Thoughts on Art and Life Part 6

[Sidenote: Of Pain]

82.

Nature has placed in the front part of man, as he moves, all those parts which when struck cause him to feel pain; and this is felt in the joints of the legs, the forehead and the nose, and has been so devised for the preservation of man, because {34} if such pain were not felt in these limbs they would be destroyed by the many blows they receive.

[Sidenote: Why Plants do not feel Pain]

83.

While nature has ordained that animals should feel pain in order that the instruments which might be liable to be maimed or marred by motion may be preserved, plants do not come into collision with the objects which are before them; whence pain is not a necessity for them, and therefore when they are broken they do not feel pain, as animals do.

84.

l.u.s.t is the cause of generation.

Appet.i.te is the support of life.

Fear or timidity is the prolongation of life.

Pain is the preserver of the instrument (of the human frame).

[Sidenote: Fear]

85.

Just as courage is the danger of life, so is fear its safeguard.

[Sidenote: Body and Soul]

86.

Let him who wishes to see how the soul inhabits its body observe what use the body makes of its daily habitation; that is to say, if the soul is full of confusion and disorder the body will be kept in disorder and confusion by the soul.

{35}

87.

The soul can never be corrupted with the corruption of the body, but it is like the wind which causes the sound of the organ, and which ceases to produce a good effect when a pipe is spoilt.

[Sidenote: Memory]

88.

Every loss which we incur leaves behind it vexation in the memory, save the greatest loss of all, that is, death, which annihilates the memory, together with life.

[Sidenote: Spirit]

89.

Our body is subject to Heaven, and Heaven is subject to the Spirit.

[Sidenote: Sense and Reason]

90.

The senses are earthly; reason lies outside them when in contemplation.

91.

Where most feeling exists, there amongst martyrs is the greatest martyr.

92.

That which can be lost cannot be deemed riches. Virtue is our true wealth and the true reward of its possessor; it cannot be lost, it never deserts us until life leaves us. Hold property and external riches with fear; they often leave their possessor scorned and mocked at for having lost them.

{36}

[Sidenote: Flight of Time]

93.

Men wrongly lament the flight of time, blaming it for being too swift; they do not perceive that its pa.s.sage is sufficiently long, but a good memory, which nature has given to us, causes things long past to seem present.

[Sidenote: Illusions]

94.

Our intellect does not judge events which happened at various intervals of time in their true proportion, because many things which happened years ago appear recent and close to the present, and often recent things appear old and seem to belong to our past childhood. The eye does likewise with regard to distant objects which in the light of the sun appear to be close to the eye, and many objects which are close appear to be remote.

95.

Let us not lack ways and means of dividing and measuring these our wretched days, which we ought to take pleasure in spending and living not vainly and not without praise, nor without leaving any memory in the minds of men, so that this our miserable existence may not be spent in vain.

[Sidenote: Virtuous Life]