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Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names · 4 of 6 · tr. C.E. Rolt

Chapter 7, Section 1d

Furthermore, we must ask how it is that we know God when He cannot be perceived by the mind or the senses and is not a particular Being. Perhaps ‘tis true to say that we know not God by His Nature (for this is unknowable and beyond the reach of all Reason. and Intuition), yet by means of that ordering of all things which (being as it were projected out of 152 Him) possesses certain images and semblances of His Divine Exemplars, we mount upwards (so far as our feet can tread that ordered path), advancing through the Negation and Transcendence of all things and through a conception of an Universal Cause, towards That Which is beyond all things. 413 413 God, being the Manifested Absolute, exists on two planes at once: that of Undifferentiation and that of Differentiation. On this second plane He moves out into creative activity. And thus He is both knowable and unknowable: knowable in so far as He passes outwards into such activity, unknowable in that His Being passes inwards into Undifferentiation. Thus He is known in His acts but not in His ultimate Nature. Hence God is known in all things and apart from all things; and God is known through Knowledge and through Unknowing, and on the one hand He is reached by Intuition, Reason, Understanding, Apprehension, Perception, Conjecture, Appearance, Name, etc; and yet, on the other hand, He cannot be grasped by Intuition, Language, or Name, and He is not anything in the world nor is He known in anything. He is All Things in all things and Nothing in any, 414 414 He is the Super-Essence of all things, wherein all things possess their true being outside of themselves [as our perceptions are outside of ourselves in the things we perceive. (Vide Bergson, Matière et Mémoire.)]. and is known from all things unto all men, and is not known from any unto any man. ‘Tis meet that we employ such terms concerning God, and we get from all things (in proportion to their quality) notions of Him Who is their Creator. And yet on the other hand, the Divinest Knowledge of God, the which is received through Unknowing, is obtained in that communion which transcends the mind, when the mind, turning away from all things and then leaving even itself behind, is united to the Dazzling Rays, being from them and in them, illumined by the unsearchable depth of Wisdom. 415 415 This is experience and not mere theory. Nevertheless, as I said, we must 153 draw this knowledge of Wisdom from all things; for wisdom it is (as saith the Scripture) 416 416 Prov. viii. that hath made all things and ever ordereth them all, and is the Cause of the indissoluble harmony and order of all things, perpetually fitting the end of one part unto the beginning of the second, and thus producing the one fair agreement and concord of the whole. 4. And God is called “Word” or “Reason” 417 417 The reference is, of course, to the opening verses of St. John’s Gospel. The present passage shows that by the term “God” D. means not one Differentiation of the Godhead singly (i. e. not God the Father), but all Three Differentiations together; the undivided (though differentiated) Trinity. by the Holy Scriptures, not only because He is the Bestower of Reason and Mind and Wisdom, but also because He contains beforehand in His own Unity the causes of all things, and because He penetrates all things, “reaching” (as the Scripture saith) “unto the end of all things,” 418 418 Wisdom viii.
Themes
◆Apophatic Theologytheology

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

The text explicitly states that God is unknowable and beyond the reach of Reason and Intuition.

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◆Divine Hiddennesstheology

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

God is described as unknowable and beyond the reach of all Reason and Intuition.

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◆Divine Lighttheology

The uncreated luminous quality of the divine, sometimes experienced directly in mystical states; illumination as revelation.

The text mentions being 'illumined by the unsearchable depth of Wisdom' and Dazzling Rays.

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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.

It describes God projecting an ordering of all things out of Himself that possesses images of His Exemplars.

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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 passage emphasizes reaching God through Intuition and Unknowing rather than ordinary Reason or Language.

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◆Logoscosmology

The divine reason, word, or ordering principle through which the universe was created; mediates between the transcendent God and the material world.

God is called 'Word' or 'Reason' as the ordering principle that contains causes of all things.

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◆Monadcosmology

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

God is described as the Manifested Absolute existing on two planes at once.

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◆Mystical Unionsoteriology

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

The text describes a state where the mind is united to the Dazzling Rays and illumined by Wisdom.

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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 passage outlines a path of advancing through Negation and Transcendence toward God.

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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 mounting upwards through the Negation and Transcendence of all things toward God.

