8. Though I should set myself in opposition to popular views, I shall
set down clearly what seems to me the true state of affairs. Not the
whole soul enters into the body. By her higher part, she ever remains
united to the intelligible world; as, by her lower part, she remains
united to the sense-world. If this lower part dominates, or rather, if
it be dominated (by sensation) and troubled, it hinders us from being
conscious of what the higher part of the soul contemplates. Indeed
that which is thought impinges on our consciousness only in case it
descends to us, and is felt. In general, we are conscious of what goes
on in every part of the soul only when it is felt by the entire soul.
For instance, appetite, which is the actualization of lustful desire,
is by us cognized only when we perceive it by the interior sense or by
discursive reason, or by both simultaneously. Every soul has a · lower
part turned towards the body, and a higher part turned towards divine
Intelligence. The universal Soul manages the universe by her lower part
without any kind of trouble, because she governs her body not as we do
by any reasoning, but by intelligence, and consequently in a manner
entirely different from that adopted by art. The individual souls,
each of whom administers a part of the universe,[185] also have a part
that rises above their body; but they are distracted from thought
by sensation, and by a perception of a number of things which are
contrary to nature, and which come to trouble them, and afflict them.
Indeed, the body that they take care of constitutes but a part of the
universe, is incomplete, and is surrounded by exterior objects. That
is why it has so many needs, why it desires luxuriousness, and why it
is deceived thereby. On the contrary, the higher part of the soul is
insensible to the attraction of these transitory pleasures, and leads
an undisturbed life.