On the Divine Names and the Mystical Theology — trans. C. E. Rolt
The translator’s English as printed (C. E. Rolt). The original-language text is not held; names are romanised as the translator printed them.
Beautiful and Good is an Object of Yearning and desire and love to all (for even that which zs of longs for It, as was said,1 and strives to find its rest therein, and thus It creates a form even in formless things and thus is said super-essentially to contain, and does so contain, the non-existent) ?—if this is so, how is it that the company of the devils desires not the Beautiful and Good, but, being inclined towards matter and fallen far from the fixed angelic state of desire for the Good, becomes a cause of all evils to itself and to all other beings which we describe as becoming evil? How is it that the devils, having been produced wholly out of the Good, are not good in disposition ? Or how is it that, if produced good from out of the Good, they became changed?? What made them evil, and indeed what is the nature of evil? From what origin did it arise and in what thing doth it lie? Why did He that is Good will to produce it? And how, having so willed, was He able so to do? And if evil comes from some other cause, what other cause can anything have excepting the Good? How, if there is a Providence, doth evil exist, or arise at all, or escape destruction? And why doth anything in the world desire it instead of Good ? ”
1 The ‘‘matter” or stuff of which the universe is made, exists ultimately in the Good, but evil does not. All force exists ultimately in the Good, but the warping of it, or the lawlessness of it (which is the evil of it), does not exist in the Good. Force, or energy, as such is a relative embodiment of the Absolute: evil as such is a contradiction of the Absolute. 2 i. e. There is an element of good in evil things enabling them to cohere and so to exist. In this passage ‘ Non-Existent ” is used in three senses: (1) ‘‘ Matter,’”’ or force, cannot exist without some form (which is its complement) and therefore is technically called non-existent. (2) Evil cannot exist at all on the ultimate plane of Being, nor in this world without an admixture of good (which is its contrary) and therefore is in an absolute sense non-existent. (3) The Good is beyond all existence and therefore is by transcendence Non-Existent.
3 The Good is beyond this world and beyond the stuff, or force, of which this world is made. Evil, on the other hand, is below this world and the stuff composing it. Get rid of the limitations in this world (sc. the difference between one quality and another) and you have an energy or force possessing all the particular qualities of things fused in one. Get rid of the limitations inherent in this (i. e. intensify it to infinity) and you have the Good. On the other hand, destroy some particular object (e.g. a tree), and that object, being now actually non-existent, has still a potential existence in the world-stuff. Destroy that potential existence and you have absolute non-existence, which is Evil. Thus the three grades may be tabulated as follows : (i) Transcendent Non-Existence (= the Good). (ii) Actual Non-Existence (=the world stuff, force or energy, of
Beautiful and Good is an Object of Yearning, desire and love to all (for even that which is not longs for It, as was said,1 and strives to find its rest in It; and so It creates a form even in formless things, and thus is said super-essentially to contain, and does contain, the non-existent)2—if this is so, how is it that the company of the devils does not desire the Beautiful and Good, but, inclined toward matter and fallen far from the fixed angelic state of desire for the Good, becomes a cause of all evils to itself and to all other beings that we describe as becoming evil? How is it that the devils, produced wholly out of the Good, are not good in disposition? Or if they were produced good from the Good, how did they come to change?3
What made them evil, and indeed what is the nature of evil? From what origin did it arise, and in what does it reside? Why did He that is Good will to produce it? And how, having so willed, was He able to do so? And if evil comes from some other cause, what other cause can anything have apart from the Good? If there is a Providence, how does evil exist, or arise at all, or escape destruction? And why does anything in the world desire it instead of Good?”
1 The “matter,” or stuff of which the universe is made, exists ultimately in the Good, but evil does not. All force exists ultimately in the Good, but the warping of it, or its lawlessness (which is its evil), does not exist in the Good. Force, or energy, as such is a relative embodiment of the Absolute; evil as such is a contradiction of the Absolute. 2 i.e. There is an element of good in evil things that enables them to cohere and so to exist. In this passage “Non-Existent” is used in three senses: (1) “Matter,” or force, cannot exist without some form (which is its complement), and so it is technically called non-existent. (2) Evil cannot exist at all on the ultimate plane of Being, nor in this world without an admixture of good (which is its contrary), and so it is non-existent in an absolute sense. (3) The Good is beyond all existence, and so is Non-Existent by transcendence.
3 The Good is beyond this world and beyond the stuff, or force, of which this world is made. Evil, on the other hand, is below this world and the stuff that composes it. Get rid of the limitations in this world (namely, the difference between one quality and another) and you have an energy or force possessing all the particular qualities of things fused into one. Get rid of the limitations inherent in this (i.e. intensify it to infinity) and you have the Good. On the other hand, destroy some particular object (e.g. a tree), and that object, though now actually non-existent, still has a potential existence in the world-stuff. Destroy that potential existence and you have absolute non-existence, which is Evil. So the three grades can be tabulated as follows: (i) Transcendent Non-Existence (= the Good). (ii) Actual Non-Existence (= the world stuff, force or energy, of