then it is impossible to explain how
multiplicity comes into this world. It is exactly the same in regard
to the question of quality. Pure Being is without quality. It is mere
"isness." It is an utterly featureless, characterless Being, perfectly
empty and abstract. How then can the quality of things issue from it?
How can all the riches and variety of the world come out of this
emptiness? The Eleatics are like jugglers who try to make you believe
that they get rabbits, guinea-pigs, pieces of string, paper, and
ribbon, out of an entirely empty top-hat. One can see how utterly
barren and empty this principle is, if one translates it into
figurative language, that is to say, into the language of religion.
The Eleatic principle would correspond to a religion in which we said
that "God is," but beyond the fact that He "is," He has absolutely no
character. But surely this is a wholly barren and meagre conception of
the Deity. In the Christian religion we are accustomed to hear such
expressions as, not only that "God is," but that "God is Love," "God
is Power," {70} "God is Goodness," "God is Wisdom." Now objection may
certainly be taken to these predicates and epithets on the ground that
they are merely figurative and anthropomorphic. In fact, they exhibit
the tendency to think non-sensuous objects sensuously. These
predicates are merely picked up from the finite world and applied
haphazard to God, for whom they are entirely inadequate. But at least
these expressions teach us, that out of mere emptiness nothing can
come; that the world cannot arise out of something which is lower and
poorer than itself. Here in the world we find in a certain measure,
love, wisdom, excellence, power. These things cannot spring from a
source which is so poor that it contains nothing but "isness." The
less can arise out of the greater, but not the greater out of the
less. We may contrast Eleaticism not only with Christianity, but even
with popular modern agnosticism. According to this, the Absolute is
unknowable. But what the agnostic means is that human reason is
inadequate to grasp the greatness of the ultimate being. But the
Eleatic principle is, not that in saying "God is Love, Power, Wisdom,"
we are saying too little about God, and that our ideas are inadequate
to express the fullness of His being, but on the contrary, that they
express too high an idea for God, of whom nothing can be said except
"He is," because there is absolutely nothing