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.
Him) possesses certain images and semblances of His Divine Exemplars, we mount upwards (so far as our feet can tread that ordered path), advancing through the Negation and Transcendence of all things and through a conception of an Universal Cause, towards That Which is beyond all things.1 Hence God is known in all things and apart from all things; and God is known through Knowledge and through Unknowing, and on the one hand He is reached by Intuition, Reason, Understanding, Apprehension, Perception, Conjecture, Appearance, Name, etc.; and yet, on the other hand, He cannot be grasped by Intuition, Language, or Name, and He is not anything in the world nor is He known in anything. He is All Things in all things and Nothing in any, 2 and is known from all things unto all men, and is not known from any unto any man. ’Tis meet that we employ such terms concerning God, and we get from all things (in proportion to their quality) notions of Him
Who is their Creator. And yet on the other hand, the Divinest Knowledge of God, the which is received through Unknowing, is obtained in that communion which transcends the mind, when the mind, turning away from all things and then leaving even itself behind, is united to the Dazzling Rays, being from them and in them, illumined by the unsearchable depth of Wisdom. 3 Nevertheless, as I said, we must draw this knowledge of Wisdom from all things; for wisdom it is (as saith the Scripture) 1 that hath made all things and ever ordereth them all, and is the Cause of the indissoluble harmony and order of all things, perpetually fitting the end of one part unto the beginning of the second, and thus producing the one fair agreement and concord of the whole.
1 God, being the Manifested Absolute, exists on two planes at once: that of Undifferentiation and that of Differentiation. On this second plane He moves out into creative activity. And thus He is both knowable and unknowable: knowable in so far as He passes outwards into such activity, unknowable in that His Being passes inwards into Undifferentiation. Thus He is known in His acts but not in His ultimate Nature.
2 He is the Super-Essence of all things, wherein all things possess their true being outside of themselves [as our perceptions are outside of ourselves in the things we perceive. (Vide Bergson, atière et Mémoire.)].
3 This is experience and not mere theory.
Him) possesses certain images and likenesses of His Divine Exemplars, we mount upwards (so far as our feet can tread that ordered path), advancing through the Negation and Transcendence of all things, and through a conception of a Universal Cause, towards That Which is beyond all things. 1
Hence God is known in all things and apart from all things; God is known through Knowledge and through Unknowing. On the one hand He is reached by Intuition, Reason, Understanding, Apprehension, Perception, Conjecture, Appearance, Name, etc.; and yet, on the other hand, He cannot be grasped by Intuition, Language, or Name, and He is not anything in the world, nor is He known in anything. He is All Things in all things and Nothing in any, 2 and is known from all things to all men, and is not known from any to any man. It is fitting that we use such terms of God, and that we draw from all things (in proportion to their quality) notions of Him
Who is their Creator. And yet, on the other hand, the Divinest Knowledge of God, which is received through Unknowing, is obtained in that communion which transcends the mind: when the mind, turning away from all things and then leaving even itself behind, is united to the Dazzling Rays, and is illumined from them and in them by the unsearchable depth of Wisdom. 3 Nevertheless, as I said, we must draw this knowledge of Wisdom from all things. For it is wisdom (as Scripture says) 1 that has made all things and ever orders them all, and is the Cause of the indissoluble harmony and order of all things, perpetually fitting the end of one part to the beginning of the next, and so producing the one fair agreement and concord of the whole.
1 God, being the Manifested Absolute, exists on two planes at once: that of Undifferentiation and that of Differentiation. On this second plane He moves out into creative activity. And so He is both knowable and unknowable: knowable in so far as He passes outwards into such activity, unknowable in that His Being passes inwards into Undifferentiation. Thus He is known in His acts but not in His ultimate Nature.
2 He is the Super-Essence of all things, in which all things possess their true being outside themselves [as our perceptions are outside ourselves, in the things we perceive. (See Bergson, Matter and Memory (Matière et Mémoire).)].
3 This is experience and not mere theory.