Actual Activities

Concerned with the audacious Icarus flying so high
that we might observe the incomprehensible Majesty of God
so closely, beyond what has been revealed about Him in this life;
such a man is ultimately locked within the limits of his own
understanding, yet dares to imagine and determine things so boldly.
There he stands as a humble servant, admitting with all his wisdom
that he does not know his own substance and essence, which is his
mortal body. For as he posits in the second proposition of his third
book in the additional section, attempting to deduce all movements of the body;
he believes he is guiding the voluntary thought and determination
that affects the soul concerning the body, attempting thereby to
grasp the various qualities in the body that we do not truly know.
And until now, it is not clearly defined what our Artful Body can do
by the laws of nature, without being determined by the soul or
thinking mind. Hence, we consider these trivial things that humans sometimes do
in their sleep and dreams, as well as the actions carried out by animals.
However, we respond that even if no one knows, then Spinoza does not
know either. Those who do not know or cannot clearly define
how a thing truly is cannot determine comprehensively how a thing
in all respects is not.
Recently, a medical scholar wrote that the common sensation is where the soul
perceives all reports and appearances, and that the soul
itself is the place of such perceptions. This provides evidence
that sensory perception cannot be fully grasped elsewhere than in the soul itself.
However, the truth of perceptible understanding is not,
whether sensory understanding is truly in the