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Select Works of Plotinus · 296 of 752 · tr. Thomas Taylor

Select Works, Section 285 (part 2)

The magnitude present in any mass is definitely one thing, yet its identity from part to part does not imply any such community as would entail common experience; within that identity there is diversity, for it is a condition only, not the actual Essence. The Essence, very near to the impartible, which we assert to belong to the Kind we are now dealing with, is at once an Essence and an entrant into body; upon embodiment, it experiences a partition unknown before it thus bestowed itself. In whatsoever bodies it occupies- even the vastest of all, that in which the entire universe is included- it gives itself to the whole without abdicating its unity. This unity of an Essence is not like that of body, which is a unit by the mode of continuous extension, the mode of distinct parts each occupying its own space. Nor is it such a unity as we have dealt with in the case of quality. The nature, at once divisible and indivisible, which we affirm to be soul has not the unity of an extended thing: it does not consist of separate sections; its divisibility lies in its presence at every point of the recipient, but it is indivisible as dwelling entire in the total and entire in any part. To have penetrated this idea is to know the greatness of the soul and its power, the divinity and wonder of its being, as a nature transcending the sphere of Things. Itself devoid of mass, it is present to all mass: it exists here and yet is There, and this not in distinct phases but with unsundered identity: thus it is "parted and not parted," or, better, it has never known partition, never become a parted thing, but remains a self-gathered integral, and is "parted among bodies" merely in the sense that bodies, in virtue of their own sundered existence, cannot receive it unless in some partitive mode; the partition, in other words, is an occurrence in body not in soul.
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Themes
Apophatic Theologytheology

Describing the divine only by negation—God transcends all positive categories and concepts; the via negativa.

The Intellectual-Principle is described as 'repugnant to distinction and to partition,' defining it by what it is not.

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Body As Obstacleanthropology

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

[auto] The text associates the body with 'bodily division' and 'secession,' implying that embodiment is a departure from the soul's undivided nature.

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Cosmic Dualismtheology

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

[auto] A clear ontological distinction is drawn between the unembodied 'Intellectual Kosmos' and the world of embodied souls subject to division.

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Divine Simplicitytheology

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

[auto] The passage explicitly describes the Intellectual-Principle as a 'concentrated all' with 'nothing of it distinguished or divided,' directly aligning with the doctrine of undivided being.

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Divine Sparkscosmology

Fragments of divine light or spirit trapped inside material bodies, awaiting liberation and return to their source.

The passage suggests that while part of the soul enters the body, 'something of it holds its ground,' resembling a fragment remaining connected to the source.

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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 distinguishes between the 'Intellectual Kosmos' and the 'lower sphere,' noting that souls in the lower world have come from the higher realm.

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Logoscosmology

The divine reason, word, or ordering principle through which the universe was created; mediates between the transcendent God and the material world.

The 'Intellectual-Principle [Divine Mind]' is identified as the noblest content of the Intellectual Kosmos, functioning as a divine ordering principle.

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Monadcosmology

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

The description of the Intellectual-Principle as 'concentrated all' and 'undivided' reflects the concept of a simple first principle.

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Paradox As Teachingethics

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

[auto] The author poses the question of how the soul can be described as indivisible despite undergoing divisional existence through secession.

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Soul Migrationcosmology

The transmigration of the soul across lives.

The text states that every soul in the lower sphere has 'come thence' from the Intellectual Kosmos, indicating movement or descent.

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Unity Of Beingtheology

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

[auto] The passage emphasizes a 'kosmos of unity' where souls are concentrated without spatial discrimination or partition.

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Related passages · 12 parallels
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