the person’s awareness that it is present within him. Something’s existence within a person or elsewhere is distinct from his knowledge of it. This is like his bodily attributes: some he does not see, such as his face and the back of his neck; others he sees if he deliberately looks at them, such as his abdomen, thigh, and upper arms. His upper arms may bear moles and other marks, or exhibit other conditions, which he has neither seen nor known about. Yet if he deliberately looked, he would see them. Some people cannot see such things because their eyesight has been affected by dimness of vision, blindness, or some other impairment.

Likewise, he may know some attributes of his soul but not others. Yet if he deliberately reflected on the state of his soul, he would recognize them. Some, however, he would not recognize even upon reflection, because of the corruption of his insight and the impairments that have affected it.

What makes this clear is that voluntary actions are inconceivable without an intention present within the person’s soul. Anyone who performs a voluntary action while knowing what he is doing must intend it. Someone who eats, drinks, or dresses while knowing that he is doing so must intend to do so. A voluntary action cannot occur without an intention. If he has conceived of the action he performs and has actually performed it, he must intend it, having conceived of it. If he intends it and has conceived of it, it is impossible for him not to intend what he has conceived of and performed.