A BOOK ON GOD'S MEMORY

INTRODUCTION
SECTION ONE On human memory
SECTION TWO On divine memory and divine intellect
SECTON THREE On divine memory and divine will
SECTION FOUR On divine memory and the Trinity
SECTION FIVE On divine memory and the divine reasons
Back to site contents

INTRODUCTION

Lord GOD, with your mercy,

Here begins the Book on your memory

As we know less about divine memory than about divine intellect and will, we intend to investigate divine memory, so as to know it as well as we know divine intellect and will. And through this we will have a greater science of GOD than we had before, because the secrect of divine memory is hidden from us.
There are some who deny that there is any memory in GOD, because they consider memory to be a power that presently recalls things that were in the past. They further say that there is no question of time in GOD, as He is an eternal being free of any motion or time. And as they make no distinction between eternal memory and memory that exists in time, they are deceived. So as to prevent them from deceiving themselves, we write this book so they can find out about divine memory.

How this book is divided
This book is divided into five sections. In the first section, we will deal with human memory. In the second, we will investigate divine memory through divine intellect, in the third through divine will, in the fourth through the divine Trinity, and in the fifth and last part through the divine reasons. So let us deal with the first section first.

SECTION ONE

Human memory is a power with which man recalls past things. To clarify this, we give the following example.

The act of the imaginative power, namely imagining, does not occur while the sensitive power is attaining its object, as for instance: Peter sees William right now. But if Peter closes his eyes, then he can imagine William, and this is something that anyone can know by their own experience. Likewise, while a man is presently attaining some object, either sensed or imagined, memory cannot remember that object because the man's intellect and will prevent memory from acting at the same time as the senses or the imagination attain the object they imagine or perceive, because the intellect is in the process of understanding it, and the will is either loving or hating it. And this shows that memory is a power per se. And this is an argument against those who say that memory is not a power per se, but is rooted in the intellect, with which it forms one single power, which is false, as we explained above.

Further: if the intellect and memory were but one single power, no object could be either ignored or forgotten, as power and duration would be generally common to both. And the will would be immobilized, thus losing its freedom of choice, and consequently its merit, which is impossible.

Further: if memory were not a power per se, or if it did not exist at all as a power of the soul, whenever the intellect and the will would seek to acquire other objects, they would have nowhere to store the previous objects, and so there could be no science of past things. But since memory is a power within the soul, it receives the previous species by remembering them, and it keeps them, organizes them and plays them back whenever the intellect or the will require their retrieval. And in such a way, science is multiplied through memory, as we all have experienced.

We have spoken about memory in the context of the objects of imagination and sense. But now we intend to speak about objects completely removed from any sense or imagination, such as genus and species, or for instance, God, an angel, the essence of whiteness, the essence of blackness, and things like these. And likewise with the virtues and vices, which are objects beyond the reach of imagination or sense because they are abstracted from their subject, like the essence of whiteness from the white color. And the said objects can be objectified at the same time by understanding, willing and remembering them. And through this, the human intellect builds its science, which science it could never build, unless memory existed as a power per se.

Let me give the following example: in the human intellect there are three correlatives, namely the intellective, the intelligible and the act of understanding. And they differ from one another, otherwise there would be no relation among them. And the intellect understands these three correlatives, and the will loves these three correlatives with their distinctness, and memory remembers the same correlatives and gives them names. Now without memory of things past, the intellect and the will would have no way of objectifying these three distinct correlatives.

It has therefore been shown that memory is a power per se, distinct from the intellect and the will, and that together they compose one rational human soul.

We have clarified the first section, and proved that memory is a power on its own. Now in the rest of this book, let us consider divine memory.

SECTION TWO

About divine memory and divine intellect

This section is about divine memory and divine intellect, which I clarify as follows:

GOD understands himself, and He understands that He is both intellective and intelligibe. He is therefore, in the same instant, both an objectifier and an object. And He understands the act of understanding, without which He can neither understand anything nor be understood. And memory enumerates these distinct correlatives and gives them number and name, namely the correlatives called the intellective whereby He understands, and the intelligible which He produces and whereby He is understood. And as the intellective cannot produce itself because beings do not produce themselves, memory remembers the distinction between the intellective, the intelligible and their act of understanding, and it remembers that these three correlatives are one in essence and substance and nature. Given all this, we have clearly shown how the divine memory shines in the divine intellect.

