SECT. XLVIII. The Sovereignty of the Soul over the Body
principally appears in the Images imprinted in the Brain.


It is certain we cannot sufficiently admire either the absolute
power of the soul over corporeal organs which she knows not, or the
continual use it makes of them without discerning them. That
sovereignty principally appears with respect to the images imprinted
in our brain. I know all the bodies of the universe that have made
any impression on my senses for a great many years past. I have
distinct images of them that represent them to me, insomuch that I
believe I see them even when they exist no more. My brain is like a
closet full of pictures, which should move and set themselves in
order at the master's pleasure. Painters, with all their art and
skill, never attain but an imperfect likeness; whereas the pictures
I have in my head are so faithful, that it is by consulting them I
perceive all the defects of those made by painters, and correct them
within myself. Now, do these images, more like their original than
the masterpieces of the art of painting, imprint themselves in my
head without any art? Is my brain a book, all the characters of
which have ranged themselves of their own accord? If there be any
art in the case, it does not proceed from me. For I find within me
that collection of images without having ever so much as thought
either to imprint them, or set them in order. Moreover, all these
images either appear or retire as I please, without any confusion.
I call them back, and they return; I dismiss them, and they sink I
know not where. They either assemble or separate, as I please. But
I neither know where they lie, nor what they are. Nevertheless I
find them always ready. The agitation of so many images, old and