^ els TO TTpaKTiKeveadai Kara rr)v airavrcnv yevihrjriK^v virep^oKrjv. Desire = want. And want in us = imperfection ; but in God it — that excess of perfection, whereby God is " Perfectionless," Thus the words " super-excellence," "super-unity," etc., are not meaningless super- latives. They imply an impulse towards motion within the Divine Stillness, a Thirst in the Divine Fullness. Cf. Julian of Norwich : Revelations, ch. xxxi. "... There is a property in God of thirst and longing." The categories of Greek Piiilosophy are static. The super- latives of D. imply something dynamic, though the static element remains. In much modern philosophy (the Pragmatists and also liergson) dynamic conceptions are prominent ; but the tendency here is for the static to disappear instead of being subsumed as it is in I). The result, or the cause, is that Grace is lost sight of and only Nature is perceived. Really Absolutism and Pragmatism are not mutually exclusive ; for Rest and Motion co-exist as transcended elements in God. This is the paradox of perfect Love which is both at rest and in motion, both satisfied and unsatisfied. Cf. Julian of Norwich : " I had Jlini and I wanted Him" {Revelations, ch. x.).
The Divine Names 103
hdldini^ it unlawful to explain the number "fcnir" by calling^ it " twice two," or a straic^ht line by callin<:j^ it a "direct line " or the " Motherland " by calling it the " Fatherland," or so to interchange any other of those terms which under varieties of language possess all the same signification. Need is there to understand that in proper truth we do but use the elements and syllables and phrases and written terms and words as an aid to our senses ; inasmuch as when our soul is moved by spiritual energies unto spiritual things, our senses, together with the thing which they perceive, are all superfluous ; even as the spiritual faculties are / also such when the soul, becoming Godlike,^ meets in \ the blind embraces of an incomprehensible union the ] Rays of the unapproachable Light.^ Now when the mind, through the things of sense, feels an eager stirring to mount towards spiritual contemplations,^ it values most of all those aids from its perceptions which have the plainest form, the clearest words, the things most distinctly seen, because, when the objects of sense are in confusion, then the senses themselves cannot present their message truly to the mind. But that we may not seem, in saying this, to be setting aside Holy Scripture, let those who blame the title of *' Yearning " hear what the Scripture saith : " Yearn for her and she shall keep thee ; exalt her and she shall promote thee ; she shall bring thee to honour when thou dost embrace her." ^ And there are many
^ This clause can only have been written by one for whom Unknow- ing was a personal experience. The previous clause shows how there is a negative element even in the Method of Affirmation. Sense- per- ception must first give way to spiritual intuition, just as this must finally give way to Unknowing. (Cf. St. John of the Cross's Dar/c Night, on three kinds of night.) All progress is a transcendence and so, in a sense, a Via Negativa. Cf. St. Aug., Transcende mundum et sape animitm, transcende animum et sape Deum.
^ This shows that the Via Negativa starts from something positive. It is a transcendence, not a mere negation. * Prov. iv. 6, 8.
104 Dionysius the Areopagite
other such Scriptural passages which speak of this yearning.
12. Nay, some of our writers about holy things
have thought the title of '* Yearning " diviner than
that of " Love." Ignatius the Divine writes : " He
whom I yearn for is crucified." ^ And in the '* Intro-
ductions ' of Scripture ^ thou wilt find some one
saying concerning the Divine Wisdom : " I yearned
for her beauty." Let us not, therefore, shrink from this
title of " Yearning," nor be perturbed and affrighted
by aught that any man may say about it. For
methinks the Sacred Writers regard the titles " Love "
and " Yearning " as of one meaning ; but preferred,
when speaking of Yearning in a heavenly sense, to
qualify it with the world " real " ^ because of the incon-
venient pre-notion of such men. For whereas the
title of " Real Yearning" is employed not merely by
ourselves but even by the Scriptures, mankind (not
grasping the unity intended when ^'earning is ascribed
to God) fell by their own propensity into the notion
^ b e/xhs "Epws ea-Tavpcorai. Ignatius Ep. ad Rom. § 6. But possibly St. Ignatius means : " My earthly affections are crucified." St. Ignatius wrote just before being martyred, at the beginning of the second century. This reference would alone be sufficient to make the authenticity of the Dionysian writings improbable.
