Q&A: Negative Attributes
Negative Attributes
Question
I just read the discussion about “God and the world” in the second book of the trilogy. There you do, to some extent, accept positive attributes. And you argue that in principle an attribute does not describe the essence itself, but rather the way it is revealed to a person, just like an electron or gravity.
If I’m not mistaken, in Two Carts you wrote differently. In one of the notes you drew a distinction between God and all other entities. And you argued that about God we really know nothing at all, unlike other entities, where through their actions we know something about the entity itself.
So the question is: did you change your mind, or did I misunderstand you? And if I really did misunderstand, I’d be happy if you could explain it to me. Thank you.
Answer
I no longer remember completely, but it seems to me that it’s the same thing. The attributes of the Holy One, blessed be He, are different from every attribute of any other entity. An attribute of a table is not a substance but a property of the table. It is attached to the table. The properties of the Holy One, blessed be He (His attributes), are not attached to Him; rather, they are independent entities that represent and express Him. Garments. But this description relates to the Holy One, blessed be He, Himself in a positive, not a negative, way, contrary to what the philosophers think.
Okay, I understand. Thank you very much.