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Select Works of Plotinus · 356 of 752 · tr. Thomas Taylor

Select Works, Section 340

Section 20 20. As with bodily pain and pleasure so with the bodily desires; their origin, also, must be attributed to what thus stands midway, to that Nature we described as the corporeal. Body undetermined cannot be imagined to give rise to appetite and purpose, nor can pure soul be occupied about sweet and bitter: all this must belong to what is specifically body but chooses to be something else as well, and so has acquired a restless movement unknown to the soul and by that acquisition is forced to aim at a variety of objects, to seek, as its changing states demand, sweet or bitter, water or warmth, with none of which it could have any concern if it remained untouched by life. In the case of pleasure and pain we showed how upon distress follows the knowledge of it, and that the soul, seeking to alienate what is causing the condition, inspires a withdrawal which the member primarily affected has itself indicated, in its own mode, by its contraction. Similarly in the case of desire: there is the knowledge in the sensation [the sensitive phase of the soul] and in the next lower phase, that described as the "Nature" which carries the imprint of the soul to the body; that Nature knows the fully formed desire which is the culmination of the less formed desire in body; sensation knows the image thence imprinted upon the Nature; and from the moment of the sensation the soul, which alone is competent, acts upon it, sometimes procuring, sometimes on the contrary resisting, taking control and paying heed neither to that which originated the desire nor to that which subsequently entertained it. But why, thus, two phases of desire; why should not the body as a determined entity [the living total] be the sole desirer? Because there are [in man] two distinct things, this Nature and the body, which, through it, becomes a living being: the Nature precedes the determined body which is its creation, made and shaped by it; it cannot originate the desires; they must belong to the living body meeting the experiences of this life and seeking in its distress to alter its state, to substitute pleasure for pain, sufficiency for want: this Nature must be like a mother reading the wishes of a suffering child, and seeking to set it right and to bring it back to herself; in her search for the remedy she attaches herself by that very concern to the sufferer's desire and makes the child's experience her own. In sum, the living body may be said to desire of its own motion in a fore-desiring with, perhaps, purpose as well; Nature desires for, and because of, that living body; granting or withholding belongs to another again, the higher soul.
Themes
◆Detachment Gelassenheitpraxis

Eckhart's Abgeschiedenheit/Gelassenheit — radical letting-go of will, image, and grasping that opens the soul to God; distinct from inner_silence (quietness) and from material renunciation, and adjacent to Sufi tark and Buddhist non-grasping as a practice rather than a metaphysical claim.

The passage explicitly mentions the finest type of man who has 'brought himself to detachment' allowing a single master principle to rule.

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◆Kingdom Withinanthropology

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

The soul is described as a municipality with a 'superior city' kept in hand by the master principle within the self.

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◆Mechanical Humanityanthropology

Gurdjieff and Ouspensky's claim that ordinary human beings live in a state of waking sleep, reacting mechanically without unified will or consciousness, and that the spiritual path begins with recognising this condition.

The text describes the ordinary human will as changing to meet every incident and being guided by external variations rather than self-determination.

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◆Microcosm Macrocosmcosmology

The human being as a small-scale image of the entire cosmos; the body, soul, and intellect mirroring the structure of the heavens and the divine — distinct from correspondence in that it makes the human the privileged mirror.

The human soul is explicitly compared to political organizations and cities, mapping internal structure onto external social structures.

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◆Monadcosmology

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

The concept of a 'sovereign unity' is referenced as the missing principle that would prevent temporal succession.

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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 highest reason is described as weaker and overwhelmed because it inhabits a mingled mass of lower elements.

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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 text attributes the soul's temporal succession and compulsion to 'variations of the external' and 'succession of our needs'.

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◇Divine Simplicitytheology

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

[auto] The text contrasts the human condition of 'many governing principles' with an ideal 'sovereign unity', implying divine simplicity.

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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 explicitly discusses 'Reason-Principles' (Logoi) of the soul and their ordering function.

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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.

[auto] The passage is an introspective analysis of the soul's internal state and why its intuitions are not timeless.

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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] The passage highlights the lack of 'sovereign unity' within the self as the cause of temporal succession and doubt.

