Since I am a being with extension and thought, my extension and my
thought are therefore necessary productions of this Being. It is evident
to me that I cannot give myself either extension or thought. I have
therefore received both from this necessary Being.
Can He give me what He has not? I have intelligence and I am in space;
therefore He is intelligent, and He is in space.
To say that this eternal Being, this omnipotent God, has from all time
necessarily filled the universe with His productions, is not to deprive
Him of His liberty; on the contrary, for liberty is only the power of
acting. God has always acted to the full; therefore God has always made
use of the fullness of His liberty.
The liberty that is called _liberty of indifference_ is a phrase without
idea, an absurdity; for it would be determination without reason; it
would be an effect without a cause. Therefore, God cannot have this
so-called liberty which is a contradiction in terms. He has therefore
always acted through this same necessity which makes His existence.
It is therefore impossible for the world to be without God, it is
impossible for God to be without the world.
This world is filled with beings who succeed each other, therefore God
has always produced beings who succeed each other.
These preliminary assertions are the basis of the ancient Oriental
philosophy and of that of the Greeks.
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