Select Works, Section 19 (part 2)

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

[auto] The passage explicitly denies virtue and the need for order to the Supreme, describing the divine through negation.

The Hermetic axiom that the structure of the cosmos is reflected at every scale — 'as above, so below; as within, so without' — making each level a legible map of the others.

The derivation of order and harmony from the Supreme suggests a reflection of higher principles in the lower sphere.

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.

The passage asserts that order and distribution are derived from the Supreme, indicating divine ordering of the cosmos.

The doctrine that God has no parts, divisions, or composite attributes; pure undivided being.

[auto] The text implies the Supreme has no parts or composition by stating it has no need for harmony, order, or distribution.

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.

[auto] The passage describes deriving order and virtues from the Supreme, indicating a downward flow of qualities.

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

[auto] The 'Supreme' is presented as the singular source from which order and existence derive.

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

[auto] The goal of possessing virtue is described as becoming 'like to Them,' indicating a union or assimilation with the divine.

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

[auto] The Supreme is described as having nothing to do with virtue, transcending the binary of virtue and vice.

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

[auto] The text presents the paradox that one attains likeness to the Supreme through virtue without the Supreme possessing virtue.

The soul's journey back to its divine origin, reversing the fall into matter through stages of purification or illumination.

[auto] Attaining likeness to the Supreme through virtue implies a journey back toward the divine origin.

A staged journey of the soul upward through heavenly realms or levels of being toward the divine source.

[auto] The possession of virtue is presented as the means to ascend and become like the higher Existences.

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.

[auto] The passage centrally argues that human possession of virtue allows us to become like the Supreme Existences, which is the core definition of deification in this context.