follows his inward adherence. Thus the image within the soul of what is intended, sought, and desired remains what moves and commands the person.
This is why it is said: “The final cause is an efficient cause.” For it is on account of the final cause—through this conception and volition—that a person becomes the agent of an act. This desired image, conceived within the soul, is what makes the agent act. The person therefore follows it, while Satan drives him further into error, strengthening that image and its influence and making following it attractive to people.
That image encompasses both the image of the object sought—such as a beloved form, food, or drink—and the act itself, namely direct engagement with that sought and beloved object. Satan and the soul love this. Whenever a person conceives that beloved object within himself, he wants it to exist externally. For what comes first in thought comes last in action, and what comes first in seeking comes last in attainment.
For this reason, a person in the grip of his appetite and desire remains their captive, subdued under the authority of desire more completely than by any other overpowering force. This desire-driven force that subdues the servant is a quality inherent in his own soul, which he cannot leave behind at all. The soul seeks the mental image, for it seeks to apprehend the beloved object and represent it within itself. He therefore follows the will, even if it is mental. Adornment derives from beauty, and what is meant is the conception within himself and the object of desire existing externally. He has “two movers”: the conception and the object of desire. One moves him by seeking and commanding, while the other commands him to follow