Míguez
17. Podría probarse, por el razonamiento que ligue, que las almas, al abandonar la región inteligible, se dirigen primeramente al cielo. Porque si, realmente, el cielo es lo mejor que hay en la región sensible, ello habrá que atribuirlo a su proximidad a los últimos seres inteligibles. Los seres celestes son, en efecto, los primeros que reciben la vida del mundo inteligible, por su favorable disposición a participar en él; en tanto los seres de la tierra son los últimos y participan en menor grado del alma por el carácter de su naturaleza y su distancia al ser incorpóreo.
Es así que todas las almas iluminan el cielo y le dan su propia multiplicidad y lo primero que surge de ellas; todas las demás cosas resultan a su vez iluminadas por lo que viene después. Algunas almas descienden todavía más abajo para ejercer su acción iluminativa, pero este avance no constituye para ellas lo mejor. En tal sentido, podríamos imaginamos un centro y, a su alrededor, un círculo que desprende rayos de luz; sobre estos dos tendríamos que imaginar otro, que sería como una luz surgida de la luz. Fuera de éstos cabría pensar en un nuevo círculo sin luz, carente, por decirlo así, de luz propia, pero que tiene necesidad de una luz extraña. Hagámonos a la idea de que se trata de una rueca, o mejor de una esfera que recibe su luz del tercer círculo, por su proximidad a él, y en tanto éste la ilumine. He aquí, pues, que la gran luz lo ilumina todo y, a la vez, permanece inmóvil; de ella proviene razonablemente la luz que ilumina todas las cosas; pero las demás luces también iluminan como ella, aunque unas permanezcan inmóviles y otras sean atraídas por el brillante reflejo de las cosas. Estas, a su vez, exigen el mayor cuidado de parte de las almas, pues así como en un navío azotado por la tormenta el piloto que lo dirige se aplica por entero a la dirección de éste, con menosprecio y olvido de sí mismo, hasta el punto de verse envuelto en el naufragio, así también las almas se inclinan a veces más de lo necesario y (no se preocupan) de sus propios asuntos. Ocurre ciertamente que son retenidas por sus cuerpos y encadenadas por lazos mágicos, quedando así por completo al cuidado de la naturaleza corpórea. Es claro que si todo ser animado tuviese, como el universo, un cuerpo perfecto y suficiente, inaccesible al sufrimiento, el alma que se dice está presente en él no se encontraría entonces a su lado y, aunque le diese la vida, permanecería toda entera en lo alto.
Bouillet
XVII. Les âmes vont d’abord du monde intelligible dans le ciel. Voici la raison qu’on en peut donner. Si le ciel est le meilleur lieu du monde sensible, il doit être le plus voisin des limites du monde intelligible. Les corps célestes sont donc les premiers qui reçoivent les âmes, étant les plus propres à les recevoir. Le corps terrestre n’est animé que le dernier, et n’est propre qu’à recevoir une âme inférieure, parce qu’il est plus éloigné de la nature incorporelle. Toutes les âmes illuminent d’abord le ciel, et y répandent leurs premiers et leurs plus purs rayons ; le reste est éclairé par des puissances inférieures. Il est des âmes qui, descendant plus bas, éclairent les choses sublunaires ; mais elles ne gagnent pas à s’éloigner autant de leur origine.
Qu’on s’imagine un centre, autour de ce centre un cercle lumineux qui en rayonne, puis autour de ce cercle un second cercle lumineux aussi, mais lumière de lumière (φὼς ἐκ φωτός) (98) ; ensuite, au delà et en dehors de ces deux cercles, un autre cercle, qui n’est plus un cercle de lumière, mais qui est seulement éclairé par une lumière 298 étrangère, faute de lumière qui lui soit propre. Il y a en effet [en dehors des deux cercles] un rhombe ou plutôt une sphère qui reçoit sa lumière du second cercle, et qui la reçoit d’autant plus vive qu’elle en est plus proche (99). La grande lumière [l’Intelligence] répand sa clarté en demeurant en elle-même, et la clarté qui rayonne d’elle [sur l’Âme] est la Raison. Les autres âmes rayonnent aussi, les unes en restant unies à l’Âme universelle, les autres en descendant plus bas pour mieux éclairer les corps auxquels elles accordent leurs soins; mais ces soins sont pénibles. Comme le pilote qui dirige son navire sur les îlots agités s’oublie, dans l’effort de son travail, au point de ne pas voir qu’il s’expose à périr avec le navire dans le naufrage ; de même, les âmes sont entraînées [dans le gouffre de la matière] par l’attention qu’elles accordent aux corps qu’elles gouvernent (100); ensuite, elles sont enchaînées à leur destinée, comme fascinées par un attrait magique, mais réellement retenues par les liens puissants de la Nature. Si chaque corps était parfait comme l’univers, il se suffirait complètement à lui-même, il n’aurait à craindre aucun danger, et l’âme qui y est présente, au lieu d’y être présente, pourrait lui communiquer la vie sans quitter le monde intelligible.
Guthrie
FROM THE INTELLIGIBLE WORLD, SOULS FIRST GO INTO HEAVEN.
