And one of their gnostic poets says:

“You are none other than the universe; indeed, you are the universe itself;
Whoever has tasted this secret witnesses it.”

He also says:

“And there is delight when my hand passes over my body,
For in true realization I am none other than you.”

There are many similar statements.

Some speculative theologians who deny divine elevation agree with these people, while others do not. Those who agree are asked:

“How can that negation—‘neither inside nor outside’—be reconciled with this affirmation that He is the existence of everything that exists?”

They reply:

“The former is a judgment of reason; the latter is a judgment of spiritual experience.”

Alternatively, they abandon that negation and say:

“The absolute is a constituent of particular entities, and necessary existence relates to existents as the natural universal relates to individual entities: as a genus relates to its species, and a species to its individual instances, like animality in animals and humanity in human beings.”

At most, this makes Him a condition for the existence of contingent beings, rather than the agent who brings them into being. Universals do not bring their individual instances into being. At most, if universals exist in external reality, they are a condition for those instances to exist—indeed, a constituent of them.

As for those who do not agree with them, most nevertheless accept their statements, or say:

“We do not understand this.”

Or they say:

“On its face, this is disbelief, but it may contain secrets and realities known to those who hold these views.”