37. They who attributed thought to the First Principle have at least
not attributed to Him the thought of things that are inferior to Him,
or which proceed from Him.[145] Nevertheless some of them claimed that
it was absurd to believe that the divinity ignored other things. As
to the former, finding nothing greater than the Good, they attributed
to (the divinity) the thought of Himself,[146] as if this could add
to His majesty, as if even for Him, thinking were more than being
what He is, and it were not the Good Himself which communicates His
sublimity to intelligence. But from whom then will the Good derive
His greatness? Would it come from thought, or from Himself? If He
derive it from thought, He is not great by himself; or at least, He
is no more sovereignly great. If it be from Himself that He derives
His greatness, He is perfectly anterior to thought, and it is not
thought that renders Him perfect. Is He forced to think because He is
actualization, and not merely potentiality? If He is a being that ever
thinks, and if this be the meaning of actualization,[147] we would be
attributing to the Good two things simultaneously: "being" and thought;
instead of conceiving of Him as a simple Principle, something foreign
is added to Him, as to eyes is added the actualization of sight,[148]
even admitting that they see continually. (The divinity) is in
actualization, in the sense that He is both actualization and thought,
is He not? No, for being thought itself, He must not be thinking, as
movement itself does not move.[149] But do not you yourselves say that
(the divinity) is both being and actualization? We think that being
and actualization are multiple and different things, whilst the First
is simple. To the principle that proceeds from the First alone belongs
thought, a certain seeking out of its being, of itself, and of its
origin. It deserves the name of intelligence only by turning towards
(the First) in contemplation, and in knowing Him. As to the unbegotten
Principle, who has nothing above Him, who is eternally what He is, what
reason might He have to think?