315、对此，我补充两个记事。记事一：
我曾经看到不远处有一个大气现象，只见一朵云被分成数朵更小的云，其中有的是蓝色，有的是黑色。我看见这些云朵仿佛在互相碰撞，擦出道道条纹或光线，时而利如剑尖，时而钝如断剑，时而前冲，时而后退，更像是拳击手。这些各种颜色的小云朵看似在彼此交战，其实是在玩耍。由于这个大气现象离我不远，我便举目仔细观看，见有男孩、年轻男子和老年男子正进入一栋大理石结构的建筑，它的根基是花斑岩的。该大气现象就在这栋建筑上方。于是，我问一个正要进去的人那里发生何事，他回答说：“这是一所中学，年轻人在此被引入属于智慧的各种事务。”
听见这话，我便和他们一同进去，因为我在灵里，也就是说，处于和灵界之人，也就是所谓的灵人并天使相同的状态。在这所学校里面，只见前面有一张椅子，中间有些长凳，四周有些座位，入口对面有一个旁听席。椅子是给回答所提问题的年轻人的，长凳是给观众的，四周的座位是给那些前面作出智慧答复之人的，旁听席是给要作仲裁者和评判员的长者的。旁听席中间有一个讲台，一位智者坐在那里，他们称这智者为校长。问题便由他提出，年轻人则从椅子上回答这些问题。众人集合完毕，讲台上的这个人起身说：“现在请回答这个问题，若你能，请解决它：灵魂是什么，它的性质又是什么？”
听到这个问题，众人倍感意外，开始窃窃私语。会众中坐在长凳上的一些人惊呼：“从土星时代直到如今，有什么人能凭任何理性思维明白并领悟灵魂是什么？更不用说它的性质了！毫无疑问，这个问题远远超出所有人的理解范畴！”可旁听席上的人对此却回答说：“这个问题并未超出人的理解力，就在理解的能力和范畴之内。只管回答就是了。”于是，那天被选出来坐到椅子上回答问题的年轻人便站了起来。他们共有五人，都经过长者检查，被认为极其聪明。此时，他们正坐在椅子周围的软座上，然后照他们就座的次序轮流坐上那把椅子。每个人上去的时候，都要穿上一件乳白色丝绸外衣，外罩一件绣花软羊毛长袍，头戴一顶帽子，帽子上有一圈周围饰有小蓝宝石的玫瑰。
我看见第一位年轻人就是如此穿戴的，他上去说：“灵魂是什么，其性质又是什么，自创世第一天起，这个问题就没有启示给任何人。这是一个唯独神保存在祂宝库中的奥秘。然而，有人已经发现，灵魂就像一位女王那样住在人里面，有学问的专家也已经猜到她的宫殿所在之处。有的把它放在大小脑之间的小结节上，叫做松果体。他们猜测这就是灵魂的座位，因为整个人受两个大脑支配，而这个结节就调控它们。所以，随意调控这两个大脑，也必然从头到脚调控整个人。”他又补充说：“这个观点在许多世人看来是正确或有可能的，但后世却把它当作纯粹的虚构加以弃绝。”
说完这番话，他脱下长袍、外衣，摘下帽子；然后被选年轻人当中的第二位穿上，坐进椅子。他关于灵魂的陈述如下：在整个天堂和整个世界，没有人知道灵魂是什么，它的性质又是什么。灵魂存在，并且在人里面，我们就知道这么多；至于它在哪里，就只能猜了。有一点是肯定的，就是它在头脑中，因为正是在那里，理解力进行思考，意愿作出决定；此外，人的五官都在脑袋前面的脸上。赋予后者和前者以生命的，唯有住在头脑里面的灵魂。但我还不敢说它的宫殿在头脑的哪个地方；有时我赞成那些把它的座位放在大脑的三个脑室里的人；有时赞成那些把它的座位放在大脑纹状体里的人；有时赞成那些把它的座位放在两个大脑髓质里的人；有时赞成那些把它放在皮质里的人；有时赞成那些把它放在硬脑膜里的人。因为这些座位当中的每一个都不缺乏支持它的证据。
支持三个脑室的证据是：它是所有大脑的动物精神（animal spirits）和淋巴的容器。支持纹状体的证据是：这些构成骨髓，而神经经由骨髓出去，两个大脑也经由骨髓延伸到脊柱，并从后者和前者发出纤维，而整个人体就由这些纤维构成。支持两个大脑髓质的证据是：这种物质是所有纤维的聚集和集合，而所有纤维形成整个人发展的起点。支持皮质的证据是：这种物质是最初目的和最终目的，由此是所有纤维、因而所有感觉和运动的开始。支持硬脑膜的证据是：这种物质是两个大脑共同的覆盖物，它以一种连续性从大脑延伸到心脏和身体内脏。至于我自己，我觉得这些证据难分高下，就请你们自己决定和选择哪一种是最好的。”
说完，他从椅子上下来，将外衣、长袍和帽子交给第三位。第三位就升到椅子上，然后说：“在我这个年龄，我怎能参透如此高深的话题呢？我向此处坐在周围的智者呼吁，向坐在旁听席上的智者呼吁，甚至向最高层天堂的天使呼吁：有谁能凭他的理性之光为自己形成有关灵魂的任何概念呢？至于它在人里面的座位，我和别人一样能提出很好的猜想。我猜它在心脏，因而在血液中。我这样猜想的理由是，心脏通过血液控制身体和头部。有一条叫主动脉的大血管从心脏发出，直达全身；还有一条叫颈动脉的血管从心脏发出，直达整个头部。因此，人们普遍认为，灵魂靠着心脏通过血液来维持、滋养身体和头部的整个有机系统，并赋予其以生命。相信这个论断的另一个理由是，圣经多次提及灵魂与心。如‘要尽你的灵魂和你的心爱神’；神要在人里面造‘一个新灵魂和一个新心’(申命记6:5;10:12;11:13;26:16; 耶利米书32:41;马太福音22:37;马可福音12:30，33;路加福音10:27等)。经上还明确说，血是肉身的灵魂(利未记17:11，14)。”听到这句话，一些人抬高嗓门大声说：“好有学问！”他们都是神职人员
此后，第四位穿上前一个发言者的衣服，坐进椅子说：“我也怀疑没有人具有这等敏锐和精妙的头脑，竟能参透灵魂是什么，它的性质又是什么。所以我认为，凡想要参透灵魂的人，都会因无用的努力而精疲力尽。但我从小就坚信古人的观点，认为人的灵魂就在他的整体和他的各个部位，因而既在他的头部及其各个部位，也在他的身体及其各个部位。把它的座位安置在某个特定部位，而不是各处，这是现代学者发明的虚妄观念。此外，灵魂是一种属灵实质，它的属性不可能是延伸和位置，只能是居住和充满。再者，当有人提及灵魂时，他不是理解为生命吗？而生命不是在整体和各个部位吗？”许多观众支持这种说法。
在他之后是戴着相同徽章的第五位，他从椅子上发表如下声明：“灵魂在哪里，它是在某个部位还是在整个人里面，我就不细说了。但我会根据自己的资源和知识库就这个问题，即灵魂是什么，它的性质又是什么，说说自己的想法。人们都将灵魂想象为某种纯粹的东西，好比以太，空气或风；生命力由于人所拥有的理性（人就凭这理性胜过动物）而在其中。我的这种观点基于以下事实：当人去世或咽气时，我们就说他把灵魂或灵交出去了。也正因如此，死后继续活着的灵魂被视为这样一种气息，它包含我们称之为灵魂的意识。灵魂还能是别的什么吗？不过，我曾在旁听席上听你们说，这个问题，就是灵魂是什么，它的性质又是什么，并未超出理解力，而是在它的能力和范畴之内，所以我乞求你们自己解开这千古之谜。”
于是，旁听席的长者就朝提出这个问题的校长望去。他们一点头，校长就明白他们想让他下去告诉他们答案，于是立刻从讲台上下来，穿过礼堂，坐进椅子。然后，他伸手说：“请听我说。有谁不认为灵魂是一个人最内在、最微妙的本质呢？但是，没有形式的本质不就是想象的虚构物吗？因此，灵魂是一种形式，至于是哪种形式，我会告诉你们。它是属于爱的一切事物和属于智慧的一切事物的形式。属于爱的一切事物被称为情感，属于智慧的一切事物被称为觉知。后者来自前者，因而这二者一起构成一个形式，这个形式包含无数事物，并且这些事物以如此的次序、系列和连贯性被排列，以至于可以说它们是不可分割的一体。之所以说它们是不可分割的一体，是因为若要保持这个整体的性质，或也可说，若它要保持一个统一体，就不能从它取走什么，或给它添加什么。人的灵魂不就是这样一种形式吗？属于爱的一切事物和属于智慧的一切事物，不就是这个形式的本质吗？对人来说，这些本质就在他的灵魂里，并从他的灵魂而在他的头部和身体。
“你们被称为灵人和天使；你们在世时以为灵人和天使，因而心智和性格就像一阵阵风或以太粒子。但现在你们清楚看到，你们是真正实实在在的人，在世时这人在物质身体中生活和思考。你们知道，并不是这个物质身体，而是这身体中的属灵实质在生活和思考。你们将这称为灵魂，却不知道它的形式。然而，现在你们已经看见它了，并还要看见它。你们都是灵魂，关于它的不朽，你们有那么多的听闻、思考、谈论和著述；你们因是出于神的爱与智慧的形式，所以永远不会死。灵魂是人的形式，既不能从这形式取走什么，也不能给它添加什么，它还是全身一切形式的至内在形式。由于在外的形式从至内在形式取得自己的本质和形式，所以你们就是灵魂，正如你们在自己和我们眼里那样。简言之，灵魂因是至内在的人，故就是这个人自己；因此，它的形式就是丰满而完美的人形。然而，它并不是生命，而是接受从神而来生命的最近容器，因而是神的居所。”
许多人因这番话鼓掌喝彩，但有些人说：“这些话，我们必须掂量掂量。”然后，我就回家了，看哪，只见在这所中学上方，一片没有条纹或光线彼此交战的亮云取代了之前那个大气现象。这云穿透屋顶，进入这所中学，照亮它的墙壁。我听说，他们看到墙上有题字，其中有这一句：“耶和华将生命的灵魂吹进人的鼻孔里，人就成了活的灵魂”（创世纪2:7）。
315、在此要做两段陈述，第一：
一次，在离我不远的地方，我看到一个奇迹。我见到一块云裂成小块的云，一些是浅兰色的，一些是深兰的。它们似乎在相互冲击着。闪出明亮的光。这些小块云彩好象是相互争斗着。
我抬起眼睛认真地看了一下。只见有一些小男孩，青年小伙和年长些的男人正在走进一个房子。那座房子是大理石建的，有着红斑岩建的地基。刚才的奇观就发生在这个房子上方。
我问其中的一个人是怎么回事。
他回答说：“这是一个教授年轻男子与智慧相关的事情的学校。”
听到这，处于精神状态的我和他们一起走了进去。只见前边有一个典礼用的椅子，其间有数个长椅。周围还有一些座位。在入口处有个阳台。最前面的椅子是将要回答问题的人坐的。长椅是听众坐的。周围的座位是那些已经作了明智答复的人坐的。阳台是那些作为咨询人的评委的年长的人用的。在阳台中心有个台子，上面坐着校长。他是向坐在典礼有椅上的男子提问的人。
一切就绪后，台上的人站起来说道：“请回答并解释：灵魂是什么，灵魂的本质又是什么？”
听到这儿，在坐的都感到吃惊并开始嘀咕。坐在长椅上的人喊道：“从古至今有准能知道并理解灵魂是什么，灵魂的性质是什么？这难道是人能够理解的吗？”
坐在阳台上的人说道：“这并非超越人的理解能力。请回答问题。
于是那边坐在椅子上的年青人站起来了，共有五人，年长者知道他们有足够的才智来回答这个问题。他们穿上了宝石色的丝绸长衫，外面是毛制编着花的长袍，头戴配有玫瑰围绕着兰宝石的帽子。
第一个首先在椅子上开始回答问题，他说道：“灵魂及其性质是什么从创世时起就没有被展示给任何人。它是只属于神的秘密。只有灵魂象是主一样处于人之中这一点为人所知。但是关于她的所在之处，智者们曾做出猜测。一些人认为它存在于脑中的松果腺里。他们这样认为是因为人受到脑的直接控制，而大脑是受松果腺影响的，因此影响脑的某物也会影响整个人。”
他又说：“尽管这在大多数人看起来是正确的，但是后来证实事实并非这样。”
他讲完后，将衣服脱掉，帽子摘下，第二个年轻人将它们穿上坐到椅子上继续回答关于灵魂的问题：
“天堂中和世间的人都不知灵魂及其性质是什么。我们只知道是存在的，并且存在于人中，但却不知道具体在哪里。有一点可以确认，它存在于头部，因为人的头脑是思维的地方，人的五官也存在于那里。只有位于头中的灵魂才能赋予这些感官以生命。但是具体灵魂存在于脑的什么位置，我们不知道。
有许多人认为灵魂存在于三个脑室之中，因为它是脑中精髓存在的地方。有人认为它存在于脑体中，因为神经出自那里，并且它将大小脑与脊柱相连。有些人认为它存在于大小脑脑质中。有人认为它是存在于细胞质中，因为它构成了人的组织等等。
“至于我，我不愿作任何选择，而是要让你选择你认为好的观点。”
说完后他将长衣、帽子给第三个人，第三个作了以下回答。
“我这么年轻与这个高难问题没一点关系。我要请求坐在房边有学问的人和在阳台上的智者，请最高天国中的天使。谁能根据自己的思索而认识灵魂呢？”
“关于灵魂存在于那个，我也只能象别人一样做个猜测。我猜测它存在于心脏中，进而存在于血液中。原因是血液控制着人体和头脑。众所周知灵魂是通过血液维持，滋养人体和头脑。”
“另外在《圣经》中也常提到灵魂和心脏——比如你要用灵魂和全身心去爱神。神给人新的灵魂和新的心脏（申命记6:5、10:12，11:13，26:16；
耶利米书32:41；马太福音22:37；马可福音12:30，33；路加福音10:27等等都说血液是躯本的灵魂）。
说到这儿，大厅中的一些人喊到：“有道理，有道理”——这些人是神职人员。
接下来第四个人开始回答问题：
“我也认为没有人有能力知道什么是灵魂以及它的本质。我认为那些为此而费工夫的人是浪费自己的精力。从小时起我就同意古人的观点认为灵魂存在于整个人体中。因而它存在于头的每部分以及躯体的每个部分中。现代人要找到它具体存在的位置是无稽之谈。灵魂是精神性的精髓，它没有具体大小和位置，而只能说其存在与否。人们谈到灵魂时不就是意味着生命吗？生命不就是存在于整体和每个部分吗？”
此后，大厅中许多人表示同意。
接下来第五个人作了以下陈述：
“我不对灵魂是存在于某个部位或存在于人整体中做过许多考虑，我要出于自己的想法来谈一下什么是灵魂以及它的性质。人们认为灵魂是一种纯净的实体象是幽灵，空气或风一样，它来自于人高于动物的理性。我的观点是基于人们在失去了最后一丝气息，别人会说他变成鬼或灵魂了。所以死后仍存在的灵魂就是这样一种气息。否则灵魂还会是什么呢？”
“既然你们坐在阳台上的人认为灵魂是什么以及灵魂的本性是什么是人能够理解的。那么我请你们对此进行解释。”
此时，年长者得到校长的同意对此进行解释。
“请注意，有谁不同意，灵魂是人最内在的最精髓的本质？精髓怎么会没有形式而只是想象呢？因此灵魂是有形的，要讲的是这一形式的本质是什么。它是一种包含一切爱和一切智慧的形式。我们称一切爱的形式为情感，称一切智慧的形式意识。意识与情感一起组成一个形式，它由无数个构成因素按一定顺序，系列和联系组成一个个体。可以说它是无形的，因为从中拿走或增加什么都会改变其性质。难道一切爱的因素和一切智慧的因素不是人的首要构成因素吗？这些都是存在于灵魂中，并由于灵魂而存在于头和身体中。
“你们在世间时相信精灵和天使象是风或幽灵一样。但是现在你能看你们自己现在却是实际的完整的人——世间的人出于物质的躯体而思考，人们知道物质的躯体本身是不会活着并思考的，而是被称为灵魂的精神精髓在思考。现在你们都看到了，现在你们都是以灵魂的形式而存地。你们曾思索，谈论它的不朽性。因为你们是来自于神的爱和智慧的形式，所以你们永远不会死。
“所以，灵魂是一种人的形式，任何东西也不能从中被拿走，任何东西也不能被添加。它是人的最内在的形式。因为外在形式来自于内在和精髓，所以，你们在你们自己和我们看来都是灵魂的形式。”
“简单地说，灵魂就是人本身，它是最内在的人。因此它的形式是最完整最完美的人形。然而它并不是生命，而是对来自于神的生命的接受者，即神的栖息之所。”
说到这许多人表示赞同，还有很多人说要再考虑考虑。
这时我要回家了。在那个学校上方有一片白云。通过房顶进入大厅，照亮了墙，我听到他们看到这样的话语：
