17. From the intelligible world souls first descend into the heaven.
For if the heaven is the best part of the sense-world, it must be
nearest to the limits of the intelligible world. The celestial bodies
are therefore the first that receive the souls, being most fitted to
receive them. The terrestrial body is animated the last, and it is
suited to the reception of an inferior soul only, because it is more
distant from the incorporeal nature. All souls first illuminate the
sky, and radiate from it their first and purest rays; the remainder is
lit up by inferior powers. There are souls which, descending lower,
illuminate inferior things; but they do not gain anything in getting so
far from their origin.