Everything in the realm of sights and sounds consists of matter or form. (The two cannot exist simultaneously). Matter is potential and form is actual. For example, a blank canvas has the potential to be painted, but when it is painted on (matter) it shifts to an actual form. It cannot both be potentially and actually painted, thus the terms are contradictory. Therefore, a potential cannot act on a potential, an external force is necessary for change to occur. This force could not have moved itself, so it would need a different external force to act on it (read: domino effect). However, in the realm of sights and sounds there cannot exist an infinite number of forces. (That would be contradictory as well) So there needs to be one force that moves all other forces but remains unmoved. Enter Aristotle's notion of an unmoved mover. Basically, in order for there to be a finite chain of action, the first movement must be unmoved. Reverting back to the principle that potential cannot act on potential, how then does the unmoved mover cause the first movement? The answer is summarized in love. The second effectual force is drawn to the unmoved mover (thus set into motion while the unmoved mover remains stationary). Think of a beloved object causing something to love it without it doing anything. Anyway, if we think of the unmoved mover as God and the sublunar world as creation, the creation is drawn to him.
Definitely butchered that. However, if I could explain it properly the concept is quite fascinating.
(I refuse to spell/grammar check blog entries.)
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