Cap. 5
by St. Bonaventure
Source text: Public Domain Mark 1.0. English translation/apparatus/encoding: CC BY-NC 4.0, Wroot Press.
https://bonaventure.wrootpress.com/browse/6/d/5/q/bon-itin-c5
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### Ch. V. *On the speculation of the divine unity through its primary name, which is being.*

1. But since it is given us to contemplate God not only *outside us* and *within us*, but also *above us* — *outside* through the vestige, *within* through the image, and *above* through the light which is sealed upon our mind, which is the light of eternal Truth, since « our mind itself is formed immediately by Truth itself » — those who have been exercised in the first way have already entered the *court* before the tabernacle; those in the second have entered into the *holy place*; those in the third enter with the high Priest into the *holy of holies*, where above the ark are *the Cherubim of glory overshadowing the propitiatory*. By these we understand two ways or steps of contemplating the invisible and eternal things of God, of which the one is occupied about the essential attributes of God, the other about the properties of the persons.

2. The first way first and principally fixes its gaze upon *being* itself, saying that *he who is* is the first name of God. The second way fixes its gaze upon *the good* itself, saying that this is the first name of God. The first looks chiefly to the *old testament*, which most of all proclaims the unity of the divine essence; whence it was said to Moses: *I am who am*. The second looks to the *new*, which determines the plurality of the persons, *baptizing in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit*. Therefore our master Christ, wishing to raise to evangelical perfection the young man who had kept the Law, attributed to God principally and precisely the name of *goodness*. *No one*, he says, *is good but God alone*. The Damascene, then, following Moses, says that *he who is* is the first name of God; Dionysius, following Christ, says that *the good* is the first name of God.

3. He, therefore, who wishes to contemplate the invisible things of God as regards *the unity of the essence*, let him first fix his gaze upon *being* itself, and let him see that being itself is so *most certain* in itself that it cannot be thought not to be, because the *most pure being* itself does not occur except in the full flight of *non-being*, just as *nothing* does not occur except in the full flight of *being*. As therefore *utter nothing* has nothing of *being* nor of its conditions, so on the contrary *being* itself has nothing of *non-being*, neither in act nor in potency, neither according to the truth of the thing nor according to our estimation. But since *non-being* is a privation of being, it does not fall into the intellect except through *being*; and *being* does not fall through another, since everything that is understood is understood either as *a non-being*, or as *a being in potency*, or as *a being in act*. If therefore *a non-being* cannot be understood except through *a being*, and *a being in potency* only through *a being in act*; and *being* names the pure act itself of a being: *being*, therefore, is what first falls into the intellect, and that *being* is what is pure act. But this is not *particular being*, which

is *restricted being*, since it is mingled with potency; nor *analogous being*, since it has the least of act, in that it least is. It remains, therefore, that that *being* is *divine being*.

4. Wonderful, therefore, is the blindness of the intellect, which does not consider that which it sees before all else and without which it can know nothing. But just as the eye, intent upon the various differences of colours, does not see the light through which it sees the rest — and if it does see it, does not advert to it — so the eye of our mind, intent upon *particular* and *universal beings*, does not advert to *being itself, which is beyond every genus*, although it occurs first to the mind, and through it all else. Whence it appears most truly that « as the eye of the bat is disposed toward the light, so is the eye of our mind disposed toward the things most manifest in nature »; because, accustomed to the shadows of beings and to the phantasms of sensible things, when it beholds the light itself of the supreme *being*, it seems to itself to see nothing — not understanding that that very darkness is the supreme illumination of our mind, just as, when the eye sees pure light, it seems to itself to see nothing.

5. See, therefore, the most pure *being* itself, if you can, and it occurs to you that it cannot be thought as received from another; and through this it is necessarily thought as in every mode first, which can be neither from nothing nor from anything. For what is through itself, if *being* itself is not through itself nor from itself? — It occurs to you also as wholly lacking non-being, and through this as never beginning, never ceasing, but *eternal*. — It occurs to you also as having in itself in no way anything but what is *being* itself, and through this as composed with nothing, but *most simple*. — It occurs to you as having nothing of possibility, since everything possible has in some way something of *non-being*, and through this as supremely *most actual*. — It occurs as having nothing of defectibility, and through this as *most perfect*. — It occurs lastly as having nothing of diversification, and through this as *supremely one*.

