Select Works of Plotinus · 104 of 752 · tr. Thomas Taylor
Select Works, Section 112 (part 1)
Section 9 9.
This brings us to the Spindle-destiny, spun according to the ancients by the Fates.
To Plato the Spindle represents the co-operation of the moving and the stable elements of the kosmic circuit: the Fates with Necessity, Mother of the Fates, manipulate it and spin at the birth of every being, so that all comes into existence through Necessity.
In the Timaeus, the creating God bestows the essential of the Soul, but it is the divinities moving in the kosmos [the stars] that infuse the powerful affections holding from Necessity our impulse and our desire, our sense of pleasure and of pain- and that lower phase of the Soul in which such experiences originate.
By this statement our personality is bound up with the stars, whence our Soul [as total of Principle and affections] takes shape; and we are set under necessity at our very entrance into the world: our temperament will be of the stars' ordering, and so, therefore, the actions which derive from temperament, and all the experiences of a nature shaped to impressions.
What, after all this, remains to stand for the "We"?
The "We" is the actual resultant of a Being whose nature includes, with certain sensibilities, the power of governing them.
Cut off as we are by the nature of the body, God has yet given us, in the midst of all this evil, virtue the unconquerable, meaningless in a state of tranquil safety but everything where its absence would be peril of fall.
Our task, then, is to work for our liberation from this sphere, severing ourselves from all that has gathered about us; the total man is to be something better than a body ensouled- the bodily element dominant with a trace of Soul running through it and a resultant life-course mainly of the body- for in such a combination all is, in fact, bodily.
There is another life, emancipated, whose quality is progression towards the higher realm, towards the good and divine, towards that Principle which no one possesses except by deliberate usage but so may appropriate, becoming, each personally, the higher, the beautiful, the Godlike, and living, remote, in and by It- unless one choose to go bereaved of that higher Soul and therefore, to live fate-bound, no longer profiting, merely, by the significance of the sidereal system but becoming as it were a part sunken in it and dragged along with the whole thus adopted.
For every human Being is of twofold character; there is that compromise-total and there is the Authentic Man: and it is so with the Kosmos as a whole; it is in the one phase a conjunction of body with a certain form of the Soul bound up in body; in the other phase it is the Universal Soul, that which is not itself embodied but flashes down its rays into the embodied Soul: and the same twofold quality belongs to the Sun and the other members of the heavenly system.
To the remoter Soul, the pure, sun and stars communicate no baseness.
In their efficacy upon the [material] All, they act as parts of it, as ensouled bodies within it; and they act only upon what is partial; body is the agent while, at the same time, it becomes the vehicle through which is transmitted something of the star's will and of that authentic Soul in it which is steadfastly in contemplation of the Highest.
But [with every allowance to the lower forces] all follows either upon that Highest or rather upon the Beings about It- we may think of the Divine as a fire whose outgoing warmth pervades the Universe- or upon whatsoever is transmitted by the one Soul [the divine first Soul] to the other, its Kin [the Soul of any particular being].
All that is graceless is admixture.
The material body viewed as a prison, tomb, or source of error that hinders spiritual knowledge and return.
The body is described as 'evil' that cuts us off, and the task is to work for liberation from the sphere by severing from what has gathered about us, with the bodily element dominant making 'all, in fact, bodily.'
The Hermetic axiom that the structure of the cosmos is reflected at every scale — 'as above, so below; as within, so without' — making each level a legible map of the others.
[auto] The passage explicitly discusses sympathy and correspondence in the All as the basis for reading signs in parts.
The Stoic and Plotinian doctrine that all parts of the cosmos are bound by hidden affinities, so that a movement in one part resonates through the whole; the metaphysical basis for astrology, magic, and divination.
[auto] It defines the metaphysical basis for divination as hidden affinities enchaining all things in the All.
The doctrine that the divine is present within all things and the universe itself, pervading creation rather than remaining solely transcendent above it. Distinct from unity_of_being (the general claim that all existence is one substance, agnostic about whether that substance indwells its parts) and from kingdom_within (the divine present specifically IN THE INDIVIDUAL human, accessible without mediation) — divine_immanence is the general pervading-presence claim applied to all of creation, not a human-specific indwelling.
The Divine is described as 'a fire whose outgoing warmth pervades the Universe' and the one Soul transmits to other Souls its Kin — the divine is present within all things pervading creation.
Pronoia — the doctrine that the divine actively orders the unfolding of the cosmos and human affairs toward intelligible ends, against pure chance or blind necessity.
[auto] It states there is nothing undesigned or of chance, but a purposeful arrangement from the Firsts.
Fragments of divine light or spirit trapped inside material bodies, awaiting liberation and return to their source.
The 'higher Soul' that one can appropriate by deliberate usage, contrasted with the fate-bound lower soul dragged along in the sidereal system, functions as a fragment of divine light trapped in material existence awaiting liberation.
