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Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names · 33 of 39 · tr. C.E. Rolt

Chapter 4, Section 1

The types of things existent in the permanent spiritual world before the things were created in this transitory material world; the Platonic Ideas. There was also a Jewish belief in such a pre-existence of things. Cf. Rev. iv. 11 (R. V.).] 296 συγκρίσεις. 297 ὑπεροχαί. 298 ἕξις. 299 ἔνωσις. The word is here used in the most comprehensive manner to include physical communion, sense-perception, and spiritual communion of souls with one another and with God. 300 The exemplar is the formal cause before this is actualized in the object embodying it. The principle in an oak tree constituting it an oak is the formal cause. But before there were any oak trees this principle existed as an exemplar. The final cause is the beneficent purpose the oak tree serves. In the Aristotelian classification exemplar, and final cause would be classed together as final cause. 301 This means either (1) that actually non-existent things (e. g. the flowers of next year which have not yet appeared, or those of last year, which are now dead) have an eternal place in God; or else (2) that evil things have their true being, under a different form, in Him. 302 Rom. xi. 36 . 303 In the whole of this passage D. is thinking primarily of Angels and men, or at least of sentient creatures. But he would see analogies of such activity in the inanimate material world. 304 εἰς τὸ πρακτικεύεσθαι κατὰ τὴν ἁπάντων γεννητικὴν ὑπερβολήν. Desire = want. And want in us = imperfection; but in God it = that excess of perfection, whereby God is “Perfectionless.” Thus the words “super-excellence,” “super-unity,” etc., are not meaningless superlatives. They imply an impulse towards motion within the Divine Stillness, a Thirst in the Divine Fullness. Cf. Julian of Norwich Revelations, ch. xxxi. ” . . . There is a property in God of thirst and longing.” The categories of Greek Philosophy are static. The superlatives of D. imply something dynamic, though the static element remains. In much modern philosophy (the Pragmatists and also Bergson) dynamic conceptions are prominent; but the tendency here is for the static to disappear instead of being subsumed as it is in D. The result, or the cause, is that Grace is lost sight of and only Nature is perceived. Really Absolutism and Pragmatism are not mutually exclusive; for Rest and Motion co-exist as transcended elements in God. This is the paradox of perfect Love which is both at rest and in motion, both satisfied and unsatisfied. Cf. Julian of Norwich: “I had Him and I wanted Him” (Revelations, ch. x.). 305 θεοειδής.. 306 This clause can only have been written by one for whom Unknowing was a personal experience. The previous clause shows how there is a negative element even in the Method of Affirmation. Sense-perception must first give way to spiritual intuition, just as this must finally give way to Unknowing. (Cf. St. John of the Cross’s Dark Night, on three kinds of night.) All progress is a transcendence and so, in a sense, a Via Negativa. Cf. St.
Themes
◆Apophatic Theologytheology

Describing the divine only by negation—God transcends all positive categories and concepts; the via negativa.

The text describes God as 'Perfectionless' and notes that 'Unknowing' is a personal experience of the divine.

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◆Correspondencecosmology

The Hermetic axiom that the structure of the cosmos is reflected at every scale — 'as above, so below; as within, so without' — making each level a legible map of the others.

The text states there are analogies of such activity in the inanimate material world.

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◆Divine Hiddennesstheology

The supreme God's radical concealment beyond ordinary knowledge or perception; the Hidden Father.

The passage emphasizes that God is 'Perfectionless' and that 'Unknowing' is a personal experience of the divine.

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◆Divine Simplicitytheology

The doctrine that God has no parts, divisions, or composite attributes; pure undivided being.

The text describes God as 'Perfectionless' and 'Divine Stillness', implying an undivided being.

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◆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.

References to 'exemplar' and 'formal cause' imply a hierarchical flow of being from principle to object.

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◆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.

The passage explicitly states that evil things have their true being under a different form in God rather than positive existence.

