 Indeed the intrinsic duality of the first caused intelligence exhibits both the structure of the universe (Ilāhiyyāt, I, 7, 47, 18–19) and, at the same time, the reason the universe unfolds: if the First Principle’s thought can only be simple and auto-reflective, that of the first caused intelligence is already a complex thought. This first caused intelligence has not only two possible objects of thought (its Principle and itself); it also has a thought of itself, which is in turn complex: it reflects the duality of its own being, in which essence and existence (and therefore possibility and necessity) are to be distinguished. Hence the first caused intelligence thinks of the First Principle and then proceeds in its auto-intellection according to a descent which, as in a mirror, reflects (thus showing it in reverse), the ontological order of causality: the intelligence thinks first of all of its existence or actualization (its necessity per aliud) and then recognizes its potential foundation (its essence as possible). The effect of this articulation is consequently triple (“from every intelligence three things follow”: Ilāhiyyāt, IX, 4, 406 11–15): 