XXXIV
ST DIONYSIUS SPEAKS OF THREE KINDS OF LIGHT
St
Dionysius speaks of three kinds of light the soul has who attains pure knowledge
of God. The first is natural, the second ghostly and the third divine.
Now consider what this natural light
is and how far it helps her to know God. The soul innately knows that existing
things are not of themselves. But there must be one thing that is of
itself and from none but itself: whatever that is it created all things.
Further, the soul innately understand
that the good which is scattered among things is as a whole in the one cause of
thing. Also, it is natural to the soul to love each thing so far as it is
good. And when her natural intellect stumbles on the cause of things,
whose good, broadcast in things, is as a whole in their common cause, then this
natural perception provokes in her a natural love towards this cause of all
things.
All creatures are infirm and
changeful, not in reality (which is exempt) but in the first stages of
perfection. St Augustine says, The soul cannot dwell for long upon one
thought but lapses from it into others. Neither can she entertain several
thoughts at once; she must leave one and die to it to quicken in another.
But God has no community with creatures, wherefore it is evident that there is
no deficiency in him. He has no community with creatures; but this applies alone
to God, and in so far as the soul is like him she is without defect. By nature
the soul knows and loves God above all things.
The second light is ghostly; it
originates in faith. But the whole content of faith is beyond the scope of
the nature of the soul. The faith is, that three Persons are in the same
nature and the same nature in three Persons. No natural light or intellect
is adequate for this, for no natural light affords a likeness of it. What
the three Persons do, or are capable of doing, is the product of their unity;
for though there are three Persons they do not act as three but they function as
one God. That is a ghostly light whereby the soul in faith can actually
see that this is so, (a light) such as her natural mind could never give her.
The third light is the light of
glory, divine light. This the soul receives into the chief power of the
soul. In this light we see God with nothing between. So far as this
light sinks into her chief power so far is God immediately perceived. In
this light the soul divines the noble nature of all things in God, for all that
ever issued forth or is issuing forth or ever shall, has in God eternal life and
being; not defective as it is in creatures but as his very being for it is his
nature. God has his own being no from naught, he has it of his proper nature
which in itself is truly aught though naught to the intelligence of creature.
This nature is causeless, therefore
it is unfathomable except to causeless understanding. Creaturely
intelligence is finite, so it has a cause; hence it cannot fathom
causeless mind, not Christ nor his humanity. Where God is beholding his
own nature, which is groundless, it is incomprehensible except to groundless
understanding. This understanding is none other than his nature is itself;
only God in his own nature can conceive himself. This conception is the
understanding wherein, self-revealed, God manifests in light that no man can
attain to. As St Paul says, 'God dwells in light unapproachable.'