4、一旦明白这一切，那么人们对死后灵魂的状态，它们与腐尸的复合，被造宇宙的毁灭，因而对最后的审判所持的矛盾观念就会被驱散。关于死后灵魂状态的矛盾观念有这些：那时，人就像一股气，或一阵风，又或像以太，漂浮在空气中，或从不静止，而是在被称为“冥界”的某个不确定的地方；他没有眼睛，所以什么也看不见，没有耳朵，所以什么也听不见；没有嘴巴，所以什么也说不出来；因此，他既盲又聋且哑，不断等待（这样的等待必令人沮丧）最后审判之日，灵魂的这些功能再度恢复，从而赋予生活的一切乐趣。自创世之初以来，所有人的灵魂都将处于这种悲惨状态，那些生活在五、六十个世纪以前的人仍飘在空中，或留在“冥界”等待审判。此外还其它可悲后果。
4. When we realize this, then we can rid ourselves of absurd notions that would otherwise plague our thinking about the state of our souls after death, about a reunion of those souls with our rotted bodies, about a destruction of the created universe, and therefore about the Last Judgment.
Concerning the state of our souls after death, we would otherwise have the notion that they must be like a breath or a breeze or like ether, fluttering around in the air or else being no longer in space at all but instead in that “somewhere-or-other.” We will not be able to see anything because souls have no eyes, hear anything because they have no ears, or say anything because they have no mouths—we will be blind, deaf, and mute, and will be in a state of constant waiting, which cannot help but be profoundly depressing—waiting for the day of the Last Judgment when our souls will finally be given back the abilities that were the source of all our life’s pleasures. Further, we would think that the soul of everyone from the first creation must be in this wretched state, that people who lived fifty or sixty centuries ago are still fluttering about in the air like this or existing in that “somewhere-or-other,” waiting for the judgment. And other depressing things.
4. When this comes to be understood, then the paradoxical ideas can be dispelled which otherwise people would entertain about the state of souls after death, their reuniting with decayed corpses, and the destruction of the created universe, and so about the Last Judgment. The paradoxical ideas about the state of souls after death will be these: that a person is then like a breath, or like the wind, or like the ether, flitting about in the air or never keeping still, but in the Somewhere, which is called Pu 1, seeing nothing because he lacks eyes, hearing nothing because he lacks ears, saying nothing because he lacks a mouth. So he would be blind, deaf and dumb, continually awaiting (which will inevitably be depressing) the restoration of these functions of the soul, which give all the pleasure in life, on the day of the Last Judgment. The souls of all people from the beginning of creation would be in a similarly pitiable state, and those who lived fifty or sixty centuries ago would still be flitting about in the air, or consigned to await judgment in Pu. There would be other lamentable consequences.
Footnotes:
1. Somewhere (Latin Ubi, Greek Pou) for an indefinite limbo.
4. When this is understood, then may the paradoxes be dissipated, which man would otherwise think concerning the state of souls after death, and their reunion with putrid corpses, and concerning the destruction of the created universe, thus concerning the Last Judgment. The paradoxes concerning the state of souls after death that he would think are these: That man would then be like an exhalation, or like wind, or like ether; either that he would be floating in the air, or not abiding in any place, but in a somewhere, which they call Pu; 1and that he would see nothing, because he had no eyes; hear nothing, because he had no ears; speak nothing, because he had no mouth; and would therefore be blind, deaf, and dumb; and continually in the expectation, which could not but be sad, of receiving again at the day of the Last Judgment, those functions of the soul from which all the delight of life proceeds. Also that the souls of all who have lived since the first creation, must be in a like miserable state, and that the men who lived fifty or sixty centuries ago, were likewise still floating in the air, or remaining in Pu, and awaiting Judgment ; besides other lamentable things.
Footnotes:
1. From the Greek pou = where.
4. Quando hoc in intellectum venit, tunc dissipari possunt paradoxa, quae homo alioqui cogitaturus esset de statu animarum post mortem, de reunitione illarum cum corporibus putrefactis, et de destructione universi creati, ita de ultimo judicio. De statu animarum post mortem cogitaturus esset haec paradoxa: quod homo tunc esset sicut halitus, aut sicut ventus, aut sicut aether, vel volitans in aere, vel non manens in loco, sed in Ubi, quod vocant Pu, ac nihil videret quia non ei oculi, nihil audiret quia non ei aures, nihil loqueretur quia non ei os, ita foret caecus, surdus et mutus, et jugiter in exspectatione, quae non potest non tristis esse, de receptione functionum istarum animae, ex quibus omne jucundum vitae ejus est, die ultimi judicii: et quod in simili statu misero essent animae omnium hominum a prima creatione, et quod illi qui ante quinquaginta ac sexaginta saecula vixerunt, adhuc in aere similiter volitarent, aut in Pu manerent et exspectarent judicium: praeter lamentabilia alia.