Chapter Vb

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

The text describes the divine by negation, stating it transcends things and has nothing in common with them.

The Stoic and Plotinian doctrine that all parts of the cosmos are bound by hidden affinities, so that a movement in one part resonates through the whole; the metaphysical basis for astrology, magic, and divination.

The passage mentions that souls participate in the primarily operative and vivific nature of the divine.

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

The text describes the divine as transcending all things and having nothing in common with them.

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 distinguishes between the immoveable cause of motion and the souls that participate in it.

Augustinian and Plotinian doctrine that evil has no positive being of its own but is a lack, distortion, or absence of the good — denying ontological dualism while preserving moral seriousness.

The text contrasts the unmixed divine with the separated multitude that is able to impart itself to other things.

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

The description of the divine as the cause of motion and impartible essences implies an active divine nature.

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

The text identifies the immoveable cause that transcends all things as the source from which motion flows.

Using apparent contradiction, reversal, or riddle to destabilise ordinary understanding and induce insight.

The passage presents a paradoxical view where the cause of motion is itself immoveable.

The felt condition of exile from one's divine origin — Rumi's reed flute torn from its bed, Plotinus's 'we have forgotten,' the Gnostic forgetfulness; the affective wound that complements return_to_source and gives the return its motive.

The passage contrasts the separated multitude with the unmixed divine that transcends all things.

The doctrine that all existence is ultimately one substance or one divine reality; non-duality as a theological claim.

The text asserts that the whole of what is united is ascribed to the Gods in their essence.