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.
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 Emanations 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 (τὸ μὴ ὄν).
So the two Streams flow timelessly without beginning 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. For 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 Super-Essence to a mountain of rich ore, the inward depths of which are hidden beyond sight and touch. The outer surface, however, is touched and seen, and this corresponds to the Persons of the
In the same way 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 by the very laws of our thinking it is contrasted with them, and would in a sense exist if the Emanations could cease to flow from the Super-Essence. Streaming eternally (as they must) from that overflowing Source, they permeate the whole boundless region of the world that is to be, a region beyond Time and Space. That region is thus their receptacle. If emptied of them (though this is impossible), the receptacle would contain nothing and be nothing whatsoever. Hence it is called Not-Being, or the Non-Existent (τὸ μὴ ὄν).
So the two Streams flow timelessly, without beginning 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 invisible by its very nature would be in darkness even while surrounded by light), and so returning into the Super-Essence without leaving a trace behind it. This activity, though it has to be expressed in terms of Time, is really timeless and therefore simultaneous. For 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 lake's own water, 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 Super-Essence to a mountain of rich ore whose inner depths are hidden beyond sight and touch. Its outer surface, however, is touched and seen, and this corresponds to the Persons of the