When the Creator had made the soul he made the body within her;
and the soul interfused everywhere from the centre to the
circumference of heaven, herself turning in herself, began a
divine life of rational and everlasting motion. The body of
heaven is visible, but the soul is invisible, and partakes of
reason and harmony, and is the best of creations, being the work
of the best. And being composed of the same, the other, and the
essence, these three, and also divided and bound in harmonical
proportion, and revolving within herself—the soul when touching
anything which has essence, whether divided or undivided, is
stirred to utter the sameness or diversity of that and some other
thing, and to tell how and when and where individuals are
affected or related, whether in the world of change or of
essence. When reason is in the neighbourhood of sense, and the
circle of the other or diverse is moving truly, then arise true
opinions and beliefs; when reason is in the sphere of thought,
and the circle of the same runs smoothly, then intelligence is
perfected.
When the Father who begat the world saw the image which he had
made of the Eternal Gods moving and living, he rejoiced; and in
his joy resolved, since the archetype was eternal, to make the
creature eternal as far as this was possible. Wherefore he made
an image of eternity which is time, having an uniform motion
according to number, parted into months and days and years, and
also having greater divisions of past, present, and future. These
all apply to becoming in time, and have no meaning in relation to
the eternal nature, which ever is and never was or will be; for
the unchangeable is never older or younger, and when we say that
he ‘was’ or ‘will be,’ we are mistaken, for these words are
applicable only to becoming, and not to true being; and equally
wrong are we in saying that what has become IS become and that
what becomes IS becoming, and that the non-existent IS
non-existent...These are the forms of time which imitate eternity
and move in a circle measured by number.