And the same holds for intention, love, and will in two respects:
First, loving or hating an object—whether sought and loved or disliked and hated—is inconceivable without some prior awareness of it. Awareness of what exists is primary, while awareness of what does not exist is derivative; this applies all the more to the love and hatred that follow such awareness.
Second, a person loves only what suits him and accords with his nature, bringing him pleasure and delight. His soul is neither suited nor akin to sheer nonexistence and pure negation. In sheer nonexistence he finds neither pleasure nor joy, neither blessing nor bliss, no good whatsoever, and certainly no benefit. Indeed, loving sheer nonexistence is like the absence of love, and taking pleasure in sheer nonexistence is like the absence of pleasure. How can something that is nothing at all contain any benefit, pleasure, or good?
Rather, his soul loves what brings it benefit and pleasure: milk at birth, for example, and other foods; then the pleasures of sexual intimacy and the like; then the pleasures of honour, leadership, and similar things; and then the pleasures of reason, knowledge, and faith. He also loves what wards off harm, such as clothing, dwellings, and the good things that shield him from his foes—heat and cold, harmful human beings, harmful animals, and so forth. Thus, he loves the existence of what benefits him and the absence of what harms him. What benefits him is necessarily something that exists, as explained above. As for what harms him, sometimes