Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names · 5 of 12 · tr. C.E. Rolt
Chapter 5, Section 1e
And if these Universals exist by participating in Existence, far more is this true of the things which participate in them.
6.
Thus the first gift which the Absolute and Transcendent Goodness bestows is that of mere Existence, and so It derives its first title from the chiefest of the participations in Its Being.
From It and in It are very Being and the Principles of the world, and the world which springs from them and all things that in any way continue in existence.
This attribute belongs to It in an incomprehensible and concentrated oneness.
For all number pre-exists indivisibly in the number One, and this number contains all things in itself under the form of unity.
All number exists as unity in number One, and only when it goes forth from this number is it differenced and multiplied.
377 377 The number One, being infinitely divisible, contains the potentiality of all numbers.
All the radii of a circle are concentrated into a single unity in the centre, and this point contains all the straight lines brought together within itself and unified to one another, and to the one starting-point from which they began.
Even so are they a perfect unity in the centre itself, and, departing a little therefrom they are differenced a little, and departing further are differenced further, and, in fact, the nearer they are to the centre, so 138 much the more are they united to it and to one another, and the more they are separated from it the more they are separated from one another.
378 378 Cf.
Plotinus.
7.
Moreover, in the Universal Nature of the world all the individual Laws of Nature are united in one Unity without confusion; and in the soul the individual faculties which govern different parts of the body are united in one.
And hence it is not strange that, when we mount from obscure images to the Universal Cause, we should with supernatural eyes behold all things (even those things which are mutually contrary) existing as a single Unity in the Universal Cause.
For It is the beginning of all things, whence are derived Very Being, and all things that have any being, all Beginning and End, all Life, Immortality, Wisdom, Order, Harmony, Power, Preservation, Grounding, Distribution, Intelligence, Reason, Perception, Quality, Rest, Motion, Unity, Fusion, Attraction, Cohesion, Differentiation, Definition, and all other Attributes which, by their mere existence, qualify all existent things.
8.
And from the same Universal Cause come those godlike and angelical Beings, which possess Intelligence and are apprehended by Intelligence; and from It come our souls and the natural laws of the whole universe, and all the qualities which we speak of as existing in other objects or as existing merely in our thoughts.
Yea, from It come the all-holy and most reverent Powers, which possess a real existence 379 379 sc.
In contradistinction to the Godhead, which (being beyond essence) does not literally exist.
and are grounded, as it were, in the fore-court of the Super-Essential Trinity, possessing from It and in It their existence and the godlike nature thereof; and, after them, those which are inferior to them, possessing their inferior existence from the same Source; and 139 the lowest, possessing from It their lowest existence ( i.
e.
lowest compared with the other angels, though compared with us it is above our world).
And human souls and all other creatures possess by the same tenure their existence, and their blessedness, and exist and are blessed only because they possess their existence and their blessedness from the Pre-existent, and exist and are blessed in Him, and begin from Him and are maintained in Him and attain in Him their Final Goal.
§ 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 describes the divine attribute as 'incomprehensible' and 'concentrated oneness'.
All passages →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.
It states that when ascending from images to the Universal Cause, one beholds all things existing as a single Unity.
All passages →Divine Simplicitytheology
The doctrine that God has no parts, divisions, or composite attributes; pure undivided being.
It emphasizes that the attribute belongs to the divine in an 'incomprehensible and concentrated oneness'.
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 passage outlines a flow from the Absolute Goodness to Universal Nature, souls, and creatures.
All passages →Gnosis Direct Knowledgesoteriology
Salvation through direct experiential knowledge of the divine nature, not through faith, ritual, or moral works alone.
Salvation is linked to beholding the Universal Cause with supernatural eyes rather than through faith or ritual alone.
All passages →Monadcosmology
The absolutely simple, undivided first principle from which all multiplicity and existence flows.
The text explicitly discusses the number One as infinitely divisible yet containing all numbers in unity.
All passages →Mystical Unionsoteriology
The merging of the individual soul or self with the divine, transcending personal identity.
The text describes beholding all things existing as a single Unity in the Universal Cause.
All passages →Numerical Mysticismtheology
Numbers, proportions, and mathematical relationships as the underlying structure of divine reality.
The passage centrally discusses the relationship between number One and all numbers contained within it.
All passages →Opposites Transcendedanthropology
The dissolution of binary oppositions (male/female, inner/outer, above/below) as a mark of spiritual completion.
It notes that contrary things exist as a single Unity in the Universal Cause.
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 ascent from obscure images to the Universal Cause implies a journey back to the divine origin.
All passages →Spiritual Ascentpraxis
A staged journey of the soul upward through heavenly realms or levels of being toward the divine source.
The passage explicitly describes mounting from obscure images to the Universal Cause as a movement upward.
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 text repeatedly emphasizes that all things exist in a single Unity within the Universal Cause.
All passages →Related passages · 15 of 20 parallels
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