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Select Works of Plotinus · 314 of 752 · tr. Thomas Taylor

Select Works, Section 300

Section 13 13. The Ineluctable, the Kosmic Law is, thus, rooted in a natural principle under which each several entity is overruled to go, duly and in order, towards that place and Kind to which it characteristically tends, that is towards the image of its primal choice and constitution. In that archetypal world every form of soul is near to the image [the thing in the world of copy] to which its individual constitution inclines it; there is therefore no need of a sender or leader acting at the right moment to bring it at the right moment whether into body or into a definitely appropriate body: of its own motion it descends at the precisely true time and enters where it must. To every Soul its own hour; when that strikes it descends and enters the body suitable to it as at the cry of a herald; thus all is set stirring and advancing as by a magician's power or by some mighty traction; it is much as, in any living thing, the soul itself effects the fulfillment of the natural career, stirring and bringing forth, in due season, every element- beard, horn, and all the successive stages of tendency and of output- or, as it leads a tree through its normal course within set periods. The Souls go forth neither under compulsion nor of freewill; or, at least, freedom, here, is not to be regarded as action upon preference; it is more like such a leap of the nature as moves men to the instinctive desire of sexual union, or, in the case of some, to fine conduct; the motive lies elsewhere than in the reason: like is destined unfailingly to like, and each moves hither or thither at its fixed moment. Even the Intellectual-Principle, which is before all the kosmos, has, it also, its destiny, that of abiding intact above, and of giving downwards: what it sends down is the particular whose existence is implied in the law of the universal; for the universal broods closely over the particular; it is not from without that the law derives the power by which it is executed; on the contrary the law is given in the entities upon whom it falls; these bear it about with them. Let but the moment arrive, and what it decrees will be brought to act by those beings in whom it resides; they fulfil it because they contain it; it prevails because it is within them; it becomes like a heavy burden, and sets up in them a painful longing to enter the realm to which they are bidden from within.
Themes
◆Divine Sparkscosmology

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

Matter receives a 'share of the general light' from the Forming-Idea.

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◇Active Contemplationpraxis

A form of meditation that uses imagery, imagination, or symbolic thought rather than purely empty stillness.

[auto] Involves working back, ascending, and surveying the scheme of reason actively.

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◇Divine Lighttheology

The uncreated luminous quality of the divine, sometimes experienced directly in mystical states; illumination as revelation.

[auto] Describes the material world receiving a share of 'general light' and being a 'shadow cast by the fire'.

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◇Divine Simplicitytheology

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

[auto] Describes the Kosmic Soul as 'always the one undiscriminated entity' without parts.

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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 passage explicitly describes a hierarchy of degrees (primary, secondary, tertiary) flowing from the unit down to the material world as the last effect.

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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.

[auto] References 'Reason-Principles' and the 'scheme of reason' that fashion living beings and order matter.

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◇Monadcosmology

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

[auto] Refers to the 'unit' and the Soul as 'one undiscriminated entity' from which the scheme flows.

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◇Mystical Unionsoteriology

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

[auto] Implied by the ascent to the 'one undiscriminated entity' where distinctions dissolve.

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◇Opposites Transcendedanthropology

The dissolution of binary oppositions (male/female, inner/outer, above/below) as a mark of spiritual completion.

[auto] The goal is reaching a state that is 'undiscriminated' beyond the degrees of the lower world.

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◇Return To Sourcesoteriology

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

[auto] The text instructs the reader to 'work back from the items to the unit' and ascend through the levels of being.

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◇Spiritual Ascentpraxis

A staged journey of the soul upward through heavenly realms or levels of being toward the divine source.

[auto] The passage details a staged journey ascending from air and light through degrees to the Kosmic Soul and over-world.

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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] Considers the entire scheme as 'one enduring thing' and the Soul as an undiscriminated entity.