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Related passages · 31 parallels
◆neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 43
“Section 10 10. Perhaps the reason this continuous activity remains unperceived is that it has no touch whatever with things of sense. No doubt action upon material things, or action dictated by them, must proceed through the sensitive facul…”
Both passages discuss the nature of divine knowledge and the limitations of human perception and understanding. They explore the idea that the divine is both knowable and unknowable, with Plotinus focusing on the Intellectual-Principle and the soul, while the second passage discusses God's dual existence and the process of knowing Him through both knowing and unknowing.
◆neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 84
“Section 9 9. But what approach have we to the knowing of Good and Evil? And first of the Evil of soul: Virtue, we may know by the Intellectual-Principle and by means of the philosophic habit; but Vice? A a ruler marks off straight from croo…”
Both passages explore the concept of knowing the unknowable, whether it be Evil or God. They both employ the method of negation and abstraction to approach that which is beyond direct perception or comprehension.
◆neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 132
“Section 10 10. But how can I form the conception of the sizelessness of Matter? How do you form the concept of any absence of quality? What is the Act of the Intellect, what is the mental approach, in such a case? The secret is Indeterminat…”
Both passages explore the concept of knowing the unknowable, whether it be Matter in Plotinus' work or God in the second passage. They both discuss the limitations of human understanding and the need to transcend ordinary reasoning to grasp these fundamental realities.
◆neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 144
“Section 5 5. How can we talk of it? How can it be the Matter of real things? It is talked of, and it serves, precisely, as a Potentiality. And, as being a Potentiality, it is not of the order of the thing it is to become: its existence is n…”
Both passages explore the concept of the ultimate reality or divine as being beyond being and non-being, and the difficulty of comprehending it. Plotinus discusses Matter as a potentiality and non-being, while Dionysius discusses God as both knowable and unknowable, existing on planes of differentiation and undifferentiation.
◆neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 172 (part 2)
“Now, if the sight of Beauty excellently reproduced upon a face hurries the mind to that other Sphere, surely no one seeing the loveliness lavish in the world of sense- this vast orderliness, the Form which the stars even in their remoteness…”
Both passages discuss the concept of perceiving the divine through the natural world and the orderliness of creation. They share the idea that the beauty and order in the world serve as a pathway to understanding or recollecting a higher, transcendent reality.
◆neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 218
“Section 4 4. But is this lower extremity of our intellective phase fettered to body for ever? No: if we turn, this turns by the same act. And the Soul of the All- are we to think that when it turns from this sphere its lower phase similarly…”
Both passages explore the relationship between the divine and the material world, emphasizing the transcendence and immanence of the divine. They discuss the limitations of human perception and understanding in grasping the divine nature, highlighting the idea that the divine is both knowable and unknowable.
◆neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 239
“Section 7 7. We are thus brought back to the nature of that underlying matter and the things believed to be based upon it; investigation will show us that Matter has no reality and is not capable of being affected. Matter must be bodiless-…”
Both passages explore the nature of ultimate reality and its relationship with the perceptible world. Passage A discusses the concept of Matter as a non-being and its relationship with the Intellectual Principle, while Passage B discusses the nature of God as both knowable and unknowable, and His relationship with creation. Both texts use the concept of images or semblances to describe the relationship between the ultimate reality and the perceptible world.
◆neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 259
“Section 7 7. Now comes the question whether, in all this discussion, we are not merely helping to make out a case for some other order of Beings and talking of matters alien to ourselves. But how could that be? What understanding can there…”
Both passages explore the relationship between the divine and human understanding, emphasizing the transcendence and immanence of the divine. They discuss how the divine can be known through its manifestations and effects, while also acknowledging the limitations of human comprehension.
◆neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 428
“Section 12 12. Possessed of such powers, how does it happen that we do not lay hold of them, but for the most part, let these high activities go idle- some, even, of us never bringing them in any degree to effect? The answer is that all the…”
Both passages discuss the nature of divine knowledge and the human capacity to perceive or understand the divine. They share the idea that higher knowledge requires turning inward and transcending ordinary perception, though they come from different mystical traditions.
◆neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 436
“Section 4 4. But we, too, are king when we are moulded to the Intellectual-Principle. That correspondence may be brought about in two ways: either the radii from that centre are traced upon us to be our law or we are filled full of the Divi…”
Both passages discuss the concept of knowing the divine or the Intellectual-Principle through a process of unification or communion. They explore the idea of transcending the self to achieve a higher state of knowledge and understanding, emphasizing the union with the divine intellect or principle.
21 more
◆neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 439
“Section 7 7. The contemplating of God, we might answer. But to admit its knowing God is to be compelled to admit its self-knowing. It will know what it holds from God, what God has given forth or may; with this knowledge, it knows itself at…”
