3

If you wish then to contemplate the invisible traits of God in so far as

they belong to the unity of His essence, fix your gaze upon Being itself,

and see that Being is most certain in itself; for it cannot be thought not

to be, since the purest Being occurs only in full flight from Non-Being,

just as nothingness is in full flight from Being. Therefore, just as the

utterly nothing contains nought of Being nor of its conditions, so

contrariwise Being itself contains no Non-Being, neither in actuality nor

in potency, neither in matters of fact nor in our thinking. Since, however,

Non-Being is the privation of Being, it cannot enter the intellect except

through Being; Being, however, cannot enter through anything other than

itself. For everything which is thought of is either thought of as Non-

Being or as Being-in-potency or as Being-in-actuality. If, therefore, Non-

Being is intelligible only through Being, and if Being-in-potency can be

understood only through Being-in-actuality, and if Being is the name of

that pure actuality of Being, Being then is what first enters the

intellect, and that Being is pure actuality. But this is not particular

Being, which is restricted Being, since that is mixed with potentiality.

Nor is this analogous Being, for such has a minimum of actuality since it

has only a minimum of being. It remains, therefore, that that Being is

divine Being.