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Elements of Theology, Proposition 25
Jul. 10th, 2024 09:53 amOn the Perfect
For as the one Principle by reason of its own goodness is unically constitutive of all beings, — for The Good and The One are the same, so that the boniform is the same with the unical, — thus, also, those things which are posterior to the First Principle, on account of their perfection, hasten to generate beings inferior to their own essence: for perfection is a certain part or quality of The Good, and the perfect so far as it is perfect imitates The Good. But The Good is constitutive of all things: so that the perfect is likewise productive according to its nature of those things which it is able to produce. And that indeed which is more perfect, the more perfect it is the more numerous are the progeny of which it is the cause. For that which is more perfect participates in a greater degree of The Good. It is therefore nearer to The Good, is more allied to the cause of all, and is the cause of a greater number of effects. That, however, which is more imperfect, the more imperfect it is the less numerous are the effects of which it is the cause; for, being more remote from the producer of everything, it is the cause of fewer effects. For to that which constitutes, or adorns, or perfects, or connects, or vivifies, or fabricates all things, that nature is most allied which produces a greater number of each of these; but that is more remote which produces a less number of each.
Corollary.— From the premises it is evident that the nature which is most remote from the Principle of all is unprolific and is not the cause of anything. For if it generated a certain thing, and had something posterior to itself, it is evident that it would no longer be the most remote, but that which it produced would be more remote than itself from the Principle of all things; it would therefore be nearer to productive power, and, in addition, would imitate the cause which is productive of all beings.
COMMENTARY
As promised, today we have a discussion of the Perfect, and what is meant, in Proclus's system, by "perfection."
We should take a minute to remember that the word "perfect" in its traditional sense means "complete." This is important because we tend to use it in common English to mean something like "super duper good." But, while I don't have access to the Greek, our original translators would not have selected the word "perfect" unless they intended the original meaning of the word. Something which is perfect is something which is complete.
This has important implications before we even get into the rest of the proposition. Last time, we learned that Participants "receive their perfection from" that which they Participate. That is, to be a Participant is also to be completed by something else-- by that which is Participated.
Furthermore, we learn:
To be complete is to be productive. To be complete or perfect is not to cease, but to produce, "in imitation of the First Principle of All."
Therefore, the Perfect is not the same as the One Itself. Perfection, rather, "is a certain part or quality of The Good." And to be perfect is to imitate the Good. As the Good is the cause of all things, therefore, everything perfect is productive of natures inferior to itself.
Bearing in mind what we learned last time, we can now add another term to our hierarchy. It's worth reviewing what we've seen so far. Our levels of being are:
In this Proposition, we are introduced, finally, to a level of being lower than these. Proclus tells us, "the nature which is most remote from the Principle of all is unprolific and is not the cause of anything." This is the Last of Things, the extremity which effectively forms the bottom of reality. This Last is distinguished from other things in that it is not perfected. How do we know this? Because if it were to be perfected, it would then become productive. Being productive, it would not longer be the last of things-- something else, which it had caused, would become the last. Therefore, there must be a final level which, in these terms, we could call the imperfect or, better, the Unperfected. If we then add this fourth level to the series, we come up with:
Being most remote from the One, we can also call it the Chaos; being most remote from the Good, we can also call it Evil. Evil, then, is identical with Nonbeing.
Speculation
Those of us who are in contact with matter and live in the world of time are necessarily part of the world of Becoming. As all of these terms are identical to one another, or different ways of talking about the same thing, we are also part of the world of the Perfected, and, as the Perfected, we receive our perfection from outside of ourselves. From what? The Perfect, as concauses with the Good Itself. The Good, remember, is that which causes all things, and that which all things desire. As members of the group of All Things, our ultimate desire is for the Good. And how do we achieve the Good? We become Perfect, which is the same as becoming United. And we do this not, or not entirely, through our own efforts, but by the activity of the Perfect. "Activity" or "Act" is another way of saying "energy," or, to put it in Christian terms, Grace. What is, in the Christian religion, called sanctity, sainthood or divinization, is precisely this perfection. Moreover, all this being the case, it is also the case that what Christians call a saint is made so by participation in God. Every saint, therefore, becomes productive in the same way that the Good Itself, or God, is productive.
In Greek terms, we could substitute the word "Hero" for saint. The same is also what is meant by the word xian in Chinese and Boddhisattva in the Buddhist tradition. All these are beings who have become perfected, and now participate in the creative process which unfolds the universe.
