Ammonius, teacher of Plotinos, thus explained the present problem (the
union of soul and body): "The intelligible is of a nature such that it
unites with whatever is able to receive it, as intimately as the union
of things, that mutually alter each other in uniting, though, at the
same time, it remains pure and incorruptible, as do things that merely
coexist.[367] Indeed, in the case of bodies, union alters the parts
that meet, since they form new bodies; that is how elements change into
composite bodies, food into blood, blood into flesh, and other parts
of the body. But, as to the intelligible, the union occurs without any
alteration; for it is repugnant to the nature of the intelligible to
undergo an alteration in its essential nature. It disappears, or it
ceases to be, but it is not susceptible of change. Now the intelligible
cannot be annihilated; otherwise it would not be immortal; and as
the soul is life, if it changed in its union with the body, it would
become something different, and would no longer be life. What would
the soul afford to the body, if not life? In her union (with the body,
therefore), the soul undergoes no alteration.
Since it has been demonstrated that, in its essential nature, the
intelligible is immutable, the necessary result must be that it does
not alter at the same time as the entities to which it is united. The
soul, therefore, is united to the body, but she does not form a mixture
with it.[368] The sympathy that exists between them shows that they are
united; for the entirely animated being is a whole that is sympathetic
to itself, and that is consequently really one.[369]
What proves that the soul does not form a mixture with the body, is the
soul's power to separate from the body during sleep; leaving the body
as it were inanimate, with only a breath of life, to keep it from dying
entirely; using her own activity only in dreams, to foresee the future,
and to live in the intelligible world.
This appears again when the soul gathers herself together to devote
herself to her thoughts; for then she separates from the body so far as
she can, and retires within herself better to be able to apply herself
to the consideration of intelligible things. Indeed, being incorporeal,
she unites with the body as closely as the union of things which by
combining together perish because of each other, (thus giving birth to
a mixture); at the same time, she remains without alteration, as two
things that are only placed by each others' side; and she preserves
her unity. Thus, according to her own life, she modifies that to which
she is united, but she is not modified thereby. Just as the sun, by
its presence, makes the air luminous, without itself changing in any
way, and thus, so to speak, mingles itself therewith, without mingling
itself (in reality), so the soul, though united with the body, remains
quite distinct therefrom. But there is this difference, that the sun,
being a body, and consequently being circumscribed within a certain
space, is not everywhere where is its light; just as the fire dwells
in the wood, or in the wick of the lamp, as if enclosed within a
locality; but the soul, being incorporeal, and not being subjected to
any local limitation, exists as a whole everywhere where her light
is; and there is no part of the body that is illuminated by the soul
in which the soul is not entirely present. It is not the body that
commands the soul; it is the soul, on the contrary, that commands the
body. She is not in the body as if in a vase or a gourd; it is rather
the body that is in the soul.[370]
The intelligible, therefore, is not imprisoned within the body; it
spreads in all the body's parts, it penetrates them, it goes through
them, and could not be enclosed in any place; for by virtue of its
nature, it resides in the intelligible world; it has no locality other
than itself, or than an intelligible situated still higher. Thus the
soul is within herself when she reasons, and in intelligence when she
yields herself to contemplation. When it is asserted that the soul is
in the body, it is not meant that the soul is in it as in a locality;
it is only meant that the soul is in a habitual relation with the body;
and that the soul is present there, as we say that God is in us. For
we think that the soul is united to the body, not in a corporeal and
local manner, but by the soul's habitual relations, her inclination and
disposition, as a lover is attached to his beloved. Besides, as the
affection of the soul has neither extension, nor weight, nor parts,
she could not be circumscribed by local limitations. Within what place
could that which has no parts be contained? For place and corporeal
extension are inseparable; the place is limited space in which the
container contains the contained. But if we were to say, "My soul is
then in Alexandria, in Rome, and everywhere else;" we would be still
speaking of space carelessly, since being in Alexandria, or in general,
being somewhere, is being in a place; now the soul is absolutely in
no place; she can only be in some relation with some place, since it
has been demonstrated that she could not be contained within a place.
If then an intelligible entity "be in relation with a place, or with
something located in a place, we say, in a figurative manner, that
this intelligible entity is in this place, because it tends thither by
its activity; and we take the location for the inclination or for the
activity which leads it thither. If we were to say, That is where the
soul acts, we would be saying, "The soul is there."