Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names · 6 of 16 · tr. C.E. Rolt
Chapter 2, Section 1f
Yea, ‘tis a common and undifferenced activity of the whole Godhead that It is wholly and entirely communicated unto each of them that share It and unto none merely in part; 197 197 D.
here touches on the fundamental difference between spiritual and material things.
Cf.
Shelley: “True love has this different from gold or clay that to divide is not to take away.” even as the centre of a circle is shared by all the radii which surround it in a circle; 198 198 Plotinus uses the same illustration (Enn.
iv.
1).
and as there are many impressions of a seal all sharing in the seal which is their archetype while yet this is entire, nor is it only a part thereof that belongeth unto any of them.
But the Incommunicable All-creative Godhead transcends all such symbols in that It is beyond Apprehension nor hath It any other mode of communion such as to join It unto the participants.
199 199 D.
is always on his guard against Pantheism.
Perhaps, however, some one will say: “The seal is not entire and the same in all the printed copies.” I answer that this is not due to the seal itself (for it gives itself wholly and identically to each), but the difference of the substances which share it makes the impressions of the one, entire, identical archetype to be different.
For instance, if they are soft, plastic, and smooth, and have no print already, and are neither hard and resistent, nor yet melting and unstable, the imprint will be clear, plain, and permanent; 73 but if the aforesaid fitness should in aught be lacking, then the material will not take the impression and reproduce it distinctly, and other such results will follow as an unsuitable material must bring about.
6.
Again, it is by a Differentiated act of God’s benevolence that the Super-Essential Word should wholly and completely take Human Substance of human flesh and do and suffer all those things which, in a special and particular manner, belong to the action of His Divine Humanity.
In these acts the Father and the Spirit have no share, except of course that they all share in the loving generosity of the Divine counsels and in all that transcendent Divine working of unutterable mysteries which were performed in Human Nature by Him Who as God and as the Word of God is Immutable.
200 200 Redemption is a work performed by the whole Trinity through the Second Person.
(So, too, is Creation.
Cf.
p.
65, n.
2).
So do we strive to differentiate the Divine Attributes, according as these Attributes are Undifferenced or Differentiated.
201 201 i.
e.
We strive to distinguish the two planes of Being in God.
Cf.
Athan.
Creed: “Neither confounding the Persons,” etc.
7.
Now all the grounds of these Unifications, and Differentiations in the Divine Nature which the Scriptures have revealed to us, we have explained in the Outlines of Divinity, to the best of our abilities, treating separately of each.
The latter class we have philosophically unravelled and unfolded, and so have sought to guide the holy and unspotted mind to contemplate the shining truths of Scripture, while the former class we have endeavoured (in accordance with Divine Tradition) to apprehend as Mysteries in a manner beyond the activities of our minds.
202 202 Undifference belongs to the ultimate Godhead, Differentiation to the distinction between the Three Persons of the Trinity.
The former is the sphere of Mystical Theology, the latter is that of Dogmatic Theology.
The former implies the Via Negativa the latter the Via Affirmativa.
For 74 all Divine things, even those that are revealed to us, are only known by their Communications.
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 distinction between the Incommunicable Godhead and the differentiated acts of God's benevolence implies a hierarchical structure.
The doctrine that the divine or a spiritual principle takes on a specific, bounded material or bodily form — descending from an unconditioned state into individual, corporeal existence — as a discrete act rather than a diffuse pervading presence. The Christian Word made flesh, the Hindu avatara, the Egyptian pharaoh as living Horus, the Vajrayana tulku. Distinct from divine_immanence (the general claim that the divine pervades all of creation diffusely, not a specific embodiment-event) and separation_from_source (the felt exile FROM origin, the opposite motion) in describing a specific, individuated descent INTO a particular body or form.
The 'Super-Essential Word' taking 'Human Substance of human flesh' and doing and suffering things belonging to 'His Divine Humanity' is a direct statement of the Incarnation as a discrete act of descent into corporeal existence.
The absolutely simple, undivided first principle from which all multiplicity and existence flows.
The 'undifferenced activity of the whole Godhead' that is 'wholly and entirely communicated unto each of them' presents the absolutely simple, undivided first principle from which all participation flows.
The doctrine that reality has two registers — an Absolute truth as the divine or ultimate mind knows it, and a Relative truth as finite human reason perceives and must act on — with both held as legitimate on their own plane rather than the second being simply an error to correct. Distinct from apophatic_theology (a claim about how the divine may be described, by negation) and unity_of_being (a claim that being is ultimately one) in being a claim about two coexisting registers of truth-claim itself.
The passage distinguishes 'Undifferenced' attributes (known as Mysteries beyond the activities of our minds) from 'Differentiated' attributes (philosophically unravelled), holding both as legitimate registers of divine knowledge on their own plane.
The doctrine that the one Godhead or first principle subsists as three co-equal aspects or persons rather than a bare unity — the Christian Father/Son/Holy Ghost invoked in the recurring liturgical formula 'In the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost,' but structurally the same pattern as the Egyptian Amen/Ptah/Osiris, the Hindu Brahma/Vishnu/Siva, and the Kabbalistic Chochmah/Binah/Kether triads that esoteric writers explicitly map onto it as instances of one universal law. Distinct from unity_of_being (the general claim that all existence is one substance, agnostic about internal plurality) and divine_simplicity (God as having no parts or divisions at all) in asserting a definite three-aspected differentiation within a single divine essence.
The passage explicitly differentiates the Father, the Word (Second Person), and the Spirit, describing how the Father and Spirit share in 'loving generosity of the Divine counsels' while the Word performs the specific acts of the Incarnation.