The Complete Works of Saint Dionysius the Areopagite

What irrationality is.

...a total inclination toward that which is truly to be desired. Indeed, we even call irrationality and lack of sensation in brute animals, or in inanimate matter, a privation of their own reason and sense; but in immaterial and spiritual natures, we profess that they transcend original: "transcendere." Dionysius uses the concept of "eminence," where a quality is absent in a higher being not because it is lacking, but because the being is far above the category itself. our speech in a sacred manner. Their eminence (being as they are "above the world") surpasses our discourse, and being foreign to the sense of those incorporeal minds, it transcends our corporeal and material speech. Therefore, it is not unsuitable to fashion forms for celestial things even from the lowliest parts of matter; since matter itself, existing from Him who is truly beautiful, possesses certain traces of intellectual beauty original: "intellectualis venustatis." In Neoplatonic thought, "intellectual" refers to things perceived by the mind or spirit rather than the physical senses. throughout its entire material disposition. It is possible, therefore, that through these material things we may be led to immaterial, primitive forms, by accepting "dissimilarities" (as has been said) in a different way—not by treating them as the same, but by properly and appropriately distinguishing between spiritual and sensible properties.

§ 5. That God is named from the highest, middle, and lowest things in Scripture. Malachi 4:2, Revelation 22:16, Exodus 3:2, John 7:38.

§ 5. We shall find that the mystical theologians The "theologians" Dionysius refers to are the authors of the Bible. have properly adapted these symbols not only to the explanations of the celestial ranks, but also to the divine revelations of the Godhead itself. Sometimes they celebrate the Divinity from beautiful lights, as the "Sun of Justice," Malachi 4:2. or as the "Morning Star" Revelation 22:16. rising more sacredly in the mind, or as a light shining openly and intelligibly. Sometimes, however, they use middle things, such as a fire shining harmlessly, Exodus 3:2, referring to the Burning Bush. or as water providing a vital fullness, and—to speak symbolically—entering the belly and gushing forth as perpetually flowing rivers. John 7:38. Sometimes, even from the lowliest things, such as a fragrant oint... The text cuts off mid-word, "un[guentum]" (ointment).