Pagina 396 van 1391

Again, hunger and thirst are inanitions of the body, ignorance

and folly of the soul; and food is the satisfaction of the one,

knowledge of the other. Now which is the purer satisfaction-that

of eating and drinking, or that of knowledge? Consider the matter

thus: The satisfaction of that which has more existence is truer

than of that which has less. The invariable and immortal has a

more real existence than the variable and mortal, and has a

corresponding measure of knowledge and truth. The soul, again,

has more existence and truth and knowledge than the body, and is

therefore more really satisfied and has a more natural pleasure.

Those who feast only on earthly food, are always going at random

up to the middle and down again; but they never pass into the

true upper world, or have a taste of true pleasure.