QUOD MAIOR SIT QUAM COGITARI POSSIT.
The Unthinkable Greatness of the Lord
The Lord is not only that than which nothing greater can be thought, but something greater than can be thought, since the very idea of such a being proves that nothing greater than Him could be conceived.
So then, Lord, you are not only that than which nothing greater can be thought; you are something greater than can be thought. Since it's possible to think that something of this kind exists: if you yourself are not that being, then something greater than you can be thought — which cannot actually be the case.1
Read the original Latin
Ergo domine, non solum es quo maius cogitari nequit sed es quiddam maius quam cogitari possit. Quoniam namque valet cogitari esse aliquid huiusmodi: si tu non es hoc ipsum, potest cogitari aliquid maius te; quod fieri nequit.
Notes
- 1 ↩The clause si tu non es hoc ipsum is a conditional: Anselm argues that if God were not the very being than which nothing greater can be thought, a greater could be conceived — which is impossible. The final clause quod fieri nequit closes the reductio.
Proslogion (Address / Discourse on the Existence of God) companion
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Anselm designed the Proslogion to be read slowly as prayer, and the Chosen Portion app serves it exactly that way — one short portion per day.
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