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.
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. (αὐτοεῖναι, αὐτοζωή, κ.τ.λ.), and of these currents some are more universal than others; Very Being is, obviously, the most universal of all. And since the Super-Essence -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, and the abstract and bloodless tendency of mere Philosophy comes from an undue exaltation of thought over life. From this defect, however, Dionysius 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 background of existence and are 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.
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 straight back 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 what he is thinking of when he speaks of the direct and spiral movements, since both of these indicate an advance and would therefore be fitting to express the outward-radiating 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. (αὐτοεῖναι, αὐτοζωή, κ.τ.λ.), and of these currents some are more universal than others; Very Being is obviously the most universal of all. And since the Super-Essence transcends and so absorbs all Universality, it follows that the more universal the Emanations are, the higher their nature. This stream, in fact, runs, as it were, in the channel that our thought naturally traces; for thought cannot help seeking universals, and the abstract and bloodless tendency of mere Philosophy comes from an undue exaltation of thought over life.
Dionysius, however, is free from this defect. For while he holds that the highest Emanation is the most universal, he also holds (as we have seen) that the Emanations are in themselves the mere background of existence and are 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, of course, is that the Super-Essence transcends and absorbs all Particularity as well as all Universality; and so particular things become particularized by partaking of It, just as universals become universalized by a similar process. But more of this later.