The Mind, Spirit,
or Soul is that indivisible unextended thing which thinks, acts,
and perceives. I say
, because unextended; and
, because extended, figured, moveable things are
ideas; and that which perceives ideas, which thinks and wills, is
plainly itself no idea, nor like an idea. Ideas are things
inactive, and perceived. And Spirits a sort of beings altogether
different from them. I do not therefore say my soul is an idea,
or like an idea. However, taking the word in a large
sense, my soul may be said to furnish me with an idea, that is,
an image or likeness of God -- though indeed extremely
inadequate. For, all the notion I have of God is obtained by
reflecting on my own soul, heightening its powers, and removing
its {232} imperfections. I have, therefore, though not an
inactive idea, yet in some sort of an active thinking
image of the Deity. And, though I perceive Him not by sense, yet
I have a notion of Him, or know Him by reflexion and reasoning.
My own mind and my own ideas I have an immediate knowledge of;
and, by the help of these, do mediately apprehend the possibility
of the existence of other spirits and ideas.
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