Chapter 1, Section 1g

But if It is greater than all Reason and all knowledge, and hath Its firm abode altogether beyond Mind and Being, and circumscribes, compacts, embraces and anticipates all things 87 87 παντῶν . . . προληπτική—i.e. contains them eternally before their creation. while Itself is altogether beyond the grasp of them all, and cannot be reached by any perception, imagination, conjecture, name, discourse, apprehension, or understanding, how then is our Discourse concerning the Divine Names to be accomplished, since we see that the Super-Essential Godhead is unutterable and nameless? Now, as we said when setting forth our Outlines of Divinity, the One, the Unknowable, the Super-Essential, the Absolute Good (I mean the Trinal Unity of Persons possessing the same Deity and Goodness), ‘tis impossible to describe or to conceive in Its ultimate Nature; nay, even the angelical communions of the heavenly Powers Therewith which we describe as either Impulsions or Derivations 88 88 ἃς εἴτε ἐπιβολὰς εἴτε παραδοχὰς χρῆ φάναι—i. e. according as we describe the act from above or below. God sends the impulse, the angels receive it. from the Unknowable and blinding Goodness are themselves beyond utterance and knowledge, and belong to none but those angels who, in a manner beyond angelic knowledge, have been counted worthy 60 thereof. And godlike Minds, 89 89 οἱ θεοειδεῖς . . . νόες—i.e. human minds. angelically 90 90 ἀγγελομιμητῶς. “In a manner which imitates the angels.” Cf. Wordsworth, Prelude, xiv. 108, 102: “Like angels stopped upon the wing by sound of harmony from heaven’s remotest spheres.” entering (according to their powers) unto such states of union and being deified and united, through the ceasing of their natural activities, unto the Light Which surpasseth Deity, can find no more fitting method to celebrate its praises than to deny It every manner of Attribute. 91 91 This shows that the Via Negativa is based on experience and not on mere speculation. For by a true and supernatural illumination from their blessed union Therewith, they learn that It is the Cause of all things and yet Itself is nothing, because It super-essentially transcends them all. Thus, as for the Super-Essence of the Supreme Godhead (if we would define the Transcendence of its Transcendent Goodness 92 92 ὅ τι ποτέ ἐστιν ἡ τῆς ὑπεραγαθότητος ὑπερύπαρξις. ) it is not lawful to any lover of that Truth which is above all truth to celebrate It as Reason or Power or Mind or Life or Being, but rather as most utterly surpassing all condition, movement, life, imagination, conjecture, name, discourse, thought, conception, being, rest, dwelling, union, 93 93 “Union” (ἕνωσις). This word has more than one meaning in D., and hence occasional ambiguity. It may = (1) Unity (i. e.