the vessels at the liquids’ outer edges, not their centres. This is not the case with the soul and the body. Rather, the soul is connected with every part of the body, inwardly and outwardly. Likewise, its entry into the body is not like the entry of food and drink into the body of someone who consumes them: these pass through known channels and undergo transformation, among their other properties. Nor does the soul flow through the body as blood does, for blood is present in some parts of the body but not others.

In short, none of the proposed analogies involves every part of one thing being connected with the other, as is the case with the soul and the body. Nevertheless, the soul is within the body and has entered it. It leaves the body at death and is drawn out gradually, emerging from it little by little. It does not leave it as a king leaves the city he governs. Because people have witnessed nothing comparable to the soul, they find it difficult to express its true nature.

This should alert them to the fact that they do not know the true nature of the Lord of all worlds, nor have they conceived how He is—glorified and exalted is He—and that the attributes ascribed to Him are as befits Him, majestic is His glory. For the soul, which is itself one of His servants, is described as ascending when a person sleeps and prostrating beneath the Throne, while still remaining in that person’s body, without having left it altogether. In sleep, a person senses the activities of his soul—activities that affect his body.

Thus, the ascent attributed to the soul does not resemble the ascent of observable things. When these ascend to a place, they leave their former place entirely, and their movement