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◆Gnosis Direct Knowledgesoteriology

Salvation through direct experiential knowledge of the divine nature, not through faith, ritual, or moral works alone.

The text contrasts 'sense-perception' with 'spiritual intuition' as the path to knowing God.

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◆Ladder Of Lovesoteriology

Diotima's staged ascent from love of beautiful bodies → beautiful souls → beautiful pursuits → beautiful knowledge → Beauty itself; the canonical scala amoris that grounds Plotinus's On the Beautiful and Bruno's Eroici Furori — distinct from generic spiritual_ascent in that eros is the specific motive force.

The passage describes a 'Thirst in the Divine Fullness' and an 'impulse towards motion within the Divine Stillness'.

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◆Living Godtheology

The divine conceived as active, present, and dynamic—not an abstract principle but a personal responsive reality.

The text describes God as having an 'impulse towards motion' and being 'Divine Stillness', indicating a dynamic presence.

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◆Mystical Unionsoteriology

The merging of the individual soul or self with the divine, transcending personal identity.

The passage describes a 'Thirst in the Divine Fullness' and an 'impulse towards motion within the Divine Stillness'.

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◆Paradox As Teachingethics

Using apparent contradiction, reversal, or riddle to destabilise ordinary understanding and induce insight.

The text presents a paradox of perfect Love being both at rest and in motion.

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◆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 describes an 'impulse towards motion within the Divine Stillness' implying a journey back to the divine origin.

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◆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 distinction between the permanent spiritual world and the transitory material world implies a state of exile from the divine.

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◆Spiritual Ascentpraxis

A staged journey of the soul upward through heavenly realms or levels of being toward the divine source.

The text describes an 'impulse towards motion' and a journey back to the divine origin.

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◆Unity Of Beingtheology

The doctrine that all existence is ultimately one substance or one divine reality; non-duality as a theological claim.

The concept of God as the source of all things implies an underlying unity of existence.

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Related passages · 4 parallels
◆neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 359
“Section 39 39. We cannot, then, refer all that exists to Reason-Principles inherent in the seed of things [Spermatic Reasons]; the universe is to be traced further back, to the more primal forces, to the principles by which that seed itself…”
Both passages discuss the concept of pre-existent forms or principles that govern the creation and existence of the material world. Pseudo-Dionysius explores the idea of exemplars and final causes in a theological context, while Plotinus delves into the Reason-Principles inherent in the seed of things. Both texts emphasize the dynamic and static elements within their respective frameworks, highlighting the complexity of divine and cosmic principles.
◆neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 626
“Section 6 6. Granted, then, that there exist, apart from things, a unity absolute and a decad absolute in other words, that the Intellectual beings, together with their characteristic essence have also their order, Henads, Dyads, Triads, wh…”
Both passages discuss the concept of pre-existent, ideal forms or principles (Platonic Ideas in Passage A and Intellectual beings in Passage B) that exist beyond the material world. They also explore the nature of these forms and their relationship to the divine or intellectual realm.
◆western_esoteric|Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky)|Chapter XVI (part 9)
“In our language only an eternally becoming universe exists. The "Eternal Now" cannot be expressed in language. Thus our language pictures to us beforehand a false universe— dual , when in reality it is one ; and eternally becoming when it…”
Both passages explore the nature of reality and the limitations of human perception and language in understanding it. They discuss the concept of a higher, unified reality beyond the physical world, and the need for transcendence or new ways of understanding to grasp this reality.
◆western_esoteric|Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky)|Chapter XXII (part 3)
“These Eleatic ideas—namely that there is and there can be only One Absolute Being, infinite., unchangeable, without a second, without parts and passions—are the same ideas which underlie the Upanishads and have been fully worked out in the…”
Both passages discuss the concept of unity and the relationship between the divine and the human soul. They explore the idea of the soul's return to God and the nature of divine perfection, showing a genuine conceptual parallel across different mystical traditions.