The Literal Meaning of Genesis (continued)
BOOK TWELVE 209 objects seen do not differ in nature, for they belong to the spirit in which and from which the likenesses of bodies arise.
Similarly, when the soul of a man, sound in body and wide awake, is carried off by some mysterious spiritual force so that he sees in spirit the imaginative likenesses of bodies rather than bodies themselves, the cause of the derangement of the attention may be different in different cases, but the nature of the objects seen is the same.
And we must not suppose that when the cause is in the body, the soul always ponders over images of bodies by its own power, without any prophetic insight, as it normally does in thought; and that it is only when the soul is taken up by a spirit to gaze at such visions that they are revealed to it by God. For Scripture clearly says, J will pour out My Spirit upon all flesh, and the young men shall see visions, and the old men shall dream dreams,?° thus attributing both to the work of God. And again it says, An angel of the Lord appeared to the man in a dream, saying, ''Do not be afraid to take Mary, your wife,"?? and on another occasion, Take the Child and go into Egypt.°8
CHAPTER 22
The difficulty of explaining how certain extraordinary events are seen in the spirit.
45. I do not believe, then, that the spirit of a man is taken up by a good spirit to see these images unless they have some special meaning. But when the body causes the human spirit to direct its gaze intently upon them,?? it must not be thought that they always have a meaning. However, they have a meaning when they are inspired by a spirit that reveals something, whether it is to a man in sleep or to one who is afflicted with some bodily ailment that takes him out of his senses. I have known instances of people, wide awake, suffering no affliction and disturbed by no madness, who were acted upon by some mysterious influence and inspired with thoughts that became