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Select Works of Plotinus · 9 of 752 · tr. Thomas Taylor

Select Works, Section 13

Section 9 9. That Soul, then, in us, will in its nature stand apart from all that can cause any of the evils which man does or suffers; for all such evil, as we have seen, belongs only to the Animate, the Couplement. But there is a difficulty in understanding how the Soul can go guiltless if our mentation and reasoning are vested in it: for all this lower kind of knowledge is delusion and is the cause of much of what is evil. When we have done evil it is because we have been worsted by our baser side- for a man is many- by desire or rage or some evil image: the misnamed reasoning that takes up with the false, in reality fancy, has not stayed for the judgement of the Reasoning-Principle: we have acted at the call of the less worthy, just as in matters of the sense-sphere we sometimes see falsely because we credit only the lower perception, that of the Couplement, without applying the tests of the Reasoning-Faculty. The Intellectual-Principle has held aloof from the act and so is guiltless; or, as we may state it, all depends on whether we ourselves have or have not put ourselves in touch with the Intellectual-Realm either in the Intellectual-Principle or within ourselves; for it is possible at once to possess and not to use. Thus we have marked off what belongs to the Couplement from what stands by itself: the one group has the character of body and never exists apart from body, while all that has no need of body for its manifestation belongs peculiarly to Soul: and the Understanding, as passing judgement upon Sense-Impressions, is at the point of the vision of Ideal-Forms, seeing them as it were with an answering sensation (i.e, with consciousness) this last is at any rate true of the Understanding in the Veritable Soul. For Understanding, the true, is the Act of the Intellections: in many of its manifestations it is the assimilation and reconciliation of the outer to the inner. Thus in spite of all, the Soul is at peace as to itself and within itself: all the changes and all the turmoil we experience are the issue of what is subjoined to the Soul, and are, as have said, the states and experiences of this elusive "Couplement."
Themes
◇Body As Obstacleanthropology

The material body viewed as a prison, tomb, or source of error that hinders spiritual knowledge and return.

[auto] Evil is explicitly attributed to the Animate and Couplement, which hinder the higher Soul.

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◇Cosmic Dualismtheology

Ontological opposition between two primal principles (light/darkness, truth/lie, spirit/matter) as the fundamental structure of reality.

[auto] A clear opposition is drawn between the guiltless higher Soul/Intellect and the evil-prone Animate/Couplement.

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◇Emanation Hierarchycosmology

A chain of divine beings or principles flowing downward from a single transcendent source (the One or the Father), each level less perfect than the one above.

[auto] The passage distinguishes between the Intellectual-Principle, the Soul, and the Couplement (body), implying a hierarchical structure of being.

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◇Gnosis Direct Knowledgesoteriology

Salvation through direct experiential knowledge of the divine nature, not through faith, ritual, or moral works alone.

[auto] Salvation is framed as a matter of contact with the Intellectual-Realm rather than ritual or faith.

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◇Kingdom Withinanthropology

The claim that the divine realm is present inside the individual, accessible without external mediation.

[auto] The Soul and access to the Intellectual-Realm are described as being 'in us'.

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◇Mystical Unionsoteriology

The merging of the individual soul or self with the divine, transcending personal identity.

[auto] The passage states that salvation depends on whether we put ourselves in touch with the Intellectual-Realm.

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◇Return To Sourcesoteriology

The soul's journey back to its divine origin, reversing the fall into matter through stages of purification or illumination.

[auto] Contact with the Intellectual-Realm represents a return to the divine origin away from the baser side.

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◇Self Knowledgesoteriology

The recognition of one's own true divine nature as the primary path to liberation; 'know thyself' as soteriology.

[auto] Liberation depends on distinguishing the true Intellectual-Principle from the baser side and misnamed reasoning.

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◇Spiritual Ascentpraxis

A staged journey of the soul upward through heavenly realms or levels of being toward the divine source.

[auto] The goal is described as putting oneself in touch with the Intellectual-Realm, implying an upward movement.

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◇Tripartite Soulanthropology

Division of the human being into three principles: spirit (pneuma), soul (psyche), and body/matter (hyle or soma).

[auto] The text differentiates the Intellectual-Principle, the Soul with reasoning, and the lower Couplement or body.

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Related passages · 3 parallels
◆christian_mysticism|Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names|Chapter 4, Section 1{
“127 There remains but one alternative: Evil is a weakness and deficiency of Good. 31. Good things have all one cause. If evil is opposed to the Good, then hath evil many causes. The efficient causes of evil results, however, are not any…”
Both passages explore the nature of evil and its relationship to the soul or the good. They both argue that evil is not inherent in the higher aspects of being (the Intellectual-Principle in Plotinus, the Good in the second passage) but rather arises from lower, more base aspects (the Couplement in Plotinus, the deficiency of Good in the second passage).
◆christian_mysticism|The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme|Chapter 5 (part 10)
“119 The evil spirits are especially inimical to man; but they cannot injure him if his will is directed towards the divine, and if he does not permit himself to be captured by evil desire. No man, except he who is regenerated in the spirit…”
Both passages discuss the nature of the soul and its relationship with evil or lower desires. They explore the idea that the soul can remain guiltless or free from evil influences if it aligns itself with higher principles or divine influences.
◆hermeticism|Corpus Hermeticum 6: The All-Father|Section 1b
“So then, Asclepius, the name alone of Good is found in men, the thing itself nowhere [in them], for this can never be. For no material body doth contain It - a thing bound on all sides by bad, by labors, pains, desires and passions, by err…”
Both passages discuss the nature of good and evil, the separation of the divine from the material world, and the human tendency to mistake evil for good. They also emphasize the role of higher knowledge or understanding in distinguishing the true nature of good.