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.
IV.—THE PROBLEM OF EVIL
At wearisome length Dionysius discusses the problem of evil and shows that nothing is inherently bad. For existence is in itself good (as coming ultimately from the Super-Essence), and all things are therefore good in so far as they exist. Since evil is ultimately non-existent, a totally evil thing would be simply non-existent, and thus the evil in the world, wherever it becomes complete, annihilates itself and that wherein it lodges. We may illustrate this thought by the nature of zero in mathematics, which is non-entity (since, added to numbers, it makes no difference) and yet has an annihilating force (since it reduces to zero all numbers that are multiplied by it). Even so evil is nothing and yet manifests itself in the annihilation of the things it qualifies. That which we call evil in the world is merely a tendency of things towards nothingness. Thus sickness is a tendency towards death, and death is simply the cessation of physical vitality. And sin is a tendency towards spiritual death, which is the cessation of spiritual vitality. But, since the ground of the soul is indestructible, a complete cessation of its being is impossible; and hence even the devils are not inherently bad. Were they such they would cease ipso facto to exist.
Dionysius here touches incidentally on a mystical doctrine which, as developed by later writers, afterwards attained the greatest importance. This doctrine of a timeless self is the postulate, perhaps, of all Christian mysticism. The boldest expression of it is to be found in Eckhart and his disciple Tauler, who both say that even the lost souls in hell retain unaltered the ultimate nobility of their being. And lest this doctrine should be thought to trifle with grave matters, be it remembered that the sinfulness and gravity of sin are simply due to this indestructible nobility of our being. Man cannot become non-moral, and hence his capacity for wickedness. The soul is potentially divine, and therefore may be actually satanic. The very devils in hell cannot destroy the image of the Godhead within them, and it is this image that sin defiles.
IV.—THE PROBLEM OF EVIL
At wearisome length Dionysius discusses the problem of evil and shows that nothing is inherently bad. For existence is good in itself (as coming ultimately from the Super-Essence), and all things are therefore good in so far as they exist. Since evil is ultimately non-existent, a totally evil thing would simply be non-existent; and so the evil in the world, wherever it becomes complete, annihilates both itself and that in which it lodges. We may illustrate this thought by the nature of zero in mathematics, which is a non-entity (since added to numbers it makes no difference) and yet has an annihilating force (since it reduces to zero every number multiplied by it). Even so, evil is nothing and yet shows itself in the annihilation of the things it qualifies.
What we call evil in the world is merely a tendency of things towards nothingness. Thus sickness is a tendency towards death, and death is simply the cessation of physical vitality. And sin is a tendency towards spiritual death, which is the cessation of spiritual vitality. But since the ground of the soul is indestructible, a complete cessation of its being is impossible; and hence even the devils are not inherently bad. If they were, they would by that very fact cease to exist.
Here Dionysius touches in passing on a mystical doctrine which, as developed by later writers, afterwards became of the greatest importance. This doctrine of a timeless self is perhaps the postulate of all Christian mysticism. Its boldest expression is found in Eckhart and his disciple Tauler, who both say that even the lost souls in hell retain the ultimate nobility of their being unaltered. And lest this doctrine be thought to trifle with grave matters, let it be remembered that the sinfulness and gravity of sin are due precisely to this indestructible nobility of our being. Man cannot become non-moral, and hence his capacity for wickedness. The soul is potentially divine, and therefore may be actually satanic. The very devils in hell cannot destroy the image of the Godhead within them, and it is this image that sin defiles.