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Related passages · 8 parallels
◆christian_mysticism|The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme|Chapter 4 (part 1)
“p. 89 CHAPTER IV. CREATION. Everything we see in nature is manifested truth; only we are not able to recognise it as such, unless the truth is manifest within ourselves. God is the supreme, fundamental, universal, self-existent eternal…”
Both passages discuss the concept of divine order and the natural principle governing the existence and behavior of souls or entities. They explore the idea of a predetermined path or destiny guided by a higher power, though they use different terminology and frameworks.
◆christian_mysticism|The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme|Chapter 7 (part 5)
“13.) Man can attain real similarity to God and perfect beatitude only by decisively willing to put his will into the Son, as the Heart or Light of the Father. "God has the eternal and unchangeable will to generate His Heart and his Son, an…”
Both passages discuss the concept of the soul's alignment with a divine will or natural principle, emphasizing the soul's inherent tendency to seek union with its source. They share a mystical perspective on the soul's journey and its ultimate destiny.
◆christian_mysticism|The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme|Chapter 11 (part 1)
“p. 224 CHAPTER XI. INCARNATION—THE CELESTIAL VIRGIN. The doctrine of the incarnation of Christ, or, to express it in other words, of the awakening of the germ of divine self-knowledge in man, is so grand, that it is impossible to form a…”
Both passages discuss the concept of a higher principle or law governing the descent or incarnation of souls or divine entities into the material world. They explore the idea of a natural, predetermined order that guides these processes, though they come from different mystical traditions.
◆greek_mystery|Orphic Hymns|Hymn X (part 1)
“X. TO PAN * The FUMIGATION from VARIOUS ODORS I Call strong Pan, the substance of the whole, Etherial, marine, earthly, general soul, Immortal fire; for all the world is thine, And all are parts of thee, O pow'r divine. p. 131 Come, bles…”
Both passages discuss the concept of a universal principle or divine power that governs the natural order and the destiny of all entities. They describe a cosmic law or principle that guides the movement and development of souls or elements within the universe, highlighting the interconnectedness and harmony of all things.
◆greek_mystery|The Golden Verses of Pythagoras|Section 5 (part 1)
“p. 9 NOTES ON THE GOLDEN VERSES OF PYTHAGORAS FROM THE COMMENTARIES OF HIEROCLES. The Golden Verses may be divided into two parts, the first treating of the Practical or Human Virtues, whose aim is the making of Good Men; and the second,…”
Both passages discuss the hierarchical structure of the universe and the role of the soul or divine entities in shaping and maintaining it. They share a common theme of the interconnectedness of all things and the influence of higher beings on the lower realms.
◆hermeticism|Corpus Hermeticum 10: The Sermon on the Mount|Section 1c
“For that the soul who hath no knowledge of the things that are, or knowledge of their nature, or of Good, is blinded by the body's passions and tossed about. This wretched soul, not knowing what she is, becomes the slave of bodies of stran…”
Both passages discuss the nature of the soul and its relationship to the material world and the divine. They explore the idea of the soul as a creative and rational force, and the concept of the soul's virtue being knowledge or gnosis.
◆hermeticism|Corpus Hermeticum 10: The Sermon on the Mount|Section 1d
“Spirit pervading [body] by means of veins and arteries and blood, bestows upon the living creature motion, and as it were doth bear it in a way. For this cause some do think the soul is blood, in that they do mistake its nature, not knowin…”
Both passages discuss the concept of the soul's journey and its connection to the body and the cosmos. They explore the idea of the soul's descent into the body and its eventual return, highlighting the natural order and the influence of higher principles on individual souls.
◆hermeticism|Corpus Hermeticum 11: The Hymn|Section 1c
“It must, then, be that such a one as this must be some one who's wholly One. 9. For as the many motions of them [all] are different, and as their bodies are not like, yet has one speed been ordered for them all, it is impossible that ther…”
Both passages discuss the concept of a unified, divine soul or mind that governs and creates the material world. They emphasize the singularity and sovereignty of this divine principle over the multiplicity of existence.