Section 1c
Active Contemplationpraxis
A form of meditation that uses imagery, imagination, or symbolic thought rather than purely empty stillness.
The text emphasizes the mind's active role in contemplating the divine ('He whom the mind [alone] can contemplate').
All passages →Apophatic Theologytheology
Describing the divine only by negation—God transcends all positive categories and concepts; the via negativa.
[auto] The passage repeatedly negates categories to describe God (beyond all name, no nome, no place, no way), making via negativa a central theme.
All passages →Divine Hiddennesstheology
The supreme God's radical concealment beyond ordinary knowledge or perception; the Hidden Father.
God is described as 'the unmanifest' and having concealed things, emphasizing radical concealment.
All passages →Divine Providencetheology
Pronoia — the doctrine that the divine actively orders the unfolding of the cosmos and human affairs toward intelligible ends, against pure chance or blind necessity.
God is described as the giver of all ('Thou who givest all'), implying active ordering and sustenance.
All passages →Divine Simplicitytheology
The doctrine that God has no parts, divisions, or composite attributes; pure undivided being.
God is described as 'the one of no body' and beyond division or composite attributes.
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 text outlines a descending chain of being: matter, air, soul, mind, and finally God.
All passages →Gnosis Direct Knowledgesoteriology
Salvation through direct experiential knowledge of the divine nature, not through faith, ritual, or moral works alone.
Salvation or connection is framed through contemplation by the mind ('He whom the mind [alone] can contemplate').
All passages →Kingdom Withinanthropology
The claim that the divine realm is present inside the individual, accessible without external mediation.
The divine is present within the human ('All [are] in Thee... Thou art whatever I may be'), accessible internally.
All passages →Living Godtheology
The divine conceived as active, present, and dynamic—not an abstract principle but a personal responsive reality.
God is active and dynamic ('Father when Thou makest... God when Thou dost energize'), not an abstract principle.
All passages →Meditationpraxis
Disciplined inward attention — sitting, focused, or open-awareness practice — as a stand-alone term that umbrellas active_contemplation, inner_silence, and dhyana-style sitting.
Contemplation is presented as the primary mode of engaging with the divine.
All passages →Microcosm Macrocosmcosmology
The human being as a small-scale image of the entire cosmos; the body, soul, and intellect mirroring the structure of the heavens and the divine — distinct from correspondence in that it makes the human the privileged mirror.
The text asserts identity between the divine and the human ('Thou art whatever I may be'), implying the human reflects the divine structure.
All passages →Monadcosmology
The absolutely simple, undivided first principle from which all multiplicity and existence flows.
God is described as 'the one', 'one Father's', and the singular source from which all multiplicity flows.
All passages →Mystical Unionsoteriology
The merging of the individual soul or self with the divine, transcending personal identity.
The text describes a state of identity where 'All [are] in Thee' and the divine is whatever the human is.
All passages →Opposites Transcendedanthropology
The dissolution of binary oppositions (male/female, inner/outer, above/below) as a mark of spiritual completion.
God is described as both unmanifest and manifest, having no body yet being every body, transcending binary oppositions.
All passages →Paradox As Teachingethics
Using apparent contradiction, reversal, or riddle to destabilise ordinary understanding and induce insight.
The text uses apparent contradictions ('unmanifest, He the most manifest') to describe the ineffable nature of God.
All passages →Prayerpraxis
Direct address to the divine, whether petitionary, contemplative, or liturgical; speech and silence offered upward.
[auto] The discourse is framed as a struggle to hymn and praise the Father ('Who, then, may sing Thee praise... And when, O Father, shall I hymn Thee?').
All passages →Sacred Namestheology
Divine names or formulas that carry ontological power, used in prayer, liturgy, or magical practice.
The passage discusses divine names ('He hath all names... He Himself no nome') as a theological category.
All passages →Self Knowledgesoteriology
The recognition of one's own true divine nature as the primary path to liberation; 'know thyself' as soteriology.
Knowing oneself is equated with knowing God ('Thou art whatever I may be'), making self-knowledge a path to the divine.
All passages →Spiritual Ascentpraxis
A staged journey of the soul upward through heavenly realms or levels of being toward the divine source.
The hierarchy from matter to God implies a path of ascent through levels of being.
All passages →Theosis Deificationsoteriology
The doctrine — central to Eastern Orthodox and Maximian theology — that the human person is progressively transformed into a partaker of the divine nature by grace, not merely justified or united in passing ecstasy.
The human is described as participating in the divine nature ('Thou art whatever I may be'), implying transformation into the divine.
All passages →Unity Of Beingtheology
The doctrine that all existence is ultimately one substance or one divine reality; non-duality as a theological claim.
[auto] The text explicitly states 'For all are He and He is all' and 'Naught is there which he is not', asserting non-dual divine ontology.
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