Select Works of Plotinus · 159 of 752 · tr. Thomas Taylor
Select Works, Section 166
Section 10 10. Under detailed investigation, many other tenets of this school- indeed we might say all- could be corrected with an abundance of proof. But I am withheld by regard for some of our own friends who fell in with this doctrine before joining our circle and, strangely, still cling to it. The school, no doubt, is free-spoken enough- whether in the set purpose of giving its opinions a plausible colour of verity or in honest belief- but we are addressing here our own acquaintances, not those people with whom we could make no way. We have spoken in the hope of preventing our friends from being perturbed by a party which brings, not proof- how could it?- but arbitrary, tyrannical assertion; another style of address would be applicable to such as have the audacity to flout the noble and true doctrines of the august teachers of antiquity. That method we will not apply; anyone that has fully grasped the preceding discussion will know how to meet every point in the system. Only one other tenet of theirs will be mentioned before passing the matter; it is one which surpasses all the rest in sheer folly, if that is the word. They first maintain that the Soul and a certain "Wisdom" [Sophia] declined and entered this lower sphere though they leave us in doubt of whether the movement originated in Soul or in this Sophia of theirs, or whether the two are the same to them- then they tell us that the other Souls came down in the descent and that these members of Sophia took to themselves bodies, human bodies, for example. Yet in the same breath, that very Soul which was the occasion of descent to the others is declared not to have descended. "It knew no decline," but merely illuminated the darkness in such a way that an image of it was formed upon the Matter. Then, they shape an image of that image somewhere below- through the medium of Matter or of Materiality or whatever else of many names they choose to give it in their frequent change of terms, invented to darken their doctrine- and so they bring into being what they call the Creator or Demiurge, then this lower is severed from his Mother [Sophia] and becomes the author of the Kosmos down to the latest of the succession of images constituting it. Such is the blasphemy of one of their writers.
§ Ask Guru about this passage →Themes
Body As Obstacleanthropology
The material body viewed as a prison, tomb, or source of error that hinders spiritual knowledge and return.
[auto] Passions are described as a form of slavery, implying the lower human condition hinders the soul.
All passages →Childlike Innocenceanthropology
The infant or child as symbol of the unfallen, undivided spiritual state; return to primordial simplicity.
[auto] Souls are explicitly compared to undeveloped children to explain failing and error.
All passages →Cosmic Dualismtheology
Ontological opposition between two primal principles (light/darkness, truth/lie, spirit/matter) as the fundamental structure of reality.
[auto] A clear distinction is drawn between life on earth and the higher intellectual Principle or realm above.
All passages →Divine Sparkscosmology
Fragments of divine light or spirit trapped inside material bodies, awaiting liberation and return to their source.
The mention of immortal souls suggests an inner divine nature distinct from the mortal body.
All passages →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 text references a highest intellectual Principle distinct from Souls, implying a hierarchical structure of being.
All passages →Opposites Transcendedanthropology
The dissolution of binary oppositions (male/female, inner/outer, above/below) as a mark of spiritual completion.
[auto] The Sage does not view owning many things as being richer, transcending the opposition of wealth and poverty.
All passages →Pneumatic Electsoteriology
A spiritual elite who possess the divine spark and are predestined for salvation, contrasted with psychic (faithful) and hylic (material) persons.
[auto] The text distinguishes between the Sage, those reminiscent of virtue, and the mere populace, establishing a hierarchy of spiritual status.
All passages →Renunciation Of Wealthethics
The spiritual danger of attachment to material possessions; wealth as a spiritual obstacle.
[auto] The passage explicitly states that the Sage ignores inequalities of wealth and poverty, leaving such preoccupations to another kind of man.
All passages →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 orientation of the Sage toward the realm above implies a journey back to the divine origin.
All passages →Spiritual Ascentpraxis
A staged journey of the soul upward through heavenly realms or levels of being toward the divine source.
[auto] The Sage is described as intent upon the sublimest and the realm above rather than earthly matters.
All passages →Related passages · 15 of 108 parallels
christian_mysticism|Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names|Chapter 1, Section 1d
“And we press upwards to those beams which in the Holy Scripture shine upon us; wherefrom we gain the light which leads us unto 55 the Divine praises 64 64 πρὸς τοὺς θεαρχικοὺς ὕμνους.
Either (1) “leads us to declare the Divine praises”; or…”
Shared concept: Return To Source — The soul's journey back to its divine origin, reversing the fall into matter through stages of purification or illumination. (derived)
western_esoteric|Transcendental Magic I: The Doctrine (Éliphas Lévi)|3. The Triangle Of Solomon-c
“These shells, envelopes petrified or carnified, were such an expression possible, are the source of errors or of evil, which connects with the heaviness and hardness of animal envelopes.
In the book Zohar , and in that of the Revolution of…”
Shared concept: Body As Obstacle — The material body viewed as a prison, tomb, or source of error that hinders spiritual knowledge and return. (derived)
christian_mysticism|Pseudo-Dionysius: The Mystical Theology|Chapter I-b
“They are useful and necessary up to a point, but the Truth lies beyond them and is to be apprehended to a supernatural manner by what later writers call “infused” contemplation.
