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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.
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Themes
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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Correspondencecosmology

The Hermetic axiom that the structure of the cosmos is reflected at every scale — 'as above, so below; as within, so without' — making each level a legible map of the others.

The passage explicitly states 'like is destined unfailingly to like' and describes each soul tending toward 'the image of its primal choice and constitution,' mapping archetypal forms onto their material copies.

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Cosmic Sympathycosmology

The Stoic and Plotinian doctrine that all parts of the cosmos are bound by hidden affinities, so that a movement in one part resonates through the whole; the metaphysical basis for astrology, magic, and divination.

The doctrine that 'like is destined unfailingly to like' and that the universal broods closely over the particular expresses hidden affinities binding all parts of the cosmos in mutual resonance.

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Dharmacosmology

The cosmic law that manifests as each being's own duty — right order known not as abstract truth but as the specific obligation of one's nature and station (svadharma), so that maintaining the cosmos and performing one's proper work are one act; the Gita's 'one's own duty, though defective, is better than another's well performed.' Sits beside asha_cosmic_order and maat_cosmic_order as a right-order concept but is distinct in individuating the order into personal vocation; distinct from good_thought_word_deed (ethical triad) in binding duty to cosmic station.

Each entity is 'overruled to go, duly and in order, towards that place and Kind to which it characteristically tends'—cosmic law individuated into each being's own proper nature and station.

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Divine Immanencetheology

The doctrine that the divine is present within all things and the universe itself, pervading creation rather than remaining solely transcendent above it. Distinct from unity_of_being (the general claim that all existence is one substance, agnostic about whether that substance indwells its parts) and from kingdom_within (the divine present specifically IN THE INDIVIDUAL human, accessible without mediation) — divine_immanence is the general pervading-presence claim applied to all of creation, not a human-specific indwelling.

The law is not imposed from without but is 'given in the entities upon whom it falls; these bear it about with them'—the ordering principle pervades and indwells all creation rather than remaining solely transcendent.

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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 Providencetheology

Pronoia — the doctrine that the divine actively orders the unfolding of the cosmos and human affairs toward intelligible ends, against pure chance or blind necessity.

The entire passage is an exposition of the Ineluctable Kosmic Law as a natural principle under which every entity is ordered toward its proper place and time—the divine actively ordering the unfolding of the cosmos toward intelligible ends.

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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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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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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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Involutioncosmology

The doctrine that the cosmos unfolds as a structured descent of spirit into matter — a directional process traced stage by stage from an unconditioned principle down through successive planes to full materialization — complemented by its own eventual return ('evolution'). Distinct from emanation_hierarchy (the static structure of the resulting levels of the cascade) and cosmogony (a single originating event rather than an ongoing staged process) in naming the directional cosmic PROCESS of descent itself, paired with its own complementary ascent.

The passage describes the structured descent of souls from the archetypal world into bodies at their appointed time, with the Intellectual-Principle giving downwards—a directional process from unconditioned principle toward materialization.

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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 · 15 of 34 parallels
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Shared concept: Dharma — The cosmic law that manifests as each being's own duty — right order known not as abstract truth but as the specific obligation of one's nature and station (svadharma), so that maintaining the cosmos and performing one's proper work are one act; the Gita's 'one's own duty, though defective, is better than another's well performed. (derived)
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Shared concept: Dharma — The cosmic law that manifests as each being's own duty — right order known not as abstract truth but as the specific obligation of one's nature and station (svadharma), so that maintaining the cosmos and performing one's proper work are one act; the Gita's 'one's own duty, though defective, is better than another's well performed. (derived)
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