Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names · 2 of 6 · tr. C.E. Rolt
Chapter 13, Section 1b
abundant and inexhaustible supple, whereby It perfects all perfect 498 498 “Perfect,” a term taken from the Mysteries expressing the final state of the initiated.
things and fills them with Its own Perfection.
2.
And the title “One” implies that It is all things under the form of Unity through the Transcendence of Its single Oneness, 499 499 See p.
184, n.
3.
and is the Cause of all things without departing from that Unity.
For there is nothing in the world without a share in the One; and, just as all number participates in unity (and we speak of one couple, one dozen, one half, one third, or one tenth) even so everything and each part of everything participates in the One, and on the existence of the One all other existences are based, and the One Cause of all things is not one of the many things in the world, 500 500 Cf.
X., 2.
but is before all Unity and Multiplicity and gives to all Unity and Multiplicity their definite bounds.
501 501 The Godhead is not one individual, or essence, among others, but is the Super-Essence of them all.
The numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, etc.
= 1 x 1, 1 x 2, 1 x 3, 1 x 4, etc.
Thus in the form “1 x 1” the first figure represents the unity underlying all numbers, the second figure represents unity as a particular number among other numbers.
The first figure may thus be taken as a symbol of the Godhead, the second figure as a symbol of all created unity.
For no multiplicity can exist except by 186 some participation in the One: 502 502 Though created unity differs (see last note) from Uncreated Unity, yet it is, so to speak, a reflection thereof, as essence is a reflection of Super-Essence.
So each number, because based on an underlying Unity, is itself a unit, and the underlying Unity of the Godhead shines through the world in all the harmonies and systems of things.
that which is many in its parts is one in its entirety; that which is many in its accidental qualities is one in its substance; 503 503 A tree is one tree though (1) made up of root, trunk, branches, leaves, etc., (2) green in the leaves and brown in the trunk, etc.
that which is many in number or faculties is one in species; 504 504 There are many oaks with different capacities of growth and productiveness, yet all belong to the same “oak species”; and there are many species or kinds of trees (oaks, chestnuts, firs, etc.) yet all belong to the genus “tree.” that which is many in its emanating activities is one in its originating essence.
505 505 A man’s thoughts, desires and acts of will all spring from his one personality.
There is naught in the world without some participation in the One, the Which in Its all-embracing Unity contains beforehand all things, and all things conjointly, combining even opposites under the form of oneness.
And without the One there can be no Multiplicity; yet contrariwise the One can exist without the Multiplicity just as the Unit exists before all multiplied Number.
506 506 Just as in the series 1 x 2, 1 x 3, 1 x 4, etc., if you destroy the 2, 3, 4, etc., the 1 remains, so if the universe disappeared the Godhead would still remain.
(Cf.
The Hermetic axiom that the structure of the cosmos is reflected at every scale — 'as above, so below; as within, so without' — making each level a legible map of the others.
It states that created unity is a reflection of Uncreated Unity shining through harmonies.
The doctrine that the divine is present within all things and the universe itself, pervading creation rather than remaining solely transcendent above it. Distinct from unity_of_being (the general claim that all existence is one substance, agnostic about whether that substance indwells its parts) and from kingdom_within (the divine present specifically IN THE INDIVIDUAL human, accessible without mediation) — divine_immanence is the general pervading-presence claim applied to all of creation, not a human-specific indwelling.
The passage explicitly states that 'all things conjointly' are contained in the One's 'all-embracing Unity' and that 'the underlying Unity of the Godhead shines through the world in all the harmonies and systems of things,' asserting the divine pervades all creation.
Pronoia — the doctrine that the divine actively orders the unfolding of the cosmos and human affairs toward intelligible ends, against pure chance or blind necessity.
The One is described as actively perfecting 'all perfect things' and 'filling them with Its own Perfection,' and as the originating cause from which all emanating activities spring, indicating active divine ordering of the cosmos.
The doctrine that God has no parts, divisions, or composite attributes; pure undivided being.
The One is described as transcending all composite categories—'before all Unity and Multiplicity,' the 'Super-Essence of them all'—emphasizing that God has no parts or divisions and is pure undivided being.
A chain of divine beings or principles flowing downward from a single transcendent source (the One or the Father), each level less perfect than the one above.
It describes the One as the Cause of all things without departing from Unity.