Consequently, there is everywhere a return to unity--for there is
for everything a unity to which it may be reduced. Consequently, the
universe must be derived from the unity that is superior to it; and as
this unity is not absolutely simple, it must itself be derived from
a still superior unity, and so on until we arrive at the absolutely
simple Unity, which cannot be reduced to any other. Therefore,
considering what is in a tree--that is, its permanent principle--or
what is unitary in an animal, in a soul, or in the universe, you will
everywhere have that which is most powerful and precious. If, at last,
you consider that unity of the things that really exist, that is, their
principle, their source, their (productive) power, can you doubt its
reality, and believe that this principle amounts to nothing? Certainly
this principle is none of the things of which it is the principle; it
is such that nothing could be predicated of it, neither essence, nor
being, nor life, because it is superior to all of it. If you grasp it,
by abstracting from it even being, you will be in ecstasy. By directing
your glance towards it, by reaching it, and resting in it, you will
get a unitary and simple intuition thereof; you will conceive of its
greatness by both itself and its derivatives.