^ D. is here alluding to the mystical doctrine of the timeless self — the ultimate root of goodness in each individual which remains unchanged by the failures and sins of the temporal self.
^ D. is arguing with those who hold that evil is in some sense necessary to the existence of the world, and therefore has a permanent place in it. Sin is, they hold, a necessary self-realization of human
Till*: DIVINK NAMES 127
Tlierc remains but one alternative : Evil is a weak- ness and deficiency of Good.
31. Good things have all one cause. If evil is
opposed to the Good, then hath evil many causes.
The efficient causes of evil results, however, are not i^
any laws and faculties, but an impotence and weak-
ness and an inharmonious mingling of discordant
elements. Evil things are not immutable and un-
changing but indeterminate and indefinite : the sport
of alien influences which have no definite aim. The
Good must be the beginning and the end even of all
evil things. For the Good is the final Purpose of all
things, good and bad alike. For even when we act
amiss we do so from a longing for the Good ; for no
one makes evil his definite object when performing
any action. Hence evil hath no substantial being,
but only a shadow thereof; since the Good, and not
itself, is the ultimate object for which it comes into
existence.
32. Unto evil we can attribute but an accidental
kind of existence. It exists for the sake of some-
thing else, and is not self-originating. And hence
our action appears to be right (for it hath Good as
its object) while yet it is not really right (because
we mistake for good that which is not good). 'Tis
proven, then, that our purpose is different from our
action. Thus evil is contrary to progress, purpose,
nature, cause, principle, end, law, will, and being.
Evil is, then, a lack, a deficiency, a weakness, a dis-
proportion, an error, purposeless, unlovely, lifeless,
unwise, unreasonable, imperfect, unreal, causeless,
indeterminate, sterile, inert, powerless, disordered,
incongruous, indefinite, dark, unsubstantial, and never
in itself possessed of any existence whatever. How,
souls which are in their ultimate essence sinless. D. replies that, if this is so, we cannot explain how goodness can ever be (as it is) a form of self-iealization for human souls.
128 Dionysius the Areopagite
then, is it that an admixture of the Good bestows any power upon evil ? For that which is altogether desti- tute of Good is nothing and hath no power. And if the Good is Existent and is the Source of will, power, and action, how can Its opposite (being des- titute of existence, will, power, and activity), have any power against It? Only because evil things are not all entirely the same in all cases and in all relations.^ In the case of a devil evil lieth in the being contrary to spiritual goodness ; in the soul it lieth in the being contrary to reason ; in the body it lieth in the being contrary to nature.
33. How can evil things have any existence at all
if there is a Providence? Only because evil (as such)
hath no being, neither inhereth it in things that have
being. And naught that hath being is independent
of Providence ; for evil hath no being at all, except
when mingled with the Good. And if no thing in
the world is without a share in the Good, and evil is
the deficiency of Good and no thing in the world is
utterly destitute of Good, then the Divine Providence
is in all things, and nothing that exists can be with-
out It. Yea, even the evil effects that arise are turned
by Providence to a kindly purpose, for the succour
of themselves or others (either individually or in
common), and thus it is that Providence cares indi-
vidually for each particular thing in all the world.
Therefore we shall pay no heed to the fond argument
so often heard that " Providence shall lead us unto
^ virtue even against our will." 'Tis not worthy of
Providence to violate nature. Wherefore Its Provi-
dential character is shown herein : that It preserves
the nature of each individual, and, in making pro-
vision for the free and independent, it hath respect
unto their state, providing, both in general and in
^ i. e. Evil things arc nol etitirely bad, but arc bad only in some partial aspect.
Tiik Divine Names 129
particular, according as the nature of those It cares
for can receive Its providential benefactions, which
are bestowed suitably on each by Its multiform and
universal activity.
34. Thus evil hath no beinf;]^, nor any inherence in
things that have being. Evil is nowhere qua evil ;
and it arises not through any power but through
weakness. Even the devils derive their existence
from the Good, and their mere existence is good.
Their evil is the result of a fall from their proper
virtues, and is a change with regard to their indi-
vidual state, a weakness of their true angelical
perfections. And they desire the Good in so far
as they desire existence, life, and understanding ; and
in so far as they do not desire the Good, they desire
that which hath no being. And this is not desire,
but an error of real desire.
35. By "men who sin knowingly" Scripture means
them that are weak in the exercised knowledge^ and
performance of Good ; and by "them that know the
Divine Will and do it not," ^ it means them that have
heard the truth and yet are weak in faith to trust the
Good or in action to fulfil it.^ And some desire not
to have understanding in order that they may do
good, so great is the warping or the weakness
of their will. And, in a word, evil (as we have
often said) is weakness, impotence, and deficiency of
^ Trept TTji' &\7](TToy tov ayadov yvwaiv.
^ Luke xii. 47.
^ In the previous section D. has maintained that all people ultimately desire the Good. Hence it follows that all sin is due to ignorance ; for could we all recognize that which we desire we would follow it. This raises the question : What, then, does Scripture mean by speaking of men who sin knowingly ? To this D. replies that wilful sin is wilful ignorance. It is the failure to exercise the knowledge we possess : as when we know a fact which yet is not actually present to our minds. We know (having been taught it) the desirableness of the Good, but we can shut this desirableness out from our minds and refuse to dwell upon it. In such a case we refuse to ex rcise our knowledge.
