Chapter V.
On the speculation of the divine unity through its primary name, which is being.
1. Since it is possible to contemplate God not only outside us and within us, but also above us: outside through his vestige, within through his image, and above through the light that is sealed upon our mind, which is the light of eternal Truth, since "our mind itself is immediately formed by Truth itself"; those who have been exercised in the first mode have already entered into the court before the tabernacle; those in the second have entered into the holy place: but those in the third enter with the High Priest into the holy of holies; where above the ark are the Cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat; by which we understand two modes or degrees of contemplating the invisible and eternal things of God, of which one is concerned with the essential attributes of God, and the other with what is proper to the persons.
2. The first mode first and principally fixes its gaze upon being itself, saying that He Who Is is the primary name of God. The second mode fixes its gaze upon the good itself, saying that this is the primary name of God. The first pertains especially to the Old Testament, which above all proclaims the unity of the divine essence; whence it was said to Moses: I am who I am; the second pertains to the New, which determines the plurality of persons, baptizing in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Therefore our master Christ, wishing to raise the young man who had kept the Law to evangelical perfection, principally and precisely attributed the name of goodness to God. No one, he said, is good but God alone. Damascene therefore, following Moses, says that He Who Is is the primary name of God; Dionysius, following Christ, says that the good is the primary name of God.
3. Whoever wishes therefore to contemplate the invisible things of God with regard to the unity of essence, let him first fix his gaze upon being itself and let him see that being itself is so certain in itself that it cannot be thought not to be, because being most pure does not present itself except in the full flight from non-being, just as nothingness presents itself in the full flight from being. Just as therefore absolute nothingness has nothing of being nor of its conditions, so conversely being itself has nothing of non-being, neither in act nor in potency, neither according to the truth of the thing nor according to our estimation. Since, however, non-being is the privation of being, it does not fall into the intellect except through being; but being does not fall through another, because everything that is understood is understood either as non-being, or as being in potency, or as being in act. If therefore non-being cannot be understood except through being, and being in potency only through being in act; and being names the pure act itself of a being: being therefore is what first falls into the intellect, and that being is what is pure act. But this is not particular being , which is contracted being , because it is mixed with potency; nor analogous being , because it has the least of act, since it has the least of being. It remains therefore that that being is divine being .
4. Wondrous therefore is the blindness of the intellect, which does not consider that which it sees first and without which it can know nothing. But just as the eye, intent upon the various differences of colors, does not see the light by which it sees the rest, and if it sees it, does not attend to it: so the eye of our mind, intent upon particular and universal beings, does not attend to being itself beyond every genus, although it first presents itself to the mind, and through it all other things. Whence it most truly appears that "as the eye of the bat is to the light, so is the eye of our mind to the most manifest things of nature"; because, accustomed to the darkness of beings and the phantasms of sensible things, when it gazes upon the very light of supreme being, it seems to itself to see nothing: not understanding that this very darkness is the supreme illumination of our mind, just as when the eye sees pure light, it seems to itself to see nothing.
5. See therefore being most pure itself, if you can, and it will present itself to you that it cannot be thought as received from another: and thereby it is necessarily thought as in every way first, which can be neither from nothing nor from something. For what is through itself, if being itself is not through itself nor from itself?
It also presents itself to you as entirely lacking non-being, and thereby as never beginning, never ending, but eternal.
It also presents itself to you as in no way having in itself anything except what is being itself, and thereby as composed with nothing, but most simple.
It presents itself to you as having nothing of potentiality, because every possible thing in some way has something of non-being, and hence as supremely most actual.
It presents itself as having nothing of defectibility, and hence as most perfect.
It presents itself lastly as having nothing of diversification, and hence as supremely one.
Being therefore, which is being pure and being simply and being absolute, is being primary, eternal, most simple, most actual, most perfect, and supremely one.
6. And these things are so certain that the opposite of them cannot be thought by one understanding being itself, and one of them necessarily implies the other. For because it is simply being, therefore it is simply first: because it is simply first, therefore it is not made by another, nor could it have been made by itself, therefore it is eternal. Likewise, because it is first and eternal; therefore it is not from others, therefore it is most simple. Likewise, because it is first, eternal, and most simple: therefore there is nothing of potentiality mixed with act in it, and therefore it is most actual. Likewise, because it is first, eternal, most simple, most actual; therefore it is most perfect: to such a being absolutely nothing is lacking, nor can any addition be made. Because it is first, eternal, most simple, most actual, most perfect: therefore it is supremely one. For what is said through every manner of superabundance with respect to all things. " What also is said simply through superabundance, it is impossible that it should belong to any but one alone ". Whence if God names being primary, eternal, most simple, most actual, most perfect: it is impossible for him to be thought not to be, nor to be anything but one alone. Hear therefore, O Israel, your God is one God.
If you see this in the pure simplicity of the mind, you will be in some measure flooded with the illumination of eternal light.
7. But you have that by which you may be raised up in wonder. For being itself is first and last, is eternal and most present, is most simple and greatest, is most actual and most immutable, is most perfect and immense, is supremely one and yet all-encompassing.
If you wonder at these things with a pure mind, you will be flooded with a greater light, while you see further that it is last, because it is first. For because it is first, it works all things for its own sake: and therefore it is necessary that it be the ultimate end, the beginning and the consummation, the Alpha and the Omega.
Therefore it is most present, because it is eternal. For because it is eternal, it does not flow from another nor fail from itself nor pass from one thing to another: therefore it has neither past nor future, but only present being alone.
Therefore greatest, because most simple. For because it is most simple in essence, therefore it is greatest in power, because power, the more it is united, the more it is infinite. — Therefore most immutable, because most actual. For because it is most actual, therefore it is pure act; and what is such acquires nothing new, loses nothing it possesses, and therefore cannot be changed. — Therefore immense, because most perfect. For because it is most perfect, nothing can be thought beyond it that is better, nobler, or more worthy, and therefore nothing greater; and everything such is immense.
Therefore all-encompassing, because supremely one. For what is supremely one is the universal principle of all multitude; and therefore it is the universal efficient, exemplary, and final cause of all things, as "the cause of being, the ground of understanding, and the order of living." It is therefore all-encompassing not as the essence of all things, but as the most superexcellent, most universal, and most sufficient cause of all essences, whose power, because supremely united in essence, is therefore supremely most infinite and most manifold in efficacy.
8. Turning back again, let us say: because therefore the most pure and absolute being, which is simply being, is the first and the last, therefore it is the origin and consummating end of all things.
Because eternal and most present, therefore it encompasses and enters all durations, existing as it were simultaneously as their center and circumference.
Because most simple and greatest, therefore it is wholly within all things and wholly beyond all things, and therefore "it is an intelligible sphere whose center is everywhere and whose circumference is nowhere."
Because most actual and most immutable, therefore "remaining stable, it gives motion to all things."
Because most perfect and immense, therefore it is within all things, not enclosed; beyond all things, not excluded; above all things, not elevated; below all things, not cast down.