Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names · 9 of 16 · tr. C.E. Rolt
Chapter 2, Section 1i
The Godhead is not a Whole because it is indivisible, nor a Part because there is nothing, on the ultimate plane, outside It.
Yet It is a Whole because It includes the true existence of all things, and is Partitive because It contains the principle of separate Individuality whereby Christ possesses a Human Soul distinct from all other human souls, and whereby, too, we possess distinct and separate souls.
This Deity is perfect in those Beings that are imperfect as a Fount of Perfection; 213 213 God is in us even before we are in Him.
Cf.
Luke xvii.
21 .
Cf.
St.
Aug., “Thou wast within; I was without.” Also cf.
c.
i.
3; c.
iii.
i: “For the Trinity,” etc.
See Intr., p.
6 on the use of the word ” outside.” It is Perfectionless 214 214 Perfection implies an objector purpose achieved.
Hence it implies a distinction between self and not self.
The Godhead is beyond such a distinction.
Compared with imperfection, It is perfect; compared with perfection, It is perfectionless (ἀτελής), or, rather, beyond Perfection (ὑπερτελής) and before it (προτέλειος), just as compared with impersonal things It is personal, and compared with personality It is non-personal, or, rather, supra-personal.
in those that are perfect as transcending and anticipating their Perfection; It is the Form producing Form in the formless, as a Fount of every form; and it is Formless in the Forms, as being beyond all form; It is the Being that pervades all beings at once though not affected by them; 215 215 Cf.
p.
75, n.
3.
and It is Super-Essential, as transcending every being; It sets all bounds of Authority and Order, and yet It has Its seal beyond all Authority and Order.
216 216 Cf.
St.
Paul on the Law and the Spirit.
The Law is deposited, as it were, by the Spirit; and yet the Law cramps the Spirit, and the Spirit must break loose from this bondage.
It is the Measure of the Universe; 217 217 i.
e.
It gives the universe its bounds and distinctions.
and it is Eternity, and above Eternity and before Eternity.
218 218 Eternity, in the sense of ” Very Eternity” (αὐτοαιών), is an Emanation of the Godhead—a distinct view of Its transcendent state (cf.
Intr., p.
i7).
It is the Divine Rest taken in the abstract, as Very Life is perhaps the Divine Motion taken in the abstract.
The Godhead includes both rest and Motion by transcending them.
It is an 78 Abundance in those Beings that lack, and a Super-Abundance in those that abound; unutterable, ineffable; beyond Mind, beyond Life, beyond Being; It supernaturally possesses the supernatural and super-essentially possesses the super-essential.
219 219 Behind Nature are certain higher supernatural possibilities (which are manifested, e.
g., in the Miracles of Christ and His Disciples), and beyond our personalities there is a mystery which is greater than our finite selves, and yet, in a sense, is our true selves.
The Godhead possesses in Itself the supernatural possibilities of Nature and the supra-personal possibilities of our personalities.
Themes
◆Apophatic Theologytheology
Describing the divine only by negation—God transcends all positive categories and concepts; the via negativa.
The passage repeatedly describes God as 'unutterable, ineffable' and beyond all categories like Mind, Life, or Being.
All passages →◆Divine Hiddennesstheology
The supreme God's radical concealment beyond ordinary knowledge or perception; the Hidden Father.
The text emphasizes God's transcendence beyond Mind, Life, and Being, describing Him as 'unutterable' and 'beyond all Authority and Order'.
All passages →◆Divine Simplicitytheology
The doctrine that God has no parts, divisions, or composite attributes; pure undivided being.
The text explicitly states that God is 'indivisible' and 'not a Whole because it is indivisible'.
All passages →◆Evil As Privationtheology
Augustinian and Plotinian doctrine that evil has no positive being of its own but is a lack, distortion, or absence of the good — denying ontological dualism while preserving moral seriousness.
Imperfection is described as lacking perfection, implying a lack of the divine state rather than positive evil.
All passages →◆Gnosis Direct Knowledgesoteriology
Salvation through direct experiential knowledge of the divine nature, not through faith, ritual, or moral works alone.
The text mentions God being 'within' us even before we are in Him, suggesting direct ontological knowledge of the divine.
All passages →◆Kingdom Withinanthropology
The claim that the divine realm is present inside the individual, accessible without external mediation.
The passage states that God is 'in us even before we are in Him,' locating the divine realm within the individual.
All passages →◆Living Godtheology
The divine conceived as active, present, and dynamic—not an abstract principle but a personal responsive reality.
God is described as 'Eternity' and possessing 'Life', indicating an active, dynamic divine nature.
All passages →◆Monadcosmology
The absolutely simple, undivided first principle from which all multiplicity and existence flows.
The passage defines the Godhead as 'indivisible' and a singular source that transcends parts and divisions.
All passages →◆Mystical Unionsoteriology
The merging of the individual soul or self with the divine, transcending personal identity.
The text describes a reciprocal relationship where God is in us and we are in Him.
All passages →◆Opposites Transcendedanthropology
The dissolution of binary oppositions (male/female, inner/outer, above/below) as a mark of spiritual completion.
