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Select Works of Plotinus · 150 of 752 · tr. Thomas Taylor

Select Works, Section 159

Section 3 3. Ever illuminated, receiving light unfailing, the All-Soul imparts it to the entire series of later Being which by this light is sustained and fostered and endowed with the fullest measure of life that each can absorb. It may be compared with a central fire warming every receptive body within range. Our fire, however, is a thing of limited scope: given powers that have no limitation and are never cut off from the Authentic Existences, how imagine anything existing and yet failing to receive from them? It is of the essence of things that each gives of its being to another: without this communication, The Good would not be Good, nor the Intellectual-Principle an Intellective Principle, nor would Soul itself be what it is: the law is, "some life after the Primal Life, a second where there is a first; all linked in one unbroken chain; all eternal; divergent types being engendered only in the sense of being secondary." In other words, things commonly described as generated have never known a beginning: all has been and will be. Nor can anything disappear unless where a later form is possible: without such a future there can be no dissolution. If we are told that there is always Matter as a possible term, we ask why then should not Matter itself come to nothingness. If we are told it may, then we ask why it should ever have been generated. If the answer comes that it had its necessary place as the ultimate of the series, we return that the necessity still holds. With Matter left aside as wholly isolated, the Divine Beings are not everywhere but in some bounded place, walled off, so to speak; if that is not possible, Matter itself must receive the Divine light [and so cannot be annihilated].
Themes
◆Active Contemplationpraxis

A form of meditation that uses imagery, imagination, or symbolic thought rather than purely empty stillness.

The passage characterizes the Divine Mind's existence as an active process of mentation and self-observation.

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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.

The text outlines the flow from Supreme Mind to Reason-Principle to Soul, while critiquing specific intermediary separations that would deny intellection.

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◆Gnosis Direct Knowledgesoteriology

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

The author argues that the Soul must derive Reason directly from the Intellectual-Principle to possess true intellection without intermediaries.

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◆Logoscosmology

The divine reason, word, or ordering principle through which the universe was created; mediates between the transcendent God and the material world.

The text explicitly discusses the 'Reason-Principle' (Logos) as an emanation from the Supreme Mind and its necessary relationship to the Soul.

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◆Unity Of Beingtheology

The doctrine that all existence is ultimately one substance or one divine reality; non-duality as a theological claim.

The text implies a non-dual reality within the Divine Hypostasis where intellective act and consciousness are unified.

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◇Apophatic Theologytheology

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

[auto] The author defines the Divine by negating logical distinctions and separations that apply to human thought.

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◇Divine Simplicitytheology

The doctrine that God has no parts, divisions, or composite attributes; pure undivided being.

[auto] The passage centrally argues that in the Divine Mind, Thinker and Thought are one and the same Act without separation or parts.

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◇Opposites Transcendedanthropology

The dissolution of binary oppositions (male/female, inner/outer, above/below) as a mark of spiritual completion.

[auto] The passage asserts that the distinction between thinker and thought cannot be made in the Divine, transcending this binary opposition.

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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 text explicitly describes the Divine Mind as thinking itself, observing itself, and possessing knowledge of its own knowing.

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Related passages · 7 parallels
◆christian_mysticism|The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme|Chapter 2 (part 4)
“She is passive, but the Spirit of God is active, like the soul in the body." ( Clavis , v. 18.) This eternal Trinity is inconceivable in its aspect as a spiritual potentiality, in the same sense as a fire is inconceivable if it does not bu…”
Both passages discuss the concept of a divine, eternal, and interconnected reality that sustains all existence. They describe a hierarchy of being where the divine principle emanates and sustains lower forms of existence, using metaphors like light and fire.
◆christian_mysticism|The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme|Chapter 2 (part 6)
“2.) "If there is to be a light, there must be a fire. The fire produces the light, and the light renders the fire manifest; it receives the nature of the fire within itself and resides in the fire." ( Mysterium , xl. 2.) "Joy enters the s…”
Both passages discuss the interdependence of opposing forces or principles, such as light and darkness, fire and spirit, and the necessity of their interaction for the existence and functioning of the universe. They also highlight the hierarchical nature of these principles, with one being superior to the other.
◆christian_mysticism|The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme|Chapter 3 (part 5)
“The first of these three states, being a beginning of all power and strength, originates from the quality of the Father; the second, being the source of all activity and differentiation, comes from the quality of the Son; and the third, bei…”
Both passages discuss the interplay between divine qualities and the nature of existence, emphasizing the dynamic interaction between light, darkness, and the divine essence. They share a mystical exploration of the relationship between the divine and the material world, though they come from different traditions.
◆christian_mysticism|The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme|Chapter 3 (part 6)
“49.) Thus the light conquers the darkness, but does not destroy it; it merely becomes victorious over it and consumes it in a manner comparable to that of the assimilation of food by the organism which conquers and consumes that food by mea…”
Both passages discuss the interplay between light and darkness, and the transformation of one into the other. They also explore the concept of a divine principle that manifests through these elements, highlighting the spiritual and metaphysical aspects of existence.
◆christian_mysticism|The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme|Chapter 5 (part 6)
“"In the lightning flash, the fourth form of nature, is the origin of life, and it attains perfection in the constancy of the fire. Here, in the object of division, is the p. 111 spirit born, and this spirit can either go backwards and ent…”
Both passages discuss the concept of free will and its consequences. They explore how beings can choose between different paths—one leading to enlightenment or divine connection, and the other leading to darkness or separation from the divine. The passages also touch on the idea of the divine light and its relationship to the soul or spirit.
◆christian_mysticism|The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme|Chapter 6 (part 5)
“But when this took place the love in the light of God broke through that heaven of division and ignited the heat." ( Aurora , xxv. 68.) "God, the eternal light and the eternal will, shines within the darkness, and the darkness has captured…”
Both passages discuss the emanation and distribution of divine light or energy from a higher source to lower realms, emphasizing the interconnectedness and sustainability of all beings through this divine influence. They share a mystical perspective on the nature of reality and the role of divine principles in creation.
◆christian_mysticism|The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme|Chapter 6 (part 8)
“They are fire-flames, illumined by the light of God, but we attain the great fountain of meekness and love which is welling up within the holy essentiality of God." 1 ( Menschwerdung , i. 5.) Man comprises all three principles: the princip…”
Both passages discuss the tripartite nature of existence and the interconnectedness of all things, with Passage A focusing on the three principles within man and Passage B on the hierarchical and interconnected nature of divine and cosmic existence.