On the Sun and Light

Let us begin our play. But now, as we are about to perform these preludes of ours—whatever this light may turn out to be—let us come forth into the light, with the Supreme Good, that is, the Most High God, happily inspiring us.

Chapter II. How the light of the Sun is similar to the Good itself, namely God.

Nothing reflects the nature of the Good more than light. First, indeed, light appears as the purest and most eminent thing in the realm of the senses. Second, it spreads most easily, most widely, and in an instant. Third, it meets and penetrates all things without harm; it is most gentle and soothing. Fourth, it carries with it a nourishing heat, fostering, generating, and moving all things. Fifth, while it is present and within all things, it is defiled by none and mixed with none. Similarly, the Good itself towers over the entire order of things. It expands most widely. It soothes and entices all things. It compels nothing. It has Love as a companion everywhere, like a heat. By this Love, individual things are everywhere enticed, and they freely embrace the Good. Being most present in the innermost parts of things everywhere, it has no The author means the Good remains transcendent and untainted by the material world. commerce with them. Finally, just as the Good itself is inestimable and ineffable, so almost is light. For no philosopher has yet defined this; so that while nothing is clearer than light anywhere, nothing on the other hand seems more obscure—just as the Good is the best known of all things and equally the most unknown. For this reason, Iamblichus the Platonic Iamblichus (c. 245–325 AD) was a Neoplatonist philosopher who influenced later Renaissance thought regarding theurgy and the metaphysics of light. fled at last to this conclusion: that light is the act...