The passage explicitly states that God is 'beyond all form' and transcends distinctions like self and not self.
All passages →◆Paradox As Teachingethics
Using apparent contradiction, reversal, or riddle to destabilise ordinary understanding and induce insight.
The text presents the paradoxical nature of God being both a 'Whole' and 'Partitive' simultaneously.
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 text implies a reversal of the fall where God is within us before we are in Him.
All passages →◆Self Knowledgesoteriology
The recognition of one's own true divine nature as the primary path to liberation; 'know thyself' as soteriology.
The text states that God is 'in us even before we are in Him,' linking divine presence to human identity.
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 the Godhead includes the true existence of all things and pervades all beings at once.
All passages →Related passages · 20 parallels
◆buddhism|The Dhammapada|Chapter XVIII, Section 1c
“As to bahira, I should take it in the sense of 'external,' as opposed to adhyâtmika, or 'internal;' and the meaning would be, 'a Sama n a is not a Sama n a by outward acts, but by his heart.' D'Alwis translates (p.
85): 'There is no footpr…”
Both passages discuss the nature of the ultimate reality (Buddha/Tathagata in Passage A and the Godhead in Passage B) and emphasize the internal, transcendent qualities over external, superficial aspects. They both highlight the idea of being beyond ordinary distinctions and the importance of inner transformation.
◆neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 35 (part 2)
“For, on this admission, its perfection cannot reside in any such planning and providing: its perfection will be something quite different, something of quite another class: Reason cannot be itself one of those first needs of nature; it cann…”
Both passages explore the nature of ultimate reality and perfection, with Passage A discussing the Good and happiness in terms of a nobler principle, and Passage B describing the Godhead as transcending all forms and perfections. Both emphasize the transcendent and ineffable nature of the ultimate principle.
◆neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 82
“Section 7 7. But why does the existence of the Principle of Good necessarily comport the existence of a Principle of Evil? Is it because the All necessarily comports the existence of Matter? Yes: for necessarily this All is made up of contr…”
Both passages explore the nature of the divine and its relationship to the created world, discussing themes of perfection, imperfection, and the transcendence of the divine beyond these categories. They also touch on the existence of evil or imperfection in relation to the divine good.
◆neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 142
“Section 3 3. We come now to the purpose of all this discussion; to make clear in what sense or to what degree Actualization is predicable in the Intellectual Realm and whether all is in Actualization there, each and every member of that rea…”
Both passages discuss the nature of reality and existence in their respective mystical traditions. Passage A from Plotinus explores the concept of actualization and potentiality in the Intellectual Realm, emphasizing the eternal and unchangeable nature of beings there. Passage B from the Christian mystical tradition discusses the Godhead as a transcendent, formless, and super-essential being that pervades all existence. Both passages deal with the idea of a higher, unchanging reality that is beyond the material world.
◆neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 143
“Section 4 4. Now, in general anything that has a potentiality is actually something else, and this potentiality of the future mode of being is an existing mode. But what we think of as Matter, what we assert to be the potentiality of all th…”
Both passages explore the nature of ultimate reality, with Plotinus discussing the concept of Matter as Non-Being and the Godhead in the second passage being described as beyond Being and Form. Both texts delve into the transcendence of their respective subjects, highlighting the difficulty of defining ultimate reality within conventional categories.
◆neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 228 (part 2)
“In a word; all that is truly good in a Soul acting to the purposes of nature and within its appointed order, all this is Real-Being: anything else is alien, no act of the Soul, but merely something that happens to it: a parallel may be foun…”
Both passages explore the nature of the divine and its relationship to individual beings, emphasizing the transcendence and immanence of the divine within the individual soul or intellect. They share a mystical focus on the unity and distinction between the divine and human aspects.
◆neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 256
“Section 4 4. We must, however, avoid thinking of it as an accidental from outside grafted upon that Nature: it is native to it, integral to it. It is discerned as present essentially in that Nature like everything else that we can predicate…”
Both passages discuss the nature of the divine as an all-encompassing, eternal, and perfect entity that transcends the limitations of being and time. They explore the idea of the divine as both immanent and transcendent, containing all things within itself without being affected by them.
◆neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 258 (part 2)
“But the conception of Eternity demands something which is in its nature complete without sequence; it is not satisfied by something measured out to any remoter time or even by something limitless, but, in its limitless reach, still having t…”
Both passages discuss the nature of the divine as being beyond time, quantity, and form, emphasizing the transcendent and eternal aspects of the divine reality. They share a mystical approach to describing the ineffable nature of the ultimate reality.
◆neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 265 (part 2)
“And this is how Time is omnipresent: that Soul is absent from no fragment of the Kosmos just as our Soul is absent from no particle of ourselves.
As for those who pronounce Time a thing of no substantial existence, of no reality, they clea…”
Both passages discuss the omnipresence and transcendence of divine or metaphysical principles. Passage A from Plotinus explores the concept of Time and Soul within the Kosmos, while Passage B from the Christian mystical tradition discusses the Godhead's relationship to creation and eternity. Both texts emphasize the unity and transcendence of the divine within all existence.
