352、那些当看到自然界的奇事时，不去思想神性，由此变得感官化的人没有考虑到，肉眼的视觉如此粗糙，以至于会把许多小昆虫看成一个模糊的斑点；而事实上，它们当中的每一个都是有机形成的，能够感觉和活动，因而具有纤维和血管，还具有细小的心脏、肺管、内脏和大脑；这些器官是由自然界中最纯粹的物质交织而成的；它们的组织结构就对应于生命的某些活动，就连它们最细微的部分也分别被这些生命活动驱动。既然肉眼的视觉如此粗糙，以至于大量这类生物，尽管每一个都具有无数组成部分在里面，但在这肉眼看来，却如同一个模糊的斑点；然而，那些感官化的人却靠这种视觉来思考和判断，那么显而易见，他们的心智已经变得何等迟钝！因此，他们在属灵的事上陷入何等黑暗！
352. If people turn from thinking about Divinity when they see nature's miracles and therefore become sense-centered, they do not take into account the fact that their eyesight is so crude that they see a host of tiny insects as a single cloud. Yet each one of those insects is designed for sensing and for moving, which means it is equipped with fibers and vessels, with tiny hearts, windpipes, viscera, and brains. These are woven together out of the most delicate substances in nature, and the ways they are woven are responsive to a particular life that activates their smallest elements quite precisely.
If we consider the fact that our eyesight is so crude that a host of such creatures, each one with all its countless complexities, looks to us like a little cloud, and then realize that in spite of this, people who are sense-centered think and judge on the basis of this sight, we can see how coarsened their minds are, and therefore how benighted they are in spiritual matters.
352. People who have turned away from thinking about the Divine when they see wonders in nature, and as a result become sense-oriented, do not consider that the sight of the eye is so crude that it sees a number of tiny insects as a single, indistinct mass, and yet that each of them is organically formed to be capable of sensation and movement, thus that they have been endowed with fibers and vessels, including little hearts, air passages, viscera and brains; that these have been woven together out of the finest elements in nature; and that these structures correspond to some activity of life, by which even the least of these are individually actuated.
Since the vision of the eye is so crude that a number of such creatures, each with countless components in it, looks to the sight like a small, indistinct mass, and yet people who are sense-oriented think and judge in accordance with that sight, it is apparent how obtuse their minds have become, and thus in what darkness they are regarding spiritual matters.
352. Those who have deliberately avoided thinking of the Divine when observing the marvels in nature, and who thereby become sensual, do not reflect that the sight of the eye is so gross that it sees many little insects just as if they were one obscure insect, when yet every single one of them is furnished with organs of feeling and motion, and thus is possessed of fibres and vessels, a tiny heart also, and lung tubes, minute viscera and brains; and that these organs are woven out of the purest substances in nature, their tissues corresponding to something of life, by which their minutest parts are separately moved. Since the sight of the eye is so gross that many such little insects, with innumerable parts to each one, appear to it as an obscure speck, and yet, by that sight. those who are sensual think and judge, it is plain how their minds have been dulled, and into what darkness it has brought them concerning spiritual things.
352. Those who have averted themselves from thinking about the Divine when observing the wonderful things in nature, and who thereby become sensual, do not reflect that the sight of the eye is so gross as to see many little insects as an obscure speck, when yet each one of these is organized to feel and to move, and is accordingly furnished with fibers and vessels, also with a minute heart, pulmonary tubes, viscera, and brains; also that these organs are woven out of the purest substances in nature, their tissues corresponding to that somewhat of life by which their minutest parts are separately moved. When the sight of the eye is so gross that many such creatures, with innumerable particulars in each, appear to it as an obscure speck, and yet those who are sensual think and judge by that sight, it is clear how dulled their minds are, and therefore what thick darkness they are in concerning spiritual things.
352. Illi qui averterunt se a cogitando de Divino, cum vident mirabilia in natura, et per id fiunt sensuales, non cogitant quod visus oculi 1 tam crassus sit, ut plura insectula videat sicut unum obscurum, et quod tamen unumquodvis eorum organizatum 2 sit ad sentiendum et ad se movendum, et sic quod praeditum sit fibris et vasis, tum corculis, fistulis pulmonicis, viscerulis ac cerebris, et quod haec contexta sint ex purissimis in natura, et quod contextus illi correspondeant alicui vitae, e qua minutissima eorum distincte aguntur. Cum visus oculi tam crassus est, ut plura talia, cum innumerabilibus 3 in unoquovis, appareant ei sicut parvum obscurum, et tamen illi qui sensuales sunt ex illo visu cogitant et judicant, patet quam incrassata est mens eorum, et inde in qua caligine sunt de spiritualibus.
Footnotes:
1. Prima editio: oculi,
2. Prima editio: organisatum
3. Prima editio: innumerabibus