耶和华神将生气吹入人的鼻孔里，人就成了有灵魂的人了（《创世纪》2:7）
315. I shall add here two accounts of experiences, of which this is the first.
I once saw not far from me an atmospheric phenomenon. I saw a cloud divided into smaller clouds, some of which were blue and others dark; and I saw these as it were colliding with one another. They were striped with glittering rays which crossed them; sometimes the stripes had sharp tips like sword-points, at other times they appeared square-ended like broken off swords. Sometimes the stripes ran out so as to meet, at other times they withdrew into themselves, rather like boxers. So it looked as if these little clouds of varied colours were fighting one another, but they were playing. Since this atmospheric display took place not far from me, I lifted up my eyes and looking hard I saw boys, young men and old men entering a building constructed of marble, with also porphyry in its foundations. The phenomenon was over this building. Then I asked one of those who were going in what was happening there. 'It is a high-school,' he replied, 'where young men are given an introduction to various matters in the field of wisdom.'
[2] On hearing this I went in with them. I was in the spirit, that is, in much the same state as people in the spiritual world, those who are called spirits and angels. Inside the school there was in front a chair, in the middle were benches, around the sides seats, and a gallery over the entrance. The chair was for the young men who were taking turns to reply to the questions set. The benches were for the audience, the seats at the side for those who had previously given wise answers. The gallery was for the elders who were to be judges and umpires. In the middle of the gallery there was a platform, where a wise man whom they called the headmaster, was seated. He put the questions, and the young men answered these from the chair.
When all were assembled, the man on the platform got up and said, 'Please now reply to this question and answer it if you can: what is the soul and what is its nature?'
[3] On hearing this all were astonished and began to murmur; and some of the crowd on the benches cried out, 'What man is there from the age of Saturn 1down to our times who has been able by any effort of rational thought to see and grasp what the soul is, much less what its nature is? Surely this is beyond the capacity of anyone's intellect.'
But people in the gallery replied to this, 'This is not beyond the intellect, but within its capacity and purview. Just give a reply.'
So the young men got up who had been chosen to mount the chair that day and reply to the questions. There were five of them, who had been examined by the elders and found to be outstandingly clever. They were then sitting on padded seats at the sides of the chair. They then took it in turn, according to the order in which they sat, to climb up to the chair. As each went up, he put on a tunic of opalescent silk and over it a gown of soft wool with flowers woven in it, and a hat on his head with a chaplet of roses surrounded by small sapphires on the crown.
[4] Then I saw the first man so clothed go up and say, 'What the soul is and what its nature is has not been revealed to anyone since the first day of creation. It is a secret which God alone keeps in his treasure-houses. But it has been discovered that the soul dwells in man like a queen. However the location of its court has been the subject of conjecture among learned experts. Some have placed it in the small tubercle between the cerebrum and the cerebellum known as the pineal gland. They have conjectured that this was the seat of the soul because the whole person is controlled from those two brains, and that tubercle regulates them. So what governs the two brains at its whim, must also govern the whole person from head to heel. This view,' he said, 'has been regarded by many in the world as true or very probable, but a later age has rejected it as a mere invention.'
[5] On finishing this speech he took off the gown, tunic and hat, and the second of those chosen put them on and so took the chair. His pronouncement about the soul was that in the whole of heaven and in the whole of the world there is no one who knows what the soul is and what its nature is. 'This much,' he said, 'we know, that the soul exists and is in man; but where it is, is a matter of guesswork. This is certain, that it is in the head, since that is where the intellect thinks and the will forms its resolutions; and it is on the face at the front of the head that man's five sense organs are to be found. What gives all of these life is the soul which resides inside the head; but I would not dare to express an opinion on where its control-chamber is. I have agreed with those who have assigned to it a lodging in the three ventricles of the brain; at other times with those who placed it in the corpora striata there, at other times with those who placed it in the medullary substance of either brain, at other times with those who placed it in the cortical substance, at others with those who placed it in the dura mater. For there was no lack of points to be made in favour of each one of those seats.
[6] 'The point in favour of the three ventricles of the brain was that they are the receptacles of the animal spirits and all the brain's lymphs. The points in favour of the corpora striata were that these compose the marrow through which the nerves emerge, and by means of which either part of the brain has continuous extensions to the spine; and from one or other of these the fibres emerge which compose the whole structure of the body. The points in favour of the medullary substance of either brain were that it is a gathering and massing together of all the fibres which form the starting-point for the development of the whole person. The point in favour of the cortical substance was that here are the first and last ends, and so the beginnings of all the fibres, and so of sensation and movement. The point in favour of the dura mater was that it is the shared covering of either brain, from where it stretches in a kind of continuity over the heart and the viscera of the body. For my part, I do not rate one of these theories as superior to another. Will you please decide and choose which is the best theory?'
