![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Elements of Theology, Proposition 24
Jul. 9th, 2024 09:19 am Every thing which participates is inferior to that which is participated by it; and that which is participated is inferior to that which is imparticipable.
For that which participates, since it is imperfect prior to participation, but becomes perfect through participation, is entirely secondary to that which is participated so far as it is perfect by participating. For so far as it was imperfect it is inferior to that which it participates, which causes it to become perfect. But that which is participated by a certain one and not by all, is on this account allotted an hyparxis or essence subordinate to that which is common to all things, and not to a certain one thing: for the latter is more allied but the former less to the cause of all.
The imparticipable, therefore, is the leader of things which are participated; but the latter are the leaders of participants. For, in short, the imparticipable is one prior to the many; but that which is participated in the many is one and at the same time not one; and everything which participates is not one and at the same time one.
COMMENTARY
This proposition is spelling out the ideas that we've already encountered in straightforward and simple terms. This is a hierarchical ontology, with forms having their cause on one level of being and proceeding through succeeding levels of being, down to the last of things.
I'm going to repeat something that I've discussed before. This may be unnecessary, but it's worth reminding ourselves that when we talk about "superior" and "inferior," we're not talking about "better" and "worse" in some kind of abstract sense. To think of God as a king and the highest gods or angels as spirits surrounding his throne is a metaphor. (As a metaphor, it may have worked better for people who were actually governed by kings.) Participants come after the Participated; the Participated come after the Imparticipable. This is an ontological description, not a political hierarchy. To return to the imagery we used last time, Color Itself (or Light Itself, which is invisible) is the Imparticipable. The Color Red Itself is Participated. The Red Pen is a Participant. Participants don't look cross-eyed from under their Red Sox hats at the Participated and say "You think you're betta than me!?" Things simply are as they are.
Proclus also introduces another idea in this proposition of which we'll be hearing more soon: The perfect. Participants, we are told, "are imperfect prior to participation," but "become perfect through participation." We will have more to say on this in the future.
Moreover, among the Participated and the Imparticipable, the very highest are those whose reach extends the furthest. Color Itself, for example, is manifest in the color spectrum and in one particular quality shared by physical objects, viz. visible color. Color is only one of many physical qualities; physical qualities are only one subset of all qualities. Quality Itself is thus prior to color. And the One is prior to all things.
COMMENTARY
This proposition is spelling out the ideas that we've already encountered in straightforward and simple terms. This is a hierarchical ontology, with forms having their cause on one level of being and proceeding through succeeding levels of being, down to the last of things.
I'm going to repeat something that I've discussed before. This may be unnecessary, but it's worth reminding ourselves that when we talk about "superior" and "inferior," we're not talking about "better" and "worse" in some kind of abstract sense. To think of God as a king and the highest gods or angels as spirits surrounding his throne is a metaphor. (As a metaphor, it may have worked better for people who were actually governed by kings.) Participants come after the Participated; the Participated come after the Imparticipable. This is an ontological description, not a political hierarchy. To return to the imagery we used last time, Color Itself (or Light Itself, which is invisible) is the Imparticipable. The Color Red Itself is Participated. The Red Pen is a Participant. Participants don't look cross-eyed from under their Red Sox hats at the Participated and say "You think you're betta than me!?" Things simply are as they are.
Proclus also introduces another idea in this proposition of which we'll be hearing more soon: The perfect. Participants, we are told, "are imperfect prior to participation," but "become perfect through participation." We will have more to say on this in the future.
Moreover, among the Participated and the Imparticipable, the very highest are those whose reach extends the furthest. Color Itself, for example, is manifest in the color spectrum and in one particular quality shared by physical objects, viz. visible color. Color is only one of many physical qualities; physical qualities are only one subset of all qualities. Quality Itself is thus prior to color. And the One is prior to all things.
Click here to support this blog.
