Since we are thus led to treat of the nature of matter, we must first
premiss that the nature of existence, "being" and essence[49] are not
what they are thought to be by people generally. Existence is; it "is"
in the genuine meaning of that word; that is, it "is" essentially; it
is absolutely, lacking nothing of existence. Fully being existence, its
existence and preservation are not dependent on anything else; so much
the more, if other things seem to be, they owe this thereto. If this
be true, existence must possess life, perfect life--for otherwise it
would not be existence any more than non-existence. Now perfect life
is intelligence and perfect wisdom. Existence therefore is determinate
and definite. Nothing outside of it exists even potentially; otherwise
it would not fully satisfy itself. It is therefore eternal, immutable,
incapable of receiving anything, or of adding anything to itself; for
what it would receive would have to be foreign to it, and consequently
be nonentity. In order to exist by itself, existence must therefore
possess all things within itself; it must be all things simultaneously,
it must at the same time be one and all, since this is of what we
consider existence to consist; otherwise instead of emanating from
existence, intelligence and life would be incidental thereto. Therefore
they could not originate from nonentity; and, on its side, existence
could not be deprived of intelligence and life. True nonentity,
therefore, will have intelligence and life only as they must exist in
objects inferior and posterior to existence. The principle superior to
existence (the One), on the other hand, gives intelligence and life to
existence, without itself needing to possess them.[50]
MATERIALISTS CANNOT UNDERSTAND HOW SOLID EARTH IS NEAREST NONENTITY;
AND WHY GREATEST EXISTENCE IS LEAST MATERIAL.
If such be the nature of existence, it could be neither body, nor the
substrate of bodies; for their existence is nonentity. (Materialists,
however, object), How could we refuse to attribute "being" to the
nature of bodies, such as these cliffs and rocks, to the solid earth,
and in short, to all these impenetrable objects? When I am struck,
am I not by the shock forced to acknowledge that these objects
exist as (real) "being"? On the other hand, how does it happen that
entities that are not impenetrable, which can neither shock others
nor be shocked by them, which are completely invisible, like soul
and intelligence, are genuine beings?[51] Our answer is that the
earth, which possesses corporeal nature in the highest degree, is
inert; the element that is less gross (the air) is already more
mobile, and resides in a higher region; while fire withdraws still
more from corporeal nature. The things which best suffice themselves
least agitate and trouble the others; those that are heavier and more
terrestrial, by the mere fact that they are incomplete, subject to
falling, and incapable of rising, fall by weakness, and shock the
others by virtue of their inertia, and their weight. Thus inanimate
bodies fall more heavily, and shock and wound others more powerfully.
On the contrary, animated bodies, by the mere fact of greater
participation in existence, strike with less harshness. That is why
movement, which is a kind of life, or at least an image of life, exists
in a higher degree in things that are less corporeal.