The Physical Plane or Physical Universe in Hermeticism, Theosophical and New Age thought refers to the visible reality of space and time, energy and matter. In contrast to western secular modernist and post-modern thought, the Physical Universe is in occult and esoteric cosmology only the lowest or densest of a whole series of planes of existence. Hermeticism is either of two things: The study and practice of occult philosophy and magic, of a type associated with writings attributed to the god Hermes Trismegistus, Thrice-Greatest Hermes, a syncretistic deity who combines aspects of the Greek god Hermes and the Egyptian god Thoth. ... Seal of the Theosophical Society Theosophy is a body of belief which holds that all religions are attempts by man to ascertain the Divine, and as such each religion has a portion of the truth. ... New Age describes a broad movement characterized by alternative approaches to traditional Western culture. ... For other uses of this term, see occult (disambiguation). ... Esotericism refers to knowledge suitable only for the advanced, privileged, or initiated, as opposed to exoteric knowledge, which is public. ... For other uses of the word plane, see plane. ...
The inclined plane permits one to overcome a large resistance by applying a relatively small force through a longer distance than the load is to be raised.
Other simple machines based on the inclined plane include the blade, in which two inclined planes placed back to back allow the two parts of the cut object to move apart using less force than would be needed to pull them apart in opposite directions.
Detailed understanding of inclined planes and their use helped lead to the understanding of how vector quantities such as forces can be usefully decomposed and manipulated mathematically.