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Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names · 7 of 16 · tr. C.E. Rolt

Chapter 2, Section 1g

Their ultimate nature, which they possess in their own original being, is beyond Mind and beyond all Being and Knowledge. 203 203 Even the Differentiations finally lead us up into the Undifferenced Godhead Where they transcend themselves. (Cf. p. 70, n. 3 and the passage in ii. 4 about the torches.) Into that region we cannot track them. But on the other side they flow out into creative activity, and thus are, in some degree, revealed. For instance, if we call the Super-Essential Mystery by the Name of “God,’’ or “Life,” or “Being,” or “Light,” or “Word,” we conceive of nothing else than the powers that stream Therefrom to us bestowing Godhead, Being, Life or Wisdom; 204 204 These terms may be thus classified:— Sphere of Activity. Nature of Gift. Form under which Giver is manifested (i) Grace. . . . . . . . . . Godhead . “God” (ii) Nature (1) Material existence. . . . . . . Being . “Being” } “Word.” (2) Vegetable and animal existence. . . Life . “Life” (3) Human existence. . . . . . . Wisdom . “Light” while that Mystery Itself we strive to apprehend by casting aside all the activities of our mind, since we behold no Deification, 205 205 The doctrine of “Deification” is not a mere speculation. It embodies an experienced fact. See Intr., p. 43. or Life, or Being, which exactly resembles the altogether and utterly Transcendent Cause of all things. Again, that the Father is Originating Godhead while Jesus and the Spirit are (so to speak) Divine Off-shoots of the Paternal Godhead, and, as it were, Blossoms and Super-Essential Shinings Thereof we learn from Holy Scripture; but how these things are so we cannot say, nor yet conceive. 8. Just so far can the powers of our .minds attain as to see that all spiritual paternity and sonship is a gift bestowed from the all-transcendent Archetypal Fatherhood and Sonship both upon us and also upon the celestial Powers: whereby Godlike Minds receive 75 the states and names of Gods, and Sons of Gods, and Fathers of Gods, such paternity and sonship being perfected in a spiritual manner ( i. e. incorporeally, immaterially, and invisibly) because the Divine Spirit setteth above all invisible Immateriality and Deification, and the Father and the Son, supernaturally transcend all spiritual fatherhood and sonship. 206 206 The act by which one spirit or soul imparts spiritual life to another is a manifestation in time of a Mystery which is eternally perfect in the Trinity, and would be impossible were it not ultimately rooted in that Mystery. Just as all life draws its existence from the Divine supra-vitality, so all spiritual paternity draws its existence from the Divine supra-paternity. For there is no exact similitude between the creatures and the Creative Originals; 207 207 τὰ αἴτια—i.e. The Persons of the Godhead. for the creatures possess only such images of the Creative Originals as are possible to them, while the Originals Themselves transcend and exceed the creatures by the very nature of Their own Originality. To employ human examples, we say that pleasant or painful conditions produce in us feelings of pleasure or pain while yet they possess not these feelings themselves; and we do not say that the fire which warms and burns is itself burnt or warmed.
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Themes
Apophatic Theologytheology

Describing the divine only by negation—God transcends all positive categories and concepts; the via negativa.

The text explicitly states that the ultimate nature is beyond Mind and all Being and Knowledge.

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Divine Hiddennesstheology

The supreme God's radical concealment beyond ordinary knowledge or perception; the Hidden Father.

The passage describes the Godhead as an Undifferenced Mystery that transcends all differentiation and cannot be tracked.

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Divine Lighttheology

The uncreated luminous quality of the divine, sometimes experienced directly in mystical states; illumination as revelation.

Light is listed as one of the names used to conceive the Super-Essential Mystery.

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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 powers flowing out from the Godhead into creative activity and differentiation.

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Gnosis Direct Knowledgesoteriology

Salvation through direct experiential knowledge of the divine nature, not through faith, ritual, or moral works alone.

The text emphasizes conceiving of the Mystery through specific divine names to reveal powers bestowed upon us.

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Living Godtheology

The divine conceived as active, present, and dynamic—not an abstract principle but a personal responsive reality.

The text refers to Godhead, Being, Life, and Wisdom as active powers bestowed upon us.

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Monadcosmology

The absolutely simple, undivided first principle from which all multiplicity and existence flows.

The Undifferenced Godhead is presented as the singular transcendent source from which all powers flow.

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Mystical Unionsoteriology

The merging of the individual soul or self with the divine, transcending personal identity.

The text describes how Godlike Minds receive states and names of Gods through Deification.

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Return To Sourcesoteriology

The soul's journey back to its divine origin, reversing the fall into matter through stages of purification or illumination.

The passage mentions flowing out into creative activity while striving to apprehend the Mystery from above.

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Sacred Namestheology

Divine names or formulas that carry ontological power, used in prayer, liturgy, or magical practice.

The passage centrally discusses calling the Super-Essential Mystery by specific divine names like 'God,' 'Life,' or 'Light'.

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Separation From Sourcesoteriology

The felt condition of exile from one's divine origin — Rumi's reed flute torn from its bed, Plotinus's 'we have forgotten,' the Gnostic forgetfulness; the affective wound that complements return_to_source and gives the return its motive.

The text notes that creatures possess only images of the Creative Originals and transcend them by their own nature.

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Theosis Deificationsoteriology

The doctrine — central to Eastern Orthodox and Maximian theology — that the human person is progressively transformed into a partaker of the divine nature by grace, not merely justified or united in passing ecstasy.

The passage explicitly states that Godlike Minds receive the states and names of Gods through Deification.

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Related passages · 15 of 411 parallels
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