Select Works of Plotinus · 354 of 752 · tr. Thomas Taylor
Select Works, Section 338
Section 18 18. There remains the question whether the body possesses any force of its own- so that, with the incoming of the soul, it lives in some individuality- or whether all it has is this Nature we have been speaking of, the superior principle which enters into relations with it. Certainly the body, container of soul and of nature, cannot even in itself be as a soulless form would be: it cannot even be like air traversed by light; it must be like air storing heat: the body holding animal or vegetive life must hold also some shadow of soul; and it is body thus modified that is the seat of corporeal pains and pleasures which appear before us, the true human being, in such a way as to produce knowledge without emotion. By "us, the true human being" I mean the higher soul for, in spite of all, the modified body is not alien but attached to our nature and is a concern to us for that reason: "attached," for this is not ourselves nor yet are we free of it; it is an accessory and dependent of the human being; "we" means the master-principle; the conjoint, similarly is in its own way an "ours"; and it is because of this that we care for its pain and pleasure, in proportion as we are weak rather than strong, gripped rather than working towards detachment. The other, the most honourable phase of our being, is what we think of as the true man and into this we are penetrating. Pleasure and pain and the like must not be attributed to the soul alone, but to the modified body and to something intermediary between soul and body and made up of both. A unity is independent: thus body alone, a lifeless thing, can suffer no hurt- in its dissolution there is no damage to the body, but merely to its unity- and soul in similar isolation cannot even suffer dissolution, and by its very nature is immune from evil. But when two distinct things become one in an artificial unity, there is a probable source of pain to them in the mere fact that they were inapt to partnership. This does not, of course, refer to two bodies; that is a question of one nature; and I am speaking of two natures. When one distinct nature seeks to associate itself with another, a different, order of being- the lower participating in the higher, but unable to take more than a faint trace of it- then the essential duality becomes also a unity, but a unity standing midway between what the lower was and what it cannot absorb, and therefore a troubled unity; the association is artificial and uncertain, inclining now to this side and now to that in ceaseless vacillation; and the total hovers between high and low, telling, downward bent, of misery but, directed to the above, of longing for unison.
The material body viewed as a prison, tomb, or source of error that hinders spiritual knowledge and return.
The body is described as 'an accessory and dependent,' a source of 'corporeal pains and pleasures,' and the 'artificial unity' is the 'probable source of pain' due to the body's inaptitude for partnership with the soul.
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 draws an analogy between time folding around things in time and its relation to place and number, suggesting structural parallels.
The doctrine that God has no parts, divisions, or composite attributes; pure undivided being.
[auto] It contrasts the undivided identity of the eternal Intellectual-Principle with the division and diversity inherent in time and the soul's activity.
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 outlines a descending order from the Intellectual-Principle to the Soul and finally to the temporal realm it engenders.
Augustinian and Plotinian doctrine that evil has no positive being of its own but is a lack, distortion, or absence of the good — denying ontological dualism while preserving moral seriousness.
Human souls are described as receptive to 'imperfection and lack,' aligning with the concept of evil or deficiency as a privation.
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 directional process of the higher principle entering into the body, the lower participating in the higher but only taking a 'faint trace,' constituting a staged descent of spirit into matter.
The Hermetic doctrine that apparent opposites are identical in nature but differ in degree — two extremes of the same scale (hot/cold, love/hate) — such that one pole can be shifted toward its opposite by a change of degree ('mental transmutation'). Distinct from opposites_transcended (a completion-state marking the path's end, not this doctrine's active technique) and magical_equilibrium (balance held BETWEEN two forces, not identity-by-degree of what looks like two forces).
The passage explicitly discusses the 'essential duality' of body and soul, the 'troubled unity' that 'inclines now to this side and now to that in ceaseless vacillation' between high and low.
The soul's journey back to its divine origin, reversing the fall into matter through stages of purification or illumination.
The composite 'directed to the above, of longing for unison' expresses the soul's yearning to return to its divine origin and reverse the troubled duality.
The recognition of one's own true divine nature as the primary path to liberation; 'know thyself' as soteriology.
The passage identifies the 'true human being' as the higher soul and the 'most honourable phase of our being' as the true man into which we are 'penetrating,' making recognition of one's true nature the path.
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 'misery' of the composite, the 'troubled unity,' and the body being merely 'an accessory and dependent' express the felt condition of exile from the pure higher self.