The Literal Meaning of Genesis (continued)
BOOK TWELVE 207 not likenesses of bodies but bodies themselves; but when blind people are awake, the attention of vision is led along its customary way until it arrives at the eyes; and then it is not sent forth®4 but remains there. Hence the blind realize that they are awake and watching in darkness even through the day rather than sleeping by day or by night.
Those who are not blind usually see nothing with their eyes when they sleep with them open, but this does not mean that they see nothing at all, since in spirit they see the images of dreams; if, however, they are awake and have their eyes closed, they enjoy neither the sights of dreams nor those of waking hours. Still the path of sensation is not dormant or disturbed or blocked, but goes forth from the brain to the eyes and leads the attention of the soul to the very gates of the body, though they are barred. And the result is simply that images of bodies are conjured up, though they are never mistaken for bodies that are perceived through the eyes.
43. It is rather important, then, to determine the location of an impediment to sense perception, when such an impediment exists in the body. If there is no obstacle except at the entrances and doors of the senses (in the eyes, or the ears, or the other sense organs), the perception of bodies is simply shut off; but the attention of the soul is not turned elsewhere so as to induce it to mistake bodily images for bodies themselves.
But if the cause is in the brain, from which there are pathways for sensation leading to external objects, the channels that carry the attention are dormant or disturbed or blocked. Now the soul in this condition does not lose the tendency to direct its energies through these channels, through which it normally sees or perceives external objects. Hence it fashions similar objects so vividly that it is unable to distinguish images of bodies from real bodies, and it knows not whether it is dealing with the one or the other. When it does know, its knowledge is far different from the knowledge it has when in conscious thought it ponders over or chances upon the likenesses of bodies. This phenomenon cannot be understood at all except by those who have experienced it. I, for one, have realized while asleep that I was seeing something in my sleep;?° but the distinction I made between the