Library / Christian Mysticism / Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names ← Chapter 13, Section 1b Chapter 13, Section 1d → Emily Brontë: “Every existence would exist in Thee.”) And if all things be conceived as being ultimately unified with each other, then all things taken as a whole are One.
507 507 All things possess the same Super-Essence, and that is why they are connected together in this world.
3.
Moreover, we must bear this in mind: that when we attribute a common unity to things we do so in 187 accordance with the preconceived law of their kind belonging to each one, and that the One is thus the elementary basis of all things.
508 508 Cf.
p.
186, n.
3.
And if you take away the One there will remain neither whole nor part nor anything else in the world; for all things are contained beforehand and embraced by the One as an Unity in Itself.
Thus Scripture speaks of the whole Supreme Godhead as the Cause of all things by employing the title of “One”; and there is One God Who is the Father and One Lord Jesus Christ and One unchanging Spirit, through the transcendent indivisibility of the entire Divine Unity, wherein all things are knit together in one and possess a supernal Unity and super-essentially pre-exist.
Hence all things are rightly referred and attributed unto It, since by It and in It and unto It all things possess their existence, co-ordination, permanence, cohesion, fulfilment, and innate tendency.
And you will not find anything in .the world but derives from the One (which, in a super-essential sense, is the name of the whole Godhead) both its individual existence and the process that perfects and preserves it.
509 509 i.
e.
Both its unity in space and its unity in time.
And we also must, in the power of the Divine Unity, turn from the Many to the One and declare the Unity of the whole single Godhead, which is the One Cause of all things; before all distinctions of One and Many, Part and Whole, Definiteness and Indefiniteness, 510 510 A thing is definite when we can say of it: “This is not that,” indefinite when it is doubtful whether this is, or is not, that.
The Godhead not being a particular thing, belongs to a region where there is no “this” or “that.” So we cannot say, on that ultimate plane either: “This is not that,” or, “It is doubtful whether this is that.” Hence the mystical act of Unknowing.
Knowledge distinguishes things, Unknowing passes beyond this act yet without confusion.
In Unknowing the distinction between Thinker and Object of Thought is (from one point of view) gone; and yet the psychical state is a luminously clear one.
Our personalities in their Super-Essence are merged yet unconfused.
188 Finitude and Infinitude; 511 511 See p.
162 on “Greatness” and “Smallness.” giving definite shape to all things that have Being, and to Being itself; the Cause of everything and of all together—a Cause both co-existent and pre-existent and transcendent, and all these things at once; yea, beyond existent Unity itself, and giving definite shape to existent Unity itself.
For Unity, as found in the creatures, is numerical; and number participates in Essence: but the Super-Essential Unity gives definite shape to existent unity and to every number, and is Itself the Beginning, the Cause, the Numerical Principle and the Law of Unity, number and every creature.
§ Ask Guru about this passage → Themes
Apophatic Theologytheology Describing the divine only by negation—God transcends all positive categories and concepts; the via negativa.
The text describes God as transcending distinctions of One and Many, Part and Whole, Definiteness and Indefiniteness.
All passages → Cosmic Consciousnessanthropology A state of awareness transcending ordinary human consciousness, often involving unity with the universe or higher dimensions.
All things are knit together in one and possess a supernal Unity and super-essentially pre-exist.
All passages → Divine Hiddennesstheology The supreme God's radical concealment beyond ordinary knowledge or perception; the Hidden Father.
The text mentions a region where there is no 'this' or 'that,' implying radical concealment beyond ordinary distinction.
All passages → Divine Lighttheology The uncreated luminous quality of the divine, sometimes experienced directly in mystical states; illumination as revelation.
The passage describes the Godhead as luminously clear in Unknowing and possessing a supernal Unity.
All passages → Divine Simplicitytheology The doctrine that God has no parts, divisions, or composite attributes; pure undivided being.
The text emphasizes the transcendent indivisibility of the entire Divine Unity and the One as an elementary basis.