[It is perhaps impossible to determine whether Ignatius meant by the words " my Love is crucified " to refer to Jesus or to himself. The latter is supported by Zahn and by Lightfoot, the former by Origen, Prologue to Commentary on Canticles. " Nee puto quod culpari possit, si quis Deum, sicut Joannis, charitatur, ita ipse amorem nominit. Denejire memini, aliquem sanctorum dixisse Ignatium nomine de Christo : Mens autem amor crucifixus est : nee reprehendi eum per hoc dignum judico." Much further evidence is given in Jacobson's Apostolic Father:; (p. 111)^ Jacobson himself supports it, observing that the Greek commemoration of Is^natius takes the words in this sense. Whether Dionysius followed Origen or not, bis exposition is very interesting and is quite pos-ibly the true. See also the translator's note on c^cds. Ed.]
^ Iv TOis TrpofKTaywyais raiv Aoyiwv. Apparently this was a title of the books ascribed to Solomon. The present reference is Wisdom viii. 2.
' Tols Odois inuWov avaOflpai rhw t.vrus (pcora.
The Divine Names 105
of a partial, physical and divided quality, which is
not true Yearning but a vain image of Real Yearning,
or rather a lapse therefrom.^ For mankind at large
cannot grasp the simplicity of the one Divine Yearning,
and hence, because of the offence it gives to most
men, it is used concerning the Divine Wisdom to
lead and raise them up to the knowledge of the Real
Yearning until they are set free from all offence
thereat ; and often on the other hand when it was
possible that base minds should suppose that which
is not convenient, the word that is held in greater
reverence is used concerning ourselves.^ " Thy love,"
says some one, " came upon me like as the love of
women. "^ To those who listen aright to Holy Scrip-
ture, the word " Love " is used by the Sacred Writers
in Divine Revelation with the same meaning as the
word "Yearning." It means a faculty of unifying
and conjoining and of producing a special commingling
togetlier"* in the Beautiful and Good : a faculty which
pre-exists for the sake of the Beautiful and Good, and
is diffused from this Origin and to this End, and holds
together things of the same order by a mutual con-
nection, and moves the highest to take thought for
those below and fixes the inferior in a state which
seeks the higher.
13. And the Divine Yearning brings ecstasy, not
allowing them that are touched thereby to belong
unto themselves but only to the objects of their
affection. This principle is shown by superior things
^ Earthly desire is below static conditions, the Divine Desire is above them.
^ z. e. The word epcos is sometimes used concerning God to stimulate our minds by its unexpectedness and so to make us penetrate beyond the word to the mystery hinted at by it. On the other hand aydirrj or ayaTTricns is sometimes used concerning human relationships to prevent any degrading associations from entering in.
^ 2 Sam. i, 26.
* Kai ecTTi TovTO Svvd/jLCcas evoiroiov icai cruv5eTiK?]s Ka\ BioKpepSvTws (TvyKpaTiKris.
io6 DIONYSIUS THE AREOPAGITE
through their providential care for their inferiors, and
by those which are co-ordinate through the mutual
bond uniting them, and by the inferior through their
diviner tendency towards the highest. And hence
the great Paul, constrained by the Divine Yearning,
and having received a share in its ecstatic power,
says, with inspired utterance, " I live, and yet not I but
Christ liveth in me": true Sweetheart that he was
and (as he says himself) being beside himself unto
God, and not possessing his own life but possessing
and loving the life of Him for Whom he yearned.
