  At its deepest, the principle of unity and order coincides with God. God is infinite, necessary, wholly undivided, therefore individual. In keeping with the principles of theological Trinitarianism, God is described by Cardano in terms of power (potestas), mind (mens), and love (amor), and these attributes are not “three gods, as Plotinus thinks,” but original divine attributes. The natural world is a constant reminder that God’s “threefold and undivided life” flows into each single thing, down to the smallest beings (ad minima usque) (De arcanis aeternitatis, OO, X, 6a). However, for all the layers and mediations that characterize Cardano’s universe, the distance between human beings and God remains unbridgeable. Man cannot reconcile the finite with the infinite, for “no finite thing can be transformed into an infinite nature.” Cardano rules out that “this life of ours can get close to that which truly is,” for there is no proportion and no resemblance between the two levels of being. Echoing Cusanian motifs, he argues that “everything that is understood by a finite being is finite, for the act of understanding (comprehensio) occurs through some proportion; but there is no proportion between the infinite and the finite.” Likewise, our eyes cannot grasp the direct light (lux) of the sun, but only a glimpse of its brightness (lumen) (De arcanis aeternitatis, OO, X, 4b–5a). Such a powerful and all-encompassing view of divine and natural order, in which the presence of latent Platonic and Averroist motifs contributes to strengthen the cogent organization of the whole universe, has inevitable repercussions concerning the meaning of moral action. During his life, Cardano devoted a considerable number of works to ethical inquiries, surveying almost every aspect in the field: theoretical ethics, applied ethics, prudential behaviour, consolation, education, and the role of rhetoric. However, his most important contribution to moral philosophy consists in his attempt to redefine the relationship between the universal scope of practical reason and the need for human beings to apply moral laws to the concrete circumstances of their life. This characteristic tension between knowledge and application is particularly evident in two works: Theonoston (which Cardano began to write around 1555) and De utilitate ex adversis capienda (published in 1561).