Chapter Five

The Consideration of the Divine Unity Through Its Primary Name Which Is BEING


1. It is possible to contemplate God not only outside us and within us but also above us: outside, through vestiges of Him; within, through His image; and above, through the light that shines upon our mind. This is the light of Eternal Truth, since ''our very mind is formed immediately by Truth Itself." Those who have become practiced in the first way of contemplation have already, entered the atrium before the Tabernacle; those who have become practiced in the second have entered into the Holy Places; and those who are practiced in the third, enter with the High Priest into the Holy of Holies, where the Cherubim of Glory stand over the Ark, overshadowing the Seat of Mercy. By these Cherubim we understand the two kinds or degrees of contemplating the invisible and eternal things of God: the first considers the essential attributes of God: the second, the proper attributes of the Persons.

2. The first method fixes the soul's gaze primarily and principally on Being Itself, declaring that the first name of God is He Who is. The second method fixes the soul's gaze on the Good Itself, saying that this is the first name of God. The former looks especially to the Old Testament, which proclaims chiefly the unity of the divine essence. Hence it was said to Moses, I am who am. The latter looks to the New Testament, which determines the plurality of the Divine Persons by baptizing in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Thus it is that Christ, our Master, wishing to raise up to the perfection of the Gospel the youth who had observed the Law, attributed to God principally and exclusively the name Goodness. For He says, No one is good but only God. Hence St. John Damascene, following Moses, says that He who is is the first name of God; whereas Dionysius, following Christ, says that Good is the first name of God.

3. He, therefore, who wishes to contemplate the invisible things of God in relation to the unity of His essence should fix the attention of his soul on Being Itself and see that Being itself is so absolutely certain that it cannot be thought not to be, because the most pure Being Itself does not come to our mind except in full flight from non-being, as also the absolute nothing does not, except in full flight from being. Just as, therefore, complete nothingness contains nothing of being or of its attributes, so contrariwise, being itself contains nothing of non-being, either in act or in potency, in objective truth or in our estimate of it. But since non-being, is the privation of being,, it does not come into the intellect except by means of being. Being, however, does not come to us by means of something else, because everything that is grasped by the intellect is grasped either as non-being, or as being in potency, or as being, in act. If, therefore, non-being cannot be grasped except through being, and if being in potency cannot be understood except through being in actuality, and if being designates the pure actuality of being, then being is that which first comes into the intellect, and this being is that which is pure act. But this being is not particular being, which is a limited being, since it is mixed with potentiality; nor is it analogous being, for that has the least of act because it least exists. It remains, therefore, that the being which we are considering is the Divine Being.

4. Strange, then, is the blindness of the intellect which does not consider that which it sees before all others and without which it can recognize nothing. But just as the eye, intent on the various differences of color, does not see the light through which it sees other things, or if it does see, does not notice it, so our mind's eye, intent on particular and universal beings, does not notice that being which is beyond all categories, even though it comes first to the mind, and through it, all other things. Wherefore it appears most true that "as the eye of the bat is disposed towards the light, so the eye of our mind is disposed towards the most evident things of nature." Thus our mind, accustomed as it is to the opaqueness in beings and the phantasms of visible things, appears to be seeing nothing when it gazes upon the light of the highest being. It does not understand that this very darkness is the supreme illumination of our mind, just as when the eye sees pure light, it seems to be seeing nothing.

5. Behold, if you can, this most pure Being and you will find that it cannot be thought of as a being which is received from something else. Hence, it must necessarily be thought of as absolutely first, since it cannot come into existence from nothing or from something else. For what else exists of itself if this very being is not through and by itself? This most pure Being also appears to you as absolutely lacking in non-being, and therefore as having no beginning and no end, but is eternal. Furthermore, it appears to you as having nothing whatsoever except this very being itself, and, hence, as having no composition but is most simple. It appears to you as having nothing of possibility, since every possible being has in some way something of non-being; and hence is supremely and in the highest degree actual. It appears to you as having no defect and thus is most perfect. Finally, it appears to you as having no diversity and through this, is supremely one.
Therefore, that Being which is called pure being and simple being and absolute being is the first being, the eternal, the most simple, the most actual, the most perfect, and the supremely one.