17. From the intelligible world souls first descend into the heaven. For if the heaven is the best part of the sense-world, it must be nearest to the limits of the intelligible world. The celestial bodies are therefore the first that receive the souls, being most fitted to receive them. The terrestrial body is animated the last, and it is suited to the reception of an inferior soul only, because it is more distant from the incorporeal nature. All souls first illuminate the sky, and radiate from it their first and purest rays; the remainder is lit up by inferior powers. There are souls which, descending lower, illuminate inferior things; but they do not gain anything in getting so far from their origin.
THE DESCENDING GRADUATIONS OF EXISTENCE.
We must imagine a centre, and around this centre a luminous sphere that radiates from (Intelligence). Then, around this sphere, lies a second one that also is luminous, but only as a light lit from another light (the universal Soul). Then, beyond and outside of these spherers lies a further one, which no more is light, but which is illuminated only by an alien light, for lack of a light peculiar to (this world of ours). Outside of those two spheres there is indeed a rhomboid, or rather another sphere, that receives its light from the second sphere, and which receives it the more intensely, the closer it is thereto. The great light (Intelligence) sheds its light though remaining within itself, and the brilliancy that radiates around it (on to the soul) is “reason.” Other souls radiate also, some by remaining united to the universal Soul, others by descending lower in order better to illuminate the bodies to which they devote their care; but these cares are troublous. As the pilot who steers his ship over the troubled waves forgets himself in the effort of his work, to the point of forgetting that he exposes himself to perish with the ship in the shipwreck, likewise souls are dragged down (into the abyss of matter) by the attention they devote to the bodies that they govern. Then they are chained to their destiny, as if fascinated by a magic attraction, but really retained by the potent bonds of nature. If every body were as perfect as the universe, it would completely suffice itself, it would have no danger to fear, and the soul that is present within it, instead of this, could communicate life to it without leaving the intelligible world.
Taylor
XVII. That souls, however, first descend from the intelligible into the heavens, may be rationally inferred from the following considerations. If the heaven is in the sensible place that which is most excellent, it will be proximate to the extremities of intelligibles. Hence, the celestial bodies are first animated from thence, and participate of them, as being more adapted to participation. But a terrestrial body is the last of bodies, is naturally adapted to participate of soul in a less degree, and is more remote from an incorporeal nature. All the celestial souls indeed illuminate heaven, and impart as it were much of themselves, and the first procession from themselves to it, but other things become fulgid through posterior natures. The souls, however, which descend below the heavens, illuminate another inferior nature, but their condition is not ameliorated by proceeding to a greater extent. For there is something which is as it were a centre; but after this is a circle shining from the centre; and after this, another circle, which is a light emanating from a light. External to these, however, there is no longer another circle of light, but that which is posterior to them is indigent of its proper light, through the want of a foreign splendour. But let this be a rhombus, or rather a sphere, of such a kind as to participate of the second of these circles, to which it is the next in order, and through proximity to which it becomes resplendent. The great light, therefore, [i.e. intellect] illuminates abiding, and the light which emanates from it proceeds according to [or is characterized by] reason. But the other things co-illuminate, some indeed abiding, but others being abundantly attracted by the splendour of that which is illuminated. In the next place, since the illuminated natures require much guardian attention, like ships in a storm at sea, the pilots of which incessantly watch over them, and neglecting their own concerns, forget that they are frequently in danger of perishing together with the ships; thus also these souls are abundantly hurried away from their own concerns, and afterwards are detained in the bonds of enchantment, being held in durance through their attention to nature. But if each animal was such as the universe, having a body sufficient and perfect, and free from the danger of passivity, in this case, the soul which is said to be present with body, would not be present with it, but entirely abiding on high would impart life to the body [which is suspended from it].
MacKenna
17. Various considerations explain why the Souls going forth from the Intellectual proceed first to the heavenly regions. The heavens, as the noblest portion of sensible space, would border with the least exalted of the Intellectual, and will, therefore, be first ensouled first to participate as most apt; while what is of earth is at the very extremity of progression, least endowed towards participation, remotest from the unembodied.
All the souls, then, shine down upon the heavens and spend there the main of themselves and the best; only their lower phases illuminate the lower realms; and those souls which descend deepest show their light furthest down – not themselves the better for the depth to which they have penetrated.
There is, we may put it, something that is centre; about it, a circle of light shed from it; round centre and first circle alike, another circle, light from light; outside that again, not another circle of light but one which, lacking light of its own, must borrow.
The last we may figure to ourselves as a revolving circle, or rather a sphere, of a nature to receive light from that third realm, its next higher, in proportion to the light which that itself receives. Thus all begins with the great light, shining self-centred; in accordance with the reigning plan [that of emanation] this gives forth its brilliance; the later [divine] existents [souls] add their radiation – some of them remaining above, while there are some that are drawn further downward, attracted by the splendour of the object they illuminate. These last find that their charges need more and more care: the steersman of a storm-tossed ship is so intent on saving it that he forgets his own interest and never thinks that he is recurrently in peril of being dragged down with the vessel; similarly the souls are intent upon contriving for their charges and finally come to be pulled down by them; they are fettered in bonds of sorcery, gripped and held by their concern for the realm of Nature.
If every living being were of the character of the All-perfect, self-sufficing, in peril from no outside influence the soul now spoken of as indwelling would not occupy the body; it would infuse life while clinging, entire, within the Supreme.