It's easy to prove to ourself that this is true. One of the effects of a new saint is a new cult, which is to say, a new set of activities appearing here in the world of Becoming that were not to be found prior to this particular saint's the attainment of sainthood. Here, for example, is a shrine to St. Therese of Lisieux. Therese lived from 1873 to 1897; she was canonized in 1925. Prior to this, there were no shrines to her, and the particular devotions, images, and motifs associated with her cult did not exist. We had a large chapel dedicated to her near where I grew up in Pennsylvania; when I was a boy I was taken there on her Feast Day and afterwards given rose petals blessed by a priest. This could not have happened prior to her canonization, an event in time which signifies her perfection, which is her ascension to a world beyond time and becoming.
According to many Christians, the world of becoming will come to an end, and the dead will be reunited with the bodies left behind on Earth. This idea isn't original to Christianity. The same idea is found in Plato's Politicus, where it appears as a myth. Many of Plato's dialogues contain myths, but these are never to be read as literal descriptions of historical events but rather as sacred teaching stories. According to the myth of the Politicus, the day shall come when the Sun will reverse his course in the Heavens. And on that day Time will begin to turn backward. Jupiter will step down from the rulership of the Universe and return his throne to his father, Saturn. And on that day the Dead will rise from their graves, the Earth will give up her fruits without struggle, and the Golden Age will come round again.
In his Platonic Theology-- a different volume from this one, I should mention-- Proclus discussed this myth, which is so similar to the Final Judgment in Christian tradition. But he explained that it is not an event in time. Rather, those who rise from their graves have returned to an existence outside of time, restored to the kingdom of the Father, Saturn, who preceeds the universe of becoming.
It's my view that this is precisely what the saints are. They aren't sanctified souls waiting in Heaven for a pro-forma judgment; they aren't lawyers who can plead your case before God if you get to know them. They are the perfected souls, who now abide outside of time, participating in the government of the Universe.
Everything perfect proceeds to the generation of those things which it is able to produce, imitating the One Principle of all.
For as the one Principle by reason of its own goodness is unically constitutive of all beings, — for The Good and The One are the same, so that the boniform is the same with the unical, — thus, also, those things which are posterior to the First Principle, on account of their perfection, hasten to generate beings inferior to their own essence: for perfection is a certain part or quality of The Good, and the perfect so far as it is perfect imitates The Good. But The Good is constitutive of all things: so that the perfect is likewise productive according to its nature of those things which it is able to produce. And that indeed which is more perfect, the more perfect it is the more numerous are the progeny of which it is the cause. For that which is more perfect participates in a greater degree of The Good. It is therefore nearer to The Good, is more allied to the cause of all, and is the cause of a greater number of effects. That, however, which is more imperfect, the more imperfect it is the less numerous are the effects of which it is the cause; for, being more remote from the producer of everything, it is the cause of fewer effects. For to that which constitutes, or adorns, or perfects, or connects, or vivifies, or fabricates all things, that nature is most allied which produces a greater number of each of these; but that is more remote which produces a less number of each.
Corollary.— From the premises it is evident that the nature which is most remote from the Principle of all is unprolific and is not the cause of anything. For if it generated a certain thing, and had something posterior to itself, it is evident that it would no longer be the most remote, but that which it produced would be more remote than itself from the Principle of all things; it would therefore be nearer to productive power, and, in addition, would imitate the cause which is productive of all beings.
COMMENTARY
As promised, today we have a discussion of the Perfect, and what is meant, in Proclus's system, by "perfection."
We should take a minute to remember that the word "perfect" in its traditional sense means "complete." This is important because we tend to use it in common English to mean something like "super duper good." But, while I don't have access to the Greek, our original translators would not have selected the word "perfect" unless they intended the original meaning of the word. Something which is perfect is something which is complete.
This has important implications before we even get into the rest of the proposition. Last time, we learned that Participants "receive their perfection from" that which they Participate. That is, to be a Participant is also to be completed by something else-- by that which is Participated.
Furthermore, we learn:
To be complete is to be productive. To be complete or perfect is not to cease, but to produce, "in imitation of the First Principle of All."
Therefore, the Perfect is not the same as the One Itself. Perfection, rather, "is a certain part or quality of The Good." And to be perfect is to imitate the Good. As the Good is the cause of all things, therefore, everything perfect is productive of natures inferior to itself.
