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1tion and an eternal tendency towards it, and yet not in themselves creative because not in themselves, strictly speaking, existent. Nevertheless these two streams differ each from each, and one of them has a degree of reality which does not belong to the other. Mere universal Being, says Dionysius, does not possess full or concrete existence ; at the same time, since it is Being or Existence, he does not call it non-existent. Mere Particularity, on the other hand, he practically identifies with Non-entity, for the obvious reason that non-existence itself is a universal category (as applying to all existent things), and, therefore, cannot belong to that which has no universal element at all. Thus the universal stream is an abstract ideal and possesses an abstract exist- ence, the particular stream is an abortive impulse and 12 DIONYSIUS THE AREOPAGITE possesses no actual existence whatever. The one is the formal law of the existence universe, the other its rou£;h material. Thus these two emanating streams of potentiality have, from before all time, eternally welled forth and passed away, the universal into emptiness and the particular into nothingness, or rather, through nothingness back at once into the Super-Essence in a ceaseless revolution which, until the appointed moment arrives for Time and the temporal world to begin, leaves no trace outside Its Super-Essential Source and Dwelling and Goal. It is possible (though one cannot say more), that Dionysius is thinking especially of the difference between these two streams when he describes the various motions of the Godhead. The Particular stream of Emanation may be in his mind when he speaks of the circular movement, since the particular existences remain within the Super-Essence, until the moment of their temporal creation : the Universal stream may be that of which he is thinking when he speaks of the direct and spiral movements, since both of these indicate an advance and would therefore be appropriate to express the out-raying tendency of that emanating Influence which, even before the particular creatures were made, had a kind of existence for thought as the other stream had not. This Universal stream consists of currents or Emanations, Very Being, Very Life, etc. {avroelvai, avroCojfj, K.X.I.), and of these currents some arc more universal than others ; Very Being is, obviously, the most universal of all. And since the Super-P2sscncc transcends and so absorbs all Universality, it follows that the more universal the Emanations are the higher is their nature.
2of these currents some arc more universal than others ; Very Being is, obviously, the most universal of all. And since the Super-P2sscncc transcends and so absorbs all Universality, it follows that the more universal the Emanations are the higher is their nature. This stream, in fact, runs, as it were, in the channel which our thought naturally traces ; for thought cannot but seek for universals, RELATION TO CREATION 13 and the abstract and bloodless tendency of mere rhilosoi:)hy comes from an undue exaltation of thoui^ht over life. From this defect, however, Dio- nysius is free. For, while he holds that the highest Emanation is the most universal, he also holds (as was seen) that the Emanations are in themselves the mere backi^round of existence and arc not fully existent. And he expressly says that while the Emanations become more and more universal the higher we ascend towards their Source, the creatures become more and more individual and particular the higher they rise in the scale. The reason is, of course, that the Super-Essence transcends and absorbs all Particularity as well as all Universality ; and hence it is that particular things become particularized by partaking of It, just as universals become universalized by a similar process. But of this more anon. This Universal stream of Emanations thus eternally possesses a kind of existence, but it is an empty existence, like the emptiness of mere light if there were no objects to fill it and be made visible. The light in such a case would still be streaming forth from the sun and could not do otherwise, and there- fore it would not be an utter void ; but it would be untenanted by any particular colour or shape. Suppose, however, that the light could be blotted out. There would now remain the utter void of absolute darkness. Such darkness cannot exist while the sun IS shining in the cloudless heavens ; nevertheless the very notion of light cannot but be contrasted in our minds with that of darkness which is its absence ; and so we conceive the light to be a positive thing which fills the darkness even as water fills a void. When the bowl is full of water, the void does not exist ; and yet, since it would exist if the bowl could be wholly emptied, we can regard this non-existent void as the receptacle of the water.
