Monologion: Chapter 29
BASIC WRITINGS
in an unqualified sense. Nor does he exist changeably, so that he is now something that at some time he was not or will not be. Nor does he fail to be now what at some other time he was or will be. Rather, whatever he is, he is once and for all, all at once, and illimitably. And since his existence is like this, he is rightly said to exist in an unqualified sense and absolutely and perfectly.
By contrast, all other things exist changeably in some respect, so that at some time they were or will be something that they are not now, or they are now something that at some time they were not or will not be.What they once were no longer exists, and what they will be does not yet exist, and what they are in the fleeting, utterly brief, and barely-existing present barely exists.
Therefore, since they exist so changeably, it is not unreasonable to deny that they exist in an unqualified sense and perfectly and absolutely, and to assert that they nearly do not exist, and barely do exist.
Further, all things whatsoever that are different from him came from nonbeing to being, not through themselves but through another; and as far as their own power goes, they return to non-being unless they are sustained through another. How, then, can it be characteristic of them to exist in an unqualified sense or perfectly or absolutely, rather than barely to exist, or nearly not to exist? And only that ineffable spirit can in no way be understood to have begun from non-being, or to be capable of undergoing any degeneration from what he is into non-being; and whatever he is, he is not through anything other than himself, that is, through what he himself is. So is not his existence rightly understood to be the only unqualified, perfect, and absolute existence?
Now surely that which is thus in an unqualified sense and in every respect the only perfect, unqualified, and absolute existence can in a certain sense rightly be said to be the only thing that exists. And on the other hand whatever is known through the above argument as not existing in an unqualified sense or perfectly or absolutely, but instead as barely existing or nearly not existing, is indeed in a certain sense rightly said not to exist. So according to this argument, only that Creator Spirit exists, and all created things do not exist.
And yet it is not the case that they utterly do not exist, since they have been made from nothing by him who alone exists absolutely.
Chapter 29 That his utterance38 is the very same thing as himself; and yet they are not two spirits but one Now, having examined those things regarding the properties of the supreme nature that have occurred to me up to this point as I follow the guidance of 38 His "utterance" is discussed in Chapters 10–12.