130 Dionysius the Areopagite
knowledge (or, at least, of exercised knowledge), or
of faith, desire, or activity as touching the Good.
Now, it may be urged that weakness should not be
punished, but on the contrary should be pardoned.
This would be just were the power not within man's
y grasp ; but if the power is offered by the Good that
giveth without stint (as saith the Scripture) that
which is needful to each, we must not condone the
wandering or defection, desertion, and fall from the
proper virtues offered by the Good. But hereon let
that suffice which we have already spoken (to the
best of our abilities) in the treatise Conceiving Justice
and Divine fudgniefit :^ a sacred exercise wherein
the Truth of Scripture disallowed as lunatic babbling
such nice arguments as dcspitefully and slanderously
blaspheme God. In this present treatise we have, to
the best of our abilities, celebrated the Good as truly
Admirable, as the Beginning and the End of all
things, as the Power that embraces them, as That
Which gives form to non-existent things, as That
which causes all good things and yet causes no evil
things, as perfect Providence and Goodness surpass-
ing all things that are and all that are not, and
turning base things and the lack of Itself unto good,
as .That Which all must desire, yearn for, and love ;
and as possessed of many other qualities the which
a true argument hath, methinks, in this chapter
expounded.
^ This treatise is lost.
TI1I<: DIVINE NAMES im
Chapter V
Cojiccnutig '''' Existcticc^^ and also concerniwj; '"''Exemplars."
I. Now must we proceed to the Name of " Bcini^^ "
which is truly applied by the Divine Science to Him
tliat truly Is. But this much we must say, that it is
not the purpose of our discourse to reveal the Super-
Essential Being in its Super-Essential Nature ^ (for
this is unutterable, nor can we know It, or in anywise
express It, and It is be}'ond even the Unity ^), but
only to celebrate the Emanation of the Absolute
Divine Essence into the universe of things. For the
Name of "Good" revealing all the emanations of the
universal Cause, extends both to the things which
^ The ultimate Godhead is reached only by the Negative Path, and known only by Unknowing. The Affirmative Path of philosophical knowledge leads only to the differentiated manifestations of the God- head : e.g. the Trinity, in Its creative and redemptive activities, is known by the Affirmative Method, but behind these activities and the faculty for them lies an ultimate Mystery where the Persons transcend Themselves and are fused (though not confused).
2 In spiritual Communion, the mind, -being joined with God, dis- tinguishes itself from Him as Self from Not-Self, Subject from Object. And this law was fulfilled even in the Human Soul of Christ, Who distinguished Himself from His Father. The Persons of the Trinity, though they lie deeper than this temporal world (being, in Their eternal emanative Desire, the Ground of its existence), were manifested tlirough the Incarnation. Hence the distinction of Father, Son, and Spirit, revealed in the Human Soul of Christ, exists eternally in the Trinity. And those who reach the Unitive State, since they reach it only through the Spirit of Christ and are one spirit with Him, must in a lesser degree reveal the Personal Differentiations of the Trinity in their lives. But because the eternal Differentiations of the Trinity transcend Themselves in. the Super-Essence, therefore Their manifesta- tions in the Unitive State lead finally to a point beyond Union where all distinctions are transcended. At that point the distinction between Self and Not-Self, Subject and Object, vanishes in the unknowable Mystery of the Divine Darkness. The Self has disappeared and been, in a sense, merged. But in another sense the Self remains. This is the paradox of Personality — that it seeks (and attains) annihilation in the Supra-personal plnne, and yet on the relative plane retains its own particular being. This is the paradox of Love. See Intr., p. 28 f., and p. 8.
132 Dionysius the Areopagite
are, and to the things which are not, and is beyond
both categories.^ And the title of " Existent " ex-
tends to all existent things and is beyond them.
And the title '' Life " extends to all living things
and is beyond them. And the title of " Wisdom "
extends to the whole realm of Intuition, Reason, and
Sense-Perception, and is beyond them all.^
2. These Names which reveal the Providence of
God our Discourse would now consider. For we
make no promise to express the Absolute Super-
Essential Goodness and Being and Life and Wisdom
of the Absolute Super-Essential Godhead which (as
saith the Scripture) hath Its foundation in a
secret place ^ beyond all Goodness, Godhead, Being,
Wisdom, and Life ; but we are considering the be-
nignant Providence which is revealed to us and are
celebrating It as Transcendent Goodness and Cause
of all good things, and as Existent as Life and as
Wisdom, and as productive Cause of Existence and
of Life and the Giver of Wisdom, in those creatures
which partake of Existence, Life, Intelligence, and
1 /. e. Extends both to good things and to bad things and is beyond the opposition between good and bad. The Good extends to bad things because evil is a mere distortion of good, and no evil thing could exist but for an element of good holding it together : its existence, qua existence, is good. See ch. iv.
The Good is beyond ihe opposition between good and evil because on the ultimate plane nothing exists outside It. It is beyond relation- ships. Hence also beyond Existence, Life, and Wisdom, since these (as we know them) imply relationships.