[7] After saying this he came down from the chair and passed on the tunic, gown and hat to the third, who went up to the chair and spoke as follows. 'How can I at my age deal with such a lofty subject? I appeal to the learned people seated at the sides here, I appeal to you wise people in the gallery, in fact, I appeal to the angels in the highest heaven: can anyone by the light of his reason form for himself any idea of the soul? As regards its seat in man, I can offer as good a guess an anyone else. My guess is that it is in the heart, and consequently in the blood. My reason for this is that the heart by means of the blood from it controls both the body and the head. There is a large blood-vessel called the aorta emerging from it and reaching the whole of the body; and there are blood-vessels called the carotid arteries emerging from it and reaching the whole of the head. As a result it is universally agreed that the soul by means of blood from the heart sustains, nourishes and gives life to the whole organic system of both the body and the head.
An additional reason for believing this assertion is the fact that Holy Scripture says so many times 'soul and heart.' For instance, you are to love God 'with all your soul and with all your heart'; and God creates in man 'a new soul and a new heart' (Deuteronomy 6:5; 10:12; 11:13; 26:16; Jeremiah 32:41; Matthew 22:37; Mark 12:30, 33; Luke 10:27, and elsewhere). It also says explicitly that the blood is the soul of the flesh (Leviticus 17:11, 14).' On hearing this some people raised their voices to cry 'Very learned!' They were members of the clergy.
[8] After this the fourth put on the garments worn by the previous speaker, and on taking the chair he said, 'I too suspect that there is no one of such a sharp and subtle mind as to be able to discern what the soul is and what its nature is. I think therefore that anyone who wishes to scrutinise it has his subtlety exhausted by useless exertions. But from childhood up I have persisted in believing the opinion of the ancients, that man's soul is in the whole of him and in every part of him, and so is as much in his head and each of its parts as in the body and each of its parts. It is a useless invention of modern scholars to locate its seat in some part rather than everywhere. Also the soul is a spiritual substance, to which neither extension nor position can be attributed, but only residing and filling. Again, is there anyone who does not understand life when he mentions the soul, and is not life in the whole and any part you like to name?' There were many in the audience who supported this statement.
[9] He was followed by the fifth, who wearing the same emblems made this pronouncement from the chair. 'I don't much care to say where the soul is, whether it is in some part or in the whole person. But I will draw on my own resources and disclose my opinion on this question, what the soul is and what its nature is. No one thinks of the soul as anything but something pure, which can be likened to the ether or air or wind, the vital principle in which derives from the faculty of reason, something in which man excels animals. I have based this opinion on the fact that, when a person expires, he is said to breathe out or give up his soul or spirit. As a result too, a soul which goes on living after death is believed to be a breath of this kind, containing the consciousness which we call the soul. What else could the soul be? But because I have heard people from the gallery asserting that the question, what the soul is and what its nature is, is not beyond the grasp of the intellect, but within its scope and purview, I beg and beseech you yourselves to disclose this everlasting secret.'
[10] The elders in the gallery here looked at the headmaster, who had set the question. He understood from their nods that they wanted him to go down and tell them the answer. So he at once got down from the platform, and passing through the auditorium took the chair, and holding up his hand said, 'Please listen to me. Is there anyone who does not believe the soul to be the most intimate and subtle essence of a person? But what is essence without form but a figment of the imagination? The soul then is a form, but what sort of form, I will tell you. It is the form of all the parts of love and all the parts of wisdom. All the parts of love are called affections, and all the parts of wisdom are called perceptions. The perceptions as a result of and so together with the affections make up a single form containing countless parts, but arranged in such order and so coherent that they can be called a unity; and they can be called a unity, because nothing can be taken away from it or be added to it, if it is to remain a unity. What is the human soul but such a form? All the parts of love and all the parts of wisdom are the essentials of such a form, and in the case of a person these essentials are in his soul, and from his soul in his head and body.
[11] 'You are called spirits and angels; and you believed in the world that spirits and angels were like puffs of wind or particles of ether, and so were minds and characters. Now you see clearly that you are truly, really and actually people, who in the world lived and thought in a material body; and you knew that it is not the material body that lives and thinks, but the spiritual substance in that body. This you called the soul, whose form you did not know; yet now you have seen it and go on seeing it. You are all souls, about whose immortality you have heard, thought, talked and written so much; and since you are forms of love and wisdom coming from God, you cannot ever die. The soul then is a human form, from which nothing can be taken away, and to which nothing can be added, and it is the inmost of all the forms throughout the body. Since the forms which are outside receive from the inmost both essence and form, you are therefore souls, just as you appear to be to your sight and to ours. In short, the soul is the real person because it is the inmost person; its form therefore is the human form in full perfection. But it is not life, but it is the nearest receiver of life from God, and so God's dwelling.'
[12] This speech was greeted by many with applause, but there were some who said, 'We must think about this.' I went home, and suddenly there appeared above that high-school, in place of the previous atmospheric display, a shining cloud without any stripes or rays fighting one another. This cloud penetrated the roof and coming inside lit up the walls. I was told that they saw things written on them, among which was this:
Jehovah God breathed into man's nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul. 2Genesis 2:7.
315. To this I will append two narrative accounts. Here is the first:
I once saw, not far from me, an atmospheric wonder. I saw a cloud break up into smaller clouds, some of them light blue, and some dark; and as I watched they seemed to be colliding into each other. Rays of light began to flash in streaks between them, appearing now as sharp as rapiers, now blunted like swords broken. One moment these streaks would race out to strike, the next moment retreat back, altogether like boxers. These different colored little clouds thus looked as though they were fighting with each other, but in sport.
Now because this phenomenon appeared not far from me, I raised my eyes and looked more intently; and I saw boys, young men and older men going into a house, which was built out of marble with a foundation of porphyry. It was over this house that that phenomenon was occurring.
I then spoke to one of the people going in and asked what was happening there.
To that he replied, "It is a school where young men are introduced into various matters having to do with wisdom."
[2] Hearing this, and being in the spirit, that is, in a state like that of people in the spiritual world, who are called spirits and angels, I went in with them. And behold, in that school I saw up front a ceremonial chair; in the central part a number of benches; around the sides some more seats; and over the entrance a balcony. The ceremonial chair was for the young men when it became their turn to respond to the question that would then be put to them. The benches were for those who were there to listen. The seats along the sides were for those who had already answered wisely on previous occasions. And the balcony was for the older men who would be the referees and judges. In the middle of the balcony stood a dais, where a wise man sat whom they called Headmaster; it was he who posed the questions for the young men to respond to from the ceremonial chair.
So then, after all were assembled, the man rose from his dais and said, "Please give your reply now to the following question and explain it if you can: What is the soul, and what is the nature of it?"
[3] On hearing this they were all stunned and began to murmur. And some in the throng on the benches cried out, "What person, from the age of Saturn to our present time, has been able, by any deliberation of reason, to see and lay hold of what the soul is, not to mention what the nature of it is. Is this not beyond the realm of anyone's understanding?"
However, to that the men in the balcony replied, "It is not beyond human understanding, but within its scope and ability to see. Just respond to the question."
So the young men chosen to ascend the chair that day and respond to the question stood up. There were five of them, whom the older men had examined and found proficient in intelligence, and who were then sitting on long, cushioned seats to the sides of the ceremonial chair. Moreover, these afterwards ascended the chair in the order in which they were seated; and as each one ascended it, he would put on a tunic of opal-colored silk, and over that a gown of soft wool inwoven with flowers, and in addition a cap whose peak bore a rosette surrounded by little sapphires.
[4] Accordingly I saw the first one thus dressed ascend the chair. And he said, "What the soul is and what the nature of it is has not been revealed to anyone from the time of creation, being a secret locked away in repositories belonging to God alone. Only this much has been disclosed, that the soul dwells in a person like a queen. But where her court is, this a number of learned seers have guessed at. Some have supposed that it is located in the little protuberance between the cerebrum and cerebellum called the pineal gland. They have imagined the seat of the soul to be there on the ground that a person is governed in his entirety by the cerebrum and cerebellum, which in turn are directed by that gland; consequently that that which directs those two parts of the brain to its bidding also directs the entire person from head to heel."
But he said, "Although this appeared as true or likely to many in the world, in a later age it was rejected as a fiction."
[5] After he had spoken, he took off the gown, tunic and cap, and the second of the young men selected put them on and placed himself in the chair. His statement concerning the soul was as follows:
"No one, in all of heaven and in all the world, knows what the soul is and what the nature of it is. We know only that it exists, and that it exists in a person; but where is a matter of conjecture. This much is certain, that it exists in the head, since that is where the intellect thinks and where the will wills, and it is there in the face in the forepart of the head that a person's five senses are located. Nothing else gives life to these but the soul which is seated somewhere inside the head. But where exactly its court is there I would not venture to say, though I have agreed at different times with those who assign it a seat in the three ventricles of the brain, with those put it in the corpora striata there, with those who put it in the medullary substance of the cerebrum and cerebellum, with those who put it in the cortical substance, and at times with those who put it in the dura mater; for arguments have not been lacking to prompt affirmative votes, so to speak, in support of each of these as the seat.
[6] "Some people have voted in favor of the three ventricles of the brain on the ground that they are receptacles of all the brain's animating essences and fluids. Some have voted in favor of the corpora striata on the ground that they form the medulla through which the nerves exit and through which the cerebrum and cerebellum are continued into the spine, from which medulla and spine issue the fibers of which the whole body is woven. Some have voted in favor of the medullary substance of the cerebrum and cerebellum on the ground that it is a conglomeration and mass of all the fibers which constitute the initial elements of the entire person. Some have voted in favor of the cortical substance on the ground that this is where the first and last terminations of a person are, from which come the beginnings of all the fibers and thus of all sensations and movements. Still others have voted in favor of the dura mater on the ground that it is the overall covering of the entire brain, and extends from there by a kind of continuation around the heart and other internal organs of the body.
"For my part, I do not think any more of one theory than another. I leave it to you to please judge for yourselves and pick which is better."
[7] So saying he descended from the chair and handed the tunic, gown and cap to the third one in line; and mounting the chair the third young man made the following response:
"What business do I have at my young age with so lofty a subject? I appeal to the learned gentlemen sitting here at the sides. I appeal to you wiser men in the balcony. Indeed, I appeal to the angels of the highest heaven. Can anyone, by any rational light of his own, gain for himself any idea of the soul?
"As for its seat in a person, however, concerning this I can, like the others, offer a speculation. And I speculate that it is in the heart and from that in the blood. I come to this speculation because the heart by its blood governs both body and head; for it sends out the great artery called the aorta to the whole of the body, and the arteries called the carotids to the whole of the head. It is universally agreed therefore that it is from the heart by means of the blood that the soul sustains, nourishes and animates the entire organic system of both body and head.
