Accordingly, for Him to be said to be “in a direction” means only that one may face toward Him or point to Him; by “direction” they do not intend an entity existing apart from Him, nor do they mean a mere non-entity. These people may further state that direction is a relational category, so that for something to be in a direction simply signifies that it is distinct(1) from something else, and every self-subsisting being is, by definition, distinct from other beings. They may also explain that being “in a direction” means that He is, in and of Himself, a determinate, real existent even if no other being were postulated. Hence they assert that He was in a direction before the world existed, whereas the first group maintain that direction cannot be conceived except after the world comes into being.

The basis of the matter(2) is their claim that the term “direction” has two usages: a shifting, relative one, and a fixed, inherent one.

As for the first, it comprises the six directions relevant to an animal—its front, toward which it proceeds; its rear, which it leaves behind; its right; its left; what is above it; and what is beneath it, parallel to the above. These directions are not the loci of any property inhering within them(3), nor are they attributes that necessarily belong to them; in fact, merely by the animal’s movement, “right” can be called “left,” “left” “right,” “above” “below,” and “below” “above,”(4)(5) without the directions themselves undergoing any change.

As for the second, it refers to the two directions of the cosmos(6) [namely…](7)