Six metaphysical meditations: $b Wherein it is proved that there is a God and that mans mind is really distinct from his body
Descartes · en
And ’tis worth our taking notice, that I have no other thing in me so
_perfect_ and so _Great_, but I Understand that there may be _Perfecter_
and _Greater_, for if (for Example) I consider the _Faculty_ of
_Understanding_, I presently perceive that in me ’tis very _small_ and
_Finite_, and also at the same time I form to my self an _Idea_ of an
other _Understanding_ not only _much Greater_, but the _Greatest_ and
_Infinite_, which I perceive to belong to _God_. In the same manner if I
enquire into _memory_ or _imagination_ or any other faculties, I find
them in my self _Weak_ and _Circumscribed_, but in _God_ I Understand
them to be _Infinite_, there is therefore only my _Will_ or _Freedome_
of _Choice_, which I find to be _so Great_, that I cannot frame to my
self an _Idea_ of _One Greater_, so that ’tis by this _chiefly_ by which
I Understand my self to Bear the _likeness_ and _Image_ of _God_. For
tho the _Will_ in _God_ be without comparison _Greater_ then Mine, both
as to the _Knowledge_ and _Power_ which are _Joyn’d_ therewith, which
make it more _strong_ and _Effective_, and also as to the _Object_
thereof, for _God_ can apply himself to _more_ things then I can. Yet
being taken _Formally_ and _Precisely Gods Will_ seems _no greater_ then
Mine. For the _Freedome_ of _Will_ consists only in this, that we can
_Do_, or _not Do_ such a Thing (that is, _affirm_ or _deny_, _prosecute_
or _avoid_) or rather in this Only, that we are _so carried_ to a Thing
which is _proposed_ by Our _Intellect_ to _Affirm_ or _Deny_, _Prosecute_
or _Shun_, that we are _sensible_, that we are _not Determin’d_ to the
_Choice_ or _Aversion_ thereof, by any _outward Force_.
Neither is it Requisite to make one _Free_ that he should have an
_Inclination_ to _both_ sides. For on the contrary, by how much the more
_strongly_ I am inclined to _one_ side (whether it be that I _evidently
perceive_ therein Good or Evil, or Whether it be that _God has so
disposed_ my _Inward Thoughts_) By so much the _more Free_ am I in my
_Choice_.
Neither truly do _Gods Grace_ or _Natural Knowledge_ take away from
my _Liberty_, but rather _encrease_ and _strengthen_ it. For that
_indifference_ which I find in my self, when no Reason inclines me _more_
to _one side_, then to _the other_, is the _meanest_ sort of _Liberty_,
and is so far from being a sign of _perfection_, that it only argues a
_defect_ or _negation_ of _Knowledge_; for if I should always _Clearly
see_ what were _True_ and _Good_ I should never _deliberate_ in my
_Judgement_ or _Choice_, and Consequently, tho I were _perfectly Free_,
yet I should never be _Indifferent_.