4. The principal cause of our uncertainty is that our comprehension of
the One comes to us neither by scientific knowledge, nor by thought, as
the knowledge of other intelligible things, but by a presence which is
superior to science. When the soul acquires the scientific knowledge
of something, she withdraws from unity and ceases being entirely one;
for science implies discursive reason and discursive reason implies
manifoldness. (To attain Unity) we must therefore rise above science,
and never withdraw from what is essentially One; we must therefore
renounce science, the objects of science, and every other right (except
that of the One); even to that of beauty; for beauty is posterior to
unity, and is derived therefrom, as the day-light comes from the sun.
That is why Plato[193] says of (Unity) that it is unspeakable and
undescribable. Nevertheless we speak of it, we write about it, but only
to excite our souls by our discussions, and to direct them towards this
divine spectacle, just as one might point out the road to somebody who
desired to see some object. Instruction, indeed, goes as far as showing
the road, and guiding us in the way; but to obtain the vision (of the
divinity), is the work suitable to him who has desired to obtain it.
THOSE WHO SEE GOD WITHOUT EMOTION HAVE FAILED TO RID THEMSELVES OF
PHYSICAL HINDRANCES, AND HAVE NOT BECOME UNIFIED.
If your soul does not succeed in enjoying this spectacle, if she does
not have the intuition of the divine light, if she remains cold and
does not, within herself, feel a rapture such as that of a lover who
sees the beloved object, and who rests within it, a rapture felt by him
who has seen the true light, and whose soul has been overwhelmed with
brilliance on approaching this light, then you have tried to rise to
the divinity without having freed yourself from the hindrances which
arrest your progress, and hinder your contemplation. You did not rise
alone, and you retained within yourself something that separated you
from Him; or rather, you were not yet unified. Though He be absent
from all beings, He is absent from none, so that He is present (to
all) without being present (to them). He is present only for those
who are able to receive Him, and who are prepared for Him, and who
are capable of harmonizing themselves with Him, to reach Him, and as
it were to touch Him by virtue of the conformity they have with Him,
and also by virtue of an innate power analogous to that which flows
from Him, when at last their souls find themselves in the state where
they were after having communicated with Him; then they can see Him
so far as his nature is visible. I repeat: if you have not yet risen
so far, the conclusion must be that you are still at a distance from
Him, either by the obstacles of which we spoke above, or by the lack
of such instruction as would have taught you the road to follow, and
which would have imbued you with faith in things divine. In any case,
you have no fault to find with any but yourself; for, to be alone, all
you need to do is to detach yourself from everything. Lack of faith in
arguments about it may be remedied by the following considerations.
HOW SUCH AS RISE AS FAR AS THE SOUL MAY ACHIEVE FAITH IN THE
INTELLIGIBLE.
5. Such as imagine that beings are governed by luck or chance, and
that they depend on material causes are far removed from the divinity,
and from the conception of unity. It is not such men that we are
addressing, but such as admit the existence of a nature different from
the corporeal one, and who at least rise (to an acknowledgment of the
existence of) the Soul. These should apply themselves to the study of
the nature of the soul, learning, among other truths, that she proceeds
from Intelligence, and that she can achieve virtue by participating in
Intelligence through reason. They must then acknowledge the existence
of an Intelligence superior to the intelligence that reasons, namely,
to discursive reason. They must (also realize) that reasonings imply
an interval (between notions), and a movement (by which the soul
bridges this interval). They must be brought to see that scientific
knowledge consists also of reasons of the same nature (namely, rational
notions), reasons suitable to the soul, but which have become clear,
because the soul has received the succession of intelligence which is
the source of scientific knowledge. By intelligence (which belongs to
her), the soul sees the divine Intellect, which to it seems sensual,
in this sense that it is perceptible by intelligence, which dominates
the soul, and is her father;[194] that is, the intelligible world, a
calm intellect which vibrates without issuing from its tranquility,
which contains everything, and which is all. It is both definite and
indefinite manifoldness, for the ideas it contains are not distinct
like the reasons (the rational notions), which are conceived one by
one. Nevertheless, they do not become confused. Each of them becomes
distinct from the others, just as in a science all the notions,
though forming an indivisible whole, yet each has its own separate
individual existence.[195] This multitude of ideas taken together
constitutes the intelligible world. This is the (entity) nearest
to the First. Its existence is inevitably demonstrated by reason,
as much as the necessity of the existence of the Soul herself; but
though the intelligible world is something superior to the Soul, it is
nevertheless not yet the First, because it is neither one, nor simple,
while the one, the principle of all beings, is perfectly simple.