*Being*, therefore, which is *pure being* and *being simply* and *absolute being*, is *primary being, eternal, most simple, most actual, most perfect and supremely one*.

6. And these things are so certain that their opposite cannot be thought by one who understands *being* itself, and one of them necessarily infers another. For since it is simply *being*, therefore it is simply *first*; since simply first, therefore it is not made by another, nor could it be by itself, therefore *eternal*. Likewise, since first and eternal, therefore not out of others, therefore *most simple*. Likewise, since first, eternal and most simple, therefore there is in it nothing of possibility mingled with act, and therefore *most actual*. Likewise, since first, eternal, most simple, most actual, therefore *most perfect*; to such a one absolutely nothing *is lacking*, nor can any *addition be made*. Since first, eternal, most simple, most actual, most perfect, therefore *supremely one*. For what is said by omnimodal superabundance is said in respect of all things. « What also is said simply by superabundance, it is impossible that it should belong to any but one alone. » Whence, if God names *being* that is primary, eternal, most simple, most actual, most perfect, it is impossible that it be thought not to be, or to be anything but *one alone*. *Hear*, therefore, *Israel: the Lord thy God is one God*. — If you see this in the pure simplicity of the mind, you will be in some measure flooded with the illumination of eternal light.

7. But you have whence you may be lifted up into wonder. For *being* itself is *first* and *last*, is *eternal* and *most present*, is *most simple* and *greatest*, is *most actual* and *most immutable*, is *most perfect* and *immeasurable*, is *supremely one* and yet *omnimodal*. — If you wonder at these things with a pure mind, you will be flooded with a greater light, when you see further that *therefore* it is *last*, because *first*. For since it is first, it works all things for its own sake; and therefore it is necessary that it be the last end, the beginning and the consummation, *alpha and omega*. — Therefore it is *most present*, because *eternal*. For since it is eternal, it does not flow from another nor fail from itself nor run from

one thing into another: therefore it has neither past nor future, but *present being* only. — Therefore *greatest*, because *most simple*. For since it is most simple in essence, therefore it is greatest in power, since power, the more it is united, so much the more is it infinite. — Therefore *most immutable*, because *most actual*. For since it is most actual, therefore it is pure act; and what is such acquires nothing new, loses nothing it has, and through this cannot be changed. — Therefore *immeasurable*, because *most perfect*. For since it is most perfect, nothing can be thought beyond it better, nobler nor worthier, and through this nothing greater; and everything such is immeasurable. — Therefore *omnimodal*, because *supremely one*. For what is supremely one is the universal principle of all multitude; and through this it is itself the universal efficient, exemplating and terminating cause of all things, as « the cause of being, the ground of understanding and the order of living ». It is therefore *omnimodal* not as the essence of all things, but as the most supereminent and most universal and most sufficient cause of all essences; whose power, because supremely united in essence, is therefore supremely most infinite and most manifold in efficacy.

8. Turning back again, let us say: since therefore the most pure and absolute *being*, which is *being simply*, is *primary* and *last*, therefore it is the origin of all things and the consummating end. — Since *eternal* and *most present*, therefore it encompasses and enters all durations, as though existing at once as their centre and their circumference. — Since *most simple* and *greatest*, therefore it is wholly within all things and wholly outside them, and through this « it is *an intelligible sphere whose centre is everywhere and whose circumference is nowhere* ». — Since *most actual* and *most immutable*, therefore « *remaining stable it grants that all things be moved* ». — Since *most perfect* and *immeasurable*, therefore it *is within all things, not enclosed; outside all things, not excluded; above all things, not raised up; beneath all things, not cast down*. — Since indeed it is *supremely one* and *omnimodal*, therefore it is *all in all*, although all things are many and it is nothing but one; and this because, through the most simple *unity*, the most serene *truth* and the most sincere *goodness*, there is in it all *virtuosity*, all *exemplarity* and all *communicability*; and through this *from it and through it and in it are all things*, and this because it is *omnipotent, omniscient* and *good in every mode* — which to see perfectly is to be blessed, as was said to Moses: *I will show thee all good*.

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