登陆注册
19466800000194

第194章 THE FIFTH ENNEAD(23)

In these celebrations of which we speak, the unseen god leaves those in doubt of his existence who think nothing patent but what may be known to the flesh: it happens as if a man slept a life through and took the dream world in perfect trust; wake him, and he would refuse belief to the report of his open eyes and settle down to sleep again.

12.Knowing demands the organ fitted to the object; eyes for one kind, ears for another: similarly some things, we must believe, are to be known by the Intellectual-Principle in us.We must not confuse intellection with hearing or seeing; this would be trying to look with the ears or denying sound because it is not seen.Certain people, we must keep in mind, have forgotten that to which, from the beginning onwards, their longing and effort are pointed: for all that exists desires and aspires towards the Supreme by a compulsion of nature, as if all had received the oracle that without it they cannot be.

The perception of Beauty and the awe and the stirring of passion towards it are for those already in some degree knowing and awakened: but the Good, as possessed long since and setting up a natural tendency, is inherently present to even those asleep and brings them no wonder when some day they see it, since it is no occasional reminiscence but is always with them though in their drowse they are not aware of it: the love of Beauty on the contrary sets up pain when it appears, for those that have seen it must pursue.This love of Beauty then is later than the love of Good and comes with a more sophisticated understanding; hence we know that Beauty is a secondary: the more primal appetition, not patent to sense, our movement towards our good, gives witness that The Good is the earlier, the prior.

Again; all that have possessed themselves of The Good feel it sufficient: they have attained the end: but Beauty not all have known and those that have judge it to exist for itself and not for them, as in the charm of this world the beauty belongs only to its possessor.

Then, too, it is thought enough to appear loveable whether one is so or not: but no one wants his Good in semblance only.All are seeking The First as something ranking before aught else, but they struggle venomously for beauty as something secondary like themselves:

thus some minor personage may perhaps challenge equal honour with the King's right-hand man on pretext of similar dependence, forgetting that, while both owe their standing to the monarch, the other holds the higher rank.

The source of the error is that while both The Good and The Beautiful participate in the common source, The One precedes both; and that, in the Supreme also, The Good has no need of The Beautiful, while the Beautiful does need The Good.

The Good is gentle and friendly and tender, and we have it present when we but will.Beauty is all violence and stupefaction; its pleasure is spoiled with pain, and it even draws the thoughtless away from The Good as some attraction will lure the child from the father's side: these things tell of youth.The Good is the older-not in time but by degree of reality- and it has the higher and earlier power, all power in fact, for the sequent holds only a power subordinate and delegated of which the prior remains sovereign.

Not that God has any need of His derivatives: He ignores all that produced realm, never necessary to Him, and remains identically what He was before He brought it into being.So too, had the secondary never existed, He would have been unconcerned, exactly as He would not have grudged existence to any other universe that might spring into being from Him, were any such possible; of course no other such could be since there is nothing that has not existence once the All exists.

But God never was the All; that would make Him dependent upon the universe: transcending all, He was able at once to make all things and to leave them to their own being, He above.

13.The Supreme, as the Absolute Good and not merely a good being or thing, can contain nothing, since there is nothing that could be its good.

Anything it could contain must be either good to it or not good;but in the supremely and primally Good there can be nothing not good; nor can the Absolute Good be a container to the Good:

containing, then, neither the good nor the not good it contains nothing and, containing nothing, it is alone: it is void of all but itself.

If the rest of being either is good- without being the absolute good- or is not good, while on the other hand the Supreme contains neither what is good nor what is not good, then, containing nothing, it is The Good by that very absence of content.

Thus we rob it of its very being as The Absolute Good if we ascribe anything to it, existence or intellect or goodness.The only way is to make every denial and no assertion, to feign no quality or content there but to permit only the "It is" in which we pretend to no affirmation of non-existent attribute: there is an ignorant praise which, missing the true description, drags in qualities beneath the real worth and so abases; philosophy must guard against attaching to the Supreme what is later and lower: moving above all that order, it is the cause and source of all these, and is none of them.

For, once more, the nature of the Good is not such as to make it all things or a thing among all: that would range it under the same classification with them all and it would differ, thus, only by its individual quality, some specialty, some addition.At once it becomes not a unity but a duality; there is one common element not good and another element that is good; but a combination so made up of good and not good cannot be the purely good, the primarily good; the primarily good must be that principle in which the better element has more effectively participated and so attained its goodness.Any good thing has become so by communion; but that in which it has communion is not a thing among the things of the all; therefore the Good is not a thing of the All.

