Select Works, Section 195 (part 2)

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

[auto] It acknowledges that bodily influence limits the excellence attainable in the universe compared to the unmingled realm.

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

[auto] The passage establishes an ontological distinction between the ordering power of Reason and the influence of bodily Matter.

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.

The analogy of the human body (head and frame) illustrates that all parts of the cosmos are bound together under one nature.

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] The passage centrally defends Providence against accusations regarding evil and the distribution of wealth, asserting that Reason rules the universe.

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

[auto] It distinguishes the 'excellence of the unmingled' from the mixture of the material world, implying a simple higher nature.

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 explicitly contrasts 'Firsts' and the 'Secondary', outlining a gradation from the Divine Intellect to the mixed Kosmos.

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.

Evil acts are described as dependent on perverted Souls' choices rather than a positive force from Providence, implying evil is a lack or distortion.

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 discusses 'Divine Reason' as the principle that brings flesh under order and maintains contact with Matter.

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.

The passage compares the human being to 'Man as in the Divine Intellect', suggesting the human reflects the divine archetype.

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

The universe is described as 'one living organism' where all parts are connected under a ruling reason-principle.