15. On descending from the intelligible world, souls first come into
heaven, and they there take a body by means of which they pass even
into terrestrial bodies, according as they more or less advance
(outside of the intelligible world). There are some who issue from
heaven into the bodies of an inferior nature; there are some also who
pass from one body into another. The latter no longer have the power to
reascend into the intelligible world because they have forgotten; they
are weighted down by the burden they carry along with themselves. Now
souls differ either by the bodies to which they are united, or by their
different destinies, or by their kind of life, or by their primitive
nature. Thus differing from each other in all these relations, or
in only some, the souls here below either succumb to fate, or are
alternately subjected to it, and liberated; or, while supporting what
is necessary, preserve the liberty of devoting themselves to actions
that are characteristic of them, and live according to some other law,
following the order that rules the whole universe. This order embraces
all the ("seminal) reasons," and all the causes, the movements of the
souls, and the divine laws. It agrees with these laws, it borrows
from them its principles, and relates thereto all things that are its
consequences. It preserves in an imperishable condition all the beings
which are able to preserve themselves conformably to the constitution
of the intelligible world. It leads the other beings whither their
nature calls them, so that whithersoever they may descend, there is a
cause which assigns to them some particular position or condition.