同类推荐
  • The Man Between

    The Man Between

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • Looking Backward From 2000 to 1887

    Looking Backward From 2000 to 1887

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 灵宝施食法

    灵宝施食法

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
  • 往生集

    往生集

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 十四经发挥

    十四经发挥

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。
热门推荐
  • 超能全职

    超能全职

    这是一个被复制粘贴的世界。依然拼爹拼"马尼"唯一变化的就是人类的大脑无限开发,潜能无限的上涨。魔法?异能?妖魔鬼怪?修仙成神?远远不止,只有想不到的,没有看不到的。在这个世界没点特殊能力你都不好意思出门!当然这里没有一味的升级打本。拼的是钱,使用能力是花钱滴。"那我也不用这么多能力吧,你以为我爸比是比尔盖茨啊"主角泪奔中……
  • 首席大人,轻点宠

    首席大人,轻点宠

    他是不可一世的帝国总裁,却唯独对这个小女人宠之入骨,爱之如命。“你以后就是我的女人。”南宫焰站到她的面前,咄咄逼人的开口。从此,爱她、护她、宠她,是他此生戒不掉的嗜好!
  • 下一秒总冠军

    下一秒总冠军

    有句广告词说,不是每个人的下一秒都是总冠军!但是,在竞技体育的世界里,如果能够预知对手下一秒的动作,就很有可能战胜他。一个普通的“屌丝男”,意外穿越到2002年,成为和姚明同年的NBA新秀,只可惜他是个悲催的落选秀。穿越后,拥有了“预见到下一秒”技能的他,能进入NBA,混出个样来吗?你喜欢中锋吗?如果给你“预知下一秒”的技能,你能成为NBA的传奇吗?来看一个“屌丝”如何华丽的逆袭吧。本书群号:298668376欢迎各位书友加入!
  • 紫色星泪

    紫色星泪

    春渐深,花愈艳,捻一朵花的风雅,在阳光的眸间盛开别致。独饮一杯记忆,芳菲的欢语,阑珊了过往,沧桑了岁月的尘烟,和着季节醇香,轻轻写入流年的笺册。走过一处风景,总有心动与感动。倘若你在,温煮一壶新茶,浅品一段静好时光。
  • 逆天文档系统

    逆天文档系统

    别人穿越,绑定的都是什么神级系统、无敌系统、升级系统。我穿越,绑定的竟然是WPS文档系统。我擦,还有没有天理了?楚云帆穿越异世,在看到自己脑海中绑定的系统时,他感觉自己的人生观都崩塌了。“就算是文档系统,在我手上也要变成逆天系统!系统在手,天下我有!老天若是不服,我便逆了天!”楚云帆如是说道!
  • 做孩子贴心的故事妈妈:隐喻故事魔法术

    做孩子贴心的故事妈妈:隐喻故事魔法术

    故事是打开孩子心灵之门的钥匙。作为孩子的家长,必须要知道:故事是不可以乱讲的,因为故事是有魔力的。它就像一颗种子,播撒在孩子的心田,在以后漫长的岁月里,潜移默化地影响着孩子的成长。本书从隐喻故事在儿童心理健康教育中的作用谈起,探讨家长如何用故事治疗孩子的心理,引导孩子的行为,启迪孩子的心智,培养孩子的想象力和创造力。同时,本书通过案例分析,加深家长对隐喻故事方法的理解和应用,使家长在作文辅导、编讲故事导等方面,成为真正的作文和故事高手。
  • 倾城蛇蝎:废材要逆袭

    倾城蛇蝎:废材要逆袭

    21世纪特工穿越异世,成为传说中的废材少女,来自异世的幽魂在这古武大陆可主沉浮。曾经蠢笨懦弱空有一张倾城之颜的舞家废材,风华绽放,倾城之貌,蛇蝎之心,傲视天下。幽禁之战,她窝在魔兽军团里,倨傲的扫视着八大世家,“我舞弄影一向以德服人,不服的,是死人。你们——服不服?”
  • 王俊凯之霸道少爷恋上腹黑小姐

    王俊凯之霸道少爷恋上腹黑小姐

    一个霸道少爷从不在女人身上用情但是再一次误打误撞中注定了两人的一生“哈哈,既然这样明天就结婚,哈哈亲家公你们觉得怎么样”“好好好,好啊”两个人的命运会怎样是好是坏,是幸或不幸
  • 校园之风流少主

    校园之风流少主

    张谦木刀一挥,引领数十万地狱府兵一统炼狱。长着娃娃脸的恶魔小LOLI,清纯可人长腿高挑的兄控妹妹,居于深闺十指不沾阳春水的千金小姐,挥舞教鞭OL黑丝诱惑的女教师,枪法骇人英姿飒爽的极品女警官,代表神圣与光明却IQ蛋碎的天降神使,双重性格精通点穴的学生会会长……天下、美女尽收囊中!
  • 星纪元:神迹遗留下来的人

    星纪元:神迹遗留下来的人

    宇宙分光与暗,神分正与邪!一场又万神神族入侵星海神族的神与神的战斗!主角是星海神族的王子!他要怎样才能复兴星海神族!主角:叶枫、克帝·罗拉