SECTION THREE

About divine memory and divine will

This section is about divine memory and divine will. And we will investigate memory in the will, in the same way that we investigated it in the divine intellect. And we say the following:

Divine will within itself loves its coessential lover, beloved and act of love, so that it is full of these, and neither empty, nor idle, nor separated from divine nature. And so that the will can love these correlatives, divine memory remembers the lover and gives him his proper name, so that the lover cannot be varied or changed, and it does the same with the beloved and the act of love. And relation, perfection and repose are governed like this. Otherwise, without divine memory existing in divine will, the lover could turn into the beloved, and vice versa, and likewise for the act of love, and there would be no real relation in this will, but rather confusion, which is impossible. It has therefore been clarified, in what way divine memory exists in divine will, and vice versa.

SECTION FOUR

About divine memory and divine trinity

According to the light of faith, I suppose in this book that the divine trinity exists. And this trinity is clearly seen in the second and third sections, and will also be clearly seen in the fifth section. And I make this supposition so that through the divine trinity we can discover divine memory. And I set out to seek it first in this way:

God the Father, from his whole self, generates GOD the Son, so that the Son is as perfect as the Father. And if the Father communicated whatever He has to his Son, without remembering his own Paternity in communicating his entire essence to the Son his Paternity would be entirely lost: but this property cannot be lost, because memory keeps this property or name from eternity and in eternity.

And if memory did not remember the Son, with his own property of Sonship, this Sonship whereby the Son is essentially one with the Father would be lost. An this kind of loss cannot occur, as the real personal relation cannot be destroyed, so it has been shown that divine memory is a real and necessary being.

As memory is clearly seen in divine fatherhood and sonship, so it is seen in another way in divine spiration. And I show this in the following way:

GOD the Father and GOD the Son both uniformly spirate the Holy Spirit from their entire essence, so that the Holy Spirit is equally proportioned to them. And if divine memory did not remember the Father and the Son as well as the relation and the distinction between them, the whole essence of the Father and Son would be transmuted and turned into the person of the Holy Spirit, and both Fatherhood and Sonship would be lost. But they cannot be lost, because divine memory remembers the Father, because it gives him a name, and remembers the Son with another name. And as memory remembers each person with each person's proper name, it likewise remembers the person of the Holy Spirit. Otherwise, the whole intrinsic relation would be confused and destroyed, which is impossible. Therefore divine memory clearly exists in the said persons that it enumerates.

SECTION FIVE

About divine memory and the divine dignities

This distinction is divided into ten divine dignities, and these are: GOD's unity, goodness, greatness, eternity, power, virtue, truth, glory, simplicity and perfection. With these, we intend to seek out divine memory, and we will investigate it in the same way, as we investigated it with divine intellect and will. And first, let us speak about divine unity.

