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.
GER PAPER ANA What are the affirmative expressions respecting God, and what are the negative.
Now I have in my Outlines of Divinity set forth those conceptions which are most proper to the affirmative method, and have shown in what sense God’s holy nature is called single and in what sense trinal, what is the nature of the Fatherhood and Sonship which we attribute unto It; what is meant by the articles of faith concerning the Spirit; how from the immaterial and indivisible Good the interior rays of Its goodness have their being and remain immovably in that state of rest which both within their Origin and within themselves is co-eternal with the act by which they spring from It;% in what manner
1 The process from the universal to the particular is the process of actual development (existence before life, and life before rationality, etc.); the converse is the natural process of thought, which seeks to refer things to their universal laws of species, etc. (Divine Names, V. 3). But this latter process is not in itself the Wa Wegariva, but only the ground plan of it, differing from it as a ground plan of a mountain path differs from a journey up the actual path itself. The process of developing life complicates, but enriches, the world; that of thought simplifies, but eviscerates it. Contemplation, being an act of the human spirit, is a process of developing life, and yet follows the direction of thought. Hence it enriches and simplifies at the same time. ANGE py LOA, MU. aL:
3 The Good =(1) the Undifferentiated Godhead, and hence, in Manifestation, (2) God the Father as the Fount of Godhead to the other
CHAPTER III What the affirmative expressions concerning God are, and what the negative.
Now in my Outlines of Divinity I have set out the conceptions most proper to the affirmative method, and have shown in what sense God’s holy nature is called single and in what sense trinal; what the nature is of the Fatherhood and Sonship that we attribute to It; what is meant by the articles of faith concerning the Spirit; how from the immaterial and indivisible Good the interior rays of Its goodness have their being, and remain immovably in that state of rest which, both within their Origin and within themselves, is co-eternal with the act by which they spring from It;3 in what manner
1 The process from the universal to the particular is the process of actual development (existence before life, life before rationality, and so on); the converse is the natural process of thought, which seeks to refer things to their universal laws of species and the like (Divine Names, V. 3). But this latter process is not in itself the Via Negativa, only its ground plan, differing from it as the ground plan of a mountain path differs from an actual journey up the path itself. The process of developing life complicates the world but enriches it; the process of thought simplifies the world but eviscerates it. Contemplation, being an act of the human spirit, is a process of developing life, and yet it follows the direction of thought. Hence it enriches and simplifies at the same time.
3 The Good = (1) the Undifferentiated Godhead, and hence, in Manifestation, (2) God the Father as the Fount of Godhead to the other