Prop. [XL] In proportion as each thing possesses
more of perfection, so is it more active,
and less passive; and, vice versa, in
proportion as it is more active, so is
it more perfect.
Proof.- (40:1) In proportion as each thing is more perfect, it possesses
more of reality (II:[D.vi] ), and, consequently (III:[iii] and Note),
it is to that extent more active and less passive. (2) This demonstration
may be reversed, and thus prove that, in proportion as a thing is more
active, so is it more perfect. Q.E.D.
Corollary.- (40:3) Hence it follows that the part of the mind which
endures, be it great or small, is more perfect than the rest. (4) For
the eternal part of the mind ([xiii] . and [xxix] ) the understanding,
through which alone we are said to act (III:[iii] ); the part which we have
shown to perish is the imagination ([xxi] ), through which only we are said
to be passive (III:[iii] and III:[GENERAL DEFINITION OF THE EMOTIONS] );
therefore, the former, be it great or small, is more perfect than the
latter. Q.E.D.
Note.- (40:5) Such are the doctrines which I had purposed to set forth
concerning the mind, in so far as it is regarded without relation to
the body; whence, as also from I:[xxi] and other places, it is plain
that our mind, in so far as it understands, is an eternal mode of
thinking, which is determined by another eternal mode of thinking,
and this other by a third, and so on to infinity; so that all taken
together at once constitute the eternal and infinite intellect of God.
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