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.

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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 · 7 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)

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“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)

neoplatonism|Iamblichus: On the Mysteries|Chapter XIX

“But neither does the cause [of the energies] of more excellent natures subsist as a certain middle instrument, nor does he who invokes operate through him who prophesies; for to assert these things is impious. And it is much more true to sa…”

Shared concept: Living God — The divine conceived as active, present, and dynamic—not an abstract principle but a personal responsive reality. (derived)

egyptian|The Egyptian Book of the Dead (Papyrus of Ani)|Chapter 8 (part 4)

“No man knoweth how to know Him--His name remaineth hidden; His name is a mystery unto His children. His names are innumerable, they are manifold and none knoweth their number--God is truth and He liveth by truth and He feedeth thereon. He…”

Shared concept: Divine Hiddenness — The supreme God's radical concealment beyond ordinary knowledge or perception; the Hidden Father. (derived)