ds matter to form. Hence that union is stable, firm,
and perpetual from the beginning of its creation; and thus unity
sustains all things.

Matter is movable, in order that it may receive form, in conformity
with its appetite for receiving goodness and delight through the
reception of form. In like manner, everything that is, desires to move,
in order that it may attain something of the goodness of the primal
being; and the nearer anything is to the primal being, the more easily
it reaches this, and the further off it is, the more slowly and with the
longer motion and time it does so. And the motion of matter and other
substances is nothing but appetite and love for the mover toward which
it moves, as, for example, matter moves toward form, through desire for
the primal being; for matter requires light from that which is in the
essence of will, which compels matter to move toward will and to desire
it: and herein will and matter are alike. And because matter is
receptive of the form that has flowed down into it by the flux of
violence and necessity, matter must necessarily move to receive form;
and therefore things are constrained by will and obedience in turn.
Hence by the light which it has from will, matter moves toward will and
desires it; but when it receives form, it lacks nothing necessary for
knowing and desiring it, and nothing remains for it to seek for. For
example, in the morning the air has an imperfect splendor from the sun;
but at noon it has a perfect splendor, and there remains nothing for it
to demand of the sun. Hence the desire for the first motion is a
likeness between all substances and the first Maker, because it is
impressed upon all things to move toward the first; because particular
matter desires particular form, and the matter of plants and animals,
which, in generating, move toward the forms of plants and animals, are
also influenced by the particular form acting in them. In like manner
the sensible soul moves toward sensible forms, and the rational soul to
intelligible forms, because the particular soul, which is called the
first intellect, while it is in its principle, is susceptible of form;
but when it shall have received the form of universal intelligence,
which is the second intellect, and shall become intelligence, then it
will be strong to act, and will be called the second intellect; and
since particular souls have such a desire, it follows that universal
souls must have a desire fo