Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names · 2 of 2 · tr. C.E. Rolt

Chapter 6, Section 1b

And wherever (under the form of intelligence, reason, sensation, nutrition, growth, or any mode whatsoever) you find life or the 146 Principle of life or the Essence of life, there you find that which lives and imparts life from the Life transcending all life, and indivisibly 397 397 Since Eternal Life is undifferentiated, all things have in It a common or identical life, as all plants and animals have a common life in the air they breathe.

pre-exists therein as in its Cause.

For the Supra-Vital and Primal Life is the Cause of all Life, and produces and fulfils it and individualizes it.

And we must draw from all life the attributes we apply to It when we consider how It teems with all living things, and how under manifold forms It is beheld and praised in all Life and lacketh not Life or rather abounds therein, and indeed hath Very Life, and how it produces life in a Supra-Vital manner and is above all life 398 398 See p.

144, n.

i.

and therefore is described by whatsoever human terms may express that Life which is ineffable.

392 The Godhead, though called Eternal Life, is really supra-vital, because life implies differentiations, and the Godhead as such is undifferentiated.

This Supra-Vitality passes out through the Differentiated persons of the Trinity into Very Life, whence life is derived to all the creatures.

393 Ps.

civ.

29, 30 .

394 i.

e.

The ultimate Principle.

395 Simon denied the Resurrection of the Body.

Vide Irenæus, Origen, Hippolytus, Epiphanius.

396 Physical life has behind it Eternal Life, by which it is in the true sense natural for it to be renewed and transformed.

397 Since Eternal Life is undifferentiated, all things have in It a common or identical life, as all plants and animals have a common life in the air they breathe.

398 See p.

144, n.

i.

Themes

◆Apophatic Theologytheology

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

The text explicitly states that the Life transcending all life is described by 'whatsoever human terms may express' and is 'ineffable'.

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◆Divine Hiddennesstheology

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

The text emphasizes that the Life transcending all life is ineffable and beyond ordinary human comprehension.

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◆Divine Simplicitytheology

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

The passage repeatedly asserts that Eternal Life is 'undifferentiated' and the Godhead is 'undivided', central to the concept of divine simplicity.

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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.

The passage describes a flow from a 'Supra-Vital and Primal Life' that produces and fulfils individualized life in creatures.

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◆Living Godtheology

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

The passage centrally defines the divine as 'Life' that lives and imparts life from a transcendent source.

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◆Monadcosmology

The absolutely simple, undivided first principle from which all multiplicity and existence flows.

The 'Supra-Vital and Primal Life' functions as the singular undivided first principle from which all life flows.

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◆Mystical Unionsoteriology

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

The text describes how all things have a 'common or identical life' in the Godhead, implying a shared ontological connection.

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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 text states that all things have a 'common or identical life' in the Godhead, suggesting an underlying ontological unity.

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Related passages · 6 parallels

◆neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 36

“Section 3 3. Now if we draw no distinction as to kinds of life, everything that lives will be capable of happiness, and those will be effectively happy who possess that one common gift of which every living thing is by nature receptive. We…”

Both passages discuss the concept of life as emanating from a higher, undifferentiated source and how different forms of life participate in this source. They both explore the idea of a supra-vital or primal life that is the cause of all life, though they use different terminology and frameworks.

◆neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 356

“Section 36 36. The Universe is immensely varied, the container of all the Reason-Principles and of infinite and diverse efficacies. In man, we are told, the eye has its power, and the bones have their varied powers, and so with each separat…”

Both passages discuss the concept of a supreme, undifferentiated life force that permeates all living things and gives them their individual lives. They also explore the idea of a hierarchy or grades of life within the universe.

◆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 a primal, undifferentiated source of life and existence. Pseudo-Dionysius describes the Supra-Vital Life as the cause of all life, while Plotinus (Select Works) discusses the Reason-Principles and the primal forces that shape the universe. Both emphasize the unity and interconnectedness of all things.

◆neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 559 (part 2)

“Clearly nothing may legitimately be excluded [from Being], for the whole must be complete in the higher sphere which, otherwise, would not be the whole. Life, too, burst upon Being, or rather was inseparably bound up with it; and thus it w…”

Both passages discuss the interconnectedness of life and being, emphasizing a unified, eternal existence that encompasses all individual entities. They share a mystical perspective on the nature of life and intellect, though they come from different traditions.

◆western_esoteric|Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky)|Chapter XVII (part 3)

“The snail is a complex centre of transmutation of some physical energies into others. This centre possesses a consciousness of its own. It is for this reason that the snail is indivisible. Its psyche is infinitely higher than that of the…”

Both passages explore the concept of life and consciousness in various forms and levels, suggesting a deeper, undifferentiated life principle that underlies all existence. They share a mystical perspective on the interconnectedness of all living beings and the existence of higher, transcendent psychic lives or principles.

◆western_esoteric|Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky)|Chapter XVII (part 7)

“The activity of the life of such a composite being as a forest is not the same as the activity of different species of plants and animals, and the activity of the life of a species is again different from the life of separate individuals.…”

Both passages discuss the concept of a universal life principle that underlies all individual lives. Pseudo-Dionysius describes a Supra-Vital Life that is the cause of all life, while the second passage discusses the idea of a 'World-Soul' or 'Being' whose manifestation is the visible universe, both reflecting a mystical understanding of a transcendent life force.