________________
816
THE KEY OF KNOWLEDGE.
body itself which accomplishes it, and therefore also the process through which and in which it exists, are nothing but the manifestation of the will, the becoming visible, the objectification of the will. Upon this rests the perfect suitableness of the human and animal body to the human and animal will in general, resembling, though far surpassing, the correspondence between an instrument made for a purpose and the will of the maker, and on this account appearing as design, i.e., the teleological explanation of the body. The parts of the body must, therefore, completely correspond to the principal desires through which the will manifests itself; they must be the visible expression of these desires. Teeth, throat, and bowels are objectified hunger; the organs of generation are objectified sexual desire; the grasping hand, the hurrying feet, correspond to the more indirect desires of the will which they express. As the human form generally corresponds to the human will generally, so the individual bodily structure corresponds to the individually modified will, the character of the individual, and therefore it is throughout and in all its parts characteristic and full of expression."
This somewhat lengthy, though highly abridged, account of Will as the Thing-in-itself and of its objectification was necessary to show that the body is only an expression of the inind, that is to say, is made in the likeness of the soul, as Muslim philosophers point out. If we bear in mind the distinction between the process of organization and manufacturing, as pointed out by H. Bergson in his “Creative Evolution," namely, that the former proceeds from the centre to periphery, while the latter in a reverse manner, i. e., from the periphery to centre, there appears to be nothing surprising in the fact that the body should be built up according to the character which is to be expressed in it and through it. Thus, the present body is necessarily the result of the pre-natal character, formed in a previous life.
Jain Education International
For Private & Personal Use Only
www.jainelibrary.org