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Select Works of Plotinus · 64 of 752 · tr. Thomas Taylor

Select Works, Section 70

Section 9 9. And this inner vision, what is its operation? Newly awakened it is all too feeble to bear the ultimate splendour. Therefore the Soul must be trained- to the habit of remarking, first, all noble pursuits, then the works of beauty produced not by the labour of the arts but by the virtue of men known for their goodness: lastly, you must search the souls of those that have shaped these beautiful forms. But how are you to see into a virtuous soul and know its loveliness? Withdraw into yourself and look. And if you do not find yourself beautiful yet, act as does the creator of a statue that is to be made beautiful: he cuts away here, he smoothes there, he makes this line lighter, this other purer, until a lovely face has grown upon his work. So do you also: cut away all that is excessive, straighten all that is crooked, bring light to all that is overcast, labour to make all one glow of beauty and never cease chiselling your statue, until there shall shine out on you from it the godlike splendour of virtue, until you shall see the perfect goodness surely established in the stainless shrine. When you know that you have become this perfect work, when you are self-gathered in the purity of your being, nothing now remaining that can shatter that inner unity, nothing from without clinging to the authentic man, when you find yourself wholly true to your essential nature, wholly that only veritable Light which is not measured by space, not narrowed to any circumscribed form nor again diffused as a thing void of term, but ever unmeasurable as something greater than all measure and more than all quantity- when you perceive that you have grown to this, you are now become very vision: now call up all your confidence, strike forward yet a step- you need a guide no longer- strain, and see. This is the only eye that sees the mighty Beauty. If the eye that adventures the vision be dimmed by vice, impure, or weak, and unable in its cowardly blenching to see the uttermost brightness, then it sees nothing even though another point to what lies plain to sight before it. To any vision must be brought an eye adapted to what is to be seen, and having some likeness to it. Never did eye see the sun unless it had first become sunlike, and never can the soul have vision of the First Beauty unless itself be beautiful. Therefore, first let each become godlike and each beautiful who cares to see God and Beauty. So, mounting, the Soul will come first to the Intellectual-Principle and survey all the beautiful Ideas in the Supreme and will avow that this is Beauty, that the Ideas are Beauty. For by their efficacy comes all Beauty else, but the offspring and essence of the Intellectual-Being. What is beyond the Intellectual-Principle we affirm to be the nature of Good radiating Beauty before it. So that, treating the Intellectual-Kosmos as one, the first is the Beautiful: if we make distinction there, the Realm of Ideas constitutes the Beauty of the Intellectual Sphere; and The Good, which lies beyond, is the Fountain at once and Principle of Beauty: the Primal Good and the Primal Beauty have the one dwelling-place and, thus, always, Beauty's seat is There.
Themes
◆Anthropomorphismtheology

Attributing human characteristics, emotions, or form to the divine; embodied divine imagery.

The divine source is referred to metaphorically as 'Fatherland' and 'beloved Father'.

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◆Divine Sparkscosmology

Fragments of divine light or spirit trapped inside material bodies, awaiting liberation and return to their source.

The soul's fall into the dark depths implies it originated from a higher luminous source.

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◆Inner Lightanthropology

The divine spark or luminous quality residing within the human person, potentially recognisable through introspection.

Withdrawal into oneself suggests accessing an internal divine reality rather than external shadows.

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◇Apophatic Theologytheology

Describing the divine only by negation—God transcends all positive categories and concepts; the via negativa.

[auto] The divine Beauty is described as 'inaccessible' and dwelling 'apart from the common ways,' transcending ordinary perception.

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◇Body As Obstacleanthropology

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

[auto] The passage explicitly instructs turning away from material beauty and warns that attachment to it precipitates the soul into darkness.

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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 material world of shadows and the Intellective-Being of light.

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◇Divine Hiddennesstheology

The supreme God's radical concealment beyond ordinary knowledge or perception; the Hidden Father.

