I never saw the traces or
figures imprinted in my brain, and even the substance of my brain
itself, which is like the paper of that book, is altogether unknown
to me. All those numberless characters transpose themselves, and
afterwards resume their rank and place to obey my command. I have,
as it were, a divine power over a work I am unacquainted with, and
which is incapable of knowledge. That which understands nothing,
understands my thought and performs it instantly. The thought of
man has no power over bodies: I am sensible of it by running over
all nature. There is but one single body which my bare will moves,
as if it were a deity; and even moves the most subtle and nicest
springs of it, without knowing them. Now, who is it that united my
will to this body, and gave it so much power over it?
SECT. L. The Mind of Man is mixed with Greatness and Weakness.
Its Greatness consists in two things. First, the Mind has the Idea
of the Infinite.
Let us conclude these observations by a short reflection on the
essence of our mind; in which I find an incomprehensible mixture of
greatness and weakness. Its greatness is real: for it brings
together the past and the present, without confusion; and by its
reasoning penetrates into futurity. It has the idea both of bodies
and spirits. Nay, it has the idea of the infinite: for it supposes
and affirms all that belongs to it, and rejects and denies all that
is not proper to it. If you say that the infinite is triangular,
the mind will answer without hesitation, that what has no bounds can
have no figure.
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