Power And Powerlessness

Sed et omnipotens quomodo es, si omnia non potes? Aut si non potes corrumpi nec mentiri nec facere verum esse falsum, ut quod factum est non esse factum, et plura similiter: quomodo potes omnia? An haec posse non est potentia, sed impotentia? Nam qui haec potest quod sibi non expedit et quod non debet potest. Quae quanto magis potest, tanto magis adversitas et perversitas possunt in illum et ipse minus contra illas. Qui ergo sic potest, non potentia potest, sed impotentia. Non enim ideo dicitur posse, quia ipse possit, sed quia sua impotentia facit aliud in se posse; sive aliquo alio genere loquendi, sicut multa improprie dicuntur. Ut cum ponimus 'esse' pro 'non esse', et 'facere' pro eo quod est 'non facere', aut pro 'nihil facere'. Nam saepe dicimus ei, qui rem aliquam esse negat: sic est, quemadmodum dicis esse; cum magis proprie videatur dici: sic non est quemadmodum dicis non esse. Item dicimus: iste sedet, sicut ille facit, aut: iste quiescit, sicut ille facit; cum 'sedere' sit quiddam non facere et 'quiescere' sit nihil facere. Sic itaque, cum dicitur habere potentiam faciendi aut patiendi quod sibi non expedit aut quod non debet, impotentia intelligitur per potentiam; quia quo plus habet hanc potentiam, eo adversitas et perversitas in illum sunt potentiores, et ille contra eas impotentior. Ergo, Domine Deus, inde verius et omnipotens, quia nihil potes per impotentiam, et nihil potest contra te. Sanctus Anselmus Cantuariensis, Proslogion, Caput VII Source: Migne PL 158.230b-d

But how are you omnipotent if you are not able to do everything? Or if you cannot be corrupted, or deceive or make the true false, so that what is is made what is not, and many other similar things, how are you said to be able to do everything? Or do these things come not from power, but from powerlessness? For he who can do these things does what does not benefit himself and he should not do. And the more he is able to do these things, so the much more are adversity and perversity able to find a place in him and he will be less oppossed to them. Therefore he who can act so, does not do these things by power but by powerlessness. For it is not said that he can do them because he is able to, but because of his powerlessness another can do them in him, or it is meant in some other manner, as many other words are used incorrectly, just as 'to be' for 'not to be' and 'to do' for 'not to do' or 'to do nothing'. So often we say when someone denies something exists 'so it is as you say it is,' when it would seem more correct to say 'so it is not as you say it is not.' Likewise we say, 'He sits,' as if he were doing something, or 'he rests,' as if he were doing something, when to sit is a certain way of not doing, and to rest is not to do. Thus when it is said there is power to do or suffer what does not benefit, or which should not be done, powerlessness should be understood by power, because the more of this 'power' there is, the more power adversity and perversity have in one, and against them one is more powerless. Therefore, Lord God, you are more truly omnipotent, because you do nothing through powerlessness, and nothing has power against you. Saint Anselm of Canterbury, Proslogion, Chapter 7