6. (1) The soul is a "being" or essence, without extension, immaterial
and incorruptible; her nature consists in a life which is life in
itself.
7. (3, end) When the existence of some being is life itself, and when
the passions are lives, its death consists in a life of a certain
nature, and not in entire privation of life; for the "passion"
experienced by this "being" or essence, does not force it into complete
loss of life.
8. (2, 3) There is a difference between the affections of the bodies,
and those of incorporeal things. The affection of bodies consists in
change. On the contrary, the affections and experiences characteristic
of the soul are actualizations that have nothing in common with the
cooling or heating up of the bodies. Consequently if, for bodies,
an affection ever implies a change, we may say that all incorporeal
(beings) are impassible. Indeed, immaterial and incorporeal beings
are always identical in their actualization; but those that impinge
on matter and bodies, though in themselves impassible, allow the
subjects in which they reside to be affected. So when an animal feels,
the soul resembles a harmony separated from its instrument, which
itself causes the vibration of the strings that have been tuned to
unison herewith; while the body resembles a harmony inseparable from
the strings. The reason why the soul moves the living being is that
the latter is animated. We, therefore, find an analogy between the
soul and the musician who causes his instrument to produce sounds
because he himself contains a harmonic power. The body, struck by a
sense-impression, resembles strings tuned in unison. In the production
of sound, it is not the harmony itself but the string that is affected.
The musician causes it to resound because he contains a harmonic power.
Nevertheless, in spite of the will of the musician, the instrument
would produce no harmonies that conformed to the laws of music, unless
harmony itself dictated them.
9. (5) The soul binds herself to the body by a conversion toward the
affections experienced by the body. She detaches herself from the body
by "apathy," (turning away from the body's affections.)