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Select Works of Plotinus · 382 of 752 · tr. Thomas Taylor

Select Works, Section 361

Section 41 41. The prayer is answered by the mere fact that part and other part are wrought to one tone like a musical string which, plucked at one end, vibrates at the other also. Often, too, the sounding of one string awakens what might pass for a perception in another, the result of their being in harmony and tuned to one musical scale; now, if the vibration in a lyre affects another by virtue of the sympathy existing between them, then certainly in the All- even though it is constituted in contraries- there must be one melodic system; for it contains its unisons as well, and its entire content, even to those contraries, is a kinship. Thus, too, whatever is hurtful to man- the passionate spirit, for example, drawn by the medium of the gall into the principle seated in the liver- comes with no intention of hurt; it is simply as one transferring fire to another might innocently burn him: no doubt, since he actually set the other on fire he is a cause, but only as the attacking fire itself is a cause, that is by the merely accidental fact that the person to whom the fire was being brought blundered in taking it.
Themes
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.

The text implies a flow of being where items partake of soul through the medium of the ensouled All.

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Living Godtheology

The divine conceived as active, present, and dynamic—not an abstract principle but a personal responsive reality.

The universe is explicitly described as an 'animate being,' though the text focuses on cosmic life rather than a personal deity.

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Kingdom Withinanthropology

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

[auto] It asserts that every single item possesses power and has partaken of soul, indicating the divine is immanent within all things.

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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 centrally argues that the universe is a single ensouled whole where every item is a full member sharing in the total power.

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Related passages · 6 parallels
christian_mysticism|The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme|Chapter 3 (part 3)
The seven spirits are in the centre of the Father—that is to say, in the power of the Word. The Word changes the wrathfulness into sweet joy and shapes it into a crystalline ocean; therein the seven spirits appear in a burning form, like s…”
Both passages discuss the interconnectedness and functionality of elements within a larger system, whether it be the universe in Plotinus' work or the divine and natural realms in the second passage. They explore the idea of inherent powers and the role of these elements in a greater whole.
christian_mysticism|The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme|Chapter 3 (part 6)
49.) Thus the light conquers the darkness, but does not destroy it; it merely becomes victorious over it and consumes it in a manner comparable to that of the assimilation of food by the organism which conquers and consumes that food by mea…”
Both passages discuss the concept of power and life within a cosmic framework, emphasizing the interconnectedness and functionality of elements within the universe. They explore the idea of inherent powers and the transformation of elements, though from different mystical perspectives.
christian_mysticism|The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme|Chapter 4 (part 1)
p. 89 CHAPTER IV. CREATION. Everything we see in nature is manifested truth; only we are not able to recognise it as such, unless the truth is manifest within ourselves. God is the supreme, fundamental, universal, self-existent eternal…”
Both passages discuss the interconnectedness of all things within the universe and the nature of divine power. Plotinus emphasizes the unity and interconnectedness of all things within the universe, while Boehme discusses the divine origin of all creation and the distinction between the divine and the material. Both explore the idea of a universal soul or divine essence that permeates all things.
christian_mysticism|The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme|Chapter 12 (part 10)
Every object or person we see in the world is nothing but a symbol of existing ideas; every event taking place in external life is the outcome of invisibly acting forces. The historical correctness of the occurrences described in the Bible…”
Both passages discuss the interconnectedness of all things and the presence of divine or spiritual forces within the natural world. Passage A emphasizes the unity and interconnectedness of the universe, while Passage B speaks of the divine essence within all things and the process of spiritual awakening.
greek_mystery|Orphic Hymns|Hymn XXXIII. APOLLO (part 2)
Gesner well observes, in his notes to this Hymn, that the comparison and conjunction of the musical and astronomical elements are most ancient; being derived from Orpheus and Pythagoras, to Plato. Now, according to the Orphic and Pythagori…”
Both passages explore the concept of harmony and sympathy in the universe, comparing it to musical strings or lyres. They share the idea of a cosmic order and interconnectedness, though they come from different mystical traditions.
hermeticism|Corpus Hermeticum 10: The Sermon on the Mount|Section 1e
And for this cause is water poured around earth, to be a guard and wall, to keep the blazing of the fire away. But mind, the swiftest thing of all divine outthinkings, and swifter than all elements, hath for its body fire. For mind being…”
Both passages discuss the nature of the soul and its relationship to the divine and the material world. They explore the idea of the soul's power and its connection to the universe or divine entities, though they come from different mystical traditions.