Both passages explore the concept of knowing the divine through self-knowledge and the emanation of divine attributes. They discuss the relationship between the divine and the created world, emphasizing the idea that the divine is both knowable and unknowable.
◆neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 446
“Section 14 14. How, then, do we ourselves come to be speaking of it? No doubt we deal with it, but we do not state it; we have neither knowledge nor intellection of it. But in what sense do we even deal with it when we have no hold upon it?…”
Both passages discuss the ineffable nature of the divine and the human inability to fully comprehend or describe it. They share the idea that the divine can be known through its effects or manifestations rather than its essence.
◆neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 454 (part 2)
“How does the Intellectual-Principle come to meet with them as it travels round; what keeps each true to its character; what gives them enduring identity; what conceivable shape or character can they have? They are being presented to us as…”
Both passages explore the nature of divine knowledge and the limitations of human understanding in comprehending the divine. They discuss the idea that the divine is both knowable and unknowable, and that true understanding transcends ordinary perception and intellect.
◆neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 482 (part 2)
“The greatness and power of the wisdom There we may know from this, that is embraces all the real Beings, and has made all, and all follow it, and yet that it is itself those beings, which sprang into being with it, so that all is one, and t…”
Both passages discuss the nature of divine wisdom and the limitations of human understanding in comprehending it. They explore the idea that divine wisdom is both knowable and unknowable, and that it transcends ordinary human knowledge.
◆neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 566
“Section 5 5. These are incontrovertible facts in regard to the pseudo-substance of the Sensible realm: if they apply also in some degree to the True Substance of the Intellectual, the coincidence is, doubtless, to be attributed to analogy a…”
Both passages explore the nature of ultimate reality and the limitations of human understanding in apprehending it. They discuss the relationship between the universal and the particular, and the difficulty of defining or knowing the ultimate substance or God directly.
◆neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 614
“Section 7 7. To Real Being we go back, all that we have and are; to that we return as from that we came. Of what is There we have direct knowledge, not images or even impressions; and to know without image is to be; by our part in true know…”
Both passages discuss the concept of unity and the nature of divine knowledge. They explore the idea of transcending individuality to achieve a state of oneness with the divine, and the limitations of human understanding in comprehending the divine nature.
◆neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 675
“Section 36 36. We need not carry this matter further; we turn to a question already touched but demanding still some brief consideration. Knowledge of The Good or contact with it, is the all-important: this- we read- is the grand learning,…”
Both passages discuss the concept of knowing the divine through a process of purification, ascent, and transcendence of the intellect. They emphasize the unknowable nature of the divine essence while acknowledging it through its manifestations and effects.
◆neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 693
“Section 11 11. But this Unoriginating, what is it? We can but withdraw, silent, hopeless, and search no further. What can we look for when we have reached the furthest? Every enquiry aims at a first and, that attained, rests. Besides, we mu…”
Both passages discuss the nature of the divine as being beyond human comprehension and existing outside of space and time. They also explore the idea that the divine can only be known through its manifestations or effects, rather than through direct perception or understanding.
◆neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 708
“Section 4 4. The main part of the difficulty is that awareness of this Principle comes neither by knowing nor by the Intellection that discovers the Intellectual Beings but by a presence overpassing all knowledge. In knowing, soul or mind a…”
Both passages discuss the limitations of human knowledge and understanding in perceiving the divine. They emphasize the need to transcend ordinary knowledge and intuition to experience the divine presence, highlighting the paradox of knowing the unknowable.
◆neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 711
“Section 7 7. If the mind reels before something thus alien to all we know, we must take our stand on the things of this realm and strive thence to see. But, in the looking, beware of throwing outward; this Principle does not lie away somewh…”
Both passages discuss the nature of the divine and the human experience of knowing or reaching the divine. They emphasize the need to turn inward and away from the external world to achieve this understanding, highlighting the limitations of human perception and reason in comprehending the divine nature.
◆renaissance_hermeticism|The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part I (Gli Eroici Furori)|Fourth Dialoguef
“Hence it follows that not less do we desire to see things unknown and unseen than those known and seen. And from this it does not follow that the desire does not proceed from cognition, and that we desire something that is not known; but I…”
Both passages explore the relationship between human cognition and the divine, emphasizing that while the divine is ultimately unknowable in its essence, it can be apprehended through its manifestations and effects in the world. They both discuss the limitations of sensory and intellectual perception in understanding the divine.
◆taoism|Tao Te Ching|Chapter 71
“To know and yet (think) we do not know is the highest (attainment); not to know (and yet think) we do know is a disease. It is simply by being pained at (the thought of) having this disease that we are preserved from it. The sage has not th…”