1. Divine Unity
Divine unity is infinite. It is not infinite without one infinitely productive infinite being, another infinite being that is infinitely produced, and without another being which is the infinite act of producing infinity. Because without these, it would be empty, idle and void of its nature, as it would not have anything with which to be infinite in existence and in action. And because these correlatives exist, they are remembered and numbered, and without memory, this number would be destroyed, and divine unity would lose its infinity. This is impossible, as understanding with remembering is something greater than understanding without remembering, and loving with remembering is something greater than loving without remembering. And as greater things, and not lesser ones are applicable to infinite divine unity, divine memory has therefore been clarified, and a science of it has been made.
2. About Goodness
In divine goodness, there are distinct coessential correlatives, namely active good, passive good and the act of doing good. And if this relation is objectified by understanding, loving and remembering it, goodness is more greatly objectified. And without any memory, it is less greatly objectified, and even diminished, which is impossible. Therefore divine memory in divine goodness has been clarified.
3. About Greatness
If there is memory in divine greatness, then divinity or godhead, which is the divine essence, is more great, and if not, then it is less great. And the reason for this is, that in this greatness, the one who magnifies and remembers is one person, and the one who is magnified and remembered is another person, and the act of magnifying and remembering is another person. And if there is no memory in this greatness, then the magnifier is not as greatly objectified by GOD, nor are the magnified and the magnification. And thus, the object would be diminished. And because such a decrease is impossible in the greatness of GOD, it necessarily follows that divine memory exists in divine greatness, so that this greatness can be a supreme object for GOD.
4. About Eternity
GOD understands and loves his eternity. And if He understands and loves it, with memory existing in this eternity, He can understand, love and remember it more, and without memory, less. Because in eternity, the eternally productive and understanding, loving and remembering being is one person, and the eternally produced, understood, loved and remembered being is another person, and the eternal act of understanding, loving and remembering is another person. And because that through which GOD understands and loves his eternity more greatly must necessarily exist, so it necessarily follows, that there is memory in divine eternity.
5. About Power
If there is memory in divine power, divine power can, with its memory, remember its essence with its intrinsic operation, because it exists with its active remembering power, its passive remembered power and its act of remembering and empowering. And if there is no memory in this power, divine power is less powerful in objectifying its essence with its intrinsic operation. And as such a decrease is impossible, it has therefore been demonstrated that there is divine memory in divine power.
6. About Virtue
If there is divine memory in divine virtue, this virtue is more convertible with divine unity, goodness, magnitude, etc. And if not, then it is less convertible with them. And as that, whereby divine virtue in more convertible or applicable to divine unity, goodness, and greatness etc. must necessarily exist, it necessarily follows that there is divine memory in divine virtue, with which divine virtue is entirely remembered throughout all of divine unity, goodness, greatness, etc.
7. About Truth
Divine truth is an infinite essence. In it, divine unity, goodness, and the other dignities have infinite objects, as unity has its infinitely united object, and goodness has its infinitely well produced good object, etc. And all these infinite objects truly exist through divine truth, because divine truth has its own infinitely true and verified object. None of this would be possible, if there were no infinite memory in the divine essence, having an infinite object that it remembers, so that a reason can exist, for all the divine dignities to have an infinite object remembered infinitely by divine memory, as they have an infinite object verified through divine truth, otherwise the dignities would defective and unbalanced as they objectify their infinite object.
     And to clarify this, I am taking the following example. All bodies have six dimensions or terminations which are: up, down, front, back, right and left. Outside of these six boundaries, no corporeal thing can either exist or act in any way. And thus, as divine truth is a true reason for divine unity, goodness etc. to have infinite objects beyond these six dimensions, so also divine memory, through remembering, is a reason for all the dignities to have infinite objects outside of these six dimensions.
     This therefore proves, that in divine essence there is a divine memory, so that through it, each dignity can remember that it has an infinite object. And here the contemplative can rejoice, who knows how to contemplate in this way the infinite objects in the divine essence, outside of the directions above and below, front and back, right and left, because contemplation cannot rise to any loftier height than this
8. About Glory
The things we have said about memory in divine virtue, can likewise be said about divine glory. Because divine unity, goodness, etc.cannot have any rest in the glorification of their glory, without having infinite objects through infinite glory, which they can have by having one infinite glorious object in this glory. Nor can they have infinite rest in this glory without infinite memory, with which they can objectify infinite objects by remembering them.
     And to clarify this, I will take the following example. The saints in glory enjoy the utmost glory, by the fact that they remember everlasting glory in eternity, and without this remembering, the glory of GOD cannot perfectly glorify them, as it cannot glorify anything perfectly without perfectly uniting it, etc. And the saints cannot have any such memory without the existence of divine memory, which is the cause of their own memories. And as this must be so, it is therefore shown that in divine glory, memory is both in existence and in action.
9. About Simplicity
Divine simplicity is infinite. And through it, divine unity, goodness, etc. have infinite and utterly simple objects, so that unity objectifies itself as being infinite simplicity, and likewise goodness, which through infinite simplicity objectifies itself as being infinite simplicity, both in existence and action. This could not be so, unless divine unity, goodness, etc. remembered themselves as being infinite simplicity in existence and action. Because without divine memory, the infinite objects would be unbalanced, and such an imbalance cannot possibly exist in divine simplicity.
10. About Perfection
The nature of divine perfection consists in superior, and not in inferior things. And if in the essence of GOD there is infinite memory, with which divine unity, goodness, etc. remember their infinite objects, namely supremely united, optimized, magnified, eternally produced being, etc., this perfection would be superior through its memory , with which it remembers that it is infinite perfection, having a perfect infinite object. And if it did not have such a memory, perfection would be inferior, which is impossible. Therefore, the existence of divine memory has been proved. And we have proved it through the infinite objects, these objects that cannot be infinite without being infinitely remembered.

