What then did I formerly believe myself to be?
Undoubtedly I believed myself to be a man. But what is a man?
Shall I say a reasonable animal? Certainly not; for then I
should have to inquire what an animal is, and what is
reasonable; and thus from a single question I should
insensibly fall into an infinitude of others more difficult;
and I should not wish to waste the little time and leisure
remaining to me in trying to unravel subtleties like these.
But I shall rather stop here to consider the thoughts which of
themselves spring up in my mind, and which were not inspired
by anything beyond my own nature alone when I applied myself
to the consideration of my being. In the first place, the, I
considered myself as having a face, hands, arms, and all that
system of members composed on bones and flesh as seen in a
corpse which I designated by the name of body. In addition to
this I considered that I was nourished, that I walked, that I
felt, and that I thought, and I referred all these actions to
the soul: but I did not stop to consider what the soul was,
or if I did stop, I imagined that it was something extremely
rare and subtle like a wind, a flame, or an ether, which was
spread throughout my grosser parts.
Pages:
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49