3tive thing which fills the darkness even as water fills a void. When the bowl is full of water, the void does not exist ; and yet, since it would exist if the bowl could be wholly emptied, we can regard this non-existent void as the receptacle of the water. 14 DIONYSIUS THE AREOPAGITE Even so the Emanations of Very Being, etc., fill, as it were, a void which does not and cannot exist, since it is, and must be, saturated with them, and yet it is, by the very laws of our thinking, contrasted with them and would, in a manner, exist if the Emana- tions could cease to flow from the Super-Essence. They, streaming eternally (as they must) from that overflowing Source, permeate the whole boundless region of the world that is to be ; a region beyond Time and Space. That region is thus their receptacle. The receptacle, if emptied of them (though this is impossible), would contain nothing, and be nothing whatsoever. Hence, it is called Not-Being, or the Non-Existent (to fxi] ov). So the two Streams flow timelessly without begin- ning and without end, and cross, but do not mingle : the Universal Stream perpetually advancing and the Particular Stream circling round and slipping through it, as it were, into the void of Nothingness (as a thing by its very nature invisible, would be in darkness even while surrounded by the light) and so returning into the Super-Essence without leaving a trace behind it. This activity, though it must be expressed thus in terms of Time, is really timeless and therefore simultaneous. Eor the Streams are not something other than the Super-Essence. They are simply distant aspects of It. They are the Super-Essence in Its creative activity. As the river flowing out of a lake consists of the water which belongs to the lake, or as the light and heat flowing from the sun are the same light and heat that are in the sun, so the emanating Streams are the same Power that exists in the Super-Essence, though now acting (or striving to act) at a distance. Or perhaps we may compare the Supcr-H!ssencc to a mountain of rich ore, the inward depths of which are hidden beyond sight and tcnich. The outer surface, however, is touched and RELATION Tl) CRKATION iS ,c-cn and this corrrsponds to (he I'crs.ms of Ihe TdnitV while the sa.uc momita.n vewed at a d stance is the Stream of Universal l.manalu,,,. And thou"h the view becomes dhnmer and dimmer U; "fSr away you go, yet it is always the same mountain itself that is bemg viewed.
The source text as printed, transcribed diplomatically. Where the source language uses a non-Latin script that reaches us only through a Victorian romanisation, this layer is labelled transliteration, because that is what we hold.
1tion and an eternal tendency towards it, and yet not in themselves creative because not in themselves, strictly speaking, existent. Nevertheless these two streams differ each from each, and one of them has a degree of reality which does not belong to the other. Mere universal Being, says Dionysius, does not possess full or concrete existence ; at the same time, since it is Being or Existence, he does not call it non-existent. Mere Particularity, on the other hand, he practically identifies with Non-entity, for the obvious reason that non-existence itself is a universal category (as applying to all existent things), and, therefore, cannot belong to that which has no universal element at all. Thus the universal stream is an abstract ideal and possesses an abstract exist- ence, the particular stream is an abortive impulse and 12 DIONYSIUS THE AREOPAGITE possesses no actual existence whatever. The one is the formal law of the existence universe, the other its rou£;h material. Thus these two emanating streams of potentiality have, from before all time, eternally welled forth and passed away, the universal into emptiness and the particular into nothingness, or rather, through nothingness back at once into the Super-Essence in a ceaseless revolution which, until the appointed moment arrives for Time and the temporal world to begin, leaves no trace outside Its Super-Essential Source and Dwelling and Goal. It is possible (though one cannot say more), that Dionysius is thinking especially of the difference between these two streams when he describes the various motions of the Godhead. The Particular stream of Emanation may be in his mind when he speaks of the circular movement, since the particular existences remain within the Super-Essence, until the moment of their temporal creation : the Universal stream may be that of which he is thinking when he speaks of the direct and spiral movements, since both of these indicate an advance and would therefore be appropriate to express the out-raying tendency of that emanating Influence which, even before the particular creatures were made, had a kind of existence for thought as the other stream had not. This Universal stream consists of currents or Emanations, Very Being, Very Life, etc. {avroelvai, avroCojfj, K.X.I.), and of these currents some arc more universal than others ; Very Being is, obviously, the most universal of all. And since the Super-P2sscncc transcends and so absorbs all Universality, it follows that the more universal the Emanations are the higher is their nature.