"Adding to the plausibility of this assertion is the fact that the Holy Scripture so often mentions the soul and heart - as for example that you should love God with all your soul and with all your heart, and that God creates in man a new soul and new heart (Deuteronomy 6:5, 10:12, 11:13, 26:16; Jeremiah 32:41; Matthew 22:37; Mark 12:30,33; Luke 10:27; and elsewhere 1); and saying straight out that the blood is the soul of the flesh (Leviticus 17:11,14)."
When they heard this, some of them lifted up their voice, saying, "Masterful! Masterful!" - they being members of the clergy.
[8] After that the fourth in line took from him the vestments and put them on, and having placed himself in the chair, said:
"I, too, suspect that no one is possessed of such fine and polished genius that he can discern what the soul is and what the nature of it is. I judge accordingly that anyone who tries to investigate it only wastes the cleverness of his intellect in vain endeavors. Nevertheless, from childhood I have maintained a belief in an opinion held by the ancients, that a person's soul dwells in his whole being and in every part of it, thus that it dwells both in the head and its individual parts and in the body and its individual parts; and that it was a conceit invented by modern thinkers to assign it a seat here or there and not everywhere. The soul is furthermore a spiritual essence, to which is ascribed neither dimension nor location but indwelling and repleteness. Who, too, does not mean life when he refers to the soul? And does life not exist in the whole and in every part?"
At these words, many in the hall expressed approval.
[9] After him the fifth speaker arose, and outfitted in the same regalia, he presented from the chair the following statement:
"I do not take the time to say where the soul is - whether it resides in any one part or everywhere in the whole; but from my fund and store of knowledge I will declare my mind on the question of what the soul is and what the nature of it is. No one thinks of the soul except as a pure entity which may be likened to ether, air or wind, in which the vital force is from the rationality which human beings have over animals. I base this opinion on the fact that when a person expires or breathes his last, he is said to give up the ghost or soul. For this reason the soul that lives after death is also believed to be such an exhalation, in which is the cognitive life which we call the soul. What else can the soul be?
"However, because I heard you men in the balcony say that the question of the soul - what it is and what the nature of it is - is not beyond human understanding but within its scope and ability to see, I ask and implore you to lay open this eternal mystery yourselves."
[10] At that the older men in the balcony looked at the headmaster who had posed the question. And understanding from the motions of their heads that they wished him to go down and explain, he immediately descended from his dais, crossed the hall and placed himself in the chair. Then stretching out his hand there he said:
"Pay attention, please. Who does not believe the soul to be the inmost and finest essence of a person? And what is an essence without a form other than a figment of the imagination? The soul therefore is a form; but what the nature of the form is remains to be told. It is a form embracing all elements of love and all elements of wisdom. We call all the elements of love affections; and we call all the elements of wisdom perceptions. These perceptions, flowing from the affections and thus together with them, constitute a single form, which contains an endless number of constituent elements in such an order, series and connection that they may be said to be one and indivisible. They may be said to be one and indivisible because nothing can be taken from the whole or added to it without changing its character. What else is the human soul but such a form? Are not all the elements of love and all the elements of wisdom in a person the essential constituents of that form, these being in the soul, and in the head and body from the soul?
[11] "You are called spirits and angels, and in the world you believed that spirits and angels were like bits of wind or ether and so were disembodied minds and hearts. But now you clearly see that you are truly, really and actually whole people - people who in the world lived and thought in a material body, and who knew then that the material body does not live and think, but the spiritual essence in that body, which you called the soul whose form you did not know. And yet now you have seen it and do see it. You are all souls, whose immortality you have heard, thought, spoken and written so much about. And it is because you are forms of love and wisdom from God that you can never hereafter die.
"So then, the soul is a human form, from which nothing can be taken away, and to which nothing can be added, and it is the inmost form in all the forms of the entire person. Moreover, because the forms which exist outwardly take both their essence and their form from the inmost one, therefore you, as you appear to yourselves and to us, are souls.
"The soul, in short, is the person himself, because it is the innermost person. Consequently its form is a fully and perfectly human form. Yet it is not life, but the most immediate recipient vessel of life from God and thus the dwelling place of God."
[12] At this many in the hall applauded; but some said, "We will have to think about it."
I then departed for home; and lo, over that school, in place of the earlier phenomenon, I saw a white cloud without the rays or streaks of light combating with each other. Then, penetrating through the roof, the cloud entered the hall and lighted up the walls; and I heard that they saw inscriptions, and included among them also this one:
Jehovah God breathed into the man's nostrils the breath of life, 2and the man became a living soul. (Genesis 2:7)
Footnotes:
1. E.g. Deuteronomy 30:6; Psalms 51:10; Ezekiel 11:19.
2. Literally, soul of life. Hebrew: breath, spirit.
315. I add to this two stories. This is the first:
One time I saw something happening in the sky not far from me. I saw a cloud separated into little clouds. Some of these were blue and some dark, and it seemed as if they were bumping into each other. flashing across them were striped rays that seemed now sharp like sword points, now blunt like broken swords. The rays now darted out, now retreated, just like boxers. That is, these little clouds of different colors seemed as if they were fighting among themselves. But they were playing. And since this meteorological phenomenon appeared not far from me, I raised my eyes, focused my eyesight, and saw boys, young men, and old men going into a house built of marble, with a foundation of porphyry. The phenomenon was above this house.
Then I spoke to one of the people going in and asked, "What's this?"
"It's a school where young men get a start in various things that have to do with wisdom."
When I heard this I went in with them. I was in spirit. That is, in the same state the people in the spiritual world are called spirits and angels. Looking around in the school I saw a raised chair at the front, benches in the middle, seats all around the sides, and a balcony over the entrance. The raised chair was for the young men who took turns answering the problems that were proposed, the benches were for the scholars, the seats at the sides were for those who had answered wisely before, and the balcony was for the older ones who would be arbiters and judges.
In the middle of the balcony was a dais where a wise man they called the chief teacher sat. He proposed the problems that the young men would answer from the chair.
When they were assembled the man rose up from the dais and said, "Please respond to this problem, and solve it if you can.
What is the soul, and what is it like?"
Everyone was astounded when they heard these words, and they murmured. Some of the group on the benches called out, "Who among men, from Saturn's time to this time of ours, has been able to see and understand with any rational thought what the soul is, much less what it is like? Isn't this beyond everyone's intellectual range?"
But a response to this came back from the balcony, "This is not beyond understanding but is within reason and in plain sight. Just answer."
And the young men chosen that day to go up to the chair and respond to the problem, stood up. They were five whom the elders had examined and found to be strong thinkers, and then they sat on couches beside the chair. Then, in the order they were seated in, they went up. When each went up to the chair he put on a tunic of silk, opal in color, and over it a robe of soft wool with flowers woven into it, and on his head a skullcap with a garland of roses surrounded by little sapphires on the crown of it.
I watched the first one dressed this way go up. He said, "What the soul is and what it is like has not been revealed to anyone from the day of creation. It is a mystery among the treasures of God alone. But this is disclosed, that a soul resides in a person like a queen. Where her court is, learned seers have conjectured. Some guess that it is in a little gland between the cerebrum and the cerebellum, called the pineal gland. They put the seat of the soul there because the whole person is regulated from these two brains, and that gland regulates them. Because what governs your brains also governs your whole body, from head to heel." And he said, "Therefore this has seemed true, or like the truth, to many in the world. But after a long time it has been rejected as fiction."
After he said this he took off the robe, tunic, and skullcap. The second of those chosen put it on and went to the chair. His proposition about the soul was, "Not in all heaven and in all the earth is it known what the soul is and what it is like. It is known that it exists and that it is in people, but where it is, is a guess. This is certain that it is in your head, since the intellect thinks there and will intends there, and in the front of the head, in the face, are a person's five senses. Nothing gives life to intellect, will, and senses except the soul that resides in the head. But where in your head its court is I dare not say. But I have agreed with those who give it a seat in the three ventricles of the brain. Sometimes I agree with those who place it in the corpora striata there, sometimes with those who place it in the medullary substance of each brain, sometimes with those who place it in the cortical substance, sometimes with those who place it in the dura mater. For there has been no lack of votes, so to speak, in confirmation of each of the places.
"There have been votes for the three ventricles in the brain because they are vessels for the animal spirits and all the lymphs of the brain; votes for the corpora striata because they make the medulla through which the nerves go out and through which both brains connect with the spine, and from the nerves and brains, fibers go out that weave the whole body together; votes for the medullary substance of each brain because this is the collection and gathering of all the fibers that are the beginnings of the whole person; votes for the cortical substance because the first and the last ends, and thus the beginnings, of all fibers and thus of all senses and motions, are there; votes for the dura mater because this is the common covering of each brain and extends from there, by a kind of continuation, over the heart and over the viscera of the body.
"As for me, I do not advocate one theory more than another.
Please judge and choose which you prefer."
He got down from the chair when he had said this, and he turned the tunic, robe and skull - cap over to the third, who said these words when he got up into the chair. "What am I, a youngster, doing with such a sublime theme? I call on the learned ones sitting on the sides here, I call on you wise men in the balcony, I even call on the angels of the highest heaven. Can anyone get any idea about the soul from the light of his reason? But like the others I can speculate about its seat in a person. And I guess that it's in the heart and for that reason in the blood. This is my guess because by its blood the heart reigns in body and head. It sends the great vessel called the aorta out into the whole body, and it sends the carotid arteries into the whole head. This accounts for the general agreement that the soul sustains, nourishes, and vivifies the whole organic system - both head and body - by the heart through the blood. The fact that Holy Scripture says 'soul and heart' so many times lends credence to this. For instance, that God is to be loved 'with the whole soul and with the whole heart,' and that God creates in a person 'a new soul and a new heart'
(Deuteronomy 6:5; 10:12; 11:13; 26:16; Jeremiah 32:41; Matthew 22:37; Mark 12:30,
33; Luke 10:27; and other places). And it says plainly that 'the blood is the soul of the flesh'" (Leviticus 17:11, 14).
Some raised their voices, saying, "Learned! Learned!" They were clergymen.
Then the fourth put on the third one's clothes, got into the chair and said, "I, too, suspect that no one is keen and sharpwitted enough to be able to discern what the soul is and what it is like. So, in my opinion, when they try to pry into it they dull their edge on nothings. But from childhood I have stuck faithfully with the opinion that ancient people had, that a person's soul is in all of him and in every part of him, thus just as much in his head and every part of it as in his body and every part of it. And I think it's been a hoax contrived by modern people to designate the soul's seat somewhere, and not everywhere. Besides, soul is spiritual substance, which dimensions and location do not apply to, while residence and completeness do. And who doesn't mean 'life' when he says 'soul'? Isn't life throughout and in each part?"