6. And these things are so certain that their opposites cannot be thought of by one who really understands being itself; and one of them necessarily implies the other. For since it is unqualifiedly being, therefore it is unqualifiedly first; and since it is unqualifiedly first, therefore it has not been made by another, nor could it be made by itself; hence it is eternal. Again, since it is the first and eternal, it is, therefore, not composed of other things, and hence is most simple. And because it is first, eternal, and most simple, it has nothing of possibility mixed with act, and thus it is most actual. Again, because it is first, eternal, most simple, and most actual. it is most perfect; for such a being lacks absolutely nothing, nor can any addition be made to it. And since it is first, eternal, most simple, most actual, and most perfect, therefore it is supremely one. For what is asserted in omnifarious superabundance is asserted in relation to all things. But "that which is asserted by superabundance in an unqualified manner can apply to one thing alone." Hence, if "God" is the name of the being that is first, eternal, most simple, most actual, and most perfect, such a being cannot be thought not to be, nor can it be thought to be other than one. Hear, therefore, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord.
If you behold this in the pure simplicity of your mind, you will be somewhat suffused by the illumination of Eternal Light.

7. You have here something to lift you up in admiration. For being itself is both the first and last; it is eternal and yet most present; it is most simple and the greatest; it is most actual and most changeless; it is most perfect and immense; it is supremely one and yet omnifarious. Admiring all these things with a pure mind, you will be flooded with a still greater light when you behold further that pure being is precisely the last because it is the first. For since it is first. it does all things for itself, and thus the first being is of necessity the ultimate end, the beginning and the consummation, the Alpha and the Omega. Again, it is entirely present precisely because it is eternal. For, as it is eternal, it does not proceed from another. nor does it of itself cease to exist, nor does it progress from one state into another; and therefore it has neither past nor future being, but only a present being. And it is greatest because it is most simple. For since it is utterly simple in essence. it is greatest in power, because the more a power is concentrated in one, the more it is infinite. Further, it is most changeless because it is most actual. As most actual, it is, therefore, pure act; and that which is pure actuality can acquire nothing new nor lose anything that it already has; hence it cannot be changed. Likewise, because it is most perfect, it is immense. As it is most perfect, one can think of nothing better, nobler, of higher dignity beyond it, and consequently, of nothing greater, and every such being is immense. Finally, it is omnifarious because it is supremely one. For that which is supremely one is the all-embracing principle of all multitude. Hence this being is the universal, efficient, exemplary, and final cause of all things, since it is the "cause of being, the basis of understanding, and the norm of orderly conduct." Therefore, pure being is omnifarious, not as though it were the essence of all things, but as the supremely excellent and most universal and sufficient cause of all the essences, whose power is supremely infinite and multiple in its efficiency because it is supremely one in its essence.

8. Once more retracing our steps, let us say that because the most pure and absolute being which is unqualifiedly being, is the first and the last, it is therefore the origin and the consummating end of all things. As eternal and most present, it encompasses and enters all duration. existing, as it were, at one and the same time as their center and their circumference. Likewise, because it is the most simple and the greatest, it is wholly within all things and wholly outside them; hence it is "an intelligible sphere, whose center is everywhere and whose circumference is nowhere." As most actual and changeless, it is that which, "remaining unmoved itself, gives movement to all things." Further, because it is most perfect and immense, it is within all things without being contained by them, outside all things without being excluded, above all things without being aloof, below all things without being dependent. Finally, since it is supremely one and yet omnifarious, it is all in all, even though all things are many and it is itself but one. And this is so because through its supremely simple unity, its most serene truth, and its most sincere goodness, it contains in itself all power, all exemplarity, and all communicability. Hence from him and through him and unto him are all things, for He is all-powerful, all-knowing, and all-good. To behold Him perfectly is very bliss, as it was said to Moses: therefore I will show thee all good.