 Olivi allows that the object itself, through species in medio, can indirectly act on our spiritual faculties, through what he calls the via colligantiae (way of connection). A flash of lightning will make a physical impression on our eyes, and this physical impression can, through the via colligantiae, affect the spiritual sensory powers. But, crucially, this connection is not what brings about sensation. We see this flash, as opposed to receiving merely a physical impression from it, when we direct our spiritual attention toward it (Quodlibet I.4). This via colligantiae plays an important role across Olivi’s philosophical psychology, being his general method of explaining the vexed connection between mind and body (see Summa II q. 59, pp. 546–54; ibid. q. 72, pp. 30–35; Jansen 1921, pp. 76–90).