Many in the auditorium applauded when he said this.
Then the fifth stood up and, furnished with the same clothing, he spoke out from the chair. "I'm not going to take up time saying where the soul is - whether in some part or everywhere in the whole. But from my stock and store I disclose my feelings about this: what the soul is and what it is like.
"No one can think of the soul except as like something pure, comparable to ether or air or wind, in which the vital element is from rationality, which man has more than beasts. I have based this opinion on the fact that when a person dies he is said to breathe out or give up his soul or spirit. And so a soul living after death is thought to be such a breath, with thinking life in it, called the soul. What else can the soul be?
"But I heard someone saying from the balcony that the problem of what the soul is and what it is like is not beyond understanding but within reason and in plain sight, so I beg and pray you yourself to unlock this eternal mystery."
The elders in the balcony looked at the master teacher who had proposed the problem. He could tell from their nods that they wanted him to go down and teach. He went down from the dais at once, crossed the auditorium, got into the chair, spread his hand out and said, "Please listen. Who does not believe that soul is the inmost and subtlest essence of a person? And what is essence without form but a figment of the imagination? So a soul is a form. But I'll tell what form. It is the form of everything belonging to love and everything belonging to wisdom. Everything having to do with love is called affections, and everything having to do with wisdom is called perceptions.
"Perceptions due to feelings and thus with feelings make one form in which there are innumerable forms in such order, series, and coherency that they can be called one thing. They can be called one thing because you cannot remove anything from it or add anything to it and keep it what it is. What is a human soul but such a form? Aren't all the things related to love and all the things related to wisdom essentials of that form? And in a person these things are in his soul and, by means of his soul, are in his head and body.
"You are called spirits and angels, and in the world you thought that spirits and angels are like winds or atmospheres, thus like minds and souls. And now you see clearly that in truth you are really and actually people who lived and thought in a material body in the world. And you know that a material body does not live and think, but a spiritual substance in that body does. And this you called a soul. You didn't understand its form, though you have seen it now, and you do see it.
"All of you are the souls about whose immortality you have heard, thought, said, and written so much. And you are forms of the love and wisdom from God, so you can never die. And so soul is the human form that nothing can be taken away from and nothing can be added to, and it is the inmost form of all the forms of your whole body. And the forms that are more outward get both their essence and their form from within, so you, just as you appear to yourselves and to us, are souls.
"In a word, the soul is the person himself, because it is the innermost person. For this reason its form is fully and perfectly a human form. Yet it is not life but is the vessel of life from God nearest to God, and in this way it is a place where God lives."
When he had said these things many applauded, but some said, "We'll think about it."
Then I went home. And I noticed that in place of the earlier aerial phenomenon over the high school a bright white cloud appeared, without stripes or rays sparring among themselves. The cloud came in, penetrating the roof and lighting up the walls.
And I heard that they saw things written - this among others:
"Jehovah God ... breathed a soul of lives into the man's nose, and the man was made into a living soul" (Genesis 2:7).
315. To the above I will add two Memorable Relations. First: I once saw not far from me a meteor. I saw a cloud divided into little clouds, some of which were blue and some opaque. These I saw colliding, as it were, with one another. Rays flashed across them in the form of streaks appearing now sharp like the points of swords, now blunt like broken blades. These streaks now darted forwards, now retreated, exactly like pugilists. It seemed as though the varicolored cloudlets were fighting with one another, but they were sporting. Since the meteor appeared to be not far away, I lifted up my eyes, and looking intently, saw boys, men, and old men entering a house which was built of marble with a substructure of porphyry. Above this house was the phenomenon which I had seen. Then, addressing one of those who were entering, I asked, "What is going on there?" He answered, "A gymnasium where young men are initiated into various matters pertaining to wisdom."
[2] Hearing this, I went in with them, being in the spirit, that is, in a state like that in which are men in the spiritual world who are called spirits and angels. And lo, in the gymnasium, in front was seen a stately chair with steps; in the middle, benches; round about at the sides, seats, and over the entrance a balcony. The chair was for the young men who gave answer to the problem then to be proposed; the benches were for the auditors; the seats at the sides for those who had answered wisely on previous occasions; and the balcony for the elders who were to be the arbiters and judges. In the middle of the balcony was a tribune where sat a wise man whom they called Chief Teacher. It was he who proposed the problems which the young men were to answer from the chair.
After they were assembled, this man arose from the tribune and said, "Give answer now, I pray, to this problem, and solve it if you can: What is the soul, and what is its nature?"
[3] On hearing this problem all were amazed, and there was a general murmur. Some of the assembly sitting on the benches then exclaimed, "Who among men, from the Saturnian age to the present time, has been able to see and apprehend with any rational thought what the soul is, and still less what its nature? Is not this above the sphere of the understanding of all men?" But to this those in the balcony replied, "It is not above the understanding but within it and before it; only answer."
The young men chosen for that day to mount the chair and give answer to the problem then rose up. They were five young men who had been examined by the elders and found to excel in sagacity. They were then sitting on couches at the sides of the chair. Later they mounted the chair in the order in which they were sitting. When going up, each put on a silk tunic of an opaline color, over this a robe of soft wool in which flowers were embroidered, and on his head a cap, upon the crown of which was a chaplet of roses encircled with small sapphires.
[4] I saw the first young man go up thus clothed. He said: "What the soul is and what its nature, has not been revealed to any one since the day of creation. It is an arcanum among the treasures of God alone. It has, however, been disclosed that the soul resides in man as a queen, and learned seers have conjectured as to the place of her court. Some conjecture that it is in a small tubercle between the cerebrum and cerebellum, called the pineal gland. They fixed the seat of the soul there because the whole man is ruled from those two brains, and this tubercle regulates them. Therefore, regulating the brains at its will, it also regulates the whole man from head to heel." He then added, "To many in the world this appeared to be true or probable, but a later age has rejected it as a figment."
[5] When he had said this, he put off the robe, tunic, and cap, and the second of the chosen young men put them on and entered the chair. His statement respecting the soul was as follows: "What the soul is and what its nature is unknown in the whole of heaven and in all the world. That there is a soul is known, and also that it is within man, but where, is a matter of conjecture. That it is in the head is certain, since there the understanding thinks and the will intends; moreover, frontwards in the face of the head are man's five sensories. Nothing gives life to the latter as well as to the former save the soul which resides in the head. But where in the head its court is, this I do not venture to say, though in the past I have agreed sometimes with those who place its seat in the three ventricles of the cerebrum, sometimes with those who place its seat in the corpora striata there, sometimes with those who place its seat in the medullary substance of each brain, sometimes with those who place it in the cortical substance, sometimes with those who place it in the dura mater.
[6] Votes based on confirmations in favor of each of these seats have not been lacking. The arguments favoring the three ventricles were, that these ventricles are the receptacles of animal spirits and lymphs from all parts of the cerebrum. The arguments favoring the striated bodies 1were, that these bodies furnish the medulla through which the nerves have their exit and through which both brains are continued into the spine, and from the latter and the former issue the fiber of which the whole body is contextured. The arguments favoring the medullary substance of the two brains were, that this substance is a collection and congeries of all the fiber which are the initiaments of the whole man. The arguments favoring the cortical substance were, that in this substance are the first ends and the last, and thus the beginnings of all the fiber, and so of all sensations and motions. The arguments favoring the dura mater were that this mater is the common covering of both brains, and from these, by a kind of continuity, extends over the heart and over the viscera of the body. As for myself, I make no decision concerning any one argument more than another. Do you yourselves decide, I pray, and elect which of them is the preferable."
[7] Having thus spoken, he descended from the chair and passed the tunic, robe, and cap to the third young man. Ascending the chair, the latter then said: "What have I, a young man, to do with so sublime a theorem? I appeal to the learned men sitting here at the sides; I appeal to you wise men in the balcony; yea, I appeal to the angels of the highest heaven, whether any one from his own rational light can get any idea of the soul. As to its seat in man, however, I, like others, can make conjecture; and I conjecture that it is in the heart and thence in the blood. This is my conjecture because the heart by its blood rules both the body and the head; for it sends out the great vessel called the aorta into the whole body, and the vessels called the carotids into the whole head. Hence there is general agreement that it is from the heart by means of the blood that the soul sustains, nourishes, vivifies the whole organic system of the body and head. What adds to the credibility of this assertion is the fact that soul and heart are so often mentioned in Sacred Scripture, as that thou shalt love God from the whole heart and the whole soul, and that God creates in man a new soul and a new heart (Deuteronomy 6:5; 10:12; 11:13; 26:16; Jeremiah 32:41; Matthew 22:37; Mark 12:30,33; Luke 10:27; and other passages); and in Leviticus 17:11,14, it is openly said that the blood is the soul of the flesh." On hearing this, some raised their voices and exclaimed, "Learnedly spoken, learnedly spoken." They were of the clergy.
[8] Then the fourth young man put on the vestments of the former speaker, and entering the chair, said: "I also suspect that no one is of a genius so subtle and refined that he can discern what the soul is and what its nature. I opine therefore, that in the man who wishes to investigate it, subtlety is wasted in vain efforts. Yet, from boyhood I have retained a belief in the opinion held by the ancients, that man's soul is in the whole of him and in every part of that whole; thus, that it is both in the head and the several parts thereof, and in the body and in its several parts; and that the assigning it a seat in some special place and not everywhere was a vain notion invented by the moderns. The soul, moreover, is a spiritual substance, and of this, extension cannot be predicated, nor can place, but only habitation and impletion. Besides, when any one mentions soul, does he not mean life? and is not life in the whole and in every part?" Many in the audience showed their approval of these remarks.
[9] The fifth young man then arose and, adorned with the same insignia, spoke from the chair as follows: "I do not dwell on telling where the soul is, whether in some one part or everywhere in the whole; but from my stock and store, I will open my mind on the question, What is the soul and what its nature? No one thinks of the soul as being aught else than a pure something which can be likened to ether or air or wind, wherein, by reason of the rationality which man has above beasts, is something vital. I base this opinion upon the fact that when a man expires, he is said to breathe out or give up his soul or spirit. Moreover, it is from this that the soul, when living after death, is thought to be such a breath wherein is the cogitative life called soul. What else can the soul be? But as I heard you say from the balcony that the problem concerning the soul, what it is and what its nature, is not above the understanding but in it and before it, I beg and pray that you yourselves will open up this eternal arcanum."
[10] The elders in the balcony then looked to the Chief Teacher who had proposed the problem. Understanding from their nods that they wished him to go down and teach, he at once descended from the tribune, passed through the auditorium, and entered the chair. Then, extending his hand, he said: "Listen, I pray. Who does not believe the soul to be the inmost and subtlest essence of man! and what is an essence without a form but an imaginary entity? The soul, therefore, is a form. As to the nature of its form, this shall now be told. It is the form of all things pertaining to love, and of all things pertaining to wisdom. All things pertaining to love are called affections, and all pertaining to wisdom are called perceptions. The latter are from the former, and the two together thus make one form wherein innumerable things are in such order, series, and coherence, that they can be called a one. They can be called a one because, if that one is to remain what it is, nothing can be taken away from it, nor anything be added. What is the human soul but such a form? Are not all things pertaining to love, and all things pertaining to wisdom, the essentials of that form? And with man these are in his soul and, from his soul, in his head and body.
