On the Sight of the Divine Unity through Its Primary Name

CHAPTER V – ON THE SIGHT OF THE DIVINE 
UNITY THROUGH ITS PRIMARY NAME, WHICH IS BEING

1. Moreover since it happens that God is contemplated not only outside of us and within us, but also above us: outside through vestige, within through image and above through the light of Eternal Truth, since “our mind itself is formed immediately by Truth Itself”; those who have been exercised in the first manner, have entered alredy into the entrance-hall before the tabernacle; but they who in the second, have entered into the holies; moreover they who in the third, enter with the supreme Pontiff into the Holy of Holies; where above the ark are the Cherubim of glory overshadowing the propitiatory; through which we understand two manners or steps of contemplating the invisible and eternal things of God, of which one hovers around the things essential to God, but the other around the things proper to the persons.

2. The first manner at first and principally fixes its power of sight upon being itself, saying, that He who is is the first Name of God. The second manner fixes its gaze upon the good itself, saying, that this is the first Name of God. The first looks most powerfully towards the Old Testament, which preaches most the unity of the Divine Essence; whence it is said by Moses: I am who am; according to the New, which determines the plurality of persons, by baptising in the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. For that reason Christ Our Teacher, wanting to raise the youth, who observed the Law, towards evangelical perfection, attributed the name of goodness to God principally and precisely. No one he said, is good except God alone. Therefore (St. John) Damascene following Moyses says, that He who is is the first Name of God; (St.) Dionysius (the Areopagite) following Christ says, that the Good is the first Name of God.

3. Wanting therefore to contemplate the invisible things of God in regard to (their) unity of essence it first fixes its power of sight upon being itself and sees, that being itself to this extent is in itself most certain, because it cannot be thought not to be, because most pure being itself does not occur except in full flight from non-being, as even nothing is in full flight from being. Therefore as it has entirely nothing from being or from its conditions; so conversely being itself has nothing from non-being, neither in act nor in power, nor according to the truth of a thing nor acccording to our estimation. Moreover since non-being is a privation of existing , it does not fall into the intellect except through being; moreover being does not fall through another, because everything, which is understood, either is understood as not a being, or as a being in potency, or as a being in act. If therefore non-being cannot be understood except through a being, and a being in potency not except through a being in act; and being names the pure act itself of a being: therefore being is what first falls in an intellect, and being is that which is a pure act. But this is not particular being, which is analogous being, because it has the least from act, in this that it is the least. It follows therefore, that that being is the divine being.

4. Wonderful therefore is the blindness of the intellect, which does not consider that which it sees first and without which it can become acquainted with nothing. But as eye intent upon various differences of colors does not see the light, through which it sees other things, and if it sees it, it does not advert to it; so the eye of our mind, intent upon particular and universal beings, though being itself, outside of every genus, first occurs to the mind and through it other things, it does not however advert to it. Whence it most truly appears, that “as the eye of the evening holds itself towards the light, so the eye of our mind holds itself towards the most manifest things of nature”; because accustomed to the shadows of beings and to the phantasms of sensibles, when it surveys the light itself of Most High Being, it seems to it that it sees nothing; not understanding, that that darkness is the Most High Illumination of our mind, as, when the eye sees pure light, it seems to it that is sees nothing.

5. Therefore see that most pure being, if you can, and it occurs to you, that it cannot be though of as accepted from another; and for this reason it is necessarily thought of as first in every manner, because it can be neither from nothing nor from anything. For what is it through itself, if being itself is not through itself nor from itself? It occurs also to you that (it is) lacking entirely non-being and for this reason as never beginning, never stoping, but eternal. It occurs to you also that it has in no manner (anything) in itself, except that which is being itself, and for this reason that it has been composed with nothing, but is most simple. It occurs to you that it has nothing of possibility, because every possible has in some manner something from non-being, and for this reason that it is most actual. It occurs that has nothing of defectibility, and for this reason that it is most perfect. It occurs lastly that it has nothing of diversification, and for this reason that it is most highly one.

Being therefore, which is pure being and simply being and absolute being, is primary, eternal, most simple, most actual, most perfect and most hightly one being.

6. And these are so certain, that the opposite of these cannot be thought by understanding being itself, and one necessarily infers the other. For because it is simply being, for that reason it is simply first; because it is simply first, for that reason it is not made from another, nor can it be from its very self, therefore it is eternal. Likewise, because it is first and eternal; for that reason it is not from others, therefore it is most simple. Likewise, because it is first, eternal, most simple; for that reason there is nothing in it of possibility mixed with act, for that reason it is most actual. Likewise, because it is first, eternal, most simple, most actual; therefore it is most perfect; as such it entirely fails in nothing, nor can there be anything added to it. Because it is first, eternal, most simple, most actual, most perfect; for that reason most highly one. For what is through a superabundance in every manner is said to be in respect to all things. ” Also what is through superabundance simply-speaking is not said to be possibly comprised except in only one thing” Whence if God names primary, eternal, most simple, most actual, most perfect being; it is impossible that it is thought to not to be, nor to be except as only one thing. Listen therefore, O Israel, God thy God is one. If you see this in the pure simplicity of (your) mind, you will in somewise be filled with the brightening of eternal light.

7. But you have that from which you will be lifted into admiration. For being itself is first and last, is eternal and most present, is most simple and greatest, is most actual and most immutable, is most perfect and immense, is most highly one and nevertheless in every measure. If you wonder at these things with a pure mind, you shall be filled with a greater light, while you see further, that it is for that reason last, because it is first. For because it is first, it works all things on account of its very self; and for that reason it is ncessary, that it be the last end, the start and the consummation, the Alpha and Omega. For that reason it is the most present, because it is eternal. For because it is eternal, it does not flow from another nor fails by its very self nor runs down from one thing into another: therefore it has neither a past nor a future, but only a present being. For that reason it is greatest, because it is most simple. For because it is most actual, for that reason it is pure act; and what is such acquires nothing new, loses no habit, and for this reason cannot be changed. For that reason it is immense, because it is most perfect. For because it is most perfect, it can think of nothing better, more noble, nor more worthy beyond itself, and for this reason nothing greater; and everything that is such is immense. For that reason it is in every measure, because it is most highly one. For what is most highly one, is the universal principle of every multitude; and for this reason it is the universal efficient, exemplary and final cause of all things, as “the cause of existing, the reason of understanding and the order of living”. Therefore it is in every measure not as the essences of all things, but as the most superexcellent and most universal cause of the essences of all others; whose virtue, because it is most highly united in an essence, is for that reason most highly most infinite and most manifold in efficacy.

8. Returning again (to this) let us say: that therefore most pure and absolute being, which is simply being, is primary and last. Because it is eternal and most present, for that reason it encompases and enters all durations, as if existing at the same time as their center and circumferences. Because it is most simple, for that reason wholly within all and wholly outside, and for this reason it is an intelligible sphere, whose center is everywhere and circumferences nowhere. Because it is most actual and most immutable, for that reason remaining stable it grants all to move. Because it is most perfect and immense, for that reason it is within all things, not as included, outside of all things, not as excluded, above all things, not as lifted up, below all things, not as prostrated. But because it is most highly one and in every measure, for that reason it is all in all although all things be many and itself is not but one; and this, because through the most simple unity, the most serene truth, it is every exemplarity and every communicability; and for this reason from Him and through Him and in Him are all things and this, because it is omnipotent, omniscient and in every measure good, which to see perfectly is to be blessed, as is said by Moses: Therefore show Thyself to be every good thing.

from Journey of the Mind into God by Saint Bonaventure

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