All passages → Emanation Hierarchycosmology 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.
The passage describes a hierarchy where all things derive from the One Cause and possess their existence through It.
All passages → Gnosis Direct Knowledgesoteriology Salvation through direct experiential knowledge of the divine nature, not through faith, ritual, or moral works alone.
The mystical act of Unknowing is presented as a luminously clear state that transcends ordinary distinctions.
All passages → Living Godtheology The divine conceived as active, present, and dynamic—not an abstract principle but a personal responsive reality.
God is portrayed as actively giving definite shape to all things that have Being.
All passages → Monadcosmology The absolutely simple, undivided first principle from which all multiplicity and existence flows.
The text centrally defines the One as the elementary basis of all things and the transcendent indivisible first principle from which existence flows.
All passages → Mystical Unionsoteriology The merging of the individual soul or self with the divine, transcending personal identity.
The passage describes a state where personalities in their Super-Essence are merged yet unconfused with the divine.
All passages → Numerical Mysticismtheology Numbers, proportions, and mathematical relationships as the underlying structure of divine reality.
The text explicitly contrasts numerical Unity with Super-Essential Unity and discusses the One as the Numerical Principle and Law of Unity.
All passages → Opposites Transcendedanthropology The dissolution of binary oppositions (male/female, inner/outer, above/below) as a mark of spiritual completion.
The text states that distinctions of One and Many are not inherent to the Godhead but belong to a region of deficiency.
All passages → Paradox As Teachingethics Using apparent contradiction, reversal, or riddle to destabilise ordinary understanding and induce insight.
The text uses the paradoxical concept of Unknowing as a luminously clear state to describe the divine.
All passages → Return To Sourcesoteriology The soul's journey back to its divine origin, reversing the fall into matter through stages of purification or illumination.
The instruction is to turn from the Many to the One, implying a movement back toward the divine origin.
All passages → Sacred Namestheology Divine names or formulas that carry ontological power, used in prayer, liturgy, or magical practice.
Scripture is cited for employing the title of 'One' as a name of the whole Godhead.
All passages → Unity Of Beingtheology The doctrine that all existence is ultimately one substance or one divine reality; non-duality as a theological claim.
The passage asserts that all things are ultimately unified with each other and possess a supernal Unity.
All passages → Related passages · 15 of 34 parallels
neoplatonism | Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 448
“Section 16 16. We have, of course, already seen that a secondary must follow upon the First, and that this is a power immeasurably fruitful; and we indicated that this truth is confirmed by the entire order of things since there is nothing,…”
Shared concept: Monad — The absolutely simple, undivided first principle from which all multiplicity and existence flows. (derived)
neoplatonism | Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 611
“Section 4 4. Then consider this god [in man] whom we cannot think to be absent at some point and present at another. All that have insight into the nature of the divine beings hold the omnipresence of this god and of all the gods, and reaso…”
Shared concept: Divine Simplicity — The doctrine that God has no parts, divisions, or composite attributes; pure undivided being. (derived)
western_esoteric | The Book of Ceremonial Magic (A.E. Waite) | Page 38 (part 2)
“The attempt to propitiate the Deity by means of prayers, sacrifices and abstinence, and thus to obtain the Divine assistance for the successful consummation of hideous offences and preposterous or impossible undertakings, is, of course, mad…”
Shared concept: Sacred Names — Divine names or formulas that carry ontological power, used in prayer, liturgy, or magical practice. (derived)
neoplatonism | Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter V
“But why am I prolix about these particulars? For I have abundantly shown, in what has been before said, the transcendency of divine above human divination. It is better, therefore, in compliance with your request, “ to point out to you the…”
Shared concept: Emanation Hierarchy — 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. (derived)
theosophy | The Secret Doctrine | Page 19 (part 1)
“The Secret Doctrine by H.
P.
Blavatsky -- Vol.
1 [[Vol.
1, Page]] 325 THE IMPARTIALITY OF SCIENTIFIC DENIALS.