We have made our proof of divine memory. And with this proof, we have increased the science that we had regarding GOD and his dignities. And such science is very lofty and profound, and a great source of rejoicing for the soul

To the praise and honor of GOD, Raymond finished this book, regarding divine memory, in the city of Messina, in the month of March in the year 1314 of the incarnation of Our Lord Jesus Christ.

FOOTNOTE
An excerpt from Ars Generalis Ultima, "The hundred forms"

Article 49: the Directions

There are six general directions, and their center is the body through the diametric lines in which the body can move, namely up, down, to the front, to the back, to the right and to the left.. These six directions are coessential with movement. But the intellect wonders why there are six directions, and neither more nor less. And it remembers movement, which could not be perfect without these. If indeed they were more or less than six, there would be some imperfection, as can be seen with species 3. and 4. of rule C. And the second species of the same rule signifies that the said directions are essential parts of movement in which bodies are habitually situated. But the intellect wonders, why a spherical body does not have the said directions, such as a human head, an eye, an apple, and things like these? But then, it understands that the universe is a spherical body, and that this universe is not itself enclosed by any such directions, because it is the ultimate body, and causes its likenesses to be produced in the said spherical bodies, so the intellect can have knowledge of it. And the rules B. and K. consent to this.

Furthermore, the six directions correspond to

six notes of the scale
Raymond in Ars Generalis Ultima, the 100 Forms, form number 82, Music

136. Music is an art invented for organizing many concordant voices in one song, like many principles or beginnings to one end. And this definition is signified by the definitions of concordance and beginning. This definition is also based on the correlatives of music: in the same way as a carpenter conceives the figure of a chest in his mind, and then brings it from potentiality into actuality, likewise, a musician conceives of organized voices in his mind, and then brings them from potentiality into actuality through the third species of Rule C. whereby music is a habit with which musicians practice their art. Musicians practice their art through six degrees of a scale, ascending and descending, while saying ut, re, mi, fa, sol, la.
137. At this point, the intellect wonders: why are there 6 degrees, neither more nor less? Then it remembers article 49 of the hundred forms, which deals with the six directions; here the intellect knows how it should get help from the general forms dealt with above, by applying them to any doubtful question it might be inquiring into.
138. Further, the intellect wonders why there are not more or less than five vowels in the Latin alphabet. Then it remembers the four spheres of the elements and the quintessence, which are signified by the third and eighth subjects: and as these things are in constant motion, and motion generates sound, and musicians extract voice from sound, so the intellect knows that organized voice first comes from the five simple voices or vowels from which the compound letters, or consonants arise. And thus it knows why there are no more nor less than five vowels.
139. Then the intellect wonders: why is the letter E. more often found in composition with the other letters of the alphabet, than the letter A., and A. more than U.? And why the vowels I. and O. do not cause any consonants, as do A. and U.? Then it remembers the triangle composed of majority and minority as the vowels enter into it: Now E. has more matter than A. The vowel E causes B.C.D.F.G.L.M.N.P.R.S.T.X. in the alphabet, while A. only causes H.and K.; and A. is greater than U, which only causes Q. And as majority and minority are found between the said vowels, so consequently there is equality between O. and I. as neither of them causes any consonants.
140. As the intellect thus considers that E. is greater than A. by reason of its matter, it recognizes that E. corresponds to the motion of the element earth, and A. to the motion of water. This is because earth has more matter than water. But U. corresponds to the motion of air, which has less matter than water. And I corresponds to fire on account of its slenderness and sharpness because it has less matter. O. corresponds to the motion of heaven, and the mouth makes a circular shape to pronounce it.

Note: these meanings of the letters are not taken into consideration at all in the application of B., C., D., etc. in Ars infusa, where only the sequence of the letters is considered, as is stated in the first part of that book regarding the alphabet.

.
Back to top