[11] You are called spirits and angels; and in the world you thought that spirits and angels and thus minds and animi are as winds or ethers. But now you see clearly that you are truly, really, and actually men--men who in the world had lived and thought in a material body. You knew that it is not the material body that lives and thinks but the spiritual substance in that body. You called this the soul, but did not know its form. Yet, you have now seen it and still see it. All here present are souls, about the immortality of which you have heard, thought, spoken, and written so much; and being forms of love and wisdom from God, you cannot die to all eternity. The soul then is a human form from which not the least thing can be taken away, and to which not the least can be added. It is also the inmost form of all the forms of the entire body. And since the forms which are outside it take their essence and form from this inmost form, therefore you, just as you appear to yourselves and to us, are souls. In a word, the soul, being the inmost man, is the man himself, and therefore its form is the human form in all fullness and perfection. Yet it is not life but the nearest receptacle of life from God, and thus the dwelling-place of God."
[12] Many applauded these words, but some said, "We must weigh them." I then went home and lo, in place of the former meteor there was seen above the gymnasium a bright white cloud, devoid of contending streaks or rays. This cloud, penetrating the roof, entered the gymnasium and illumined its walls, and I heard that they saw inscriptions there, and among others the following: Jehovah God breathed into man's nostrils the SOUL OF LIVES and man became a LIVING SOUL. Genesis 2:7.
Footnotes:
1. I.e., the corpora striata and the optic thalami.
315. I append two Memorabilia.
I. I saw 1an odd meteor once not far from me. A cloud broke up into small clouds, some blue and some dark; they seemed to me to be clashing together. Streaky rays shot across them, now sharp like swordpoints, then blunt like broken swords; at one moment darting at one another, the next retreating, quite like pugilists. These small varicolored clouds, seemingly fighting one another, were only sporting. As the meteor appeared at no great distance from me, I raised my eyes, and, gazing intently, made out boys, and young and old men, entering a house built of marble with a foundation of porphyry. The phenomenon was over this house.
I addressed one of those entering and asked: "What is happening?"
The man answered, "This is a school where youths are initiated into various matters relating to wisdom."
[2] Hearing this I entered with them, being in the spirit, that is, in a state like that of men in the spiritual world, who are then called spirits and angels. Inside I found a rostrum up forward, benches in the center, seats at the sides, and over the entrance a balcony. The rostrum was for the youths who, one after another, were to address themselves to the problem to be propounded; the benches were for the auditors; the seats at the sides for those who had answered wisely on previous occasions; and the balcony for the elders, who were to be arbiters and judges. In the center of the balcony was a dais where sat a wise man whom they called the chief teacher; he put the questions to which the young men were to respond from the rostrum.
When all had assembled, the man on the dais arose and said, "Address yourselves now, I pray, to this problem, and solve it if you can: What is the soul, and what is its nature?"
[3] There was a murmur of surprise at the problem. Some of the auditors on the benches exclaimed, "What mortal from the age of Saturn to our own has been able to see and grasp with any rational thought what the soul is, still less what its nature is? Is this not above the sphere of everybody's understanding?"
But the judges in the balcony replied, "The subject is not above the understanding, but within its grasp and view; only answer."
Then the young men chosen for that day arose, who were to mount the rostrum and speak to the problem. There were five of them; they had been examined by the elders and found to excel in sagacity. They were sitting on divans at the sides of the rostrum, and went up in the order in which they sat. Each, on going up, put on a tunic of silk of an opal color, over this a toga of soft wool on which flowers were woven, and on his head a cap, on the crown of which was a rosette encircled with small sapphires.
[4] I saw the first youth thus clothed ascend. He said, "What the soul is, and what its nature is, has been revealed to no one since the day of creation. It is a secret in the treasury of the one God. It is known that the soul dwells within man like a queen; but as to where her palace is, learned seers have only conjectured; some, that it is in a small tubercle between cerebrum and cerebellum, called the pineal gland. They have supposed that the seat of the soul is there, because the whole man is governed from those two brains and these the tubercle in turn disposes; what disposes the brains at will must rule the man from head to foot." He added, "To many in the world this view seemed to be the truth or the probability; but after a time it was rejected as a figment."
[5] So concluding, he put off toga, tunic and cap, and the second of the chosen put them on, and stepped onto the rostrum. His statement about the soul was as follows:
"In all heaven and in all the world it is unknown what the soul is, and what its nature is. It is known that it exists, and that it is within man, but where, is a matter of conjecture. So much is certain, that it is in the head, for there the understanding thinks, and there the will purposes, and man's five organs of sense are at the front of the head, in the face. Only the soul which resides in the head gives life to all these. But where in all these, its court is, I do not myself venture to say. At different times I have agreed with those who place its seat in the three ventricles of the brain; with those who place it in the corpora striata there; with those who put it in the medullary substance of each brain; with those who place it in the cortical substance, and with those who place it in the dura mater.
[6] Votes have not been wanting in support of each seat - votes for the three ventricles in the brain, because they are receptacles of the animal spirits and of all the lymphs of the brain; votes for the corpora striata, because these form the medulla through which the nerves go forth, and through which each brain is continued into the spine, and from one and the other proceed the fibers out of which the whole body is woven together; votes for the medullary substance of each brain, because this is a collection and assemblage of all the fibers which are the rudiments of the whole man; votes for the cortical substance, because first and last ends are there, and thence are the beginnings of all the fibers, and thus of the senses and motions; votes for the dura mater, because it is the common covering of each brain and extends thence by a kind of continuation over the heart and over the viscera of the body. As for me, I do not decide for any one of these conjectures more than for another. I beg you to decide and choose which you prefer."
[7] Having spoken so he descended and handed tunic, toga and cap to the third, who mounted the rostrum and said:
"What have I, a young man, to do with so sublime a theme? I appeal to the learned men sitting at either side, I appeal to you wise men in the balcony, yes, I appeal to the angels of the highest heaven, whether one can gain an idea of the soul by one's own rational light. Like the others I can conjecture, however, about its seat in man. I opine that it is in the heart and thence in the blood. The reason for my opinion is that the heart by its blood governs both the body and the head. By the great vessel called the aorta it reaches into all the body and by the vessels called carotids into all the head. There is universal agreement, therefore, that from the heart and by means of the blood the soul sustains, nourishes and vivifies the whole organic system of the body and of the head. It lends credibility to this view that "soul" and "heart" are so often coupled in Sacred Scripture:
Thou shalt love God with all the heart and with all the soul; and God creates in man a new soul and a new heart (Deuteronomy 6:5; 10:12; 11:13; 26:16; Jeremiah 32:41; Matthew 22:37; Mark 12:30, 33; Luke 10:27; and other places).
It is plainly said, too:
The blood is the soul of the flesh (Leviticus 17:11, 14)."
On hearing this some raised their voices and exclaimed, "Learned! Learned!" They were ecclesiastics.
[8] Then the fourth, having put on the garments of the previous speaker, stepped onto the rostrum, and said:
"I also surmise that no one possesses a genius subtle and refined enough to discover what the soul is and what its nature is. I am therefore of the opinion that one who seeks to pry into this subject wastes subtlety on the impossible. Yet I have persisted from boyhood in the opinion of the ancients that the soul of man is in the whole of him and in every part - in the head, therefore, and in its least parts, and in the body and its least parts. I think the moderns originated the groundless notion of fixing the seat of the soul somewhere, and not everywhere. The soul is a spiritual substance of which neither extension nor place is predicable, but indwelling and impletion. Moreover, when one speaks of the soul, does one not mean the life? And is not the life in the whole and in every part?"
Many in the auditorium favored this opinion.
[9] Then the fifth youth arose, and adorned with the same insignia, spoke thus from the rostrum:
"I do not stop to say where the soul is, whether in some part or everywhere in the whole. But from my stock and store I open my mind on the question, What is the soul? And what is its nature? The soul is conceived by every one to be a pure something, comparable to ether, air or wind, in which is something vital from the reason which man has above the beasts. I base this opinion upon the fact that when a man expires he is said to breathe out or give up the soul or spirit. Hence also the soul living after death is believed to be such a breath, in which is the thought-life called the soul. What else can the soul be? But as I heard you say from the balcony that the problem of what the soul is and what its nature is, is not above the understanding but within its grasp and view, I beg and pray that you yourselves will unveil this eternal arcanum."
[10] Then the elders in the balcony looked toward the chief teacher who had proposed the question. Understanding from their regard that they wished him to descend and teach them, he quit his platform in the balcony and, passing through the auditorium mounted the rostrum. With hand extended, he said:
"Listen, if you will. Who does not believe that the soul is the inmost and subtlest essence of the human being? But essence without form is a mere creation of the reason. The soul then is a form. But what form? It is the form of all things of love and all things of wisdom, all things of love being what are called affections, and all things of wisdom being what are called perceptions. From and with the affections the perceptions constitute a single form, in which are innumerable things in such order, series, and coherence, that they can be called one. They can be called one because nothing can be subtracted and nothing can be added if the form is to remain what it is. What is the human soul but such a form? Are not all things of love and all things of wisdom essentials of that form? And with man they are in the soul, and from the soul in the head and in the body.
[11] You are called spirits and angels. In the world you believed that spirits and angels are like winds or ethers, and thus minds and breaths. Now, however, you see clearly that you are really and actually men, who in the world lived and thought in a material body. You know that the material body does not live and think, but the spiritual substance in that body, and this you called the soul, whose form you did not know. Now you have seen it and see it. You yourselves are all souls, about the immortality of which you have heard, thought, spoken and written so much; being forms of love and wisdom from God, you cannot die to eternity. The soul then is the human form, from which nothing can be subtracted and to which nothing can be added. It is the inmost form of all forms in the entire body; the outer forms have both essence and form from the inmost. Therefore you, as you appear to yourselves and to us, are souls. In a word, the soul is the man himself, being the inmost man; its form is the human form in fullness and perfection. Still the soul is not life, but the first receptacle of life from God; thus it is God's dwelling-place."
[12] Many applauded these words, but some said, "We will think it over."
I then started home. And now, instead of the former phenomenon, there appeared over the school a bright white cloud without the belligerent streaks or rays, and this cloud penetrated the roof and illuminated the walls. I heard that inscriptions sprang into sight on the walls, this among others:
Jehovah God breathed into man's nostrils the soul of lives and man became a living soul (Genesis 2:7).