[[This page continued from previous section ]] § III.
PRIMORDIAL SUBSTANCE AND DIVINE THOUGHT.
"As it would seem irrational…”
Shared concept: Unity Of Being — The doctrine that all existence is ultimately one substance or one divine reality; non-duality as a theological claim. (derived)
hinduism | Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, Book I | Sutra 24
“The Master is the spiritual man, who s free from hindrances, bondage to works, and the fruition and seed of works. The Soul of the Master, the Lord, is of the same nature as the soul in us; but we still bear the burden of many evils, we are…”
Shared concept: Unity Of Being — The doctrine that all existence is ultimately one substance or one divine reality; non-duality as a theological claim. (derived)
neoplatonism | Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 185
“Section 9 9. We admit, then, a Necessity in all that is brought about by this compromise between evil and accidental circumstance: what room was there for anything else than the thing that is? Given all the causes, all must happen beyond ay…”
Shared concept: Unity Of Being — The doctrine that all existence is ultimately one substance or one divine reality; non-duality as a theological claim. (derived)
neoplatonism | Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 365 (part 2)
“The punishments of wrong-doing are like the treatment of diseased parts of the body- here, medicines to knit sundered flesh; there, amputations; elsewhere, change of environment and condition- and the penalties are planned to bring health t…”
Shared concept: Unity Of Being — The doctrine that all existence is ultimately one substance or one divine reality; non-duality as a theological claim. (derived)
neoplatonism | Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 372
“Section 6 6. We return, then, to the question whether there could be light if there were no air, the sun illuminating corporeal surfaces across an intermediate void which, as things are, takes the light accidentally by the mere fact of bein…”
Shared concept: Unity Of Being — The doctrine that all existence is ultimately one substance or one divine reality; non-duality as a theological claim. (derived)
neoplatonism | Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 531
“Section 24 24. There remains Situation, which like Possession is confined to a few instances such as reclining and sitting. Even so, the term is not used without qualification: we say "they are placed in such and such a manner," "he is situ…”
Shared concept: Unity Of Being — The doctrine that all existence is ultimately one substance or one divine reality; non-duality as a theological claim. (derived)
neoplatonism | Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 572
“Section 11 11. Passing to Quantity and the quantum, we have to consider the view which identifies them with number and magnitude on the ground that everything quantitative is numbered among Sensible things or rated by the extension of its s…”
Shared concept: Unity Of Being — The doctrine that all existence is ultimately one substance or one divine reality; non-duality as a theological claim. (derived)
neoplatonism | Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 667
“Section 28 28. Now to see what all this reasoning has established: Universally, what approaches as a good is a Form; Matter itself contains this good which is Form: are we to conclude that, if Matter had will, it would desire to be Form una…”
Shared concept: Unity Of Being — The doctrine that all existence is ultimately one substance or one divine reality; non-duality as a theological claim. (derived)
neoplatonism | Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 700 (part 2)
“Thus we must speak of God since we cannot tell Him as we would.…”
Shared concept: Unity Of Being — The doctrine that all existence is ultimately one substance or one divine reality; non-duality as a theological claim. (derived)
renaissance_hermeticism | Paracelsus: The Book Concerning the Tincture of the Philosophers | Section 1k
“But in its third nature it appears as an aerial body, of an oily nature, almost freed from all imperfections, in which form it does many wondrous works, producing beauty and strength of body, and (a small quantity being taken in the food) p…”
Shared concept: Unity Of Being — The doctrine that all existence is ultimately one substance or one divine reality; non-duality as a theological claim. (derived)
theosophy | The Secret Doctrine | Page 37 (part 3)
“A body may be considered divorced from its relations with other bodies -- which, according to physical and mechanical sciences, give rise to its attributes -- only conceptually , only on this plane of illusion.
In fact, it can never be so…”
Shared concept: Unity Of Being — The doctrine that all existence is ultimately one substance or one divine reality; non-duality as a theological claim. (derived)
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