Select Works of Plotinus · 276 of 752 · tr. Thomas Taylor
Select Works, Section 265 (part 2)
And this is how Time is omnipresent: that Soul is absent from no fragment of the Kosmos just as our Soul is absent from no particle of ourselves.
As for those who pronounce Time a thing of no substantial existence, of no reality, they clearly belie God Himself whenever they say "He was" or "He will be": for the existence indicated by the "was and will be" can have only such reality as belongs to that in which it is said to be situated:- but this school demands another type of argument.
Meanwhile we have a supplementary observation to make.
Take a man walking and observe the advance he has made; that advance gives you the quantity of movement he is employing: and when you know that quantity- represented by the ground traversed by his feet, for, of course, we are supposing the bodily movement to correspond with the pace he has set within himself- you know also the movement that exists in the man himself before the feet move.
You must relate the body, carried forward during a given period of Time, to a certain quantity of Movement causing the progress and to the Time it takes, and that again to the Movement, equal in extension, within the man's soul.
But the Movement within the Soul- to what are you to (relate) refer that?
Let your choice fall where it may, from this point there is nothing but the unextended: and this is the primarily existent, the container to all else, having itself no container, brooking none.
And, as with Man's Soul, so with the Soul of the All.
"Is Time, then, within ourselves as well?" Time in every Soul of the order of the All-Soul, present in like form in all; for all the Souls are the one Soul.
And this is why Time can never be broken apart, any more than Eternity which, similarly, under diverse manifestations, has its Being as an integral constituent of all the eternal Existences.
Related passages · 6 parallels
◆christian_mysticism|Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names|Chapter 2, Section 1i
“The Godhead is not a Whole because it is indivisible, nor a Part because there is nothing, on the ultimate plane, outside It.
Yet It is a Whole because It includes the true existence of all things, and is Partitive because It contains the…”
Both passages discuss the omnipresence and transcendence of divine or metaphysical principles. Passage A from Plotinus explores the concept of Time and Soul within the Kosmos, while Passage B from the Christian mystical tradition discusses the Godhead's relationship to creation and eternity. Both texts emphasize the unity and transcendence of the divine within all existence.
◆christian_mysticism|Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names|Chapter 5, Section 1f
“And the highest measure of existence He bestows upon the more exalted Beings, which the Scripture calls eternal; 380 380 2 Cor.
iv.
18 but also the mere existence of the world as a whole is perpetual; and its very existence comes from the…”
Both passages discuss the nature of time and eternity in relation to the soul and divine existence. They explore the idea of a transcendent, unextended reality that underlies all existence, showing a conceptual parallel in their mystical perspectives.
◆platonism|Plato: Timaeus|Section 1v
“In the same way that which is to receive perpetually and through its whole extent the resemblances of all eternal beings ought to be devoid of any particular form.
Wherefore, the mother and receptacle of all created and visible and in any…”
Both passages explore the nature of time and the soul, and the relationship between the intelligible and the sensible. They discuss the omnipresence of the soul and the eternal nature of certain realities, showing a conceptual parallel in their mystical perspectives.
◆western_esoteric|Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky)|Chapter IV (part 3)
“If, presupposing that we are moving upon a sphere, upon its equator or one of its parallels, then it will appear that we recognize as really existing only one meridian: those which are behind us have disappeared and those ahead of us have n…”
Both passages explore the nature of time and perception, suggesting that our ordinary consciousness is limited and that a higher or more expansive consciousness can perceive time differently. They both hint at the idea of an eternal now and the interconnectedness of past, present, and future.
◆western_esoteric|Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky)|Chapter VI (part 2)
“These will be considered as temporal phenomena, beginning at that moment when they become visible, and ending— ceasing to exist —at that moment when they become invisible.
The one-dimensional being will not be in a position to imagine that…”
Both passages explore the nature of perception and reality through the lens of dimensional beings. Ouspensky uses one-dimensional and two-dimensional beings to illustrate how limited perception shapes understanding of existence and time, while Plotinus discusses the omnipresence of time and the movement of the soul, relating it to the broader cosmos. Both delve into the limitations of perception and the nature of reality as understood by different types of beings or souls.
◆western_esoteric|Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky)|Chapter XXII (part 5)
“______ Whatever we may think of this philosophy, we cannot deny its metaphysical boldness and its logical consistency.
If Brahman is all in all, the One without a second, nothing can be said to exist that is not Brahman .
there is no room…”
Both passages discuss the omnipresence and unity of a fundamental reality (Soul in Plotinus, Brahman in Vedanta). They explore the idea that this fundamental reality is the ultimate truth and is present in all things, though expressed in different metaphysical frameworks.