Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names

Chapter IV opens by announcing its concern with the names "Good," "Light," "Beautiful," "Desire," "Ecstasy," "Jealousy," and the claim that Evil is neither existent nor sprung from existent things. In section 1 the writer considers the name "Good" applied by the Sacred Writers to the Supra-Divine Godhead, likening the Good to the sun, which by its existence gives light; the Good sends rays of Goodness to all according to their receptive powers, giving Spiritual Beings their existence, life, and knowledge, which they pass to kindred spirits. Section 2 describes the celestial orders deriving from the Good, then men's souls, then irrational souls, plants, and lifeless things, all existing because the Good exists. Section 3 states that the Good's Formless Nature produces all-form, and that its Not-Being, Lifelessness, and Mindless state are excesses of Being, Life, and Wisdom, expressed by negative images. Section 4 attributes to the Good the heavens, stars, the two "Great" luminaries, and time's measurement; from the Good comes light, so the Good is named "Light." The Good is called the Measure, Numerical Principle, Order, Cause, and End of the universe. The sun is its visible image, drawing and uniting all things, yet the writer denies the ancient myth that the sun is God, citing that God's invisible things are seen through creation. Section 5 turns to the spiritual meaning of "Light": the Good fills minds with light and drives away ignorance. Section 6 calls the Good a Spiritual Light and Archetype, uniting rational beings. Section 7 treats "Beautiful" and "Beauty," distinguishing quality from participants, naming the Beautiful as Cause, Exemplar, and Goal, identifying it with the Good, in which even the Non-Existent shares.

From the Beautiful and Good, the text states, come the bare existence of all things and their unions, differentiations, identities, differences, similarities, dissimilarities, communions of opposites, and the unconfused distinctions of interpenetrating elements, along with the providences of the Superiors, the interdependence of the Co-ordinates, the responses of the Inferiors, and states of permanence. It then describes the intercommunion, harmonies, and sympathies coordinating the whole universe, grounded in That which is above rest and motion. Section 8 states the Heavenly Minds move circularly, straight forward, and with spiral motion. Section 9 states the soul likewise has circular movement (introversion), spiral motion (enlightenment by discursive reason), and straight-forward movement toward outward things. Section 10 assigns these motions their Efficient, Formal, and Final Cause in the Beautiful and Good, from which all Being, order, and existence come and toward which they turn, citing Scripture: "Of Him, and through Him, and to Him, are all things." It affirms all things desire the Beautiful and Good—inferiors yearn for superiors, peers for peers, superiors for inferiors—and that the Creator Himself yearns after all things through excess of Goodness. Section 11 defends the title "Yearning," citing "Yearn for her and she shall keep thee." Section 12 states some writers hold "Yearning" diviner than "Love"; Ignatius writes "He whom I yearn for is crucified," and Scripture says "I yearned for her beauty." Section 13 states Divine Yearning brings ecstasy; Paul says "I live, and yet not I but Christ liveth in me," and the Creator is transported outside Himself while remaining within. Section 14 explains God is spoken of both as Yearning and as its Object, moving Himself unto Himself.

The Divine Yearning is said to show its beginningless and endless nature, revolving in a circle for, from, in, and to the Good. The author states the renowned Initiator declared this in his Hymns of Yearning and quotes him. In section 15, Hierotheus describes Yearning as a uniting and commingling power moving higher things to care for lower, co-equals to communion, and inferiors to turn toward superiors. In section 16, the same, having set down the manifold yearnings springing from the One, resumes and compacts them into the one concentrated Yearning that is their Father, collecting them into two kinds mastered by the Incomprehensible Causation. In section 17, he declares One Simple Power moving all things to unity, from the Good to the lowest creatures and returning to the Good in an unceasing orbit. In section 18, a questioner asks how the devils desire not the Good, how they became evil though produced from the Good, what evil is, whence it arises, and why God willed to produce it. In section 19, the author bids the questioner look toward truth, answering that evil comes not of the Good, that Good cannot produce non-good things, and that evil cannot wholly exist; an objector asks whence evil comes and about virtue and vice. In section 20, the answer is that evil qua evil causes no existence but only corrupts, becoming productive only through the Good; the Good is present in proportion to each creature's capacity. In section 21, evil does not inhere in creatures, since a good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, and no duality can be an origin. In section 22, all things come from the Good, which is One, and being from the Good possess distinctions.

