^ The ultimate nature of all beautiful things is a simple and super- natural Element common to them all and manifested in them all. The law of life is that it has its true and ultimate being outside it. The true beauty of all beautiful things is outside them in God. Hence all great art (even when not directly religious) tends towards the Super- natural or hns a kind of supernatural atmosphere.

^ 7rapaSei7fiaTi/foV — i.e. the ultimate Law of their being, the Idea or 1 yj^e.

Till' DIVINE NAMES 97

same as the Good, inasmuch as all thinc^s, in all causation, desire the Beautiful and Good ; nor is there anythiui^ in the world but hath a share in the l^eau- tiful and Good. Moreover our Discourse will dare to aver that even the Non-Kxistent ^ shares in the Beautiful and Good, for Non-Existence ^ is itself beautiful and good when, by the Negation of all Attributes, it is ascribed Super-Essentially to God. This One Good and Beautiful is in Its oneness the Cause of all the many beautiful and good things. Hence comes the bare existence of all things, and hence their unions,^ their differentiations, their identi- ties, their differences,** their similarities, their dissimi- larities, their communions of opposite things,^ the unconfused distinctions of their interpenetrating elements ; ^ the providences of the Superiors,'' the interdependence of the Co-ordinates, the responses of the Inferiors,^ the states of permanence wherein all keep their own identity. And hence again the intercommunion of all things according to the power of each ; their harmonies and sympathies (which do not merge them) and the co-ordinations of the whole

^ rh liiT] tiv — i.e. that mere nothingness which is maniTested either as (i) formless "matter" or (2) evil. See Intr., p. 20.

'^ Evil is non-existent in one sense. Tlie Good is Non-Existent in another. Cf. p. 90, n. i.

^ evwcrets, SiaKpiaeis, TavroTTjres, erepc^TTyTey.

* Hence parts are united into wholes and wholes articulated into parts, and hence each thing is identical with iiself and distinct from everything else.

^ e.^. Moisture interpenetrates the solid earth.

^ e.£. In a piece of wet ground the water ii water and the earth is earth.

' at irpovoiai toov vireprepccv. Lit, "the providences," etc., e.^Q: the influence of the light without which, D. holds, the material world could not exist. Or this and the following may refer to different ranks of angels, or to angels and men.

^ at iiTi(TTpo<pai Tftiv KaraSeearfp'jcv. Lit. "the conversions," etc. e.£. Matter ^according to his theory) responds to the influence of the light. And men are influenced by angels, and the lower angels by the higher.

98 Dionysius the Areopagite

universe ; ^ the mixture of elements therein and the
indestructible ligaments of things ; the ceaseless suc-
cession of the recreative process in Minds and Souls
and in Bodies ; for all have rest and movement in
That Which, above all rest and all movement, grounds
each one in its own natural laws and moves each one
to its own proper movement.^
// 8. And the Heavenly Minds are spoken of as
moving (i) in a circular manner, when they arc
united to the beginningless and endless illuminations
of the Beautiful and Good ; ^ (2) straight forward,
when they advance to the providential guidance of
those beneath them and unerringly accomplish their
designs ;* and (3) with spiral motion, because, even
while providentially guiding their inferiors, they
remain immutably in their self-identity,^ turning un-
ceasingly around the Beautiful and Good whence all
identity is sprung.

9. And the soul hath (i) a circular movement —
viz, an introversion ^ from things without and the
unified concentration "^ of its spiritual powers — which
gives it a kind of fixed revolution, and, turning it
from the multiplicity without, draws it together first
into itself,^ and then (after it has reached this unified
condition) unites it to those powers which are a

^ The point of this section is that besides the particular and partial harmonies already mentioned, there is a universal harmony uniting the whole world in one system.

^ In the two following sections the difference between angelic and human activity is that the angels confer spiritual enlightenment and men receive it. Angels are in a state of attainment and men are passing through a process of attainment.

^ Fide supra on Introversion (p. 88, n, i).

"^ They are united to God in the centre of their being, by ceaselessly entering into themselves. They help us by going forth, as it were, from themselves.

^ Their true self-identity is rooted in God. See Intr. , pp. 31 f.

* 7/ ets kavTir]V ^ttrohos.

' In souls being unified and simplified. See Intr., p. 25.

^ Cf. St. Aug. " ascendat per se supra se."

The Divine Names 99

perfect Unity,* nncl tluis leads it on inito tlie Beautiful
and Good Which is beyond all thint^s, and is One
and is the Same, without bei^innin^ or end. (2) And
the soul movies with a spiral motion whensoever
(accordinij^ to its capacity) it is enlightened with
truths of Div'ine Knowledge, not in the special unity
of its being- but by the process of its discursive
reason and by mingled and alternative activities.^
(3) And it moves straight forward when it does not
enter into itself to feel the stirrings of its spiritual
unity (for this, as I said, is the circular motion),
but goes forth unto the things around it and feels
an influence coming even from the outward world,
as from a rich abundance of cunning tokens,
drawing it unto the simple unity of contemplative
acts.^

10. These three motions, and also the similar
motions we perceive in this material world and (far
anterior to these) the individual permanence, rest and

^ i. e. To the Angels and the perfected Saints. There is a somewhat similar thought in Wordsworth's Prelude: "To hold fit converse with the spiritual world / and with the generations of mankind / spread over time past, present, and to come / age after age till time shall be no more." This thought in Wordsworth and in D. is an experience and not a speculation.

- This spiritual unity was by later Mystical writers called the apex of the soul, or the ground, or the spark. Another name is synte^'csis or synderesis.

