of an intellectual nature—namely intellects, souls, matter, and forms—exist only in minds, not in external reality.

As for the “third group,” who distinguished between the necessarily existent and the contingently existent, between the Creator and the created, and between the Self-Sufficient, who needs no other, and the dependent, whose existence is sustained only by the Self-Sufficient, they said: Every contingent being accompanied by originated events is itself originated, coming into existence after not having existed; it is created, made, and subject to its Lord. Nothing dependent, contingent, and subject to a Lord can be beginningless, let alone be accompanied by events that have no beginning. Hence the motions of the celestial sphere are evidence that it originated, as previously indicated.

As for “the Lord, exalted is He,” if it is said that He has always spoken whenever He wills, or has always done whatever He wills, there is nothing impossible about His perpetually speaking by His will and power, or His perpetually acting by His will and power. Rather, this is necessary, because speech is an attribute of perfection involving no deficiency. The Lord is therefore more entitled to possess the attribute of speech than anyone else who possesses it. For every perfection involving no deficiency that belongs to a created being is more fittingly attributed to the Creator: the eternal, necessarily existent Creator is more entitled to absolute perfection than the originated, contingent creature. Moreover, every perfection possessed by a created being comes only from the Creator.

Any perfection that He can possess must necessarily belong to Him. For if it did not necessarily belong to Him, it would either be impossible—which is absurd, since it contradicts the premise—or contingent, in which case His possessing it would depend on another, and the Lord