6. It is acknowledged by many that there is an only substance and that this is also called the first substance, the source of all things; but the nature of this substance is not known. It is believed to be so simple that there is nothing simpler; that it may be compared to a point with no dimension; and that from an infinite number of such points the forms of dimension came into being. This, however, is a fallacy, originating from the idea of space; for in accordance with this idea, there would appear to exist such an object of this minimum size. Nevertheless, the truth is that the simpler and purer a thing is, the more complex it is and the more it contains. For this reason the more interiorly any object is examined the more wonderful, perfect and beautiful are the things seen in it; and thus in the first substance are the most wonderful, perfect and beautiful of all. This is because the first substance is from the spiritual Sun, which, as has been said, is from the Lord, and in which the Lord is. Therefore that Sun is itself the one only substance; and as this Sun is not in space it is the all in all, and is in the greatest as well as in the least things of the created universe.
[2] Since that Sun is the first and only substance from which all things are, it follows that there are in that substance infinitely more things than can appear in the substances originating from it, which are called substantiated, and finally material. Those things cannot appear in these substances because they descend from that Sun by degrees of a twofold nature according to which all perfections decrease. For this reason, as was stated above, the more interiorly any thing is examined, the more wonderful, perfect and beautiful are the things that are seen. From what has just been said it may be confirmed that the Divine is in a certain manner imaged in every created thing; but that it becomes less and less apparent in its descent through the degrees, becoming still less apparent when a lower degree has become separated from a higher by the closing up of the higher, and is choked with earthy matter. All this, however, cannot but seem obscure unless one has read and understood what has been shown in the treatise THE DIVINE LOVE AND WISDOM concerning the spiritual Sun (n. 83-172); concerning degrees (n. 173-281); and concerning the creation of the universe (n. 282-357).