[auto] The Beauty dwells in 'consecrated precincts' and is 'inaccessible' to the profane.

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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] Material beauty is described as 'copies, vestiges, shadows' of a higher reality they tell of.

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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 achieving a 'vision of the inaccessible Beauty' through knowing copies versus reality.

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◇Inner Silencepraxis

The practice of stilling the mind and speech to open receptivity to divine knowledge or presence.

[auto] The instruction to 'withdraw into himself' and forego what is known by the eyes implies a stilling of external senses.

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◇Kingdom Withinanthropology

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

[auto] The path to the divine is found by withdrawing 'into himself' rather than seeking externally.

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◇Monadcosmology

The absolutely simple, undivided first principle from which all multiplicity and existence flows.

[auto] The 'inaccessible Beauty' and 'Fatherland' function as the singular transcendent source from which all flows.

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◇Mystical Unionsoteriology

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

[auto] The goal is the 'vision of the inaccessible Beauty,' implying a direct encounter or union with the divine.

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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] The text urges the soul to 'flee then to the beloved Fatherland' and withdraw into itself to return to the origin.

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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] The primary instruction is to 'withdraw into himself,' indicating introspection as the path to liberation.

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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 passage describes a 'flight' and 'path' upward away from material depths toward the Intellective-Being.

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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 distinguishes between the body (material beauty), the Soul (which can fall), and Intellective-Being.

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Related passages · 5 parallels
◆christian_mysticism|Pseudo-Dionysius: The Mystical Theology|Chapter IIa
“How it is necessary to be united with and render praise to Him Who is the cause of all and above all. Unto this Darkness which is beyond Light we pray that we may come, and may attain unto vision through the loss of sight and knowledge, an…”
Both passages describe a process of inner transformation and purification to achieve a higher state of being and perception. They emphasize the need for the soul to become beautiful or godlike to perceive ultimate beauty or divinity, using the metaphor of sculpting a statue to illustrate this process.
◆greek_mystery|Orphic Hymns|Hymn LXXVI. MNEMOSYNE, or the GODDESS of MEMORY
“LXXVI. To MNEMOSYNE, or the GODDESS of MEMORY * . The FUMIGATION from FRANKINCENSE. THE consort I invoke of Jove divine, Source of the holy, sweetly-speaking Nine; p. 215 Free from th' oblivion of the fallen mind, By whom the soul with inte…”
Both passages emphasize the purification and beautification of the soul as a prerequisite for perceiving higher truths or divine beauty. They share the concept of inner vision and the necessity of becoming like the divine to perceive it.
◆platonism|Plato: Republic|Section 1c
“Moreover, I said, you must not wonder that those who attain to this beatific vision are unwilling to descend to human affairs; for their souls are ever hastening into the upper world where they desire to dwell; which desire of theirs is ver…”
Both passages discuss the purification and transformation of the soul to perceive ultimate reality or beauty. They emphasize the need for inner vision and the preparation required to behold the divine or the forms, highlighting the concept of the soul's ascent and the necessity of moral and intellectual purification.
◆renaissance_hermeticism|The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part II (Gli Eroici Furori)|First Dialoguec
“And I will say, because to me this pain Is dearer than all other pleasures are. Mar. In reference to this I told you that although one should be attached to corporeal and external beauty yet he may honourably and worthily be so attached;…”
Both passages discuss the journey of the soul towards the contemplation of divine beauty and the necessity of inner purification and virtue to perceive higher realities. They emphasize the transformation of the individual to become like the divine beauty they seek to understand.
◆western_esoteric|Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky)|Chapter XXII (part 16)
“Having become indifferent to objects of perception, the pupil must seek out the Rajah of the senses, the Thought-Producer, him who awakes illusions. The mind is the great slayer of the real. Let the Disciple slay the Slayer. For— When to…”
Both passages emphasize the need for inner purification and transformation to perceive ultimate reality or divine beauty. They share the theme of self-improvement and the necessity of inner vision to attain spiritual insight.