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Select Works of Plotinus · 317 of 752 · tr. Thomas Taylor

Select Works, Section 303

Section 16 16. The punishment justly overtaking the wicked must therefore be ascribed to the kosmic order which leads all in accordance with the right. But what of chastisements, poverty, illness, falling upon the good outside of all justice? These events, we will be told, are equally interwoven into the world order and fall under prediction, and must consequently have a cause in the general reason: are they therefore to be charged to past misdoing? No: such misfortunes do not answer to reasons established in the nature of things; they are not laid up in the master-facts of the universe, but were merely accidental sequents: a house falls, and anyone that chances to be underneath is killed, no matter what sort of man he be: two objects are moving in perfect order- or one if you like- but anything getting in the way is wounded or trampled down. Or we may reason that the undeserved stroke can be no evil to the sufferer in view of the beneficent interweaving of the All or again, no doubt, that nothing is unjust that finds justification in a past history. We may not think of some things being fitted into a system with others abandoned to the capricious; if things must happen by cause, by natural sequences, under one Reason-Principle and a single set scheme, we must admit that the minor equally with the major is fitted into that order and pattern. Wrong-doing from man to man is wrong in the doer and must be imputed, but, as belonging to the established order of the universe is not a wrong even as regards the innocent sufferer; it is a thing that had to be, and, if the sufferer is good, the issue is to his gain. For we cannot think that this ordered combination proceeds without God and justice; we must take it to be precise in the distribution of due, while, yet, the reasons of things elude us, and to our ignorance the scheme presents matter of censure.
Themes
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 text explicitly states 'like is destined unfailingly to like' and describes souls moving towards the image of their primal constitution in the archetypal world.

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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 description of 'like is destined unfailingly to like' and all being set stirring as by a 'magician's power' reflects the doctrine of hidden affinities binding the cosmos.

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Kingdom Withinanthropology

The claim that the divine realm is present inside the individual, accessible without external mediation.

The passage asserts that the law is not from without but is 'given in the entities upon whom it falls' and they 'bear it about with them'.

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Paradox As Teachingethics

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

The text presents the paradoxical statement that souls go forth 'neither under compulsion nor of freewill' to explain their natural motion.

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Separation From Sourcesoteriology

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 text describes a 'painful longing' and a 'heavy burden' within the souls to enter the realm they are bidden from within, implying an exile or distance from their origin.

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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.

[auto] The passage centrally describes the 'Kosmic Law' rooted in a natural principle that orders every entity to its destined place and body without external compulsion.

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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 explicitly references the 'archetypal world' and the 'world of copy,' describing a downward flow where souls descend from the higher realm to enter bodies.

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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] The passage describes a 'Kosmic Law' rooted in a 'natural principle' that orders the descent of souls, aligning with the definition of a divine ordering principle mediating between realms.

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Related passages · 6 parallels
christian_mysticism|Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names|Chapter 4, Section 1{
127 There remains but one alternative: Evil is a weakness and deficiency of Good. 31. Good things have all one cause. If evil is opposed to the Good, then hath evil many causes. The efficient causes of evil results, however, are not any…”
Both passages explore the nature of evil and its relationship to the cosmic order or divine providence. They both argue that evil is not a substantive force but rather a lack or deficiency within a fundamentally good universe.
christian_mysticism|Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names|Chapter 8, Section 1d
Thus, ‘tis true to say that it is more in accordance with Divine Righteousness not to lull into its destruction the manliness of the noblest characters through bestowing material goods upon them, nor to leave them without the aid of Divine…”
Both passages discuss the nature of divine justice and the role of suffering within a cosmic order. They explore how seemingly unjust events fit into a larger, divinely ordained plan, though they come from different mystical traditions.
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 principle. Passage A emphasizes the soul's union with the divine will to achieve beatitude, while Passage B describes the soul's natural inclination towards its archetypal image and destiny. Both highlight the soul's inherent drive towards a higher, divine order.
christian_mysticism|The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme|Chapter 9 (part 1)
p. 180 CHAPTER IX. GENERATION. "Let every Brahman, with fixed attention, consider all nature, both visible and invisible, as existing in the Divine Spirit. For when he contemplates the boundless universe in the Divine Spirit, he cannot…”
Both passages discuss the concept of the soul's journey and its connection to a higher principle or divine will. They explore the idea of the soul's natural inclination and its relationship with the divine, albeit within different mystical traditions.
greek_mystery|Orphic Hymns|Hymn X (part 2)
For the World is one, and only-begotten. Opusc. Mythol. p. 203. 131:17 Ver. 17] The sportive nymphs . This is because Pan rejoices in the exhalations produced from humid substances; without which the world cannot subsist. Phurnutus…”
Both passages discuss the concept of a universal principle or divine power that governs the natural order and the destiny of all entities. Passage A describes the Ineluctable, the Kosmic Law, which guides souls to their predetermined places, while Passage B describes Pan as the substance of the whole, the general soul that inspires and governs all parts of the world. Both emphasize the idea of a natural, inevitable order guided by a higher power.
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 divine. They explore the idea of the soul's descent into the material world and its eventual return, highlighting the natural principles and cosmic laws that govern these processes.