Chapter 1, Section 1b

For even as things which are intellectually discerned 52 52 i. e. The Transcendent Truths which are beyond ordinary knowledge. νοητά . The word νοῦς = Mind in the sense not merely of abstract intellect but of the spiritual personality. Hence the word is often used to = an angel; and νοητός is often used as = spiritual, instead of πνευματικός , which D. does not employ. This use of νοῦς and its derivatives is ultimately due to the influence of Aristotle. (Cf. the use of νοῦς in Plotinas.) St. Thomas Aquinas regards intellectus as = “personality.” But here the reference is perhaps rather to the province of abstract intellect. cannot be comprehended or perceived by means of those things which belong to the senses, nor simple and imageless things by means of types and images, nor the formless and intangible essence of unembodied things by means of those which have bodily form, 53 53 Apparently this is the same thought repeated in three different ways. The formless essence (ἀμορφία) of a thing is simple and imageless—a Platonic idea—perceived by the mind; things which have bodily form are, as it were, types and symbols perceived by the senses. by the same law of truth the boundless 54 54 Or “indeterminate.” Super-Essence surpasses Essences, the Super-Intellectual Unity surpasses Intelligences, 53 the One which is beyond thought surpasses the apprehension of thought, and the Good which is beyond utterance surpasses the reach of words. 55 55 Thus the three grades are: (1) the material world; (2) the spiritual world of truths, personality, etc.; (3) the Godhead which is, so to speak, supra-spiritual. Yea, it is an Unity which is the unifying Source of all unity and a Super-Essential Essence, 56 56 i. e. A Supra-Personal Personality. See Intr., p. 4 f. a Mind beyond the reach of mind 57 57 νοῦς ἀνοητός. Probably not ” Irrational Mind” (as Dr. Inge translates it). Maximus takes it passively, as translated above. and a Word beyond utterance, eluding Discourse, Intuition, Name, and every kind of being. It is the Universal Cause of existence while Itself existing not, for It is beyond all Being and such that It alone could give, with proper understanding thereof, a revelation of Itself. 2. Now concerning this hidden Super-Essential Godhead we must not dare, as I have said, to speak, or even to form any conception Thereof, except those things which are divinely revealed to us from the Holy Scriptures. For as It hath lovingly taught us in the Scriptures concerning Itself 58 58 Ps. cxlv. 3 ; Matt. xi 27 ; Rom. xi. 33 ; I Cor. ii. 11 ; Eph. iii. 8 . the understanding and contemplation of Its actual nature is not accessible to any being; for such knowledge is superessentially exalted above them all. And many of the Sacred Writers thou wilt find who have declared that It is not only invisible and incomprehensible, but also unsearchable and past finding out, since there is no trace of any that have penetrated the hidden depths of Its infinitude.