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.
CHAP IER VW
Concerning “Existence” and also concerning “Exemplars.”
1. Now must we proceed to the Name of “Being” which is truly applied by the Divine Science to Him that truly Is. But this much we must say, that it is not the purpose of our discourse to reveal the Super-Essential Being in its Super-Essential Nature1 (for this is unutterable, nor can we know It, or in anywise express It, and It is beyond even the Unity2), but only to celebrate the Emanation of the Absolute Divine Essence into the universe of things. For the Name of “Good” revealing all the emanations of the universal Cause, extends both to the things which
1 The ultimate Godhead is reached only by the Negative Path, and known only by Unknowing. The Affirmative Path of philosophical knowledge leads only to the differentiated manifestations of the Godhead: e.g. the Trinity, in Its creative and redemptive activities, is known by the Affirmative Method, but behind these activities and the faculty for them lies an ultimate Mystery where the Persons transcend Themselves and are fused (though not confused).
2 In spiritual Communion, the mind, “being joined with God, distinguishes itself from Him as Self from Not-Self, Subject from Object. And this law was fulfilled even in the Human Soul of Christ, Who distinguished Himself from His Father. The Persons of the Trinity, though they lie deeper than this temporal world (being, in Their eternal emanative Desire, the Ground of its existence), were manifested through the Incarnation. Hence the distinction of Father, Son, and Spirit, revealed in the Human Soul of Christ, exists eternally in the Trinity. And those who reach the Unitive State, since they reach it only through the Spirit of Christ and are one spirit with Him, must in a lesser degree reveal the Personal Differentiations of the Trinity in their lives. But because the eternal Differentiations of the Trinity transcend Themselves in the Super-Essence, therefore Their manifestations in the Unitive State lead finally to a point beyond Union where all distinctions are transcended. At that point the distinction between Self and Not-Self, Subject and Object, vanishes in the unknowable Mystery of the Divine Darkness. The Self has disappeared and been, in a sense, merged. But in another sense the Self remains. This is the paradox of Personality—that it seeks (and attains) annihilation in the Supra-personal plane, and yet on the relative plane retains its own particular being. This is the paradox of Love. See Intr., p. 28 f., and p. 8.
CHAP IER VW
Concerning “Existence” and also concerning “Exemplars.”
1. We must now proceed to the Name of “Being,” which the Divine Science truly applies to Him that truly Is. But this much we must say: it is not the purpose of our discourse to reveal the Super-Essential Being in its Super-Essential Nature1 (for this is unutterable; we cannot know It or in any way express It, and It is beyond even the Unity2), but only to celebrate the Emanation of the Absolute Divine Essence into the universe of things. For the Name of “Good,” revealing all the emanations of the universal Cause, extends both to the things which
1 The ultimate Godhead is reached only by the Negative Path, and known only by Unknowing. The Affirmative Path of philosophical knowledge leads only to the differentiated manifestations of the Godhead: e.g. the Trinity, in Its creative and redemptive activities, is known by the Affirmative Method, but behind these activities and the faculty for them lies an ultimate Mystery where the Persons transcend Themselves and are fused (though not confused).
2 In spiritual Communion the mind, “being joined with God, distinguishes itself from Him as Self from Not-Self, Subject from Object. And this law was fulfilled even in the Human Soul of Christ, Who distinguished Himself from His Father. The Persons of the Trinity, though they lie deeper than this temporal world (being, in Their eternal emanative Desire, the Ground of its existence), were manifested through the Incarnation. Hence the distinction of Father, Son, and Spirit, revealed in the Human Soul of Christ, exists eternally in the Trinity. And those who reach the Unitive State, since they reach it only through the Spirit of Christ and are one spirit with Him, must in a lesser degree reveal the Personal Differentiations of the Trinity in their lives.
But because the eternal Differentiations of the Trinity transcend Themselves in the Super-Essence, Their manifestations in the Unitive State lead finally to a point beyond Union where all distinctions are transcended. At that point the distinction between Self and Not-Self, Subject and Object, vanishes in the unknowable Mystery of the Divine Darkness. The Self has disappeared and has been, in a sense, merged. But in another sense the Self remains. This is the paradox of Personality—that it seeks (and attains) annihilation on the Supra-personal plane, and yet on the relative plane retains its own particular being. This is the paradox of Love. See Intr., p. 28 f., and p. 8.