Library / Christian Mysticism / Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names ← Chapter 2, Section 1n Chapter 2, Section 1p → 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.
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.” 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.
215 Cf.
p.
75, n.
3.
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.
217 i.
e.
It gives the universe its bounds and distinctions.
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.
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.
220 i.
e.
Christ did not merely keep His Godhead parallel, as it were, with His Manhood, but brought It into His Manhood and so exalted the Manhood.
221 e.
Let us explain what are the Names which belong indivisibly to all Three Persons of the Trinity.
222 The word “Emanation” is here used in its very widest sense as including (1) the Persons of the Trinity, (2) Their creative activity as manifested in the Universal and the Particular stream of energy.
See Intr., p.
17.
The Differentiated Being of the Trinity underlies all the Differentiations of the creative process.
The Trinity is differentiated on the plane of Eternity; then It emanates or energizes on the temporal plane, and thus It is manifested in all the differentiations of the universe, (especially in deified souls).
223 God is indivisibly present in each separate deified soul (see supra, p.
71), the sentence beginning: “And if the term ‘Differentiation’ be also applied to the bounteous act,” etc.
§ Ask Guru about this passage → Themes
Apophatic Theologytheology Describing the divine only by negation—God transcends all positive categories and concepts; the via negativa.
The text explicitly states that God is 'beyond such a distinction' and 'transcending them,' using negation to define the divine nature.
All passages → Divine Hiddennesstheology The supreme God's radical concealment beyond ordinary knowledge or perception; the Hidden Father.
It notes that 'behind Nature are certain higher supernatural possibilities' and there is a 'mystery which is greater than our finite selves.'
All passages → Divine Simplicitytheology The doctrine that God has no parts, divisions, or composite attributes; pure undivided being.
The passage emphasizes that God is 'indivisibly present' and 'beyond such a distinction,' highlighting the lack of parts or composite attributes.
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 text describes 'Emanation' as including Persons of the Trinity and their creative activity flowing downward from the Godhead.
All passages → Kingdom Withinanthropology The claim that the divine realm is present inside the individual, accessible without external mediation.
The passage asserts that 'God is in us even before we are in Him,' locating the divine presence within the individual prior to reciprocal inclusion.
All passages → Living Godtheology The divine conceived as active, present, and dynamic—not an abstract principle but a personal responsive reality.
The text describes God as possessing 'Very Life' and 'Divine Rest taken in the abstract,' indicating an active, dynamic nature.
All passages → Monadcosmology The absolutely simple, undivided first principle from which all multiplicity and existence flows.
The passage refers to 'It' as a singular source that includes all true existence and is indivisible.
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 before we are in Him and the Trinity is present in each separate deified soul.
All passages → Opposites Transcendedanthropology The dissolution of binary oppositions (male/female, inner/outer, above/below) as a mark of spiritual completion.
God is described as 'beyond such a distinction' between self and not self or personal and impersonal.
All passages → Paradox As Teachingethics Using apparent contradiction, reversal, or riddle to destabilise ordinary understanding and induce insight.
The text presents the paradox that God is both 'Perfect' and 'Perfectionless,' transcending categories of perfection.
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 phrase 'before we are in Him' implies a movement back to the divine origin prior to reciprocal inclusion.
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, implying an inherent divine presence within the self.
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 describes God as a 'Whole' that includes the true existence of all things and is present in each separate deified soul.
All passages → Related passages · 15 of 108 parallels
neoplatonism | Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 448
“Section 16 16. We have, of course, already seen that a secondary must follow upon the First, and that this is a power immeasurably fruitful; and we indicated that this truth is confirmed by the entire order of things since there is nothing,…”
Shared concept: Monad — The absolutely simple, undivided first principle from which all multiplicity and existence flows. (derived)
neoplatonism | Select Works of Plotinus | Select Works, Section 611
“Section 4 4. Then consider this god [in man] whom we cannot think to be absent at some point and present at another. All that have insight into the nature of the divine beings hold the omnipresence of this god and of all the gods, and reaso…”
Shared concept: Divine Simplicity — The doctrine that God has no parts, divisions, or composite attributes; pure undivided being. (derived)
neoplatonism | Iamblichus: On the Mysteries | Chapter V
“But why am I prolix about these particulars? For I have abundantly shown, in what has been before said, the transcendency of divine above human divination. It is better, therefore, in compliance with your request, “ to point out to you the…”
Shared concept: Emanation Hierarchy — 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. (derived)
theosophy | The Secret Doctrine | Page 19 (part 1)
“The Secret Doctrine by H.
P.
Blavatsky -- Vol.
1 [[Vol.
1, Page]] 325 THE IMPARTIALITY OF SCIENTIFIC DENIALS.
[[This page continued from previous section ]] § III.
PRIMORDIAL SUBSTANCE AND DIVINE THOUGHT.
