Besides, as the soul is indivisible, the entelechy of the divisible
body could not become divisible as is the body. Besides, the same soul
passes from the body of one animal into the body of some other. How
could the soul of the first become that of the second, if she were only
the entelechy of a single one? The example of animals that metamorphose
demonstrates the impossibility of this theory. The soul, therefore, is
not the simple form of a body; she is a genuine "being," which does
not owe its existence merely to her being founded on the body, but
which, on the contrary, exists before having become the soul of some
individual animal. It is, therefore, not the body that begets the soul.
THE SOUL IS AN INCORPOREAL AND IMMORTAL ESSENCE. THE SOUL BEING NONE OF
CORPOREAL POSSIBILITIES, MUST BE INCORPOREAL.
c. What then can be the nature of the soul, if she is neither a
body, nor a corporeal affection, while, nevertheless, all the active
force, the productive power and the other faculties reside in her, or
come from her? What sort of a "being," indeed, is this (soul) that
has an existence independent of the body? She must evidently be a
veritable "being." Indeed, everything corporeal must be classified as
generated, and excluded from genuine "being," because it is born, and
perishes, never really exists, and owes its salvation exclusively to
participation in the genuine existence, and that only in the measure of
its participation therein.
THE PERSISTENCE OF THE CHANGEABLE IMPLIES THE ETERNAL IN THE
BACKGROUND.[80]
9. (14). It is absolutely necessary to postulate the existence of
a nature different from bodies, by itself fully possessing genuine
existence, which can neither be born nor perish. Otherwise, all other
things would hopelessly disappear, as a result of the destruction of
the existence which preserves both the individuals and the universe,
as their beauty and salvation. The soul, indeed, is the principle of
movement (as Plato thought, in the Phaedrus); it is the soul that
imparts movement to everything else; the soul moves herself. She
imparts life to the body she animates; but alone she possesses life,
without ever being subject to losing it, because she possesses it by
herself. All beings, indeed, live only by a borrowed life; otherwise,
we would have to proceed from cause to cause unto infinity. There
must, therefore, exist a nature that is primarily alive, necessarily
incorruptible and immortal because it is the principle of life for
everything else. It is thereon that must be founded all that is divine
and blessed, that lives and exists by itself, that lives and exists
supremely, which is immutable in its essence, and which can neither
be born nor perish. How indeed could existence be born or perish? If
the name of "existence" really suited it, it must exist forever, just
as whiteness is not alternately black and white. If whiteness were
existence itself, it would, with its "being" (or nature) (which is, to
be whiteness), possess an eternal existence; but, in reality, it is no
more than whiteness. Therefore, the principle that possesses existence
in itself and in a supreme degree will always exist. Now this primary
and eternal existence can not be anything dead like a stone, or a piece
of wood. It must live, and live with a pure life, as long as it exists
within itself. If something of it mingles with what is inferior, this
part meets obstacles in its aspiration to the good; but it does not
lose its nature, and resumes its former condition on returning to a
suitable condition (as thought Plato, in his Phaedo[81]).