The bodies have, as
it were, some mark or print of that unity, which still flies away in
the division of its parts; and the spirits have a greater likeness
of it, although they have a successive composition of thoughts.
SECT. LXIII. Dependence and Independence of Man. His Dependence
Proves the Existence of his Creator.
But here is another mystery which I carry within me, and which makes
me incomprehensible to my self, viz.: that on the one hand I am
free, and on the other dependent. Let us examine these two things,
and see whether it is possible to reconcile them.
I am a dependent being. Independency is the supreme perfection. To
be by one's self is to carry within one's self the source or spring
of one's own being; or, which is the same, it is to borrow nothing
from any being different from one's self. Suppose a being that has
all the perfections you can imagine, but which has a borrowed and
dependent being, and you will find him to be less perfect than
another being in which you would suppose but bare independency. For
there is no comparison to be made between a being that exists by
himself and a being who has nothing of his own--nothing but what is
precarious and borrowed--and is in himself, as it were, only upon
trust.
This consideration brings me to acknowledge the imperfection of what
I call my soul. If she existed by herself, it would borrow nothing
from another; she would not want either to be instructed in her
ignorances, or to be rectified in her errors.
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