The differences between the universal Soul and our (human) souls are
very important. To begin with, the universal Soul does not govern
the world in the same manner (as our soul governs the body); for she
governs the world without being bound thereto. Besides many other
differences elsewhere noted,[324] we were bound to the body after the
formation of a primary bond.[325] In the universal Soul the nature
that is bound to the body (of the world) binds all that it embraces;
but the universal Soul herself is not bound by the things she binds.
As she dominates them, she is impassible in respect to them, while we
ourselves do not dominate exterior objects. Besides, that part of the
universal Soul which rises to the intelligible world remains pure and
independent; even that[326] which communicates life to the body (of the
world) receives nothing therefrom. In general what is in another being
necessarily participates in the state of that being; but a principle
which has its own individual life would not receive anything from
any other source.[327] That is why, when one thing is located within
another, it feels the experiences of the latter, but does not any the
less retain its individual life in the event of the destruction of the
latter. For instance, if the fire within yourself be extinguished,
that would not extinguish the universal fire; even if the latter were
extinguished, the universal Soul would not feel it, and only the
constitution of the body (of the world) would be affected thereby. If
a world exclusively composed of the remaining three elements were a
possibility, that would be of no importance to the universal Soul,
because the world does not have a constitution similar that of each
of the contained organisms. On high, the universal Soul soars above
the world, and thereby imposes on it a sort of permanence; here below,
the parts, which as it were flow off, are maintained in their place by
a second bond.[328] As celestial entities have no place (outside of
the world), into which they might ooze out,[329] there is no need of
containing them from the interior, nor of compressing them from without
to force them back within; they subsist in the location where the
universal Soul placed them from the beginning. Those which naturally
move modify the beings which possess no natural motion.[330] They carry
out well arranged revolutions because they are parts of the universe.
Here below there are beings which perish because they cannot conform to
the universal order. For instance, if a tortoise happened to be caught
in the midst of a choric ballet that was dancing in perfect order, it
would be trodden under foot because it could not withdraw from the
effects of the order that regulated the feet of the dancers; on the
contrary, if it conformed to that order, it would suffer no harm.
GNOSTIC DEMANDS FOR REASON OF WORLD'S CREATION ARE IDLE, AND INVOLVE
STILL LARGER QUESTIONS.
8. To ask (as do the Gnostics) why the world was created, amounts
to asking the reason of the existence of the universal Soul, and
of the creation of the demiurgic creator himself. To ask such a
question well characterizes men who first wish to find a principle
of that which (in the world) is eternal, but who later opine that
the demiurgic creator became the creating cause only as a result of
an inclination or alteration.[331] If indeed they be at all willing
to listen to us fairly, we shall have to teach them the nature of
these intelligible principles, to end their habit of scorning (those)
venerable (intelligible) beings, and (to induce them to) pay these a
deserved respect. No one, indeed, has the right to find fault with the
constitution of the world, which reveals the greatness of intelligible
nature. We are forced[332] to recognize that the world is a beautiful
and brilliant statue of the divinities, from the fact that the world
achieved existence without beginning with an obscure life, such as that
of the little organisms it contains, and which the productiveness of
universal life never ceases to bring forth, by day or night; on the
contrary, its life is continuous, clear, manifold, extended everywhere,
and illustrating marvellous wisdom. It would be no more than natural
that the world should not equal the model it imitates; otherwise, it
would no longer be an imitation. It would be an error, however, to
think that the world imitates its model badly; it lacks none of the
things that could be contained by a beautiful and natural image; for it
was necessary for this image to exist, without implying reasoning or
skill.[333]