PROSLOGION 309
it be then that there is no such nature, since “the fool says in his heart, ‘There is no
God’ ” [Ps. 13:1]? But surely this same fool, when he hears me say this, “something
than which we can conceive of nothing greater,” understands what he hears and what
he understands is in his understanding even if he does not understand it to exist. For it
is one thing for something to be in the understanding and quite another to understand
that the thing in question exists. When a painter thinks of the work he will make
beforehand, he has it in his understanding, but he does not think that what he has yet to
make exists. But once he has painted it, he not only has it in his understanding but he
understands that what he has made exists. Even the fool then must be convinced that in
his understanding at least there is something than which nothing greater can be con-
ceived, for when he hears this, he understands it and whatever is understood is in the
understanding. But surely if the thing be such that we cannot conceive of something
greater, it does not exist solely in the understanding. For if it were there only, one could
also think of it as existing in reality and this is something greater. If the thing than
which none greater can be thought were in the mind alone, then this same thing would
both be and not be something than which nothing greater can be conceived. But surely
this cannot be. Without doubt then there exists both in the understanding and in reality
a being greater than which nothing can be conceived.
CHAPTER 3
So truly does such a thing exist that it cannot be thought of as not existing. For we can
think of something as existing which cannot be thought of as not existing, and such a
thing is greater than what can be thought not to be. Wherefore, if the thing than which
none greater can be thought could be conceived of as not existing, then this very thing
than which none greater can be thought is not a thing than which none greater can be
thought. But this is not possible. Hence, something greater than which nothing can be
conceived so truly exists that it cannot be conceived not to be.
O Lord, our God, you are this being. So truly do you exist that you cannot even
be thought of as nonexistent. And rightly so, for if some mind could think of some-
thing better than you, then the creature would rise above the Creator and would judge
him, which is absurd. It is possible indeed to think of anything other than you as
nonexistent. Of all beings then you alone have existence in the truest and highest
sense, for nothing else so truly is or has existence in so great a measure. Why then does
the fool “say in his heart, ‘There is no God,’” when it is so evident to a reasoning mind
that of all things you exist in a supreme degree? Why indeed save that he is stupid and
a fool!
CHAPTER 4
But how did he come to say in his heart what he could not think? Or why was it he could
not think what he said in his heart? For after all, to say in one’s heart and to think are the
same. And if it be true, or rather, since it is true that be thought it because he said it in
his heart, and it is also true that he did not say it in his heart because he could not think
it, it follows that there is not just one way to think of something or to say it in one’s
heart. In one sense, we think of something when we think of the word that signifies that