The excerpt discusses the movement of the body and its relation to the soul, comparing it to water moving in a barrel. It explores the role of spirits in transmitting sensation and the impact of these concepts on understanding human ailments and experiences, such as dizziness and drowsiness. The text emphasizes the rational soul's divine creation and its role in governing the body with wisdom and independence.
The Human Figures, Etc.
The body necessarily follows, just like water in a barrel moves, even after the barrel stops moving; thus, the spirits bring their reports in such instances, not with a circular motion to the soul; from which everything that we see appears to move in a circle and turn around. From this foundation, we could deduce many and various things, which could explain the causes of dizziness and illness on ships in bad weather, the faintness and drowsiness caused by coal and peat fires in enclosed spaces, the strange doings of night wanderers, and many other things, if we intended to note everything: But we have said that the soul, that is, the rational thinking spirit of man, should be briefly discussed, and therefore it was necessary to also give a sketch of the animal soul, consisting of the separated spirits of the blood; because they serve in the entire human household as long as life lasts, standing as servants and messengers, as we will perceive later. We consider that the rational soul is created by God to govern our body wisely and willingly: And that its being can be understood as an independent thinking entity; because in it, we can find or think nothing other than reasonable thinking. Such thinking is inherent to it, that, should the power of thinking be taken away, nothing at all would remain of the idea of the same spirit within us. We then say that the soul...
Translation Notes:
- "Ziel" is translated as "soul."
- "Geesten" is translated as "spirits."
- "Swijmeling" is translated as "dizziness."
- "Nacht-sfwerers" is translated as "night wanderers."