Tahafut_al-Tahafut-transl-Engl-van-den-Bergh

heaven and earth, partly knowledge of our own invention,
when we represent in ourselves the form of a thing we do
not see and then produce it; in this case the existence of the
form is derived from the knowledge and not the knowledge
from the existence. Now the knowledge the First has is of
the second category, for the representation of the order in
Himself is the cause of the emanation of the order from Him.
Indeed, if the mere presence of the form of a picture or of
writing in our souls were sufficient for the occurrence of this
form, then our knowledge would be identical with our power
and our wills but through our deficiency our representation
does not suffice to produce the form, but we need besides a
new act of will which results from our appetitive faculty, so
that through these two the power which moves our muscles
and our nerves in our organs can enter into motion, and
through the movement of our muscles and nerves our hand
or any other member can move, and through its movement
the pen or any other external instrument can come into
motion and through the movement of the pen the matter, e.
g. the ink, can move, and so the form is realized which we
represented in our souls. Therefore the very existence of this
form in our souls is not a power and an act of will; no, in us
power lies in the principle which moves our muscles and this
form moves the mover which is the principle of the power.
But this is not the case with the necessary existent, for He is
not composed of bodies from which the powers in His
extremities originate, and so His power, His will, His
knowledge, and His essence are all one.
When it is said that He is living, nothing is meant but that
He is conscious of the knowledge through which the existent
which is called His act emanates from Him. For the living is
the doer, the perceiver, and the meaning of the term is His
essence in relation to His acts in the way we have described,
not at all like our life, which can be only perfected through
two different faculties from which perception and action
result. But His life again is His very essence.
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