The sum of the whole matter is that God is incomprehensible.…”
Shared concept: Return To Source — The soul's journey back to its divine origin, reversing the fall into matter through stages of purification or illumination. (derived)
western_esoteric|Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky)|Chapter XVI (part 8)
“188 So writes Schopenhauer in his Counsels and Maxims , and indeed it is very effectively expressed, but we have no foundation whatsoever for regarding man as the summit of that which nature has created.
This is only THE HIGHEST THAT WE KN…”
Shared concept: Cosmic Dualism — Ontological opposition between two primal principles (light/darkness, truth/lie, spirit/matter) as the fundamental structure of reality. (derived)
christian_mysticism|Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names|Chapter 10, Section 1d
“If Time be thought of as an infinite series of finite numbers Eternity is the sum of that series and not its process.
But the name may be applied loosely to the process, though this is generally to be avoided.
According to St.
Thomas, Et…”
Shared concept: Return To Source — The soul's journey back to its divine origin, reversing the fall into matter through stages of purification or illumination. (derived)
christian_mysticism|Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names|Chapter 1, Section 1a
“51 CHAPTER I Dionysius the Presbyter, to his fellow-Presbyter Timothy.
45 45 The name of St.
Paul’s companion is intended to give colour to the writer’s pseudonym.
See Introduction, p.
1; cf.
iii.
2.
What is the purpose of the discou…”
Shared concept: Return To Source — The soul's journey back to its divine origin, reversing the fall into matter through stages of purification or illumination. (derived)
christian_mysticism|Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names|Chapter 1, Section 1k
“) with our hearts predisposed unto the vision of God, and let us bring holy ears to the exposition of God’s holy Names, implanting holy Truths in holy instruments according to the Divine command, and withholding these things from the mocker…”
Shared concept: Return To Source — The soul's journey back to its divine origin, reversing the fall into matter through stages of purification or illumination. (derived)
christian_mysticism|Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names|Chapter 3, Section 1d
“233 Cf p.
77, n.
1.
234 This is profound.
Spatial metaphors are always dangerous, though unavoidable, in Theology.
In space if A is touching B then B must be touching A.
In the spiritual world this is not so.
God is near me (or rathe…”
Shared concept: Return To Source — The soul's journey back to its divine origin, reversing the fall into matter through stages of purification or illumination. (derived)
christian_mysticism|Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names|Chapter 4, Section 1ah
“Aug., Transcende mundum et sape animum, transcende animum et sape Deum.
307 This shows that the Via Negativa starts from something positive.
It is a transcendence, not a mere negation.
308 Prov.
iv.
6, 8 .
309 ὁ ἐμὸς Ἔρως ἐσταύρωται&g…”
Shared concept: Return To Source — The soul's journey back to its divine origin, reversing the fall into matter through stages of purification or illumination. (derived)
christian_mysticism|Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names|Chapter 8, Section 1d
“Thus, ‘tis true to say that it is more in accordance with Divine Righteousness not to lull into its destruction the manliness of the noblest characters through bestowing material goods upon them, nor to leave them without the aid of Divine…”
Shared concept: Return To Source — The soul's journey back to its divine origin, reversing the fall into matter through stages of purification or illumination. (derived)
christian_mysticism|Revelations of Divine Love|Chapter I-a
“"A Revelation of Love—in Sixteen Shewings" This is a Revelation of Love that Jesus Christ, our endless bliss, made in Sixteen Shewings, or Revelations particular.
Of the which the First is of His precious crowning with thorns; and therewit…”
Shared concept: Return To Source — The soul's journey back to its divine origin, reversing the fall into matter through stages of purification or illumination. (derived)
christian_mysticism|Revelations of Divine Love|Chapter VI-a
“"The Goodness of God is the highest prayer, and it cometh down to the lowest part of our need" This Shewing was made to learn our soul wisely to cleave to the Goodness of God.
And in that time the custom of our praying was brought to mind:…”
Shared concept: Return To Source — The soul's journey back to its divine origin, reversing the fall into matter through stages of purification or illumination. (derived)
christian_mysticism|Revelations of Divine Love|Chapter VI-b
“And therefore we may with grace and His help stand in spiritual beholding, with everlasting marvel of this high, overpassing, inestimable Love that Almighty God hath to us of His Goodness.
And therefore we may ask of our Lover with reveren…”
Shared concept: Return To Source — The soul's journey back to its divine origin, reversing the fall into matter through stages of purification or illumination. (derived)
christian_mysticism|Revelations of Divine Love|Chapter X-b
“And He that made man for love, by the same love He would restore man to the same bliss, and overpassing; and like as we were like-made to the Trinity in our first making, our Maker would that we should be like Jesus Christ, Our Saviour, in…”
Shared concept: Return To Source — The soul's journey back to its divine origin, reversing the fall into matter through stages of purification or illumination. (derived)
christian_mysticism|Revelations of Divine Love|Chapter XXI
“"We be now with Him in His Pains and His Passion, dying. We shall be with Him in Heaven. Through learning in this little pain that we suffer here, we shall have an high endless knowledge of God which we could never have without that" It is…”
Shared concept: Return To Source — The soul's journey back to its divine origin, reversing the fall into matter through stages of purification or illumination. (derived)