Chapter 2, Section 1m

καὶ τῆς εἰρημένης ἑνώσεως ἴδια καὶ αὖθις τῆς διακρίσεως εἶνάι τινας ἰδικὰς καὶ ἱνώσεις καὶ διακρίσεις. This, as it stands, must be translated: “They say that certain qualities belong to the said Undifference, and that to Differentiation, on the other hand, belong certain principles of Unity and principles of Differentiation.” This would mean that the Persons of the Trinity, though distinct from Each Other, yet have a Common Unity, or else that Each has a Unity of Its Own making It distinct from the Other Persons. I have ventured, however, to emend the text by omitting the last six words and making the sentence end at εἶναι . I believe the last six words have crept in from a marginal gloss or variant, which ran (I imagine) as follows:— εἶναί τινας ἰδικὰς κ.τ.λ. . If the MS. belonged to a family having seventeen or eighteen letters to a column the εἶναι after διακρίσεως would end a line, since there are 571 letters from the beginning of the chapter to the end of that word. Hence it would easily be confused with the εἶναι at the beginning of the gloss, which would thus creep into the text. And, since the added words amount to thirty-four letters, they would exactly fill two lines, thus making the interpolation easier. For the meaning, see Intr., p. 6f. 191 Cf. Myst. Theo1. I. 2. This universal Affirmation is not pantheism because evil, as such, is held to be non-existent. It is only all goodness that is affirmed of God, though He surpasses it. God is present in all things, but not equally in all. 192 “Yes” implies the possibility of “No,” and “No” the possibility of “Yes.” Thus “Yes” and “No” belong to the relative world. God’s absolute existence is beyond such antithesis. See Intr., p. 4f. 193 The Persons, though fused, are yet not confused because the Godhead transcends unity. See Intr., p. 5. 194 Material things are merged by being united (e. g. drops of water). Souls or angels being united through love (whereby they participate in God) are not merged but remain distinct even while being, as it were, fused into a single spiritual unity more perfect than the fusion of water with wine. The Persons of the Trinity are still more perfectly united and at the same time still more utterly distinct. 195 Two kinds of Differentiation: (1) Distinctness of Existence, (2) Difference of Functions. 196 D. means that the Undifferentiated Godhead is actually present in all these creative activities. It is multiplied (as it were) in Its energies, and yet It remains indivisible. See Intr., p. 17. 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.” 198 Plotinus uses the same illustration (Enn. iv. 1). 199 D. is always on his guard against Pantheism.