PSYCHOLOGY OBEYS THE PRECEPT "KNOW THYSELF," AND SHOWS HOW WE ARE
TEMPLES OF THE DIVINITY.
1. Among the questions raised about the soul, we purpose to solve
here not only such as may be solved with some degree of assurance,
but also such as may be considered matters of doubt, considering our
researches rewarded by even only a definition of this doubt. This
should prove an interesting study. What indeed better deserves careful
examination and close scrutiny than what refers to the soul? Among
other advantages, the study of the soul has that of making known to us
two order of things, those of which she is the principle, and those
from which she herself proceeds. This examination will be in line with
the divine precept to "know ourselves."[100] Before seeking to discover
and understand the remainder, it is no more than right first to apply
ourselves to finding out the nature of the principle that embarks in
these researches[101]; and as we are seeking what is lovable, we will
do well to contemplate the most beautiful of spectacles (that of our
own intellectual nature); for if there be a duality, in the universal
(Soul), so much more likely will there be a duality in individual
intelligences. We should also examine the sense in which it may be said
that souls are sanctuaries of the divinity; but this question will not
admit of solution till after we have determined how the soul descends
into the body.