The Improvement of Human Reason - Exhibited in the Life of Hai Ebn Yokdhan by Ibn Tufail
page 76 of 141 (53%)
page 76 of 141 (53%)
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nor ever heard any thing of him; and so would, at the separating with
the Body, never to be join'd to him, nor to be concern'd at the want of him. Because all the Corporeal Faculties cease when the Body dies, nor do they any longer desire or linger after their proper Objects; nor are in any trouble or pain for their absence; (which is the Condition of all Brutes, of what shape soever they are.) Or else, secondly, such an one, who while he continu'd in the Body, did converse with this Being, and had a sense of his Perfection, Greatness, Dominion, and Power; but afterwards declin'd from him, and follow'd his vicious Inclinations, till at length Death overtook him whilst in this State; he shall be depriv'd of that Vision, and yet be afflicted with the Desire of Enjoying it, and so remain in lasting Punishment and inexpressible Torture; whether he be to be delivered from his Misery after a long time, and enjoy that Vision which he so earnestly desires; or, everlastingly to abide in the same Torments, according as he was fitted and dispos'd for either of these two, during his continuance in the Body. Or lastly, were such an one, who convers'd with this necessarily self-existent Being, and apply'd himself to it, with the utmost of his Ability, and has all his Thoughts continually intent upon his Glory, Beauty, and Splendor, and never turns from him, nor forsakes him, till Death seizes him in the Act of Contemplation and Intuition: Such a Man as this shall, when separated from Body, remain in everlasting Pleasure, and Delight, and Joy and Gladness, by reason of the uninterrupted Vision of that self-existent Being, and its intire freedom from all Impurity and Mixture; and because all those Sensible Things shall be remov'd from him, which are the proper Objects of the Corporeal Faculties, and which, in regard of his present State, are no better than Torments, Evils and Hinderances. ยง 66. Being thus satisfied, that the Perfection and Happiness of his own |
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