Bearing in mind what we learned last time, we can now add another term to our hierarchy. It's worth reviewing what we've seen so far. Our levels of being are:
- The Immovable The Imparticipable The One The Good The Cause Superessential (Above Being)
- The Self-Motive The Participated The Unities The Perfect The Concause Being
- The Alter-Motive The Participants The United The Perfected The Caused Becoming
In this Proposition, we are introduced, finally, to a level of being lower than these. Proclus tells us, "the nature which is most remote from the Principle of all is unprolific and is not the cause of anything." This is the Last of Things, the extremity which effectively forms the bottom of reality. This Last is distinguished from other things in that it is not perfected. How do we know this? Because if it were to be perfected, it would then become productive. Being productive, it would not longer be the last of things-- something else, which it had caused, would become the last. Therefore, there must be a final level which, in these terms, we could call the imperfect or, better, the Unperfected. If we then add this fourth level to the series, we come up with:
- The Unmoved The Unparticipating The Disunited The Unperfected The Uncaused Nonbeing
Being most remote from the One, we can also call it the Chaos; being most remote from the Good, we can also call it Evil. Evil, then, is identical with Nonbeing.
Speculation
Those of us who are in contact with matter and live in the world of time are necessarily part of the world of Becoming. As all of these terms are identical to one another, or different ways of talking about the same thing, we are also part of the world of the Perfected, and, as the Perfected, we receive our perfection from outside of ourselves. From what? The Perfect, as concauses with the Good Itself. The Good, remember, is that which causes all things, and that which all things desire. As members of the group of All Things, our ultimate desire is for the Good. And how do we achieve the Good? We become Perfect, which is the same as becoming United. And we do this not, or not entirely, through our own efforts, but by the activity of the Perfect. "Activity" or "Act" is another way of saying "energy," or, to put it in Christian terms, Grace. What is, in the Christian religion, called sanctity, sainthood or divinization, is precisely this perfection. Moreover, all this being the case, it is also the case that what Christians call a saint is made so by participation in God. Every saint, therefore, becomes productive in the same way that the Good Itself, or God, is productive.
In Greek terms, we could substitute the word "Hero" for saint. The same is also what is meant by the word xian in Chinese and Boddhisattva in the Buddhist tradition. All these are beings who have become perfected, and now participate in the creative process which unfolds the universe.
It's easy to prove to ourself that this is true. One of the effects of a new saint is a new cult, which is to say, a new set of activities appearing here in the world of Becoming that were not to be found prior to this particular saint's the attainment of sainthood. Here, for example, is a shrine to St. Therese of Lisieux. Therese lived from 1873 to 1897; she was canonized in 1925. Prior to this, there were no shrines to her, and the particular devotions, images, and motifs associated with her cult did not exist. We had a large chapel dedicated to her near where I grew up in Pennsylvania; when I was a boy I was taken there on her Feast Day and afterwards given rose petals blessed by a priest. This could not have happened prior to her canonization, an event in time which signifies her perfection, which is her ascension to a world beyond time and becoming.
According to many Christians, the world of becoming will come to an end, and the dead will be reunited with the bodies left behind on Earth. This idea isn't original to Christianity. The same idea is found in Plato's Politicus, where it appears as a myth. Many of Plato's dialogues contain myths, but these are never to be read as literal descriptions of historical events but rather as sacred teaching stories. According to the myth of the Politicus, the day shall come when the Sun will reverse his course in the Heavens. And on that day Time will begin to turn backward. Jupiter will step down from the rulership of the Universe and return his throne to his father, Saturn. And on that day the Dead will rise from their graves, the Earth will give up her fruits without struggle, and the Golden Age will come round again.
In his Platonic Theology-- a different volume from this one, I should mention-- Proclus discussed this myth, which is so similar to the Final Judgment in Christian tradition. But he explained that it is not an event in time. Rather, those who rise from their graves have returned to an existence outside of time, restored to the kingdom of the Father, Saturn, who preceeds the universe of becoming.
It's my view that this is precisely what the saints are. They aren't sanctified souls waiting in Heaven for a pro-forma judgment; they aren't lawyers who can plead your case before God if you get to know them. They are the perfected souls, who now abide outside of time, participating in the government of the Universe.