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Related passages · 15 parallels
◆christian_mysticism|The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme|Chapter 9 (part 3)
“2.) "Many a soul in her malignity would become a devil within one hour if the external life did not prevent it, so that her complete ignition cannot take place." ( Forty Questions , xvi. 12.) "In examining our own selves we find that, on t…”
Both passages discuss the duality within the human soul, exploring the conflict between higher spiritual principles and lower, earthly desires. They both describe how the lower aspects can disrupt the harmony and equilibrium of the soul, leading to a state of turmoil or corruption.
◆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 higher, divine aspects of the self and the lower, more mundane aspects. They explore the tension and interaction between these different facets, with the higher aspect being influenced or overshadowed by the lower, yet retaining its inherent purity and divinity.
◆christian_mysticism|The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme|Chapter 11 (part 10)
“"Human reason can understand nothing about the kingdom of Christ, nor about His person or office, because the testament of Christ is celestial, and human reasoning is terrestrial; the latter seeks Christ in time, while He can only be found…”
Both passages discuss the relationship between the higher, divine aspects of the self and the lower, earthly aspects. They explore the struggle between these two aspects and the need for the higher to dominate or guide the lower, though they use different metaphors and frameworks.
◆christian_mysticism|The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme|Chapter 13 (part 9)
“279 free will already in the beginning (of a desire) destroys the desire, so that it does not become substantial, then is the physician (for the cure of that disease) already born, and there will not be needed such great earnestness as will…”
Both passages discuss the relationship between the soul, desires, and the body, emphasizing the need for the higher self to control and transcend bodily desires. They share a common theme of the soul's role in managing and overcoming physical appetites, though they come from different mystical traditions.
◆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 relationship between the higher self or mind and the lower, bodily or material aspects of human existence. They explore how the higher principles are affected by or interact with the lower, material aspects, and how this interaction can lead to a state of imbalance or disturbance.
◆platonism|Plato: Timaeus|Section 1
“And about all of them this has to be considered:-that the tendency of each towards its kindred element makes the body which is moved heavy, and the place towards which the motion tends below, but things which have an opposite tendency we ca…”
Both passages discuss the nature of pleasure and pain, attributing them to the body's reactions to impressions and the soul's response to these bodily states. They share a conceptual framework that links bodily sensations to the soul's perceptions and actions, though they come from different philosophical traditions.
◆platonism|Plato: Timaeus|Section 1Ž
“For a man who is in great joy or in great pain, in his unseasonable eagerness to attain the one and to avoid the other, is not able to see or to hear anything rightly; but he is mad, and is at the time utterly incapable of any participation…”
Both passages explore the interaction between the body and the soul, particularly how bodily states influence desires, pleasures, and pains. They both discuss the idea that the soul can be affected by the body's conditions, leading to various states of being, but they do so within their respective philosophical and mystical frameworks.
◆renaissance_hermeticism|The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part II (Gli Eroici Furori)|First Dialoguec
“And I will say, because to me this pain Is dearer than all other pleasures are. Mar. In reference to this I told you that although one should be attached to corporeal and external beauty yet he may honourably and worthily be so attached;…”
Both passages explore the relationship between the physical and the spiritual, and how desires or pleasures in the physical realm can lead to a higher understanding or connection with the spiritual. They both discuss the idea of the soul interacting with bodily experiences and using them as a pathway to higher truths.
◆renaissance_hermeticism|The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part II (Gli Eroici Furori)|Third Dialoguef
“Here the eyes imprint upon the heart, that is upon the intelligence, and rouse in the will an infinite torment of love, where there is no pain because nothing is sought which is not obtained; but it is happiness, because that which is there…”
Both passages explore the interaction between the higher soul or intelligence and the bodily desires or sensations. They discuss how the higher aspect of being (soul or intelligence) responds to and influences the lower aspects (body or nature), showing a conceptual parallel in their mystical traditions.
◆taoism|The Writings of Chuang Tzu (Inner Chapters)|Book 128 (part 8)
“When they wailed, he also wailed, having in himself the reason why he did so. And we all have our individuality which makes us what we are as compared together; but how do we know that we p. 255 determine in any case correctly that indivi…”
Both passages explore the themes of perception, the nature of reality, and the struggle for inner unity and harmony. They discuss the limitations of human understanding and the influence of external factors on our mental states, albeit from different cultural and philosophical perspectives.
5 more
◆western_esoteric|Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky)|Chapter I (part 4)
“Also, all phenomena not in time, divorced from the idea of time, not taken in this or that fashion from the standpoint of before , now , after , would co-exist for us simultaneously, and all mixed up with one another, and our weak mind woul…”
Both passages explore the limitations of human perception and cognition, emphasizing that our understanding of reality is shaped by our sensory and mental faculties. They both discuss the idea that our perception of time and space is a construct, not an inherent property of reality itself.
◆western_esoteric|Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky)|Chapter XIII (part 7)
“153 has really entered a cul de sac out of which there is no escape, and the official recognition of the fact that the direction it has taken is entirely the wrong one, is only a question of time. _____ We may say—not as an assumption, but…”
Both passages explore the idea of a deeper, more complex reality underlying the visible world. Passage A discusses the noumenal world as an infinite and incomprehensible reality that underlies the finite phenomenal world. Passage B describes the soul's higher reason being overwhelmed by the tumult of lower, bodily influences, suggesting a deeper, more ordered reality beneath the surface chaos.
◆western_esoteric|Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky)|Chapter XVIII (part 6)
“Emotions apparently the same may be united with the very small I's and with the very great and lofty I's; and so the rôle and meaning of such emotions in life may be very different. The continual shifting of emotions, each of which calls i…”
Both passages discuss the concept of the self and the obstacles to achieving a unified or higher state of consciousness. They explore how emotions and personal elements can distort perception and knowledge, emphasizing the need to transcend personal perspectives to gain deeper understanding.
◆western_esoteric|Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky)|Chapter XXII (part 4)
“Both philosophies, that of the East and that of the West [says Müller] start from a common point, namely from the conviction that our ordinary knowledge is uncertain, if not altogether wrong. This revolt of the human mind against itself is…”
Both passages explore the nature of the soul and its relationship to a higher, divine essence. They discuss the unity of the soul with the Absolute (Brahman in Passage A, the highest Reason-Principle in Passage B) and the concept of nescience or ignorance leading to a distorted perception of reality.
◆western_esoteric|Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky)|Chapter XXIII (part 10)
“The mind becomes overcrowded (as it were) with concepts and these are constantly becoming larger, more numerous and more and more complex; some day (the conditions being all favorable) the fusion, or what might be called the chemical union,…”
Both passages discuss the concept of higher consciousness or intuition, describing how it integrates prior experiences and thoughts. They also explore the challenges and doubts that arise when individuals first experience this elevated state of awareness.