Communication

Use in the book

The opening promise makes the book an act of communicating enriching truths. Later, communication provides a language for love's movement from a lover to a beloved while remaining the same love. It is therefore not merely transport of an external object. The soul's beams communicate the person wholly through willing goodness. Nor need sharing diminish what is shared. The communicative desire for companions can coexist with a complete enjoyment of all things, since the companion's joy is another treasure.

IV.18 sharply advances the argument beyond retirement. Principles of communication are better than principles of solitary reception because giving is more blessed than receiving. Yet Traherne immediately qualifies the opposition: communication itself is enjoyment, and in giving one receives the joy of giving. The resulting relation is reciprocal without requiring a commercial exchange of equivalent amounts. People are the greatest treasures because they can both give and receive.

Places to read

1. I.1The book communicates enriching truths as an expression of friendship.
2. II.40Love is distinguished as source, communication, and presence in the beloved.
3. II.79The communicative desire for companions completes enjoyment without dividing it.
4. IV.18Giving and receiving jointly constitute happiness, and communication is itself enjoyment.
5. IV.82The soul communicates itself wholly in free beams of goodness.

In this edition

Modern “communication” often suggests information transfer only. Keep the older self-imparting sense, especially in II.40 and IV.82, while distinguishing theological analogy from ordinary conversation.

Use in the book

To communicate goodness or being is to give others a share in it, not to transmit information. Ficino makes self-communication characteristic of goodness: what is good acts according to its power, produces likenesses of itself, and does so for the good. Supreme goodness therefore acts always and upon every species because it is not restricted to one. The language of gifts expresses causal dependence. Higher causes give something to lower things, and each effect's received good points back to its source. Yet God's universality is also described as an office: because he is no particular thing's private guide, his common task is giving being, common to all. Communication does not mean a divisible divine stock is exhausted or parcelled out. Diverse creatures correspond to diverse modes in which divine goodness can be communicated, while God knows these modes through self-knowledge. This word cluster joins generosity imagery with an argument about the origin and intelligibility of distinctions.

The shift is particularly instructive across II.1234567 and II.7234567891011121314151617181920212223242526272829303132. A proposed principle higher than goodness would have to bestow a superior munus, but whatever made the gift better would already involve goodness. Later, God’s commune munus follows from his being a common rather than private guide: being itself is the effect common to all. The first use tests the alleged superiority of a gift; the second matches universal responsibility to universal effect. Both support divine primacy, but by different routes.

Further passage references. II.1.5–62; II.3.9; II.6.6–72; II.7.4–623; II.9.15

II.1.5, II.1.6: Munus is the allegedly superior gift whose goodness makes the hypothesis fail II.3.9: Infinite gifts expose a consequence of an endless causal hierarchy II.7.6: Munus becomes the common office of giving being

Places to read

1. II.1.5Goodness gives each thing a share of goodness, testing any proposed principle above it.
2. II.6.6The Platonists’ image of the whole Good poured throughout immensity emphasizes undivided presence.
3. II.9.15Knowledge of the modes of communicating goodness accounts for divine knowledge of distinct particulars.

Translation in this edition

“Communication” concerns received being or goodness. Divine self-communication is not a divisible supply exhausted by distribution. The finite variety of creatures corresponds to different possible modes of receiving, not to pieces of divine substance.

The English “gift” and “office” preserve a real local difference in munus. A Latin register should include both senses rather than supplying one generic equivalent.

attribuere / dare

attribuere / dare. Printed forms: attribueris; dabit; dat.

To attribute to a source or give an effect. Ascribing proper causes to celestial souls does not remove the need for an earthly mediator; giving motion or life specifies a causal contribution. References: IV.1.7, IV.1.66, IV.1.96. See Communication and imparting.

communicare

communicare. Printed forms: communicandam; communicari; communicat; communicatur.

To share or impart being and goodness. Different modes of communicated goodness explain variety in creatures and the distinctness of divine knowledge. References: II.7.4, II.9.15. See Communication and imparting.

communicare — imparting and sharing

communicare — imparting and sharing. Printed forms: communicant; communicat.

To impart or give a share; with cum, to share or have communion with. The world’s members impart their powers to one another. Celestial soul is like angelic mind insofar as it shares with that mind, while remaining unlike it in another respect. The latter occurrence concerns participation or affinity, not a transfer of information. References: IV.1.82, IV.2.10. See Communication and imparting.

dare / donare / exhibere

dare / donare / exhibere. Printed forms: donata; exhibebit; offert.

To give, bestow, present, or offer. Gifts of goodness and being mark causation, while God offering himself under temporal wrapping concerns cognition. References: II.1.6, II.3.9, II.5.3, II.7.17. See Communication and imparting.

diffusio

diffusio. Printed forms: diffusio.

Diffusion or self-communication. Ficino assigns diffusion to the good, contrasted with the purity of truth as the object of seeing. References: II.11.30. See Communication and imparting.

exuberare / fundere

exuberare / fundere. Printed forms: diffunduntur; exuberando; fundere.

To overflow or pour forth diffusely. Whole communication throughout immensity is emphasized without dividing the source into portions. References: II.6.6, II.6.14, II.6.24. See Communication and imparting.

impertire / impartire / largiri

impertire / impartire / largiri. Printed forms: impartit; impertiet; impertit; largietur; Largitur; largitur.

To impart or bestow a share generously. The repeated gifts to angel distinguish being, power, and activity while preserving one causal dependence. References: II.1.5, II.3.9, II.7.4, II.7.23. See Communication and imparting.

influxus

influxus. Printed forms: influxum.

An inflow or received influence. The soul’s actual understanding is assigned to the influence of what is always actual; it is a causal metaphor rather than a physical fluid. References: I.5.10. See Communication and imparting.

largitio

largitio. Printed forms: largitio.

Bounty or giving forth. The bounty of goodness extends farther than form’s reach because matter is receptive to good and needed by the good world. References: I.6.14. See Communication and imparting.

munus

munus. Printed forms: munera; munere; munus.

A gift bestowed or an office performed, according to construction. A higher cause’s gift is tested for superiority; God’s common office corresponds to the common effect being. References: II.1.5, II.1.6, II.3.9, II.7.6. See Communication and imparting.

praebeo / do

praebeo / do. Printed forms: datura; praebere; praebitura.

To supply or give. Matter cannot supply itself with a form it does not already possess; later soul supplies vital motion, showing that the gift’s object fixes the argument. References: I.3.6, I.6.14. See Communication and imparting.

praestare

praestare. Printed forms: praestat.

To bestow something; or to surpass and exercise mastery, according to construction. Agate allegedly bestows strength and fertility; the nature said to produce coral's effects surpasses or governs our souls and storms; soul imparts a trace of self-motion to bodies. The object and dative construction determine the local sense. References: IV.1.20, IV.1.21, IV.1.66. See Communication and imparting.