Select Works, Section 240

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

The passage establishes a sharp opposition between the 'Kind directly opposed to Soul' (corporeal things) and the Soul's essential existence (Authentic Being).

The absolutely simple, undivided first principle from which all multiplicity and existence flows.

The reference to 'Being' as the source of life and beneficence peripherally implies the existence of a supreme first principle.

The soul's journey back to its divine origin, reversing the fall into matter through stages of purification or illumination.

The text describes the 'veritable waking or rising' as a movement away from corporeal things toward the 'Kind whose Being is Authentic,' indicating a return to origin.

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.

The Soul in body is described as 'asleep' and excluded from the 'Kind whose Being is Authentic,' depicting a state of exile or separation.

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

The concept of 'participation in Being' implies a singular source or substance from which all existence derives its measure.

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

[auto] The text characterizes the body as approximating non-being, lacking recuperation power, and being the source of destruction and susceptibility.

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 passage explicitly describes reality as a gradient of 'Being,' where higher participation in Being yields life and beneficence, while waning Being results in corporeality and non-being.

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 defines bodily quality and matter as a 'waning of Being' and approximation to 'non-being,' aligning with the doctrine that evil is a lack of good.

Using apparent contradiction, reversal, or riddle to destabilise ordinary understanding and induce insight.

[auto] The passage concludes with the paradoxical statement 'weak is powerful' to describe the destructive nature of bodily collision arising from deficiency.