Proslogion: Chapter 23/Chapter 24
BASIC WRITINGS
the one supreme good, utterly self-sufficient, needing nothing, whom all things need for their being and their well-being.
Chapter 23 That this good is equally Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; and that this is the "one necessary thing," which is the complete, total, and only good
This good is you, O God the Father; it is your Word, that is to say, your Son.
For there cannot be anything other than what you are, or anything greater or less than you, in the Word by which you utter yourself. For your Word is as true as you are truthful, and therefore he is the same truth that you are and no other. And you are so simple* that nothing can be born of you that is other than what you are. And this good is the one love that is shared by you and your Son, that is, the Holy Spirit, who proceeds from you both. For this love is not unequal to you or to your Son, since you love yourself and him, and he loves himself and you, as much as you and he are. Moreover, the one who is equal to both you and him is not other than you and him; nothing can proceed from the supreme simplicity that is other than that from which it proceeds.
Thus, whatever each of you is individually, that is what the whole Trinity is together, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit; for each of you individually is nothing other than the supremely simple unity and the supremely united simplicity, which cannot be multiplied or different from itself.
"Moreover, one thing is necessary."40 And this is that one necessary thing, in which is all good—or rather, which is itself the complete, one, total, and unique good.
Chapter 24 A conjecture as to what sort of good this is, and how great it is Bestir yourself, O my soul! Lift up your whole understanding, and consider as best you can what sort of good this is, and how great it is. For if particular goods are delightful, consider intently how delightful is that good which contains the joyfulness of all goods—and not such joyfulness as we have experienced in created things, but as different from that as the Creator differs from the creature. If created life is good, how good is the life that creates? If the salvation that has been brought about is joyful, how joyful is the salvation that brings about all salvation? If wisdom in the knowledge of created things is desirable, how desirable is the wisdom that created all things from 40 Luke 10:42.