The Literal Meaning of Genesis (continued)
disturbance the physicians can know what part of the system is causing the dysfunction, so that, if possible, a remedy may be applied.
CHAPTER 20
The soul is distinct from the organs of the body.
26. We must distinguish the soul itself from its corporeal agents, whether vessels or organs or whatever else they may be called. The difference is evident from the fact that the soul is frequently concentrated in thought and turns itself away from everything, so that it is ignorant of many things which are present before the eyes when they are wide open and able to see. And if a person is intensely preoccupied with his thoughts while walking, he will suddenly stop and withdraw the command of the will which had set his feet in motion. On the other hand, if his concentration is not intense enough to bring him to a halt but is sufficient to keep him from attending to the motion of his body as brought to him in a message from the central part of the brain,*? he sometimes forgets where he came from and where he is going, and without realizing it he passes by the villa for which he was heading, all this time enjoying health of body while his soul is off somewhere else.
There are corporeal particles of the corporeal heaven, that is, particles of light and air, which are the first to receive the commands of the soul which vivifies the body because they are closer to an incorporeal substance than water and earth are. The soul, then, uses these finer elements in administering the mass of the body.*® Now, it is not clear whether God took the elements of light and air from the heavens which were round the earth and over it and mingled or joined them with the body of the living man, or whether He made them as He did flesh from the slime of the earth; but this question is not relevant to our enquiry. For it is believable that every bodily substance can be changed into every other bodily substance,*? but to believe that any bodily substance can be changed into soul is absurd. *