. Maximos the Confessor (580 –<br />
662). In his Mystagogia he speaks <strong>of</strong> an indissoluble relationship and unity between man and world:<br />
"St. Paul put forward another suggestion, along the lines <strong>of</strong> the same imagery, that the whole<br />
world <strong>of</strong> visible and invisible things can be thought <strong>of</strong> as a man; and man, made up <strong>of</strong> body and<br />
soul, as a world" (Mystagogia, Chapter 7).<br />
Lars Thunberg, in his "Man and the <strong>Cosmos</strong>" describes St. Maximos' understanding <strong>of</strong> man as a<br />
microcosm by virtue <strong>of</strong> his constitution and for the purpose <strong>of</strong> mediation. Being both material<br />
and spiritual, all things in the world are reflected in man, who then has the vocation to bring<br />
together mortal and immortal creatures, rational and non-rational beings. However, St. Maximos<br />
does not view this vocation <strong>of</strong> man in separation from <strong>God</strong>. Rather, he states that it is Christ who<br />
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