Both passages explore the concept of knowing and unknowing as it relates to ultimate reality or divine truth. The Tao Te Ching emphasizes the humility of recognizing the limits of knowledge, while the second passage discusses the paradox of knowing God through both knowledge and unknowing.
◆western_esoteric|Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky)|Chapter I (part 2)
“But such a procedure constitutes a departure from facts, and all such considerations of the world and of the self, to the ordinary non-philosophical mind, will not have the character of obviousness. On the contrary the sole obvious fact re…”
Both passages explore the relationship between the subjective and objective worlds, and the limits of human knowledge. Passage A discusses the distinction between inner psychic life and the outer world, while Passage B delves into the nature of God and the limits of human understanding of the divine, both emphasizing the projection of knowledge onto external realities.
◆western_esoteric|Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky)|Chapter I (part 3)
“______ Since the remotest antiquity the question of our relation to the true causes of our sensations has constituted the main subject of philosophical research. Men have always felt that they should have some solution for this question, s…”
Both passages explore the relationship between human perception and the nature of reality. They discuss how our sensory and cognitive frameworks shape our understanding of the world, with Ouspensky focusing on Kant's view of space and time as categories of intellect, and the mystical tradition discussing the knowability of God through and beyond human understanding.
◆western_esoteric|Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky)|Chapter I (part 4)
“Also, all phenomena not in time, divorced from the idea of time, not taken in this or that fashion from the standpoint of before , now , after , would co-exist for us simultaneously, and all mixed up with one another, and our weak mind woul…”
Both passages explore the limitations of human perception and cognition in understanding reality. Passage A discusses how our consciousness categorizes phenomena into space and time, while Passage B delves into the unknowable nature of God and the limitations of human understanding in grasping the divine.
◆western_esoteric|Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky)|Chapter I (part 5)
“It is not true because our experimental knowledge is not a confused perception of a real world . It is a very acute perception of an entirely unreal world appearing round about us at the moment of our contact with the world of true causes,…”
Both passages explore the limitations of human perception and knowledge regarding the true nature of reality. Passage A discusses Kant's view that our sensory experience does not reveal the true nature of things, while Passage B discusses the unknowable nature of God and the limitations of human understanding in comprehending the divine.
◆western_esoteric|Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky)|Chapter IV (part 3)
“If, presupposing that we are moving upon a sphere, upon its equator or one of its parallels, then it will appear that we recognize as really existing only one meridian: those which are behind us have disappeared and those ahead of us have n…”
Both passages explore the limitations of human perception and knowledge. Passage A discusses the constrained nature of human sensory experience and the idea of an eternal present, while Passage B delves into the unknowable nature of God and the limitations of human understanding, suggesting a higher form of knowledge through unknowing.
◆western_esoteric|Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky)|Chapter XIV (part 3)
“Therefore, the first emotion at the rising of the curtain on "that world"—i.e., this our world, but free of those limitations under which we usually regard it—must be of wonderment , and this wonderment must grow greater and greater accordi…”
Both passages explore the idea of perceiving deeper realities beyond the surface phenomena. Passage A discusses the noumenal world and the hidden meanings in everyday objects and actions, while Passage B talks about knowing God through the ordering of all things and the transcendence of the mind. Both emphasize the importance of looking beyond the immediate and the known to understand deeper truths.
◆western_esoteric|Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky)|Chapter XVI (part 11)
“All the beings assumed by us to exist in the world of many dimensions , cannot know one another, i.e., cannot know that we are binding them together in different wholes in our phenomenal world, just as in general they cannot know our phenom…”
Both passages explore the idea of perceiving higher realities beyond the limitations of human senses and intellect. They discuss the concept of knowing the unknowable through indirect means, such as the ordering of things or the exchange of thoughts, and the transformation of consciousness required to achieve this understanding.
◆western_esoteric|Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky)|Chapter XVI (part 13)
“We do not know the world of causes; we are confined in the jail of the phenomenal world simply because we do not know how to discern where one ends and where the other begins. We are in constant touch with the world of causes, we live in i…”
Both passages explore the relationship between the phenomenal and noumenal worlds, emphasizing the limitations of human perception and the need for intellectual and spiritual discernment to understand higher realities. They both highlight the idea that the true nature of reality is beyond ordinary comprehension and requires a different mode of understanding.
◆western_esoteric|Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky)|Chapter XIX (part 3)
“We all know this, and the only thing we can do is to try not to think about the existence of these problems, to forget about them. We do so as a rule, but this does not annihilate them. They continue to exist, and at any given moment we m…”
Both passages explore the limitations of human perception and knowledge. Passage A discusses the constraints of scientific methods in understanding certain aspects of reality, while Passage B delves into the unknowable nature of God and the limitations of human reason and intuition in comprehending the divine.