5p23sc.md (1246B)
1 This idea, which expresses the essence of the body 2 under the form of eternity, is, as we have said, a certain mode 3 of thinking, which belongs to the essence of the mind, and is 4 necessarily eternal. Yet it is not possible that we should 5 remember that we existed before our body, for our body can bear 6 no trace of such existence, neither can eternity be defined in 7 terms of time, or have any relation to time. But, 8 notwithstanding, we feel and know that we are eternal. For the 9 mind feels those things that it conceives by understanding, no 10 less than those things that it remembers. For the eyes of the 11 mind, whereby it sees and observes things, are none other than 12 proofs. Thus, although we do not remember that we existed before 13 the body, yet we feel that our mind, in so far as it involves the 14 essence of the body, under the form of eternity, is eternal, and 15 that thus its existence cannot be defined in terms of time, or 16 explained through duration. Thus our mind can only be said to 17 endure, and its existence can only be defined by a fixed time, in 18 so far as it involves the actual existence of the body. Thus far 19 only has it the power of determining the existence of things by 20 time, and conceiving them under the category of duration. 21 22