The text states that God cannot be free from pain unless the Good imparts harmony; the Good is called by the Sacred Writers Peace and the Bestower of Peace. All good things display mutual attraction, being offspring of one Life. Evil is not in God nor comes from God, for He works goodness; a series of arguments about change, substance, and participation concludes that no evil is from God and no existence is evil. Section 22: evil does not inhere in the angels, who declare Divine Goodness by participation and are images of God, burnished mirrors. Angels are evil only insofar as they punish sinners; but being worthy of punishment, not suffering it, is evil. Section 23: devils are not naturally evil, since they sprang from the Good. Arguments concerning self-destruction and destruction of Essence, Faculty, or Activity conclude they are called evil insofar as they do not exist. Their evil is warping and declension; it consists of brutish wrath, blind desire, headstrong fancy. Their angelic gifts remain unblemished. Section 24: human souls are not the seat of evil; depravation is deficiency of good, illustrated by air darkened through absence of light. Section 25: evil is not in brute beasts; removing a lion's or dog's passions destroys their nature. Section 26: evil does not inhere in nature as a whole. Section 27: not in bodies, since ugliness and disease are deficiency. Section 28: not in matter, which shares in order and comes from the Good. Section 29: Deprivation does not fight the Good. Section 30: Good comes from the One universal Cause, evil from many partial deficiencies; God knows evil under the form of good. The text questions whether the soul is the cause of evil.

The text opens by stating that one alternative remains: evil is a weakness and deficiency of Good. Section 31 asserts good things have one cause, whereas evil, if opposed to Good, would have many causes; the efficient causes of evil are impotence, weakness, and an inharmonious mingling of discordant elements. Evil things are indeterminate; the Good is the beginning and end of all things, since even in acting amiss one longs for the Good, and evil has no substantial being, only a shadow. Section 32 attributes to evil an accidental existence, existing for something else; action may appear right while not being right, so purpose differs from action. Evil is listed as contrary to progress, purpose, nature, cause, and being, and enumerated as lack, deficiency, weakness, and further negations. It asks how admixture of Good bestows power on evil, noting evil things are not entirely bad but bad in partial aspect: in a devil contrary to spiritual goodness, in the soul contrary to reason, in the body contrary to nature. Section 33 addresses evil's existence under Providence, holding evil has no being except when mingled with Good; Providence is in all things, turns evil effects to kindly purpose, and preserves each nature rather than violating it. Section 34 repeats that evil has no being; devils derive existence from the Good, their evil being a fall from their virtues. Section 35 explains Scripture's "men who sin knowingly" as those weak in exercised knowledge and faith, concluding wilful sin is wilful ignorance, that weakness deserves no pardon since power is offered by the Good, referencing a lost treatise Concerning Justice and Divine Judgment, and closing by celebrating the Good.

The span consists of numbered notes 307 through 363, editorial annotations. It opens with an Augustine quotation urging transcendence of world, soul, and God. Note 307 states the Via Negativa starts from something positive and is transcendence, not mere negation. Note 308 cites Proverbs. Note 309 discusses Ignatius's phrase "My Love is crucified," weighing whether Ignatius meant Jesus or himself, citing Zahn, Lightfoot, Origen, and Jacobson, and remarking this reference makes Dionysian authenticity improbable. Following notes treat ἔρως and ἀγάπη, citing Wisdom and 2 Samuel, and God's unifying power. Notes invoke Thomas Aquinas, Spenser, Plato, and Dante on Yearning fulfilled in the Trinity. Notes 319-321 distinguish classes of yearning, ranking other-worldly religion highest, and propose amending ἐρώτων to ἔρωτες with a manuscript-line argument. Note 322 expounds "matter" as formless, non-existent stuff drawing existence from the Good, citing Plotinus and Le Bon. Notes 323-326 distinguish three senses of "Non-Existent," tabulating Transcendent, Actual, and Absolute Non-Existence, symbolized by Infinity, Unity, and Zero. Note 327 denies Dionysius is a pantheist, contrasting with Calvinism and citing Bradley. Later notes address evil's non-existence, its self-decay (citing German arrogance), carnal sin, exuberant vitality, and God's creative activity where Trinitarian differentiations appear. Notes treat devils as not essentially destructive, the timeless ground in souls (Eckhart, Tauler, Ruysbroeck), matter, and the survival of the fittest. Closing notes discuss sin as ignorance, citing Luke, and a lost treatise.