And it is true
that when I think only of God [and direct my mind wholly to
Him],18 I discover [in myself] no cause of error, or falsity;
yet directly afterwards, when recurring to myself, experience
shows me that I am nevertheless subject to an infinitude of
errors, as to which, when we come to investigate them more
closely, I notice that not only is there a real and positive
idea of God or of a Being of supreme perfection present to my
mind, but also, so to speak, a certain negative idea of
nothing, that is, of that which is infinitely removed from any
kind of perfection; and that I am in a sense something
intermediate between God and nought, i.e. placed in such a
manner between the supreme Being and non-being, that there is
in truth nothing in me that can lead to error in so far as a
sovereign Being has formed me; but that, as I in some degree
participate likewise in nought or in non-being, i.e. in so far
as I am not myself the supreme Being, and as I find myself
subject to an infinitude of imperfections, I ought not to be
astonished if I should fall into error.
Pages:
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96