2of these currents some arc more universal than others ; Very Being is, obviously, the most universal of all. And since the Super-P2sscncc transcends and so absorbs all Universality, it follows that the more universal the Emanations are the higher is their nature. This stream, in fact, runs, as it were, in the channel which our thought naturally traces ; for thought cannot but seek for universals, RELATION TO CREATION 13 and the abstract and bloodless tendency of mere rhilosoi:)hy comes from an undue exaltation of thoui^ht over life. From this defect, however, Dio- nysius is free. For, while he holds that the highest Emanation is the most universal, he also holds (as was seen) that the Emanations are in themselves the mere backi^round of existence and arc not fully existent. And he expressly says that while the Emanations become more and more universal the higher we ascend towards their Source, the creatures become more and more individual and particular the higher they rise in the scale. The reason is, of course, that the Super-Essence transcends and absorbs all Particularity as well as all Universality ; and hence it is that particular things become particularized by partaking of It, just as universals become universalized by a similar process. But of this more anon. This Universal stream of Emanations thus eternally possesses a kind of existence, but it is an empty existence, like the emptiness of mere light if there were no objects to fill it and be made visible. The light in such a case would still be streaming forth from the sun and could not do otherwise, and there- fore it would not be an utter void ; but it would be untenanted by any particular colour or shape. Suppose, however, that the light could be blotted out. There would now remain the utter void of absolute darkness. Such darkness cannot exist while the sun IS shining in the cloudless heavens ; nevertheless the very notion of light cannot but be contrasted in our minds with that of darkness which is its absence ; and so we conceive the light to be a positive thing which fills the darkness even as water fills a void. When the bowl is full of water, the void does not exist ; and yet, since it would exist if the bowl could be wholly emptied, we can regard this non-existent void as the receptacle of the water.
3tive thing which fills the darkness even as water fills a void. When the bowl is full of water, the void does not exist ; and yet, since it would exist if the bowl could be wholly emptied, we can regard this non-existent void as the receptacle of the water. 14 DIONYSIUS THE AREOPAGITE Even so the Emanations of Very Being, etc., fill, as it were, a void which does not and cannot exist, since it is, and must be, saturated with them, and yet it is, by the very laws of our thinking, contrasted with them and would, in a manner, exist if the Emana- tions could cease to flow from the Super-Essence. They, streaming eternally (as they must) from that overflowing Source, permeate the whole boundless region of the world that is to be ; a region beyond Time and Space. That region is thus their receptacle. The receptacle, if emptied of them (though this is impossible), would contain nothing, and be nothing whatsoever. Hence, it is called Not-Being, or the Non-Existent (to fxi] ov). So the two Streams flow timelessly without begin- ning and without end, and cross, but do not mingle : the Universal Stream perpetually advancing and the Particular Stream circling round and slipping through it, as it were, into the void of Nothingness (as a thing by its very nature invisible, would be in darkness even while surrounded by the light) and so returning into the Super-Essence without leaving a trace behind it. This activity, though it must be expressed thus in terms of Time, is really timeless and therefore simultaneous. Eor the Streams are not something other than the Super-Essence. They are simply distant aspects of It. They are the Super-Essence in Its creative activity. As the river flowing out of a lake consists of the water which belongs to the lake, or as the light and heat flowing from the sun are the same light and heat that are in the sun, so the emanating Streams are the same Power that exists in the Super-Essence, though now acting (or striving to act) at a distance. Or perhaps we may compare the Supcr-H!ssencc to a mountain of rich ore, the inward depths of which are hidden beyond sight and tcnich. The outer surface, however, is touched and RELATION Tl) CRKATION iS ,c-cn and this corrrsponds to (he I'crs.ms of Ihe TdnitV while the sa.uc momita.n vewed at a d stance is the Stream of Universal l.manalu,,,. And thou"h the view becomes dhnmer and dimmer U; "fSr away you go, yet it is always the same mountain itself that is bemg viewed.
The source text as printed, transcribed diplomatically. Where the source language uses a non-Latin script that reaches us only through a Victorian romanisation, this layer is labelled transliteration, because that is what we hold.
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