A VIRTUOUS CIRCLE

the greater perfection the greater the participation in the essence of god ... if this is the key to ethics it is for theology and philosophy too ... if participation is the reason for excellence the reason for virtue what must that say of the god who made these things ... and if philosophy still holds to her ancient interest still believes in wisdom what would it say to someone who understood nothing of this ... but where is there such a being that this great truth does not understand ... where is the creature whose nature does not tend to order ... whose mind does not revere form ... whose soul does not depend upon it ... and what sad and tragic thing is not about some creature's fall from form into disorder or from more to less to little to nothing ... how is this wisdom then less than the sum of it all if it goes from nothing to everything ... how is this not the greatest given that there should be something something at all ... but that it should have such generosity as to include you and to include me ... the greater our participation in the essence of a god like this the greater perfection for us all