4. The Human Soul and the Human Spirit

I will give you an example from real life that may be dismissed as laughable by many who are accustomed to contemporary philosophical thinking. But it really does show how Carneri, the man who conjures up ethics out of materialism, who actually denies the independent powers of the human soul in theory, becomes his own opponent at a moment when he is forced to speak from the depths of his soul, becomes his own opponent and speaks for a moment as if he were the best supporter of a doctrine that recognizes the independence of the mind and soul of man, as I have presented it today. Marie Eugenie delle Grazie, a friend of Carneri, recounts how she once visited him when he had already reached a ripe old age, after he had had another attack that really showed how the discomforts of life can turn it into a torture. She said to him: “How have you been able to bear it all these years, keeping that smile, that kindness and joy of living?” Marie Eugenie delle Grazie, the Austrian poet, not only said it, but she “cried out in agony” when this person found it so difficult to breathe and had an attack of suffocation. Then she continues: