1. The One is all things, and is none of these things. The Principle
of all things cannot be all things.[263] It is all things only in the
sense that all things coexist within it. But in it, they "are" not yet,
but only "will be."[264] How then could the manifoldness of all beings
issue from the One, which is simple and identical, which contains no
diversity or duality? It is just because nothing is contained within
it, that everything can issue from it.[265] In order that essence
might exist, the One could not be (merely) essence, but had to be the
'father' of essence, and essence had to be its first-begotten. As the
One is perfect, and acquires nothing, and has no need or desire, He
has, so to speak, superabounded, and this superabundance has produced a
different nature.[266] This different nature of the One turned towards
Him, and by its conversion, arrived at the fulness (of essence). Then
it had the potentiality of contemplating itself, and thus determined
itself as Intelligence. Therefore, by resting near the One, it became
Essence; and by contemplating itself, became Intelligence. Then by
fixing itself within itself to contemplate itself, it simultaneously
became Essence-and-Intelligence.