Pseudo-Dionysius: The Mystical Theology · 6 of 11 · tr. C.E. Rolt

Chapter IIIb

Now in the former treatises the course of the argument, as it came down from the highest to the lowest categories, embraced an ever-widening number of conceptions which increased at each stage of the descent, but in the present treatise it mounts upwards from below towards the category of transcendence, and in proportion to its ascent it contracts its terminology, and when the whole ascent is passed it will be totally dumb, being at last wholly united with Him Whom words cannot describe.

533 533 At the last stage but one the mind beholds an Object to which all terms of thought are inadequate.

Then, at the last stage, even the distinction between Subject and Object disappears, and the mind itself is That Which it contemplates.

Thought itself is transcended, and the whole Object-realm vanishes.

One Subject now knows itself as the part and knows itself as the Whole.

But why is it, you will ask, that after beginning from the highest category when one method was affirmative we begin from the lowest category where it is negative?

534 534 In the Divine Names the order of procedure was: Goodness, Existence, Life, etc.

Now it passes from sense-perception to thought.

Because, when affirming, the existence of that which transcends all affirmation, we were obliged to start from that which is most akin to It, and then to make the affirmation on which the rest depended; but when pursuing the negative method, to reach that which is beyond all negation, we must start by applying our negations to those qualities which differ most from the ultimate goal.

Surely it is truer to affirm that God is life and goodness than that He is air or stone, and truer to deny that drunkenness or fury can be attributed to Him 199 than to deny that the may apply to Him the categories of human thought.

535 535 This shows that the Via Negativa is not purely negative.

Themes

◆Apophatic Theologytheology

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

The passage explicitly describes the Via Negativa and states that at the highest stage 'words cannot describe' the divine.

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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 divine is beyond description and words, remaining concealed from ordinary comprehension.

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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 references a descent from the highest to the lowest categories, implying a hierarchical structure of being.

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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 describes a direct contemplative knowledge of God that transcends ordinary thought and language.

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◆Kingdom Withinanthropology

The claim that the divine realm is present inside the individual, accessible without external mediation.

The text states that one knows oneself as both the part and the Whole, implying the divine realm is present internally.

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◆Mystical Unionsoteriology

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

The passage describes a state where 'the mind itself is That Which it contemplates' and is 'wholly united with Him'.

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◆Opposites Transcendedanthropology

The dissolution of binary oppositions (male/female, inner/outer, above/below) as a mark of spiritual completion.

The text explicitly states that at the highest stage 'the distinction between Subject and Object disappears'.

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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 describes an ascent from below towards the category of transcendence back to the divine origin.

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◆Self Knowledgesoteriology

The recognition of one's own true divine nature as the primary path to liberation; 'know thyself' as soteriology.

The text states that one knows itself as the part and knows itself as the Whole in the highest state of union.

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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 passage describes a movement 'mounting upwards from below towards the category of transcendence'.

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Related passages · 2 parallels

◆neoplatonism|Select Works of Plotinus|Select Works, Section 274 (part 1)

“Section 8 8. From this basis we proceed: In the advancing stages of Contemplation rising from that in Nature, to that in the Soul and thence again to that in the Intellectual-Principle itself- the object contemplated becomes progressively…”

Both passages describe the mystical ascent of the mind towards a transcendent reality where the distinction between subject and object disappears. They also emphasize the inadequacy of language and thought in describing the ultimate reality, highlighting the unity and identity of the knower and the known.

◆western_esoteric|Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky)|Chapter XXIII (part 9)

“Further, it should be noted, as the possession of concepts implies the possession of language, so the possession of concepts and language (which are in reality two aspects of the same thing) implies the possession of self-consciousness. Al…”

Both passages discuss the transcendence of human thought and language in the pursuit of divine or ultimate reality. They describe a process where the mind moves beyond conceptual understanding to a state of unity or direct experience, although they use different terminology and frameworks.