And we must dare to affirm (for 'tis the truth) that
the Creator of the Universe Himself, in His Beautiful
and Good Yearning towards the Universe, is through
the excessive yearning of His Goodness, transported
outside of Himself in His providential activities
towards all things that have being, and is touched
by the sweet spell of Goodness, Love and Yearning,
and so is drawn from His transcendent throne above
all things, to dwell within the heart of all things,
through a super-essential and ecstatic power whereby
He yet stays within Himself.^ Hence Doctors call
Him " jealous," because He is vehement in His Good
Yearning towards the world, and because He stirs men
up to a zealous search of yearning desire for Him, and
thus shows Himself zealous inasmuch as zeal is always
felt concerning things which are desired, and inasmuch
as He hath a zeal concerning the creatures for which
He careth. In short, both the Yearning and its Object
belong to the Beautiful and the Good, and have
therein their pre-existent roots and because of it
exist and come into being.
14. But why speak the Sacred Writers of God sometimes as Yearning and Love, sometimes as the
^ This finely sufrgests that the " Selfhood" of God is selfless. Vide Intr., ]). 9. Note also the combination of rest and motion alluded to here.
Ttte Divine Names 107
Object of these emotions ? In the one case He is the
Cause and Producer and Ik\i;ctter of the thing si<;nified,
in the other He is the Thing signified Itself. Now the
reason why He is Himself on the one hand moved l)y
the quality signified, and on the other causes motion
by it,^ is that He moves and leads onward Himself
unto Himself.- Therefore on the one hand they call
Him the Object of Love and .Yearning as being
Beautiful and Good, and on the other they call Him
Yearning and Love as being a Motive-Power leading
all things to Himself, Who is the only ultimate Beauti-
ful and Good — yea, as being His own Self-Revelation
and the Bounteous Emanation of His own Tran- -
scendent Unity, a Motion of Yearning simple, self-
moved, self-acting, pre-existent in the Good, and
overflowing from the Good into creation, and once
again returning to the Good. And herein the
Divine Yearning showeth especially its beginningless \
and endless nature, revolving in a perpetual circle for
the Good, from the Good, in the Good, and to the Good,
with unerring revolution, never varying its centre or
direction, perpetually advancing and remaining and
returning to Itself. This by Divine inspiration our
renowned Initiator hath declared in his Hymns of.
Yearnings which it will not be amiss to quote and thus
to bring unto a holy consummation our Discourse
concerning this matter.
15. Words of the most holy Hierotheus from the
Hyvins of Yearning. " Yearning (be it in God or
Angel, or Spirit, or Animal Life, or Nature) must be
^ Yearning is a movenient in the soul ; the Object of Yearning causes such movement in the soul.
- Cf. vSt. Thomas Aquinas : Dens movet sictit desiderattttii a Se Ipso. Cf. Spenser: "lie loved Himself because Himself vias fair." Cf. Plato's Doctrine of epcos. This Yearning is eternally fulfilled in the Trinity. Cf. Dante: "O somma luce che sola in Te sidi / sola T' intendi e da Te intelletta / ed intendente I'e ami ed arridi." It is struggling towards actualization in this world.
io8 DIONYSIUS THE AREOPAGITE
conceived of as an uniting and commingling power
which moveth the higher things to a care for those
below them, moveth co-equals to a mutual communion,
and finally moveth the inferiors to turn towards their
superiors in virtue and position."
1 6. Words of the same, from the same Hymns of
Yearning. " Forasmuch as we have set down in
order the manifold yearnings springing from the One,
and have duly explained what are the powers of
knowledge and of action belonging to the yearnings
springing from the One, and have duly explained
what are the powers of knowledge and of action
proper to the Yearnings within L the world and
above ^ it (wherein, as hath been already explained,
the higher place belongeth unto those ranks and
orders of Yearning which are spiritually felt and
perceived, and highest amongst these are the Divine
Yearnings in the very core of the Spirit towards those
Beauties which have their veritable Being Yonder),^
let us now yet further resume and compact them all
together into the one and concentrated Yearning
which is the Father of them all, and let us collect
together into two kinds their general desiderative