Footnotes:
1. These Memorabilia occur again in True Christian Religion 697.
315. To this are added two Relations. First: I once saw not far from me an aerial phenomenon: I beheld a cloud divided into little clouds, some of which were of heavenly blue and some dark; and they appeared to me as if in collision with one another. Streaky rays flashed across them, which appeared now sharp like the points of swords, now blunt like broken swords; and the streaks now darted forwards, now withdrew into themselves, altogether like pugilists. Thus these small different colored clouds appeared as if fighting with one another, but they were at play. And as the appearance seemed not far away from me, I lifted up my eyes and looked intently, and saw boys, young men, and old men entering a house, which was built of marble with a substructure of porphyry. The phenomenon was above this house. Then, addressing one of those who were entering, I asked:
'What is here?' He answered, 'A gymnasium, where young men are initiated into various matters that pertain to wisdom.'
Hearing this I went in with them. I was in the spirit, that is, in a similar state to that in which men are in the spiritual world, who are called spirits and angels. And lo! in the gymnasium there appeared in front, a chair; in the middle, benches; at the sides, seats round about; and over the entrance, an orchestra. The chair was for the young men who made answer to the problem to be proposed at that time; the benches were for the auditors; the seats at the sides were for those who had answered wisely before; and the orchestra was for the elders, who were to be arbiters and judges. In the middle of the orchestra was a tribunal where sat a wise man whom they called chief teacher, who proposed the problems to which the young men were to make answer from the chair.
After they were assembled the man arose from the tribunal and said, 'Answer now, I pray, to this problem, and solve it if you can: What is the soul, and what is the nature of it?'
At hearing this problem they were all surprised, and murmured, and some of the assemblage upon the benches exclaimed, 'Who among men, from the Saturnian age to this our own, has been able to see and apprehend, with any rational thought, what the soul is, and still less what the nature of it is? Is it not above the sphere of the understanding of all?'
But to this they replied from the orchestra, 'It is not above the understanding, but within it, and before it; only answer.'
Then the young men chosen for that day to go up to the chair and answer to the problem, arose. They were five, who had been examined by the elders and found to excel in sagacity. They were then sitting on cushioned seats at the sides of the chair; and afterwards they went up in the order in which they sat. Each one when he ascended put on a tunic of silk of the color of opal, over this a toga of soft wool in which flowers were interwoven, and on his head a cap, upon the crown of which was a chaplet of roses encircled with small sapphires.
And I saw the first thus clothed ascend, who said, 'What the soul is, and what is the nature of the soul, has not been revealed to anyone since the day of creation. It is a secret among the treasures of God alone. But this has been discovered, that the soul dwells within man as a queen.. But where her court is, the learned seers have but conjectured; some, that it is in a small tubercle between the cerebrum and the cerebellum, called the pineal gland. They make the seat of the soul in this, because the whole man is governed from those two brains and this tubercle disposes them; and, therefore, what disposes the brains at will regulates also the whole man, from head to heel' And he added, 'Hence this has appeared to many in the world as the truth, or as a probability; but after a time it was rejected as a figment'
When he had said this he put off the toga, the tunic, and cap; which the second of the chosen put on, and ascended to the chair. His statement respecting the soul was, that:
'In all heaven and in all the world it is unknown what the soul is, and what the nature of it is. It is known that it is, and that it is within man, but where, is only conjectured. This is certain, that it is in the head, since there the understanding thinks, and there the will intends, and in the front of the head, in the face, are man's five organs of sense. Nothing gives life to all these but the soul which resides in the head. But where its court therein is, I do not venture to say, but have agreed with those who assign its seat in the three ventricles of the brain; now with those who assign it to the striated bodies there, now with those who assign it to the medullary substance of each brain, now with those who locate it in the cortical substance, now with those who place it in the dura mater. For there have not been wanting white stones, 1as it were, for the confirmation of each seat; stones for the three ventricles in the brain, because they are receptacles of the animal spirits, and of all the lymphs of the brain; stones for the striated bodies, because these form the medulla through which go forth the nerves, and through which each brain is continued into the spine, and from this and from that go forth the fibers out of which the whole body is woven together; stones for the medullary substance of each brain, because this is a collection and assemblage of all the fibers which are the rudiments of the whole man; stones for the cortical substance, because there are the first and the ultimate ends, and thence the beginnings of all the fibers, and thus of the senses and motions; stones for the dura mater, because this is the common covering of each brain, and extends thence by a kind of continuation over the heart, and over the viscera of the body. As for me, I am not more in favor of one of these conjectures than of another. I beg you to judge, and to choose which you prefer.
Having said this he descended, and passed the tunic, the toga, and the cap to the third, who ascending to the chair said:
'What have 1, a young man, to do with so lofty a theme? I appeal to the learned men sitting here on either side, I appeal to you wise men in the orchestra, yea, I appeal to the angels of the highest heaven, whether anyone, of his own rational light, can attain to any idea of the soul. But respecting its seat in man, I can like others conjecture; and I opine that it is in the heart, and thence in the blood; and the reason of my opinion is, that the heart by its blood governs both the body and the head. For it sends forth the great vessel called the aorta into all the body, and sends the vessels called carotids into all the head, whence there is the universal agreement, that the soul from the heart by means of the blood sustains, nourishes, and vivifies the whole organic system of the body and of the head. In support of this opinion may be added, the expression 'heart and soul,' used so many times in the Sacred Scriptures as:
Thou shalt love God with all the heart and with all the soul, and that God creates in man a new soul and a new heart (Deuteronomy 6:5; 10:12; 11:13; 26:16; Jeremiah 32:41; Matthew 22:37; Mark 12:30, 33; Luke 10:27; and other places);
and plainly, that:
The blood is the soul of the flesh (Leviticus 17:11, 14).
On hearing this some raised their voices and exclaimed, 'Learned, Learned.' They were of the canons.
Then the fourth, having put on the vestments of this one, ascended to the chair, and said:
‘I also surmise that no one is of a genius so subtle and refined that he can discover what the soul is, and the nature of it. I am therefore, of the opinion that by him who would pry into this subject, subtlety is wasted upon vain efforts. And yet from boyhood I have remained confidently of the opinion in which the ancients were, that the soul of man is in the whole of him and in every part, and thus that it is in the head and in the least parts of it, and in the body and in the least parts of it; and that it was a groundless notion invented by the moderns to designate its seat somewhere, and not everywhere. The soul, moreover, is a spiritual substance, whereof extension is not predicated, nor place, but habitation and impletion. And who when he speaks of the soul does not mean the life? Is not the life in the whole and in every part?'
Many in the audience were favorable to this opinion.
After him the fifth arose, and adorned with the same insignia said this from the chair:
‘I do not stop to say where the soul is, whether in some part, or in the whole, everywhere. But from my stock and store I open my mind on the question, What is the soul? And of what nature is it? The soul is not thought of by anyone but as a pure something, which may be likened to ether, or air, or wind, wherein the vital from rationality is, which man has more than beasts. I have based this opinion upon the fact that when a man expires he is said to breathe out or give up the soul or spirit. And hence also the soul living after death is believed to be such a breath, wherein is the cogitative life called the soul. What else can the soul be? But as I heard you say from the orchestra that the problem concerning the soul, what it is, and the nature of it, is not above the understanding but in and before it, I beg and pray that you yourselves will unveil this eternal arcanum.'
Then the elders in the orchestra looked to the chief teacher who had proposed the question, who understood from their beckoning that they wished him to descend and instruct. And he immediately descended from the tribunal, passed through the auditorium, and ascended to the chair; and then extending his hand he said:
'Listen, I pray: Who does not believe the soul to be the inmost and the subtlest essence of the man? And what is an essence without a form but a creature of the reason? The soul then is a form. But it shall be told what form. It is the form of all things of love and all things of wisdom. All things of love are called affections, and all things of wisdom are called perceptions. The latter are from the former and thus with them make one form, wherein things innumerable are in such order, series, and coherency, that they can be called one. And they can be called one because nothing can be taken away from it and nothing added to it so that it shall be such. What is the human soul but such a form? Are not all things of love and all things of wisdom essentials of that form? And these with man are in the soul, and from the soul in the head, and in the body. You are called spirits and angels; and you believed in the world that spirlts and angels are as winds or ethers, and thus minds and breaths. But you now see clearly that in fact you are really and actually men, who in the world lived and thought in a material body; and you know that the material body does not live and think, but the spiritual substance in that body; and this you called the soul, whose form you did not know. But now you have seen and see it. You all are souls, about the immortality of which you have heard, thought, said, and written so much; and you cannot die to eternity, because you are forms of love and wisdom from God. The soul then is the human form, from which nothing can be taken away, and to which nothing can be added; and it is the inmost form of all forms of the entire body. And as the forms that are without take both essence and form from the inmost, therefore, you, just as you appear to yourselves and to us, are souls. In a word, the soul is the man himself, because it is the inmost man; for which reason its form is the human form, fully and perfectly, and yet it is not life, but the nearest receptacle of life from God; and thus it is a dwelling-place of God.'
Many applauded these words, but some said, 'We will reflect upon them.' I then went home, and lo! over that gymnasium, in place of the former phenomenon, a bright white cloud appeared, without streaks or rays contending with one another, which cloud, penetrating the roof, entered and illuminated the walls. And I heard that they saw writings, and among others this:
Jehovah God breathed into man's nostrils the soul of lives and man was made a living soul (Genesis 7).
Footnotes:
1. A figurative reference to the ancient custom of voting by small white or black stones cast into an urn. [TR.]
315. His adjiciam duo memorabilia; primum hoc. Quondam non procul a me vidi Meteoron; vidi Nubem divisam in nubeculas, quarum aliquae caeruleae, et aliquae opacae; et vidi illas inter se quasi collidentes; radii striatim transmicabant illas, qui nunc visi sunt acuti sicut mucrones, nunc obtusi sicut enses fracti; striae illae nunc excurrebant obviam, nunc retrahebant se in se, plane sicut pugiles; ita diversicolores illae nubeculae apparebant quasi inter se dimicarent, sed ludebant. Et quia hoc Meteoron 1non procul a me visum est, sustuli oculos, ac intendi aciem, et vidi pueros, juvenes et senes intrantes in Domum, quae erat exstructa ex marmore, et substructa ex porphyrite; super hac domo erat illud phaenomenon; et tunc unum ex intrantibus alloquutus quaesivi, "quid ibi;" et respondit, "est Gymnasium, ubi juvenes initiantur in varia quae sapientiae sunt:"
[2] hoc audito, intravi cum illis; eram in spiritu, hoc est, in simili statu in quo sunt homines Mundi Spiritualis, qui vocantur spiritus et Angeli; et ecce in Gymnasio illo anterius visa est Cathedra, in medio scamna, ad latera circum circa sedilia, et supra introitum Orchestra; Cathedra erat pro juvenibus qui ad Problema illa vice proponendum responderunt, scamna pro auditoribus, sedilia ad latera pro illis qui prius sapienter responderunt, et Orchestra pro Senioribus, qui essent arbitri et judices; in medio Orchestrae erat suggestum, ubi sedit vir sapiens, quem vocabant Archididascalum, qui proposuit problemata, ad quae juvenes e Cathedra responderent; et postquam congregati sunt, surrexit vir ex suggesto, et dixit, "respondete nunc, quaeso, ad hoc Problema, et solvite illud si potestis, Quid Anima, et qualis illa."
