PART I. THE DIVINE LOVE. 43—46

43. From this, it can first be seen that divine love and divine wisdom are, in themselves, a substance and a form. This is because they are Being original: "Esse" itself and Existence original: "Existere" itself. If they were not such a Being and Existence—that is, if they were not a substance and a form—they would only be an imaginary idea, which is actually nothing in itself.

44. THAT THE DIVINE LOVE AND THE DIVINE WISDOM ARE SUBSTANCE AND FORM IN THEMSELVES, AND ARE THEREFORE THE SELF-SUBSISTING AND SOLE-SUBSISTING BEING original: Ipsum et Unicum. It has been proven above that divine love and divine wisdom are a substance and a form, and it has also been shown that the Divine Being and Existence original: "Esse" and "Existere" are Being and Existence in themselves. It cannot be said that they are Being and Existence from themselves, because that would imply a beginning, or that they originated from something else within them. Rather, the true Being and Existence in itself is from eternity. True Being and Existence in itself is also uncreated, and no created thing can exist except from what is uncreated. Furthermore, what is created is finite, and the finite cannot exist except from the infinite.

45. Anyone who can think deeply enough to conceive of and understand a Being and Existence in itself will perfectly understand that such Being and Existence is the self-subsisting and sole-subsisting Being. That which alone exists is called "self-subsisting" original: ipsum, and that from which every other thing originates is called "sole-subsisting" original: unicum. Now, since the self-subsisting and sole-subsisting Being is a substance and a form, it follows that it is the self-subsisting and sole-subsisting substance and form. And since this very substance and form is divine love and divine wisdom, it follows that it is the self-subsisting and sole-subsisting love, and the self-subsisting and sole-subsisting wisdom. Consequently, it is the self-subsisting and sole-subsisting essence, and also the self-subsisting and sole-subsisting life; for love and wisdom are life.

46. This shows how shallowly original: "sensually," meaning thinking based only on the physical senses people think about spiritual things when they claim that nature exists by its own power. Such people think only from their bodily senses and the darkness they cause. They think using only their eyes and cannot think using their understanding. Thinking from the eye closes the understanding, but thinking from the understanding opens the eye. They cannot conceive of a Being and Existence in itself that is eternal, uncreated, and infinite. Neither can they think of life as anything other than a fleeting thing that vanishes into nothing; they think the same of love and wisdom. They are completely unable to see that all things in nature derive their existence from these sources. Nor can they see that all things in nature exist from that source unless nature is viewed in terms of "uses" original: "uses"; in this context, the purpose or functional benefit for which a thing is created—its purposes and functions—in their proper sequence and order, rather than just looking at the physical forms that the eye sees. This is because uses come only from life, and their sequence and order come from wisdom and love; forms are simply the containers of those uses. Therefore, if the forms only