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Select Works of Plotinus · 342 of 752 · tr. Thomas Taylor

Select Works, Section 327

Section 7 7. Well but can they not tell themselves that yesterday, or last year, they moved round the earth, that they lived yesterday or at any given moment in their lives? Their living is eternal, and eternity is an unchanging unity. To identify a yesterday or a last year in their movement would be like isolating the movement of one of the feet, and finding a this or a that and an entire series in what is a single act. The movement of the celestial beings is one movement: it is our measuring that presents us with many movements, and with distinct days determined by intervening nights: There all is one day; series has no place; no yesterday, no last year. Still: the space traversed is different; there are the various sections of the Zodiac: why, then, should not the soul say "I have traversed that section and now I am in this other?" If, also, it looks down over the concerns of men, must it not see the changes that befall them, that they are not as they were, and, by that observation, that the beings and the things concerned were otherwise formerly? And does not that mean memory?
Themes
Divine Lighttheology

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

The use of 'vision' to describe the encounter with The Good suggests an illuminative experience.

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Divine Simplicitytheology

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

The reference to The Good implies a unified source without internal division hindering access.

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Inner Lightanthropology

The divine spark or luminous quality residing within the human person, potentially recognisable through introspection.

The Good reaches the soul, implying an internal capacity for divine connection.

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Kingdom Withinanthropology

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

The text states the Good reaches the soul without bodily hindrance, suggesting divine presence within.

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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 functions as a mediator between The Good and the soul, similar to the Logos role.

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Self Knowledgesoteriology

The recognition of one's own true divine nature as the primary path to liberation; 'know thyself' as soteriology.

The text touches on identification with the self versus the lower, implying a dimension of knowing one's true state.

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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 mentions the soul abandoning its place in the Supreme and reviving memories of the lower.

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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.

The flow from primal to tertiaries suggests an underlying unity connecting all levels of existence.

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Anamnesissoteriology

Platonic recollection: knowledge as the soul's recovery of what it knew before birth, with learning as remembering rather than acquisition.

[auto] The text explicitly defines memory as a condition induced by past experience or vision in the higher realm.

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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 passage explicitly states that where bodily forms intervene there is hindrance, contrasting with the non-bodily access to the Good.

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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 describes a flow from the Good through the Intellectual-Principle to the soul and mentions access from primal to tertiaries.

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Gnosis Direct Knowledgesoteriology

Salvation through direct experiential knowledge of the divine nature, not through faith, ritual, or moral works alone.

[auto] The text emphasizes direct vision of The Good through the Intellectual-Principle over memory or imagination.

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Monadcosmology

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

[auto] The 'Good' is referenced as the supreme source from which vision and access flow, consistent with the concept of the One.

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Mystical Unionsoteriology

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

[auto] The passage centrally discusses the soul's approach to identity with the divine or lower principles, distinguishing between conscious possession and unconscious union.

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Paradox As Teachingethics

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

[auto] The passage presents the paradoxical idea that unconscious possession is more powerful and closer to identity than full conscious knowledge.

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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 discussion of abandoning the Supreme place and the deeper fall implies the necessity of returning to or maintaining connection with the origin.

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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 text contrasts the soul's place in the Supreme with the fall into the inferior, implying a vertical journey of the soul.

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Related passages · 8 parallels
christian_mysticism|The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme|Chapter 1 (part 6)
The human selfhood will then follow in its perceptions the Spirit of God, tremblingly and in the joy of humility, and become able to see what is contained in time and in eternity. Everything is near to a soul in that state, for the soul is…”
Both passages discuss the soul's connection to a higher realm or divine principle. They describe a state where the soul can access higher knowledge or vision, and emphasize the importance of humility and surrender to achieve this connection.
christian_mysticism|The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme|Chapter 2 (part 2)
That Will, by conceiving of its own self, thereby creates a mirror within its own self. The same takes place in the microcosm of man. By conceiving of his own self man creates a mirror in which he " feels " his own self, and thereby he be…”
Both passages discuss the concept of the soul or self-awareness in relation to a higher, divine realm. They explore the idea of self-reflection and the nature of divine consciousness, though they come from different mystical traditions.
christian_mysticism|The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme|Chapter 11 (part 7)
48.) "The soul and the Word are not one or one being. The soul is born from the centre of nature, from the essences, and belongs to the body, for she issues from the essences of the body, and attracts to herself the body; but the Word is f…”
Both passages discuss the relationship between the soul and a higher principle (Intellectual-Principle in Plotinus, the Word in Jacob Boehme). They explore the idea of the soul's connection to and separation from the divine, and the nature of this interaction, showing a genuine conceptual parallel.
christian_mysticism|The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme|Chapter 14 (part 8)
, in the heavenly essentiality (Devachan)—cannot be disturbed by anybody, unless they should wish it themselves, in case that they were very favourably inclined towards some particular soul in harmony with their own. They do not trouble th…”
Both passages discuss the nature of the soul's connection to higher and lower realms, and the concept of memory or vision of past experiences. They also explore the idea of the soul's fall or descent from a higher state and the influence of the Intellectual or Divine realm on the soul.
platonism|Plato: Timaeus|Section 1m
They are all parts of time, and the past and future are created species of time, which we unconsciously but wrongly transfer to the eternal essence; for we say that he "was," he "is," he "will be," but the truth is that "is" alone is proper…”
Both passages discuss the nature of time and eternity, emphasizing the unity and unchanging nature of eternal existence in contrast to the measured, segmented nature of time. They explore the concept of movement and change within these frameworks, showing a genuine conceptual parallel across different mystical traditions.
western_esoteric|Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky)|Chapter IV (part 5)
There results in the other case a life upon some sort of needle-point called the present , which is surrounded on all sides by an abyss of non-existence, a journey in a country which does not as yet exist , a life in a world which is born a…”
Both passages explore the nature of time and eternity, discussing the limitations of human perception in understanding the continuous and unified nature of existence. They both challenge the conventional notions of past, present, and future, suggesting a deeper, more interconnected reality.
western_esoteric|Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky)|Chapter XIX (part 5)
The "seeing" changes with the changes of the state of consciousness in which it is proceeding. But what forms of consciousness exist? p. 239 Hindu philosophy makes the division into four states of consciousness: sleep, dream, waking, and…”
Both passages discuss the nature of consciousness and its states, particularly the higher or mystical states. They both describe a transition in consciousness that leads to a union with the divine or a higher reality, though they use different terminology and frameworks (Hindu philosophy in Passage A and Neoplatonism in Passage B).
western_esoteric|Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky)|Chapter XXI (part 9)
There cannot be anything which is measured by years, days, hours—there cannot be before, now, after. Moments of different epochs, divided by great intervals of time, exist simultaneously, and may touch one another. Along with this, all th…”
Both passages discuss the nature of time and eternity, emphasizing the unity and simultaneity of existence beyond the linear perception of time in the physical world. They share a mystical perspective on the interconnectedness of all things and the limitations of human perception.