[3] His auditis obstupescebant omnes, et murmurabant, et aliqui e Caetu super scamnis, exclamabant, "quis hominum usque a Saturnino aevo ad hoc nostrum ulla rationis cogitatione videre et assequi potuit, quid Anima, et adhuc minus qualis illa; estne hoc supra omnium intellectus sphaeram;" sed ad haec retulerunt ex Orchestra, "hoc non est supra Intellectum, sed in illo et coram illo; respondete modo;" et surrexerunt Juvenes illo die electi, qui ascenderent Cathedram, et ad problema responderent; erant quinque, qui a Senioribus explorati ac inventi sagacitate pollentes, et tunc ad latera cathedrae super toris sedentes; et hi postea in ordine, in quo sedebant, ascenderunt; et quisque cum ascenderet induebat tunicam ex serico opalini coloris, et super illa togam ex molli lana, cui flores erant intexti, et insuper pileum, super cujus vertice erat rosarium incinctum parvis sapphiris.
[4] Et vidi Primum ita indutum ascendentem, qui dixit, "Quid anima et qualis illa, a die Creationis non revelatum est ulli, est arcanum in thesauris Solius Dei; sed hoc detectum est, quod Anima in homine sicut Regina resideat; verum ubinam ejus aula est, eruditi Vates divinarunt; quidam quod sit in parvo tuberculo inter Cerebrum et Cerebellum, quod vocatur Glandula pinealis; in hac finxerunt sedem Animae, ex causa, quia totus homo regitur ex binis illis Cerebris, et illud tuberculum disponit illa; quare quod disponit cerebra ad nutum, hoc etiam disponit totum hominem a capite ad calcem:" et dixit, "hoc inde sicut verum aut verosimile apparuit multis in Mundo, sed post saeculum hoc ut figmentum est rejectum."
[5] Postquam haec dixerat, exuit togam, tunicam et pileum, quae secundus ex electis assumsit, ac intravit cathedram; 2hujus enuntiatum de Anima erat, 3quod in universo Coelo et in universo Mundo nesciatur quid Anima et qualis illa; "hoc scitur, quod sit, et quod in homine sit, sed ubi, divinatur; hoc certum est, quod sit in Capite, quoniam Intellectus ibi cogitat, et Voluntas ibi intendit, et antrorsum in Capitis facie sunt quinque hominis Sensoria; his et illis non aliud dat vitam quam Anima quae intus in Capite residet; at ubinam ejus Curia est ibi, non ausim effari, sed consensi cum illis, qui ei assignarunt sedem in tribus Ventriculis Cerebri, nunc cum illis qui in Corporibus striatis ibi, nunc cum illis qui in Substantia medullari utriusque Cerebri, nunc cum illis qui in Substantia corticali, nunc cum illis qui in Dura matre; non enim defuerunt calculi sicut albi ex confirmationibus pro unaquavis sede.
[6] Calculi 4pro tribus Ventriculis in Cerebro, fuerunt, quod illi sint receptacula spirituum animalium et lympharum omnium Cerebri: calculi pro corporibus striatis fuerunt, quod haec faciant Medullam per quam exeunt nervi, et per quam utrumque Cerebrum continuatur in Spinam, et ex hac et ex illa emanant fibrae ex quibus totum Corpus contextum est: calculi pro Substantia medullari utriusque Cerebri fuerunt, quod illa sit collectio et congeries omnium fibrarum, quae sunt initiamenta totius hominis: calculi pro substantia corticali fuerunt, quod ibi sint fines primi et ultimi, et inde principia omnium fibrarum, et sic sensuum et motuum: calculi pro dura Matre fuerunt, quod illa sit tegumentum commune utriusque Cerebri, et inde per quoddam continuum extendat se super cor et super viscera corporis. Quod me attinet, non arbitror plus de uno quam de altero; vos, quaeso, arbitramini et eligite quid potius."
[7] His dictis e Cathedra descendit, et tradidit Tertio tunicam, togam, et pileum, qui scandens Cathedram loquutus est haec; "Quid mihi Juveni cum tam sublimi theoremate; provoco ad Eruditos sedentes hic ad latera, provoco ad Sapientes vos in Orchestra, imo provoco ad supremi Coeli Angelos, num quisquam ex sua rationali luce potest aliquam de Anima ideam sibi sumere; at de Sede ejus in homine possum ego sicut alii vaticinari; et vaticinor quod sit in Corde et inde in Sanguine; et hoc meum vaticinium est, quia Cor sanguine suo regit et Corpus et Caput; emittit enim magnum vas Aorta vocatum in Universum Corpus, ac emittit vasa Carotides vocata in universum Caput; inde universalis consensus est, quod Anima ex Corde per sanguinem sustentet, nutriat, vivificet universum systema organicum et Corporis et Capitis: ad fidem hujus assertionis accedit, quod in Scriptura Sacra toties dicatur Anima et Cor, ut quod amaturus sis Deum ex tota Anima et ex toto Corde; et quod Deus creet in homine novam Animam et novum Cor, Deutr. 6:5. 5Cap 10:12. 6Cap 11:13. 7Cap Deutr. 26:16. Jerem. 32:41. Matth. 22:35. 8Marc. 12:30, 33. Luc. 10:27, et alibi; ac aperte quod Sanguis sit Anima carnis, Levit. 17:11, 14." His auditis aliqui extulerunt vocem, dicentes, "docte, docte;" erant ex Canonicis.
[8] Post haec Quartus hujus vestibus indutus, et ingressus Cathedram, dixit, 9"suspicor etiam ego, quod non aliquis tam subtili et limato ingenio sit, ut dispicere possit, quid Anima, et qualis illa; quare arbitror, quod apud illum, qui vult rimari illam, subtilitas supervacuis teratur; sed usque a pueritia permansi in fide sententiae, in qua fuerunt Antiqui, quod Anima hominis sit in ejus toto, et in hujus omni parte, et sic quod tam in Capite et in singulis ejus, quam in Corpore et in singulis ejus; et quod vanum a Neotericis 10inventum fuerit, designare ei sedem alicubi, et non ubivis; est quoque Anima substantia spiritualis, de qua non praedicatur extensio nec locus, sed habitatio et impletio: quis etiam non intelligit vitam, dum nominat animam; estne vita in toto et in qualibet parte;" his dictis favebant multi in Auditorio.
[9] Post hunc surrexit Quintus, ac iisdem insignibus ornatus, e Cathedra edidit hoc: "Non moror dicere, ubi est Anima, num in aliqua parte, vel num ubivis in toto; sed ex meo promo et condo aperiam mentem de hoc, quid Anima et qualis illa; Anima non cogitatur ab aliquo, nisi sicut purum quid, quod assimilari potest aetheri aut aeri aut vento, in quo vitale est ex rationalitate, quae homini est prae bestiis: opinionem hanc fundavi super hoc, quod homo dum exspirat, dicatur efflare seu emittere Animam seu spiritum; inde etiam Anima post mortem vivens creditur esse talis halitus, in quo est vita cogitativa, quae vocatur Anima; quid aliud potest anima esse. Sed quia audivi ex Orchestra dicentes, quod problema de Anima, quid illa et qualis illa est, non sit supra intellectum, sed in illo et coram illo, rogo et precor, ut aeternum hoc Arcanum vos ipsi aperiatis:"
[10] et Seniores in Orchestra inspexerunt Archididascalum, qui illud problema 11proposuerat, qui ex nutibus intellexit, quod vellent ut descenderet et doceret; et actutum ille ex suggestu descendit, pertransivit Auditorium, et ingressus est Cathedram, et ibi exporrigens manum dixit, 12"auscultate, quaeso; quis non credit Animam esse intimam et subtilissimam Essentiam hominis, et quid Essentia absque Forma aliud quam ens rationis; quare anima est Forma, sed qualis forma dicetur; est forma omnium amoris et omnium sapientiae; omnia amoris vocantur affectiones, et omnia sapientiae vocantur perceptiones; hae ex illis et sic cum illis faciunt unam formam, in qua innumerabilia in tali ordine, serie et cohaerentia sunt, ut vocari possint unum; et vocari possunt unum, quia non potest inde aliquid auferri, nec ad illud aliquid addi, ut sit talis; quid anima humana nisi talis forma; suntne omnia Amoris et omnia Sapientiae essentialia illius formae; et haec apud hominem sunt in Anima et ex Anima in capite et corpore:
[11] vos vocamini Spiritus et Angeli, et credidistis in Mundo, quod Spiritus et Angeli sint sicut venti aut aetheres, et sic mentes et animi; et nunc clare videtis, quod vere, realiter et actualiter sitis homines, qui in Mundo vixistis et cogitavistis in materiali corpore, et scivistis quod corpus materiale non vivat et cogitet, sed substantia spiritualis in illo corpore, et hanc vocavistis animam, cujus formam nescivistis, et tamen nunc vidistis et videtis illam; vos omnes estis Animae, de quarum immortalitate tam multa audivistis, cogitavistis, dixistis et scripsistis; et quia estis formae amoris et sapientiae a Deo, non potestis mori in aeternum: Anima itaque est forma humana, de qua ne hilum potest auferri, et ad quam ne hilum potest addi, ac est intima forma omnium formarum universi corporis; et quia formae quae extra sunt ab intima accipiunt et essentiam et formam, ideo estis, sicut apparetis coram vobis et nobis, Animae; verbo, Anima est ipse homo, quia est intimus homo, quare ejus forma est plene et perfecte forma humana; verum non est vita, sed est proximum receptaculum vitae a Deo, et sic habitaculum Dei."
[12] His dictis adplaudebant multi, sed aliqui dicebant, "expendemus." Ego tunc abivi domum; et ecce super Gymnasio illo, loco prioris Meteori apparuit Nubes candida absque striis seu radiis inter se dimicantibus; quae nubes penetrans tectum intravit, ac illustravit parietes; et audivi, quod viderint Scripturas, ac inter alias etiam hanc, "Jehovah Deus inspiravit in nares hominis Animam vitarum, et factus est Homo in Animam viventem, Gen. 2:7.
Footnotes:
1. Prima editio: Moteoron
2. Prima editio: carhedram;
3. Prima editio: erat;
4. Prima editio: Caculi
5. Prima editio: 5:5
6. Prima editio: 10:11
7. Prima editio: 11:14
8. Prima editio: 22:3
9. Prima editio: dixit;
10. Prima editio: Neutericis
11. Prima editio: proplema
12. Prima editio: dixit;