452
Tract upon Nourishing the Spirit.
Aug.
else, and impeded by that one thing. The mind is however the same, and when sensation and perception are sometimes different, are we to account that the spirit is different? But how can the spirit be different? The spirit although unobstructed by matter, can not avoid being influenced and enslaved by every partial and private thing it observes ; and although pervading the whole body, as that which is general passes through every particular, yet being influenced and enslaved by other things, the spirit can not be in everything perspicuous and clear; but let it be silent and still, then the bite of every little insect on the body is invariably perceived, because their spirit sits there to superintend, and extends its observations to every part.
Hence, when a person wishes to foster his spiritual energies, he must first exclude the observation of what is private and partial, and then his spirit will be in everything perspicuous and clear, but
the human spirit, with the exception of what takes place in a inan's own body, and with the exception of what he sees and hears, is ca- pable of perceiving nothing; how difficult then is it for a spirit connect, ed with the visible world to extend its observations; but the spirits of the invisible world are on the contrary acquainted with everything. If
the spirit of my mind can only become acquainted with what comes in contact with my eyes and ears, hands and feet, then that which is not cognizable to the senses, can not have any com- munication with my spirit. If then, I can not extend my øbservations to that which is not in some connection with
my body, it follows that there are many corporeal things that I can not become acquainted with, how then can I become perfectly ac- quainted with the invisible world, and those spirits which are sacrificed to? The spirit which men have when they are born into the world, has its origin in the Mighty Infinite; although the Mighty Infinite has conferred a variety of forms on the myriad of things, yet there is one subtile fluid that pervades them all: as in the constitution of the human body, one subtile fluid pervades every part of it, and can not be held not to pervade it, because the eyes and ears, the hands and fect have different forms, and are put to dif- ferent uses. The intelligent man, aware of this, ought not, because of the bodily members, to say, this my body sustains no connection with heaven and earth, men and things. If indeed there were no con- nection, how is it that the body of each individual must depend on the justenance of heaven and earth, with the men and things around it, before it can become a body? It is because the one subtile fluid pervades all, that men produce and sustain each other; and since one