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.
Existence or Life, the argument would be sound; but since the divine Intelligences do exist in a manner surpassing other existences, and live in a manner surpassing other living things, and understand and know in a manner beyond perception and reason, and in a manner beyond all existent things participate in the Beautiful and Good, they have a nearer place to the Good in that they especially participate therein, and have from It received both more and greater gifts, even as creatures possessed of Reason are exalted, by the superiority of Reason, above those which have but Perception, and these are exalted through having Perception and others through having Life. And the truth, I think, is that the more anything participates in the One infinitely-bountiful God the more is it brought near to Him and made diviner than the rest.
1 The more universal a Title is, the more truly it is applicable to God (see end of Section 2). Thus Existence is more applicable than Life, and Life than Wisdom, as involving in each case less that needs to be discarded. Thus Wisdom implies both a time-process and also a certain finite mode of consciousness, neither of which belong to the eternal and infinite God: Life implies a time-process though not a finite consciousness: Existence implies neither time-process nor finite consciousness. Thus we reach the highest conception of God by a process of abstraction in which we cast aside all particular elements (cf. St. Augustine on the Bonum bonum). This is the philosophical basis of the Via Negativa. But this abstraction is not mere abstraction nor this negation mere negation. Existence in God subsumes and so includes all that is real in Life; and Life in Him subsumes all that is real in Wisdom. Hence the creatures, as they advance in the scale of creation, draw from Him more and more particular qualities and progress by becoming more concrete and individual instead of more abstract. All the rich variety of creation exists as a simple Unity in God, and the higher a creature stands in the scale, the more does it draw fresh forces from this simple Unity and convert them into its own multiplicity. D. would have understood Evolution very well. This passage exactly fits in with D’s. psychological doctrine of the Via Negativa. That which is reached by the spiritual act of Contemplation explains the principles underlying the whole creative process, the growing diversity of the world-process and of human life. In God there is a rich Unity, and we must leave all diversity behind to reach It. Thus we shall have richness without diversity.
Existence or Life, the argument would be sound. But since the divine Intelligences exist in a manner surpassing other existences, live in a manner surpassing other living things, understand and know in a manner beyond perception and reason, and participate in the Beautiful and Good in a manner beyond all existent things, they have a nearer place to the Good, in that they participate in It especially and have received from It both more and greater gifts; just as creatures possessed of Reason are exalted by the superiority of Reason above those which have only Perception, and these in turn are exalted through having Perception, and others through having Life. And the truth, I think, is that the more anything participates in the One infinitely-bountiful God, the nearer it is brought to Him and the more divine it is made than the rest.
1 The more universal a Title is, the more truly it applies to God (see end of Section 2). Thus Existence is more applicable than Life, and Life than Wisdom, as involving in each case less that needs to be discarded. Wisdom implies both a time-process and a certain finite mode of consciousness, neither of which belongs to the eternal and infinite God; Life implies a time-process, though not a finite consciousness; Existence implies neither time-process nor finite consciousness. So we reach the highest conception of God by a process of abstraction in which we cast aside all particular elements (cf. St. Augustine on the good Good (Bonum bonum)). This is the philosophical basis of the Negative Way (Via Negativa).
But this abstraction is not mere abstraction, nor this negation mere negation. Existence in God subsumes and so includes all that is real in Life; and Life in Him subsumes all that is real in Wisdom. Hence the creatures, as they advance in the scale of creation, draw from Him more and more particular qualities, and progress by becoming more concrete and individual rather than more abstract. All the rich variety of creation exists as a simple Unity in God, and the higher a creature stands in the scale, the more it draws fresh forces from this simple Unity and converts them into its own multiplicity.
D. would have understood Evolution very well. This passage fits in exactly with D’s. psychological doctrine of the Negative Way. What is reached by the spiritual act of Contemplation explains the principles underlying the whole creative process, the growing diversity of the world-process and of human life. In God there is a rich Unity, and we must leave all diversity behind to reach It. So we shall have richness without diversity.