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.
It describes a continuous progression of Kinds working itself out starting from the Firsts.
Augustinian and Plotinian doctrine that evil has no positive being of its own but is a lack, distortion, or absence of the good — denying ontological dualism while preserving moral seriousness.
The closing line 'All that is graceless is admixture' and the description of the body as 'evil' that virtue must conquer frame evil as absence or mixture rather than positive being.
The deeper aspect of the individual's own consciousness aligned with divine or spiritual truth, distinct from the ego or everyday personality — a locus of guidance and identity that can speak with its own recognisable 'voice' in moments of crisis, carrying memory or knowledge the ordinary self lacks. Distinct from inner_light (a static luminous quality or spark, not an alternate seat of identity and agency) and kingdom_within (the claim that the divine realm generally is present inside the individual, not this specific personal higher consciousness).
The 'Authentic Man' and the 'higher Soul' that one can appropriate by deliberate usage represent a deeper aspect of consciousness aligned with divine truth, distinct from the compromise-total personality.
The doctrine that the cosmos unfolds as a structured descent of spirit into matter — a directional process traced stage by stage from an unconditioned principle down through successive planes to full materialization — complemented by its own eventual return ('evolution'). Distinct from emanation_hierarchy (the static structure of the resulting levels of the cascade) and cosmogony (a single originating event rather than an ongoing staged process) in naming the directional cosmic PROCESS of descent itself, paired with its own complementary ascent.
The passage describes a directional descent: the Soul receives its essential from the creating God, then stars infuse affections into the lower phase, and the soul is set under necessity at entrance into the world — a staged process from higher to lower.
The divine reason, word, or ordering principle through which the universe was created; mediates between the transcendent God and the material world.
[auto] The passage centrally seeks the 'comprehensive principle of co-ordination' that orders the stars and allows for signification, aligning with the definition of divine reason or ordering principle.
The human being as a small-scale image of the entire cosmos; the body, soul, and intellect mirroring the structure of the heavens and the divine — distinct from correspondence in that it makes the human the privileged mirror.
[auto] It draws a direct analogy between body parts indicating character and humans being members of the cosmic whole.
The absolutely simple, undivided first principle from which all multiplicity and existence flows.
[auto] The passage references a 'one principle underlying any living unit' that enables reasoning from member to member, reflecting the concept of a singular first principle.
The merging of the individual soul or self with the divine, transcending personal identity.
The passage describes 'becoming, each personally, the higher, the beautiful, the Godlike, and living, remote, in and by It' — a merging of the individual with the divine that transcends personal identity.
The soul's journey back to its divine origin, reversing the fall into matter through stages of purification or illumination.
The passage centrally prescribes 'our liberation from this sphere, severing ourselves from all that has gathered about us' and 'progression towards the higher realm, towards the good and divine' — the soul's journey back to its origin.
The recognition of one's own true divine nature as the primary path to liberation; 'know thyself' as soteriology.
The passage distinguishes the 'We' (the actual resultant of a Being with sensibilities) from the 'Authentic Man,' making the recognition of one's true divine nature the primary path to liberation.
The felt condition of exile from one's divine origin — Rumi's reed flute torn from its bed, Plotinus's 'we have forgotten,' the Gnostic forgetfulness; the affective wound that complements return_to_source and gives the return its motive.
'Cut off as we are by the nature of the body' and 'unless one choose to go bereaved of that higher Soul' express the felt condition of exile from one's divine origin that gives the return its motive.
A staged journey of the soul upward through heavenly realms or levels of being toward the divine source.
The passage describes 'progression towards the higher realm, towards the good and divine, towards that Principle' as a staged journey upward through levels of being toward the source.
The rule of the stars and planetary powers over mortal destiny — the astrological governors whose spheres bind souls to birth, error, and death; in Sethian gnosis the 'error of the stars' that the savior exposes, and from which the incorruptible generation alone is free. Distinct from cosmic_sympathy (a doctrine of universal affinity) in being a bondage-to-powers claim, and from archons (the rulers as personal beings) in concerning the astral machinery itself.
The passage centrally argues that personality is bound up with the stars, that we are set under necessity at our entrance into the world, and that our temperament and actions derive from the stars' ordering — the astrological governors binding souls to birth and fate.
The doctrine — central to Eastern Orthodox and Maximian theology — that the human person is progressively transformed into a partaker of the divine nature by grace, not merely justified or united in passing ecstasy.
The passage explicitly describes the human becoming 'the higher, the beautiful, the Godlike' through deliberate usage — a progressive transformation into a partaker of the divine nature.
The doctrine that all existence is ultimately one substance or one divine reality; non-duality as a theological claim.
[auto] The text asserts that 'in different ways the one law applies' and 'All teems with symbol,' indicating a unified reality where parts reflect the whole.