Since the qualities, states, and actions manifested in the theatres are in reality to be ascribed to the Very Being manifested in those theatres, it follows that if a certain evil or imperfection is found in any of them, it may possibly be caused by the non-existence of something else; for Being, quâ Being, is pure good; and whenever it seems to us that something existent contains evil, that is owing to the lack of something else which ought to exist, and not to the really existing Being, quâ Being.*

All good and all perfection that you see
Are of the “Truth”, which from all stain is free;
Evil and pain result from some defect,
Some lack of normal receptivity.

Philosophers have alleged that the proposition “Very Being is pure good” is a necessary (self-evident) one.* By way of illustration, they have given some examples. Thus, they say cold, which spoils the fruit and is an evil in relation to the fruit, is not an evil [absolutely], because it is one of the qualities [of Being], and in this respect one of His perfections; but [it is evil] because it prevents the fruit attaining the perfection proper to it. Thus, too, killing, which is an evil, is not an evil by reason of the murderer's power of killing, nor by reason of the power of the instrument to cut, nor of the liability of the body of the person killed to be cut; but [it is an evil] because it deprives a person of life, which is the mere negation [of something positive];* and so on.

Wherever Being's ambit doth extend,
Good and nought else but good is found, O friend;
All evil comes from “not-being”, to wit,
From “other”, and on “other” must depend.*