◆neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 275 (part 1)
“Section 9 9.
Clearly a Being of this nature is not the primal existent; there must exist that which transcends it, that Being [the Absolute], to which all our discussion has been leading.
In the first place, Plurality is later than Unity.…”
Both passages discuss the nature of a transcendent, ultimate reality that is beyond intellect and being. They explore the idea of a unity that precedes and encompasses all other forms of existence, using similar conceptual frameworks to describe the ineffable nature of the divine.
10 more
◆neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 276 (part 2)
“It cannot be, itself, The Good, since then it would not need to see or to perform any other Act; for The Good is the centre of all else, and it is by means of The Good that every thing has Act, while the Good is in need of nothing and there…”
Both passages describe a transcendent, ultimate reality (The Good in Plotinus and The Godhead in the second passage) that is beyond intellect, form, and all other attributes. They both emphasize the ineffable nature of this ultimate reality and its role as the source of all perfection and existence.
◆neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 285 (part 2)
“The magnitude present in any mass is definitely one thing, yet its identity from part to part does not imply any such community as would entail common experience; within that identity there is diversity, for it is a condition only, not the…”
Both passages discuss the nature of a transcendent, indivisible essence that permeates all things while maintaining its unity. Passage A describes the soul's ability to be present in all bodies without losing its indivisibility, while Passage B discusses the Godhead's ability to be a whole and partitive, transcending all forms and beings.
◆neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 295 (part 2)
“This means that it is no external limit that defines the individual being or the extension of souls any more than of God; on the contrary each in right of its own power is all that it chooses to be: and we are not to think of it as going fo…”
Both passages discuss the nature of the divine and its relationship to individual beings and the universe. They explore the ideas of unity, indivisibility, and the transcendence of the divine beyond form and being, albeit from different theological perspectives.
◆neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 496
“Section 4 4. But, soul reached, why need we look higher; why not make this The First? A main reason is that the Intellectual-Principle is at once something other and something more powerful than Soul and that the more powerful is in the nat…”
Both passages discuss the nature of a higher, transcendent principle (Intellectual-Principle in Plotinus and the Godhead in the second passage) that is prior to and more fundamental than the soul or individual beings. They both emphasize the self-completeness and perfection of this higher principle.
◆neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 534
“Section 27 27. On other grounds also, it is indefensible not to have reserved the high place for the true first-principle of things but to have set up in its stead the formless, passive and lifeless, the irrational, dark and indeterminate,…”
Both passages explore the nature of the divine and its relationship to existence and form. Passage A discusses the first principle of things and the nature of Matter, while Passage B discusses the Godhead and its relationship to perfection and form. Both texts grapple with the concept of the divine as both formless and the source of all forms.
◆neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 700 (part 1)
“Section 18 18.
Seeking Him, seek nothing of Him outside; within is to be sought what follows upon Him; Himself do not attempt.
He is, Himself, that outer, He the encompassment and measure of all things; or rather He is within, at the inne…”
Both passages describe a supreme, transcendent principle that is the source and cause of all things. They emphasize the indivisibility and perfection of this principle, and its relationship to the intellect or forms, highlighting a deep conceptual parallel in their mystical descriptions of the divine.
◆neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 702
“Section 20 20. The difficulty will be raised that God would seem to have existed before thus coming into existence; if He makes Himself, then in regard to the self which He makes He is not yet in being and as maker He exists before this Him…”
Both passages explore the nature of the divine as an eternal, self-sufficient, and indivisible unity. They discuss the concept of divine activity and essence being inseparable, and the idea of the divine being beyond any form of duality or distinction.
◆neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 710 (part 2)
“Unity, self-present, it has no need of self-intellection: indeed this "self-presence" were better left out, the more surely to preserve the unity; we must eliminate all knowing and all association, all intellection whether internal or exter…”
Both passages discuss the nature of the ultimate divine principle, emphasizing its unity, transcendence, and the inability to fully comprehend it through human intellect or attributes. They share a mystical approach to describing the divine as beyond form, being, and perfection.
◆platonism|Plato: Phaedo|Section 1
“The reason why I say this is that I want you to agree with me in thinking, not only that absolute greatness will never be great and also small, but that greatness in us or in the concrete will never admit the small or admit of being exceede…”
Both passages explore the nature of opposites and the transcendence of ultimate reality beyond dualistic categories. Plato discusses the impossibility of opposites becoming one another, while the mystical Christian text describes the Godhead as transcending all distinctions, including those of perfection and imperfection.
◆renaissance_hermeticism|The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part II (Gli Eroici Furori)|Third Dialoguee
“This alone I will not leave (unsaid) that it is not without reason that the affection of the heart is said to be the infinite sea by the apprehension of the eyes.[X] For the object of the mind being infinite, and no definite object being pr…”
Both passages explore the nature of the divine as transcending human categories and concepts. They discuss the divine as being beyond form, perfection, and personality, while also being the source and essence of these qualities. The passages use similar paradoxical language to describe the divine as both immanent and transcendent.