mixed being or not-being unless we take into account that which is
all-being. This Being is not the being of this or that creature; for
all particular being is mixed with something extraneous, whereby it
can receive something new into itself. Therefore the nameless Divine
Being must be in itself a Being that is all-being, and that sustains
all particular things by its presence.

It shows the strange blindness of man's reason, that it cannot
examine into that which it contemplates before everything, and
without which it cannot perceive anything. Just as, when the eye is
bent on noticing various colours, it does not observe the light
which enables it to see all these objects, and even if it looks at
the light it does not observe it; so it is with the eye of the soul.
When it looks at this or that particular substance, it takes no heed
of the being, which is everywhere one, absolute and simple, and by
the virtue and goodness of which it can apprehend all other things.
Hence the wise Aristotle says, that the eye of our intelligence,
owing to its weakness, is affected towards that being which is
itself the most manifest of all things, as the eye of a bat or owl
is towards the bright rays of the sun. For particular substances
distract and dazzle the mind, so that it cannot behold the Divine
darkness, which is the clearest light.

Come now, open the eyes of thy mind, and gaze if thou canst, on
Being in its naked and simple purity. You will perceive that it
comes from no one, and has no before nor after, and that it cannot
change, because it is simple Being. You will also observe that it is
the most actual, the most present, and the most perfect of beings,
with no defect or mutation, because it is absolutely one in its bare
simplicity. This is so evident to an instructed intellect, that it