^ There is an element of intuition in all discursive reasoning because ^ all argument is based on certain axioms which are beyond proof {e.g. the law of universal causation). In fact the validity of our laws of thought is an axiom and therefore perceived by intuition. In the present passage D. means something deeper. He means that formal Dogmatic Theology advances round a central core of spiritual experi- ence by which it must constantly be verified, Pectus facit thcologiun. Whenever theology even attempts to be purely deductive it goes wrong {e.g. Calvinism). If it is not rooted in intuition it will be rooted in fancies.

* In D.'s classification Introversion and Sensation are both unmixed movements, for each leads to a kind of perception. Discursive reason- ing is a mixed movement because it does not lead to a direct perception and yet it must contain an element of perception.

loo DIONYSIUS THE AREOPAGITE

grounding of each Kind^ have their Efficient, Formal,
and Final Cause in the Beautiful and Good ; Which
is above all rest and motion ; through Which all rest
and motion come ; and from Which, and in Which,
and unto Which, and for the sake of Which they are.
For from It and through It are all Being and life of
spirit and of soul; and hence in the realm of nature
magnitudes both small, co-equal and great ; hence all
the measured order and the proportions of things,
which, by their different harmonies, commingle into
wholes made up of co-existent parts ; hence this
universe, which is both One and Many ; the conjunc-
tions of parts together; the unities underlying all
multiplicity, and the perfections of the individual
wholes ; hence Quality, Quantity, Magnitude and
Infinitude ; hence fusions^ and differentiations, hence
all infinity and all limitation ; all boundaries, ranks,
transcendences,^ elements and forms, hence all Being,
all Power, all Activity, all Condition,* all Perception,
all Reason, all Intuition, all Apprehension, all Under-
standing, All Communion ^ — in a word, all that is
comes from the Beautiful and Good, hath its very
existence in the Beautiful and Good, and turns to-
wards the Beautiful and Good. Yea, all that exists
and that comes into being, exists and comes into
being because of the Beautiful and Good ; and unto
this Object all things gaze and by It are moved and
are conserved, and for the sake of It, because of It
and in It, existeth every originating Principle — be

^ i. e. The types of things existent in the i)ermanent spiiitual world before the things were created in tliis transitory material world; the Platonic Ideas. There was also a Jewish belief in such a pre-existence of things. Cf. Rev. iv. 1 1 (R. V.).

^ vTTfpoxcii- * e|is.

^ (ywffLs. The word is here used in the most comprehensive manner to include physical communion, sense-perception, and spiritual com- munion of souls with one another and with God.

THE DIVINE NAMES loi

this Exemplar,^ or be it Final or ICfficient or Formal
or Material Cause — in a word, all Beginning, all Con-
servation, and all Ending, or (to sum it up) all things
that have being are derived from the Beautiful and
Good. Yea, and all things that have no substantial
being" super-essentially exist in the Beautiful and
Good : this is the transcendent Beginning and the
transcendent Goal of the universe. For, as Holy-
Scripture saith : *' Of Him, and through Him, and to
Him, are all things : to whom be glory for ever.
Amen." 2 And hence all things must desire and yearn
for and must love the Beautiful and the Good. Yea,
and because of It and for Its sake the inferior things
yearn for the superior under the mode of attraction,
and those of the same rank have a yearning towards
their peers under the mode of mutual communion ;
and the superior have a yearning towards their in-
feriors under the mode of providential kindness ; and
each hath a yearning towards itself under the mode
of cohesion,* and all things are moved by a longing
for the Beautiful and Good, to accomplish every
outward work and form every act of will. And
true reasoning will also dare to affirm that even the
Creator of all things Himself yearneth after all
things, createth all things, perfecteth all things, con-
serveth all things, attracteth all things, through

^ The exemplar is the formal cause before this is actualized in the object embodying it. The principle in an oak tree constituting it an oak is the formal cause. But before there were any oak trees this principle existed as an exemplar. The final cause is the beneficent purpose the oak tree serves. In the Aristotelian classification exemplar and final cause would be classed together as final cause.

^ This means either (i) that actually non-existent things {e.g- the flowers of next year which have not yet appeared, or those of last year, which are now dead) have an eternal place in God ; or else (2) that evil things have their true being, under a different form, in Him.

^ Rom. xi. 36.

* In the whole of this passage D. is thinking primarily of Angels and men, or at least of sentient creatures. But he would see analogies of such activity in the inanimate material world.

102 Dionysius the Areopagite

nothing but excess of Goodness. Yea, and the
Divine Yearning is naught else than a Good Yearn-
ing towards the Good for the mere sake of the Good.
For the Yearning which createth all the goodness of
the world, being pre-existent abundantly in the Good
Creator, allowed Him not to remain unfruitful in
Himself, but moved Him to exert the abundance of
His powers in the production of the universe.^

II. And let no man think we are contradicting the
Scripture when we solemnly proclaim the title of
" Yearning." For 'tis, methinks, unreasonable and
foolish to consider the phrases rather than the mean-
ing ; and such is not the way of them that wish for
insight into things Divine, but rather of them that
receive the empty sounds without letting them pass
beyond their ears, and shut them out, not wishing to
know what such and such a phrase intends, nor how
they ought to explain it in other terms expressing
the same sense more clearly. Such men are under
the dominion of senseless elements and lines, and of
uncomprehended syllables and phrases which pene-
trate not into the perception of their souls, but make
a dumb noise outside about their lips and hearing :