"As it would seem irrational…”
Shared concept: Unity Of Being — The doctrine that all existence is ultimately one substance or one divine reality; non-duality as a theological claim. (derived)
western_esoteric | The Secret Teachings of All Ages (Manly P. Hall) | The Human Body in Symbolism-j
“When humanity has completed its physical evolution, the empty shell of materiality left behind will be used by other life waves as steppingstones to their own liberation.
The trend of man's evolutionary growth is ever toward his own essent…”
Shared concept: Self Knowledge — The recognition of one's own true divine nature as the primary path to liberation; 'know thyself' as soteriology. (derived)
theosophy | The Secret Doctrine | Page 3 (part 7)
“Herbert Spencer has of late so far modified his Agnosticism, as to assert that the nature of the "First Cause,"* which the Occultist more logically derives from the "Causeless Cause," the "Eternal," and the "Unknowable," may be essentially…”
Shared concept: Unity Of Being — The doctrine that all existence is ultimately one substance or one divine reality; non-duality as a theological claim. (derived)
egyptian | The Egyptian Book of the Dead (Papyrus of Ani) | Chapter 43 (part 69)
“unity of a supreme and self-existent being, his eternity, his almightiness, and external reproduction thereby as God; the attributing of the creation of the world and of all living beings to this supreme God; the immortality of the soul, co…”
Shared concept: Divine Hiddenness — The supreme God's radical concealment beyond ordinary knowledge or perception; the Hidden Father. (derived)
biblical | Genesis (American Standard Version, 1901) | 5:3-6:1
“[5:3] And Adam lived a hundred and thirty years, and begat a son in his own likeness, after his image; and called his name Seth:
[5:4] and the days of Adam after he begat Seth were eight hundred years: and he begat sons and daughters.
[5:…”
Shared concept: Living God — The divine conceived as active, present, and dynamic—not an abstract principle but a personal responsive reality. (derived)
biblical | Genesis (American Standard Version, 1901) | 24:41-24:59
“[24:41] then shalt thou be clear from my oath, when thou comest to my kindred; and if they give her not to thee, thou shalt be clear from my oath.
[24:42] And I came this day unto the fountain, and said, O Jehovah, the God of my master Abr…”
Shared concept: Living God — The divine conceived as active, present, and dynamic—not an abstract principle but a personal responsive reality. (derived)
biblical | Genesis (American Standard Version, 1901) | 26:4-26:24
“[26:4] and I will multiply thy seed as the stars of heaven, and will give unto thy seed all these lands; and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed;
[26:5] because that Abraham obeyed my voice, and kept my charge, my com…”
Shared concept: Living God — The divine conceived as active, present, and dynamic—not an abstract principle but a personal responsive reality. (derived)
biblical | Genesis (American Standard Version, 1901) | 29:24-30:13
“[29:24] And Laban gave Zilpah his handmaid unto his daughter Leah for a handmaid.
[29:25] And it came to pass in the morning that, behold, it was Leah: and he said to Laban, What is this thou hast done unto me? did not I serve with thee fo…”
Shared concept: Living God — The divine conceived as active, present, and dynamic—not an abstract principle but a personal responsive reality. (derived)
biblical | Genesis (American Standard Version, 1901) | 30:14-30:34
“[30:14] And Reuben went in the days of wheat harvest, and found mandrakes in the field, and brought them unto his mother Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, Give me, I pray thee, of thy son’s mandrakes.
[30:15] And she said unto her, Is it a s…”
Shared concept: Living God — The divine conceived as active, present, and dynamic—not an abstract principle but a personal responsive reality. (derived)
biblical | Genesis (American Standard Version, 1901) | 30:35-31:11
“[30:35] And he removed that day the he-goats that were ringstreaked and spotted, and all the she-goats that were speckled and spotted, every one that had white in it, and all the black ones among the sheep, and gave them into the hand of hi…”
Shared concept: Living God — The divine conceived as active, present, and dynamic—not an abstract principle but a personal responsive reality. (derived)
biblical | Genesis (American Standard Version, 1901) | 31:33-31:51
“[31:33] And Laban went into Jacob’s tent, and into Leah’s tent, and into the tent of the two maid-servants; but he found them not. And he went out of Leah’s tent, and entered into Rachel’s tent.
[31:34] Now Rachel had taken the teraphim, a…”
Shared concept: Living God — The divine conceived as active, present, and dynamic—not an abstract principle but a personal responsive reality. (derived)
biblical | Genesis (American Standard Version, 1901) | 38:17-39:4
“[38:17] And he said, I will send thee a kid of the goats from the flock. And she said, Wilt thou give me a pledge, till thou send it?
[38:18] And he said, What pledge shall I give thee? And she said, Thy signet and thy cord, and thy staff…”
Shared concept: Living God — The divine conceived as active, present, and dynamic—not an abstract principle but a personal responsive reality. (derived)
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