12 Dionysius the Areopagite
possesses no actual existence whatever. The one is
the formal law of the existence universe, the other its
rou£;h material.
Thus these two emanating streams of potentiality
have, from before all time, eternally welled forth and
passed away, the universal into emptiness and the
particular into nothingness, or rather, through
nothingness back at once into the Super-Essence in
a ceaseless revolution which, until the appointed
moment arrives for Time and the temporal world to
begin, leaves no trace outside Its Super-Essential
Source and Dwelling and Goal. It is possible
(though one cannot say more), that Dionysius is
thinking especially of the difference between these
two streams when he describes the various motions of
the Godhead. The Particular stream of Emanation
may be in his mind when he speaks of the circular
movement, since the particular existences remain
within the Super-Essence, until the moment of their
temporal creation : the Universal stream may be that
of which he is thinking when he speaks of the direct
and spiral movements, since both of these indicate
an advance and would therefore be appropriate to
express the out-raying tendency of that emanating
Influence which, even before the particular creatures
were made, had a kind of existence for thought as
the other stream had not.
This Universal stream consists of currents or
Emanations, Very Being, Very Life, etc. {avroelvai,
avroCojfj, K.X.I.), and of these currents some arc more
universal than others ; Very Being is, obviously, the
most universal of all. And since the Super-P2sscncc
transcends and so absorbs all Universality, it follows
that the more universal the Emanations are the
higher is their nature. This stream, in fact, runs, as
it were, in the channel which our thought naturally
traces ; for thought cannot but seek for universals,
Relation to Creation 13
and the abstract and bloodless tendency of mere
rhilosoi:)hy comes from an undue exaltation of
thoui^ht over life. From this defect, however, Dio-
nysius is free. For, while he holds that the highest
Emanation is the most universal, he also holds (as
was seen) that the Emanations are in themselves the
mere backi^round of existence and arc not fully
existent. And he expressly says that while the
Emanations become more and more universal the
higher we ascend towards their Source, the creatures
become more and more individual and particular the
higher they rise in the scale. The reason is, of course,
that the Super-Essence transcends and absorbs all
Particularity as well as all Universality ; and hence
it is that particular things become particularized by
partaking of It, just as universals become universalized
by a similar process. But of this more anon.
This Universal stream of Emanations thus eternally
possesses a kind of existence, but it is an empty
existence, like the emptiness of mere light if there
were no objects to fill it and be made visible. The
light in such a case would still be streaming forth
from the sun and could not do otherwise, and there-
fore it would not be an utter void ; but it would be
untenanted by any particular colour or shape.
Suppose, however, that the light could be blotted out.
There would now remain the utter void of absolute
darkness. Such darkness cannot exist while the sun
IS shining in the cloudless heavens ; nevertheless the
very notion of light cannot but be contrasted in our
minds with that of darkness which is its absence ; and
so we conceive the light to be a positive thing which
fills the darkness even as water fills a void. When
the bowl is full of water, the void does not exist ; and
yet, since it would exist if the bowl could be wholly
emptied, we can regard this non-existent void as the
receptacle of the water.
14 Dionysius the Areopagite
Even so the Emanations of Very Being, etc., fill, as
it were, a void which does not and cannot exist, since
it is, and must be, saturated with them, and yet it is,
by the very laws of our thinking, contrasted with
them and would, in a manner, exist if the Emana-
tions could cease to flow from the Super-Essence.
They, streaming eternally (as they must) from that
overflowing Source, permeate the whole boundless
region of the world that is to be ; a region beyond
Time and Space. That region is thus their receptacle.
The receptacle, if emptied of them (though this is
impossible), would contain nothing, and be nothing
whatsoever. Hence, it is called Not-Being, or the
Non-Existent (to fxi] ov).
So the two Streams flow timelessly without begin-
ning and without end, and cross, but do not mingle :
the Universal Stream perpetually advancing and the
Particular Stream circling round and slipping through
it, as it were, into the void of Nothingness (as a thing
by its very nature invisible, would be in darkness
even while surrounded by the light) and so returning
into the Super-Essence without leaving a trace behind
it. This activity, though it must be expressed thus
in terms of Time, is really timeless and therefore
simultaneous. Eor the Streams are not something
other than the Super-Essence. They are simply
distant aspects of It. They are the Super-Essence in
Its creative activity. As the river flowing out of a
lake consists of the water which belongs to the lake,
or as the light and heat flowing from the sun are the
same light and heat that are in the sun, so the
emanating Streams are the same Power that exists
in the Super-Essence, though now acting (or striving
to act) at a distance. Or perhaps we may compare
the Supcr-H!ssencc to a mountain of rich ore, the
inward depths of which are hidden beyond sight and
tcnich. The outer surface, however, is touched and
RELATION Tl) CRKATION iS
,c-cn and this corrrsponds to (he I'crs.ms of Ihe
TdnitV while the sa.uc momita.n vewed at a
d stance is the Stream of Universal l.manalu,,,.
And thou"h the view becomes dhnmer and dimmer
U; "fSr away you go, yet it is always the same
mountain itself that is bemg viewed. 1 he 1 articular
St°cam on the other hand, is like the same mo"nta i
when^m-isible at night, for the rnonnt.u.^^^sc,^
forth its vibrations, but these are lost in the da.Uncss
Or we may compare the Super-Essence to a
ma^ncland the Persons of the Trinity to its tangible
surface and the two emanating Streams to the positive
and negative magnetism which are -n^ply the esscn^ce
of the ma-net present (so to speak) at a distance.
