Is the centre of the soul then the principle that we are seeking?
Or must we conceive some other principle towards which all centres
radiate? To begin with, it is only by analogy that the words "centre"
and "circle" are used. By saying that the soul is a circle, we do not
mean that she is a geometrical figure, but that in her and around her
subsists primordial nature.[202] (By saying that she has a centre, we
mean that) the soul is suspended from the primary Principle (by the
highest part of her being), especially when she is entirely separated
(from the body). Now, however, as we have a part of our being contained
in the the body, we resemble a man whose feet are plunged in water,
with the rest of his body remaining above it. Raising ourselves above
the body by the whole part which is not immerged, we are by our own
centre reattaching ourselves to the Centre common to all beings, just
in the same way as we make the centres of the great circles coincide
with that of the sphere that surrounds them. If the circles of the
soul were corporeal, the common centre would have to occupy a certain
place for them to coincide with it, and for them to turn around it. But
since the souls are of the order of intelligible (essences), and as
the One is still above Intelligence, we shall have to assert that the
intercourse of the soul with the One operates by means different from
those by which Intelligence unites with the intelligible. This union,
indeed, is much closer than that which is realized between Intelligence
and the intelligible by resemblance or identity; it takes place by the
intimate relationship that unites the soul with unity, without anything
to separate them. Bodies cannot unite mutually;[203] but they could
not hinder the mutual union of incorporeal (essences) because that
which separates them from each other is not a local distance, but their
distinction and difference. When there is no difference between them,
they are present in each other.