6. (5). The purpose of action is to contemplate, and to possess
the contemplated object. The object or activity, therefore, is
contemplation. It seeks to achieve indirectly what it is unable to
accomplish directly. It is not otherwise when one has achieved the
object of one's desires. One's real desire is not to possess the
desired object without knowing it, but to know it more thoroughly, to
present it to the sight of the soul, and to be able to contemplate it
therein. Indeed, activity always has in view some good; one desires
to posses it interiorly, to appropriate it, and to possess the result
of one's action. Now as Good can be possessed only by the soul,
activity once more brings us back to contemplation. Since the soul
is a "reason," what she is capable of possessing could be no more
than a silent "reason," being so much the more silent as it is more
a "reason," for perfect "reason" seeks nothing farther; it rests in
the manifestation of that with which it is filled; the completer the
manifestation, the calmer is the contemplation, and the more does it
unite the soul. Speaking seriously, there is identity between knowing
subject and known object in the actualization of knowledge. If they
were not identical, they would be different, being alien to each other,
without any real bond, just as reasons (are foreign to the soul) when
they slumber within her, without being perceived. The reason[187] must
therefore not remain alien to the learning soul, but become united
thereto, and become characteristic of her. Therefore when the soul
has appropriated a "reason," and has familiarized herself therewith,
the soul as it were draws it out of her (breast) to examine it. Thus
she observes the thing that she (unconsciously) possessed, and by
examining it, distinguishes herself therefrom, and by the conception
she forms of it, considers it as something foreign to her; for though
the soul herself be a "reason" and a kind of intelligence, nevertheless
when she considers something, she considers it as something distinct
from herself, because she does not possess the true fulness, and is
defective in respect to her principle (which is intelligence). Besides,
it is with calmness that she observes what she has drawn from within
herself; for she does not draw from within herself anything of which
she did not formerly have even a notion. But she only drew from within
herself that of which her view was incomplete, and which she wished to
know better. In her actualizations (such as sensation), she adapts the
"reasons" she possesses to exterior objects.[188] On one hand, as she
possesses (the intelligible entities) better than does nature, she is
also calmer and more contemplative; on the other hand, as she does not
possess (the intelligible entities) perfectly, more (than intelligence)
she desires to have direct experimental knowledge and contemplation of
the object she contemplates. After having (temporarily) withdrawn from
her own higher part, and having (by discursive reason) run through the
series of differences, she returns to herself, and again gives herself
up to contemplation by her higher part (intelligence) from which she
had withdrawn (to observe the differences); for the higher part does
not deal with differences, as it abides within herself. Consequently
the wise mind is identical with reason, and in itself possesses what it
manifests to others. It contemplates itself; it arrives at unity not
only in respect to exterior objects, but also in respect to itself; it
rests in this unity, and finds all things within itself.