Select Works, Section 659

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

The text negates lower categories to describe the source, stating it is 'not to be thought of as one breath or warmth but rather as one quality.'

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.

[auto] The passage explicitly defines the relationship between the material universe and the higher realm as 'copy to original,' embodying the 'as above, so below' principle.

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

The source is described as 'one quality englobing and safeguarding all qualities,' suggesting an undivided nature that contains multiplicity without division.

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 centrally defines the relationship between the material universe and the higher realm as 'copy to original,' establishing a hierarchical ontological structure.

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 states that in the higher realm 'no indigence or impotence can exist,' implying that deficiency is absent from the divine source and belongs to the lower copy.

The void or emptiness outside the pleroma; the realm of matter, ignorance, and deficiency.

The contrast between the 'complete Being' above and the 'copy' below implies a deficiency or void in the material realm relative to the pleroma.

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

[auto] The higher realm is repeatedly characterized as 'intensely living' and containing 'unending life,' presenting the divine reality as dynamic rather than static.

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

The text mentions that the 'nature of the major parts determines' the forms they comprise, suggesting an ordering principle within the higher realm.

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 passage states that the nature of the major parts (macrocosm) determines the living forms they comprise, reflecting a structural mirroring between levels.

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

The passage identifies a singular source from which 'All flows,' described as 'one fount' and 'one quality englobing... all qualities.'

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

The source is described as 'one quality englobing... all qualities,' including sensory distinctions like sweetness and color, suggesting a transcendence of binary oppositions.

The divine fullness or totality of the highest realm, populated by aeons and divine attributes, contrasted with the deficient material world.

[auto] The text describes a 'realm of complete Being' where everything exists beforehand in fullness, contrasting with the deficient material copy.

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

[auto] The passage asserts that a 'living total' exists in the higher realm where 'everything must exist There,' implying a unified source of all existence.