Eve so (but in a manner which is truer because
non"pa°ia!) the Super-Essence is in the emanatmg
^amf ouLide the Super-Essential P'-e and t^-
interpenetrates regions which are [7°f , ^'T^.,'^ ^^^
It is both immanent m the world as its Frmciple
of ein- and outside it as transcending al categories
of Be n- This contradiction is implied in the very
word "Emanation" (noMo,) which means a^. ac,. by
which the Super-Essence goes forth from It set.
And in fact, Dionysius more than once definitely
Tavs that the Super-Essence actually passes, outside
Tf' tselfeven while It remains all the fime who! y
within itself This he expresses in o"^ P'ace by sa^- ^,
inc. that the act of Creation is an ecstasy of Divine
Love. This thought is vital to his doctrine and must
be remembered whenever in the present attempt to
expound him, the Super-Essence is spoken of as
"outside " the creatures. The Supcr:Essence is no^
strictlv speaking, external to anything. But It is
"outside •■ the cl^atures because (as existing simd-
tancously on two planes) It is "°>^t«'de Use f And
therefore, although the entire plane °f "f=^ 'O"
interpenetrated by It, yet in Its ultimate iNa.uie It is
i6 DIONYSIUS THE AREOPAGITE
beyond that plane and so "outside" it. Finite
creatures though filled (according to their measure)
with Its Presence, yet must, in so far as they are
finite, look up to It as That which is Other than
themselves. And, in this sense of being Other than
they are. It must be described as "outside" them,
even though (as their Principle of Being) It is within
them.
Thus the two emanating streams, though they pass
outside of the Super-Essence, yet actually are the
Super-Essence Itself. And, in fact, the very term
Emanation (ngoodog) like the collateral term Differ-
entiation (diaxQioig) may even be applied not only
to the two Streams but also to the Persons of th.e
Trinity ; not only to the Magnets radiating Energy,
so to speak, but also to its actual Surface.
This matter needs a few words of explanation.
There is in the undifferentiated (vneQrjvcojuerr])
Super-Essence a Differentiation between the Three
Divine " Persons," which Dionysius compares to the
distinction between different flames in the same
indivisible brightness. And Each " Person " is an
Emanation because Each is a Principle of outgoing
creative Energy. There is also a Differentiation
between the various qualities and forces of the crea-
tive Energy, rather as (if we may further work out
the simile of Dionysius) the light seen afar through
certain atmospheric conditions is differentiated into
various colours. And each quality or force is an
ICmanation, for it is an outgoing current of creative
Energy. Or, by a slightly different use of language,
the entire creative process in which they flow forth
may be called not merely a collection of emanations
but simply " the Emanation." Thus an Elmanation
may mean, (i) a Person of the Trinity ; (2) a current
of the Universal Stream (e.g.^ Very Being, or Very
Life, etc.); (3) a current of the Particular Stream {i.e.
Relation to Creation 17
a particular force) ; (4) the entire ])roccss whereby the
two Streams flow forth. This sounds confusing, but
the difficulty vanishes if we classify these various
meanings under two heads, viz.: (i) an Emanating
Principle {i.e. a "Person" of the Trinity), and (2) an
Emanating Act (whether regarded as a whole or in
detail). This classification covers all its uses.
These two heads, in fact, correspond exactly to the
two main uses of the word " Differentiation " as
applying respectively to the Super-Essential sphere
and to the sphere of Being. And here Dionysius
certainly does cause needless difficulty by employing
the same word " Differentiation " with these two dis-
tinct meanings in the same passage. The Persons of
the Trinity are differentiated, but the Energy stream-
ing from them is undifferentiated in the sense that it
comes indivisibly from them all. In another sense,
however, it is differentiated because it splits up into
separate currents and forces. Each of these currents
comes from the Undivided Trinity, and yet each
current is distinct from the others. Dionysius
expresses this truth by saying that the Godhead
enters Undividedly into Differentiation, or becomes
differentiated without loss of Undifference (7)vcojH€Vcog
SiaKQLvszai) .
Let us follow this creative process and see whither
it leads. The Super-Essence, as It transcends both
Non-Existence and Existence, also transcends both
Time and Eternity. But from afar It is seen or felt
as Existence and as Eternity. That is to say
Existence and Eternity are two emanating modes
or qualities of the Universal Stream. The Particular
Stream, on the other hand, is Time-non-existent as
yet and struggling to come to the birth but unable
to do so until it gain permanence through min-
gling with Eternity. At a certain point, however
(preordained in the Super-Essence wherein Time
i8 DIONYSIUS THE AREOPAGITE
slumbered), the two streams not only cross but actually
mingle, and thus Time and the temporal world begin.
The Particular stream no longer sinks wholly through
the Universal, but is in part supported by it. Hence
the world of things arises like a substance hitherto
invisible but now becoming visible, and so, by this
change, springing out of darkness into light.
Now, when the Particular stream begins to mingle
with the Universal, it naturally mingles first with that
current of it which, being most universal, ranks the
highest and so is nearest the Source. It is only along
that current that it can advance to the others which
are further away. And that current is Being {amo-
Elvai). Thus the world-process begins (as Dionysius
had learnt from Genesis and from the teaching of
Plato) as the level of dead solid matter, to which
he gives the name of "merely existent " (ouoiw^rjg).
Thence, by participating more and more in the
Universal stream, it advances to the production of
plant and animal and man, being by the process
enriched with more and more qualities as Life
[avzoCojij), Wisdom (avrooocpta), and the other
currents of the Universal stream begin to permeate
it one by one.