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.
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Godhead .
“God” (ii) Nature (1) Material existence.
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Being .
“Being” } “Word.” (2) Vegetable and animal existence.
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Life .
“Life” (3) Human existence.
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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.
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.
All passages →◆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.
All passages →◆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.
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 powers flowing out from the Godhead into creative activity and differentiation.
All passages →◆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.
All passages →◆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.
All passages →◆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.
All passages →◆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.
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 passage mentions flowing out into creative activity while striving to apprehend the Mystery from above.
All passages →◆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'.
All passages →◆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.
All passages →◆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.
All passages →Related passages · 14 parallels
◆gnosticism|Gospel of Philip|Section 1m
“If we know the truth, we shall find the fruits of the truth within us.
If we join it, it will fulfill us.
THE STRONG AND WEAK, THE MANIFEST AND HIDDEN Now we have the manifest things of creation.
We say, “The strong are they who are held…”
Both passages discuss the concept of hidden divine truths and the revelation of these truths to those who seek them. They also emphasize the transformation and elevation of the seeker through this revelation, though they use different metaphors and theological frameworks.
◆neoplatonism|Iamblichus: On the Mysteries|Chapter VI
“That, however, which is the greatest thing is this, that he who [appears to] draw down a certain divinity, sees a spirit descending and entering into some one, recognizes its magnitude and quality, and is also mystically persuaded and gover…”
Both passages discuss the ineffable nature of the divine and the limitations of human understanding in comprehending it. They also touch on the concept of divine inspiration or manifestation, highlighting the transcendence of the divine beyond human concepts and experiences.
◆neoplatonism|Iamblichus: On the Mysteries|Chapter III
“Dissolving, however, the doubts in a way still more true, we think it requisite, in invoking superior natures, to take away the evocations 208 which appear to be directed to them as to men, and also the mandates in the performance of works,…”
Both passages discuss the nature of divine beings and the limitations of human understanding in comprehending them. They emphasize the transcendence of the divine and the inadequacy of human concepts and language to fully grasp the divine essence.
◆neoplatonism|Iamblichus: On the Mysteries|Chapter XVII
“What, therefore, shall we derive from the Gods who are entirely exempt from all human generation, with respect to sterility, or abundance or any thing else pertaining to [the mortal] life? Nothing whatever. For it is not the province of tho…”
Both passages discuss the nature of the divine and its relationship to the material world, emphasizing the transcendence of the ultimate divine reality and the mediated nature of divine gifts or influences. They share a conceptual parallel in their exploration of how the immaterial or transcendent divine interacts with the material or human realm.
◆neoplatonism|Iamblichus: On the Mysteries|Chapter I
“The doubts also that follow in the next place require for their solution the assistance of the same divinely-wise Muse. But I am desirous, previous to this, to unfold to you the peculiarity of the theology of the Egyptians. For they, imitat…”
Both passages discuss the relationship between the divine and the material world, emphasizing the use of symbols and manifestations to convey higher truths that are ultimately beyond human comprehension. They share a mystical approach to understanding the divine, though they come from different traditions.
◆neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 356
“Section 36 36. The Universe is immensely varied, the container of all the Reason-Principles and of infinite and diverse efficacies. In man, we are told, the eye has its power, and the bones have their varied powers, and so with each separat…”
Both passages explore the concept of a transcendent, ultimate reality that is beyond human comprehension and the manifestation of divine powers or principles in the created world. They discuss the hierarchy and diversity of these powers, though from different theological and philosophical perspectives.
◆neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 423 (part 2)
“Now, even in the Divine the engendered could not be the very highest; it must be a lesser, an image; it will be undetermined, as the Divine is, but will receive determination, and, so to speak, its shaping idea, from the progenitor.
Yet an…”
Both passages discuss the concept of emanation and the relationship between a divine source and its offspring. They describe a hierarchy where the lower entity is an image or reflection of the higher, divine entity, and both explore the nature of the divine and its manifestations.
◆neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 444 (part 2)
“The entire intellectual order may be figured as a kind of light with the One in repose at its summit as its King: but this manifestation is not cast out from it: we may think, rather, of the One as a light before the light, an eternal irrad…”
Both passages discuss a transcendent, ultimate reality that is beyond intellect, being, and knowledge. They describe this reality as the source of all existence and activity, using metaphors of light and emanation.
◆neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 628
“Section 8 8. As then there is a Life-Form primal- which therefore is the Life-Form Absolute- and there is Intellectual-Principle or Being, Authentic Being, these, we affirm, contain all living things and all Number, and Absolute Justice and…”
Both passages discuss the nature of ultimate reality and the hierarchy of being, emphasizing the transcendence of the divine and the limitations of human understanding. They share a mystical approach to describing the ineffable nature of the highest principles.
◆renaissance_hermeticism|The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part II (Gli Eroici Furori)|Second Dialoguef
“[P] Number is, as the great writer (Balzac) thought, an Entity, and at the same time, a Breath emanating from what he called God, and what we call the ALL, the breath which alone could organize the physical Kosmos.—("The Secret Doctrine.")…”
Both passages discuss the transcendence of the divine and the limitations of human understanding in apprehending the divine nature. They also explore the concept of divine emanation and the relationship between the divine and the created world.
4 more
◆taoism|Tao Te Ching|Chapter 21
“The grandest forms of active force From Tao come, their only source. Who can of Tao the nature tell? Our sight it flies, our touch as well. Eluding sight, eluding touch, The forms of things all in it crouch; Eluding touch, eluding sight, Th…”
Both passages discuss the ineffable nature of the ultimate reality (Tao in Passage A and the Super-Essential Mystery in Passage B) and how it transcends human comprehension and perception. They also describe how this ultimate reality is the source of all things and how its essence is beyond mind and being.
◆western_esoteric|The Secret Teachings of All Ages (Manly P. Hall)|The Ancient Mysteries and Secret Societies Which Have Influenced Modern Masonic Symbolismm
“Of these shoots one is manifested from above, which is the Great Power, the Universal Mind ordering all things, male, and the other, [is manifested] from below, the Great Thought, female, producing all things.
Hence pairing with each other…”
Both passages discuss the concept of emanation and the relationship between a transcendent divine principle and its manifestations. They describe a hierarchy of divine beings or principles that emanate from a supreme, ineffable source, and the process by which these emanations create and sustain the world.
◆western_esoteric|Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky)|Chapter XVII (part 6)
“206 everything that lies usually in the remote depths of memory, in the past; all that lies at a remote distance from him; all that lies in the future.
C.
H.
Hinton very well says, in regard to beings of other sections of the world: By t…”
Both passages explore the concept of transcending human understanding to grasp higher realities. Pseudo-Dionysius discusses the transcendent nature of God and the limitations of human comprehension, while the second passage talks about expanding human perception to understand higher beings and the unity of nature.
◆western_esoteric|Transcendental Magic I: The Doctrine (Éliphas Lévi)|8. Realizationa
“HOD VIVENS CAUSES manifest by effects, and effects are proportioned to causes.
The Divine Word, the One Word, the Tetragram, is self-affirmed by tetradic creation.
Human fecundity proves divine fecundity; the JOD of the Divine Name is the…”
Both passages explore the concept of the ineffable nature of the divine and the limitations of human understanding in comprehending it. They also discuss the manifestation of divine attributes through creation and the relationship between the divine and human realms.