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Boethius – The Consolation of Philosophy

Even things which are believed to be inanimate also desire in a similar way that which is their own, don't they?  Otherwise why is flame carried upwards by its lightness and solid things carried down by their weight, except because these positions and motions suit the individual things?  Furthermore, that which is suitable to each thing, they preserve, just as they destroy that which is harmful.  Things that are hard, like stone, cohere with great tenacity throughout their parts and resist being easily broken up.  But fluids, like air and water, easily give way before a dividing force and easily reunite again with the parts that have been cut off; and fire doesn't admit of being cut at all.

We are not dealing with willed motions of the conscious mind, but with instinctive motions, like the way we digest food we have taken without thinking about it, and the way we breathe in our sleep without being conscious of it.