); therefore, the clear and distinct ideas of the mind are as
necessarily true as the ideas of God.
Prop.[XLIV] It is not in the nature of reason to
regard as contingent, but as necessary.
Proof.- (44:1) It is in the nature of reason to perceive things truly
([xli] ), namely (I:[A.vi] ), as they are in them selves - that is
(I:[xxix] ), not as contingent, but as necessary. Q.E.D.
Corollary I - (44:2) Hence it follows, that it is only through our
imagination that we consider things, whether in respect to the future
or the past, as contingent.
Note.- (44:3) How this way of looking at things arises, I will briefly
explain. We have shown above ([xvii] and Coroll.) that the mind always
regards things as present to itself, even though they be not in existence,
until some causes arise which exclude their existence and presence.
(44:4) Further ([xviii] ), we showed that, if the human body has once
been affected by two external bodies simultaneously, the mind, when it
afterwards imagines one of the said external bodies, will straightway
remember the other - that is, it will regard both as present to itself,
unless there arise causes which exclude their existence and presence.
(44:5) Further, no one doubts that we imagine time, from the fact that
we imagine bodies to be moved some more slowly than others, some more
quickly, some at equal speed.
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