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Select Works of Plotinus · 236 of 752 · tr. Thomas Taylor

Select Works, Section 235

Section 3 3. But how do we explain likings and aversions? Sorrow, too, and anger and pleasure, desire and fear- are these not changes, affectings, present and stirring within the Soul? This question cannot be ignored. To deny that changes take place and are intensely felt is in sharp contradiction to obvious facts. But, while we recognize this, we must make very sure what it is that changes. To represent the Soul or Mind as being the seat of these emotions is not far removed from making it blush or turn pale; it is to forget that while the Soul or Mind is the means, the effect takes place in the distinct organism, the animated body. At the idea of disgrace, the shame is in the Soul; but the body is occupied by the Soul- not to trouble about words- is, at any rate, close to it and very different from soulless matter; and so, is affected in the blood, mobile in its nature. Fear begins in the mind; the pallor is simply the withdrawal of the blood inwards. So in pleasure, the elation is mental, but makes itself felt in the body; the purely mental phase has not reached the point of sensation: the same is true of pain. So desire is ignored in the Soul where the impulse takes its rise; what comes outward thence, the Sensibility knows. When we speak of the Soul or Mind being moved- as in desire, reasoning, judging- we do not mean that it is driven into its act; these movements are its own acts. In the same way when we call Life a movement we have no idea of a changing substance; the naturally appropriate act of each member of the living thing makes up the Life, which is, therefore, not a shifting thing. To bring the matter to the point: put it that life, tendency, are no changements; that memories are not forms stamped upon the mind, that notions are not of the nature of impressions on sealing-wax; we thence draw the general conclusion that in all such states and movements the Soul, or Mind, is unchanged in substance and in essence, that virtue and vice are not something imported into the Soul- as heat and cold, blackness or whiteness are importations into body- but that, in all this relation, matter and spirit are exactly and comprehensively contraries.
Themes
◆Anamnesissoteriology

Platonic recollection: knowledge as the soul's recovery of what it knew before birth, with learning as remembering rather than acquisition.

The text describes memory and knowledge as the mind awakening its powers without anything being introduced, aligning with the Platonic concept of recollection.

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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 text emphasizes direct vision and knowing of the Intellectual Principle as the Soul's essential act rather than acquired information.

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◆Mystical Unionsoteriology

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

The passage describes the Soul's vision of the Intellectual Principle as a possession 'without possession,' indicating a union that transcends physical incorporation.

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◇Evil As Privationtheology

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.

[auto] The passage explicitly states that ignorance is not a positive thing and defines vice as discord or lack of harmony rather than an external presence.

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Related passages · 3 parallels
◆greek_mystery|The Golden Verses of Pythagoras|Section 12 (part 1)
“p. 67 THE SYMBOLS OF PYTHAGORAS All the Symbols are exhortatory in common to the whole of virtue; but particularly each to some particular virtue. Different symbols also are differently adapted to parts of philosophy and discipline. Thus…”
Both passages discuss the concept of virtue and its relationship to the soul, emphasizing harmony and the proper functioning of faculties. They share a philosophical exploration of moral and ethical principles within the soul, though they come from different traditions.
◆platonism|Plato: Timaeus|Section 1
“And about all of them this has to be considered:-that the tendency of each towards its kindred element makes the body which is moved heavy, and the place towards which the motion tends below, but things which have an opposite tendency we ca…”
Both passages explore the relationship between the soul/mind and the body, particularly how emotions and sensations are experienced. They both argue that while the soul or mind is the origin of these experiences, the physical manifestations occur in the body. The passages share a conceptual parallel in distinguishing the immaterial nature of the soul/mind from the material body.
◆renaissance_hermeticism|Agrippa: The Philosophy of Natural Magic, Chapter LXII — Of the Passions of the Mind, their Original Source, Differences, and Kinds|Chapter LXII, Section 1
“CHAPTER LXII. Of the Passions of the Mind, their Original Source, Differences, and Kinds . The passions of the human mind are nothing else but certain motions or inclinations proceeding from the apprehension of any thing, as of good or evil…”
Both passages discuss the nature of the soul and its relationship to emotions and passions. They explore how the soul interacts with the body and how emotions originate and manifest, showing a conceptual parallel in their examination of the soul's role in experiencing and processing emotions.