Marsilio Ficino’s Platonic Theology, Volume II

3The soul, however, by the property of the third essence is a pure form: it is neither composed of matter and form nor lodged in matter. Therefore, remaining in itself, the soul has within it nothing other than form. Its own essence is therefore not formed by anything else; it is the form of itself—that is, it is form itself. Nothing, however, separates itself from its own essence, because nothing departs from itself. By natural instinct and perpetual striving, all things preserve themselves as far as they can and cling to themselves. Therefore, if the soul is never separated from itself and is itself its own form, it is never separated from its form. It never ceases to be, since being is always drawn from form. As we have said, it does not separate itself from itself of its own accord. Nor is it compelled by outward violence to withdraw from itself, for whatever it receives from without, it receives in its own manner. The soul is wholly spiritual and free from place and time; it therefore receives everything spiritually and without limitation. Spiritual and absolute things do not destroy that by which they are received. Indeed, when spiritual reception occurs in bodies, it does not corrupt the bodies themselves even though what they receive is unlike them, as we see in the reception of images by water and a mirror. Much less will it corrupt a spiritual thing closely akin to itself. Moreover, since the absolute thing supposed to be received by the soul's essence is eternal, why should it destroy its own receptacle? Is it to nourish itself from the receptacle's matter? No, for what is eternal has no need of nourishment. Is it to propagate itself and generate from that matter something like itself? By no means. What always remains the same has no need of propagation, nor can it generate something perpetual from a corruptible thing. It therefore corrupts nothing in order to generate something perpetual like itself. In no way, then, can the soul's essence receive anything by which it might be destroyed. With good reason, then, it can receive nothing harmful at all, since it lacks matter, which is called the first and proper receptacle of passions of this kind.