This addition occurs during her generation, or rather in the generation
of another ideal form of soul, the "animal nature." Elsewhere[314] this
generation has been explained thus. When the soul descends, at the very
moment when she inclines towards the body, she produces an image of
herself. The soul, however, must not be blamed for sending this image
into the body. For the soul to incline towards the body is for the
soul to shed light on what is below her; and this is no more sinful
than to produce a shadow. That which is blamable is the illuminated
object; for if it did not exist, there would be nothing to illuminate.
The descent of the soul, or her inclination to the body, means only
that she communicates life to what she illuminates. She drives away her
image, or lets it vanish, if nothing receptive is in its vicinity; the
soul lets the image vanish, not because she is separated--for to speak
accurately, she is not separated from the body--but because she is no
longer here below; and she is no longer below when she is entirely
occupied in contemplating the intelligible world.