Monologion: Chapter 23/Chapter 24
BASIC WRITINGS
Chapter 23 How he can be better understood as existing everywhere, rather than as existing in every place Indeed, since it has been established that the supreme nature does not exist in all places any more than in all existing things, not as if he were contained by them, but because he contains them all by pervading them all, why should he not be said to exist everywhere in the sense that he is understood as existing in all existing things, rather than merely as existing in all places? For the truth of the matter bears out this interpretation, and the proper way of speaking about place in no way prevents it.For we often quite properly use place-words for things that are not places and are not confined within any boundaries of place. For example, I might say,"Understanding is there in the soul, where rationality is." 'There' and 'where' are place-words, and yet the soul does not confine anything, and understanding and rationality are not confined, within any boundaries of place.Therefore, the truth of the matter is that the supreme nature would be more aptly said to exist everywhere according to this interpretation, so that he is understood as existing in all existing things rather than merely as existing in all places. And since, as the arguments laid out above show, this cannot be otherwise, he necessarily exists in all existing things in such a way that he exists completely as one and the same whole all at once in each of them individually.
Chapter 24 How he can be better understood as existing always, rather than as existing at every time It has also been established that this supreme substance exists without beginning and without end,30 and that he has no past or future, or even a temporal—that is, a fleeting—present such as we experience,31 since his life or eternity, which is nothing other than himself, is unchangeable and without parts. So when 'always', which seems to designate all of time, is said of him, is it not much more truly understood to signify eternity, which is never unlike itself, rather than the variation of times, which is always in some respect unlike itself?
Now for him, to exist is the same as to live. Therefore, if he is said to exist 'always', this is best understood as meaning that he exists or lives eternally; in other words, that he enjoys illimitable life as a whole, perfectly, and all at 30 Anselm argues for this claim in Chapter 18.
31 Anselm argues for this claim in Chapters 21 and 22.