Page:The Philosophy of Creation.djvu/233

 nal. The internal sensations are proper to the will and the understanding, which do not have that sense characteristic of the corporeal senses, but the sensations of the will and the understanding are turned into such when they flow into the corporeal organism.

Vision being primarily from mental light, an image upon the retina of one in a listless state may not be seen. That there be distinct vision there must be the direction of that light, by means of which the mind sees, into the material eye, for the natural eye has no power of itself to see. It is the eye of the mind that sees through the material eye, and thus discerns objects in nature.

The power of sight chiefly depends upon two things, the strength, clearness, and perfection of the lens of the natural eye, and the force and direction of mental light. The intelligence of vision, other things being equal, is in proportion to the quality of intellectual light. Hence with the lower animals there may be superior visual power, but in their sight there is nothing of cause and effect or of reverence, and consequently less discernment; while with man these enter into sight and ennoble it in proportion to man's intelligence. This is why the sight of the artist is superior to that of the untrained, and why the spiritual