Miscellanies 5.11.71

After these come the lesser mysteries, which have a certain foundation of teaching and of preparation for what is to come; and then the great mysteries, which concern the whole universe, where nothing more remains to be learned, but only to contemplate and comprehend nature and things. We may take the purifying mode through confession, and the contemplative mode through analysis, advancing to the first conception: we make our beginning by analysis from the things that underlie it, abstracting from the body its physical qualities, taking away the dimension of depth, then that of breadth, and after these that of length. For the point that remains is a unit, so to speak, having position; and if we take away its position, it is conceived as a unit. If, then, having abstracted all that belongs to bodies and to the things called incorporeal, we cast ourselves into the greatness of Christ, and from there advance in holiness into the immensity, we might in some way approach the conception of the Almighty, knowing not what he is, but what he is not. And form and motion, or standing, or a throne, or a place, or right or left, are not to be conceived at all of the Father of the universe, although these too are written; but what each of them is meant to show will be demonstrated in its proper place. The first cause, then, is not in a place, but above place and time and name and thought. For this reason Moses too says, “Show yourself to me,” most clearly hinting that God cannot be taught by human beings or expressed in words, but is known only by the power that comes from him. For the search is formless and invisible, but the grace of knowledge comes from him through the Son.