Library / Neoplatonism / Select Works of Plotinus ← Select Works, Section 444 (part 2) Select Works, Section 446 → Section 13 13. Thus The One is in truth beyond all statement: any affirmation is of a thing; but the all-transcending, resting above even the most august divine Mind, possesses alone of all true being, and is not a thing among things; we can give it no name because that would imply predication: we can but try to indicate, in our own feeble way, something concerning it: when in our perplexity we object, "Then it is without self-perception, without self-consciousness, ignorant of itself"; we must remember that we have been considering it only in its opposites. If we make it knowable, an object of affirmation, we make it a manifold; and if we allow intellection in it we make it at that point indigent: supposing that in fact intellection accompanies it, intellection by it must be superfluous. Self-intellection- which is the truest- implies the entire perception of a total self formed from a variety converging into an integral; but the Transcendent knows neither separation of part nor any such enquiry; if its intellectual act were directed upon something outside, then, the Transcendent would be deficient and the intellection faulty. The wholly simplex and veritable self-sufficing can be lacking at no point: self-intellection begins in that principle which, secondarily self-sufficing, yet needs itself and therefore needs to know itself: this principle, by its self-presence, achieves its sufficiency in virtue of its entire content [it is the all]: it becomes thus competent from the total of its being, in the act of living towards itself and looking upon itself. Consciousness, as the very word indicates, is a conperception, an act exercised upon a manifold: and even intellection, earlier [nearer to the divine] though it is, implies that the agent turns back upon itself, upon a manifold, then. If that agent says no more than "I am a being," it speaks [by the implied dualism] as a discoverer of the extern; and rightly so, for being is a manifold; when it faces towards the unmanifold and says, "I am that being," it misses both itself and the being [since the simplex cannot be thus divided into knower and known]: if it is [to utter] truth it cannot indicate by "being" something like a stone; in the one phrase multiplicity is asserted; for the being thus affirmed- [even] the veritable, as distinguished from such a mere container of some trace of being as ought not to be called a being since it stands merely as image to archetype- even this must possess multiplicity. But will not each item in that multiplicity be an object of intellection to us? Taken bare and single, no: but Being itself is manifold within itself, and whatever else you may name has Being. This accepted, it follows that anything that is to be thought of as the most utterly simplex of all cannot have self-intellection; to have that would mean being multiple. The Transcendent, thus, neither knows itself nor is known in itself.
§ Ask Guru about this passage → Themes
Active Contemplationpraxis A form of meditation that uses imagery, imagination, or symbolic thought rather than purely empty stillness.
[auto] The life in the Divine Intellect is described as an Act and a vision requiring engagement.
All passages → Apophatic Theologytheology Describing the divine only by negation—God transcends all positive categories and concepts; the via negativa.
[auto] The text states that there is no other means of telling of the Divine than through itself, suggesting ineffability.
All passages → Divine Lighttheology The uncreated luminous quality of the divine, sometimes experienced directly in mystical states; illumination as revelation.
[auto] Light is the central metaphor used to describe the Divine Intellect as a torch, light-giver, and medium of vision.
All passages → Divine Simplicitytheology The doctrine that God has no parts, divisions, or composite attributes; pure undivided being.
[auto] The Divine Intellect is described as self-sufficing where the seer and the seen are identical.
All passages → 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 movement of the soul upward to the Divine Intellect implies a hierarchical structure of being.
All passages → Gnosis Direct Knowledgesoteriology Salvation through direct experiential knowledge of the divine nature, not through faith, ritual, or moral works alone.
[auto] The passage emphasizes knowledge attained through the divine light itself, where knowing and being known are simultaneous acts.
All passages → Inner Lightanthropology The divine spark or luminous quality residing within the human person, potentially recognisable through introspection.
[auto] The human soul uses the Divine light as a medium to see, implying an internal luminous quality.
All passages → Inner Silencepraxis The practice of stilling the mind and speech to open receptivity to divine knowledge or presence.
[auto] The soul is instructed to sink all its activity into the Principle, implying a cessation of discursive thought.
All passages → Kingdom Withinanthropology The claim that the divine realm is present inside the individual, accessible without external mediation.
[auto] The soul enters the Principle and shows possession of priors within itself, indicating the divine is internal.
All passages → Living Godtheology The divine conceived as active, present, and dynamic—not an abstract principle but a personal responsive reality.
[auto] The Divine Intellect is characterized by life and Act rather than static abstraction.
All passages → Monadcosmology The absolutely simple, undivided first principle from which all multiplicity and existence flows.
[auto] The Intellectual-Principle is described as primal, self-sufficing, and the source of vision.
All passages → Mystical Unionsoteriology The merging of the individual soul or self with the divine, transcending personal identity.
[auto] The soul is described as posing itself as an image of the Being and entering into the Principle to become one with it.
All passages → Opposites Transcendedanthropology The dissolution of binary oppositions (male/female, inner/outer, above/below) as a mark of spiritual completion.
[auto] The Divine is described as both light-giver and lit, and knowing and known simultaneously.
All passages → Paradox As Teachingethics Using apparent contradiction, reversal, or riddle to destabilise ordinary understanding and induce insight.
[auto] The text uses paradoxical descriptions like 'light-giver and lit at once' to convey the nature of the Divine.
All passages → 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 text explicitly describes leading the soul up to the Divine and entering into the Intellectual-Principle.
All passages → Self Knowledgesoteriology The recognition of one's own true divine nature as the primary path to liberation; 'know thyself' as soteriology.
[auto] The Divine Intellect is characterized as the 'primal self-knower' and the soul recovers memory of priors it never lost.
All passages → Spiritual Ascentpraxis A staged journey of the soul upward through heavenly realms or levels of being toward the divine source.
[auto] The passage details the process of leading the soul upward to the Divine and sinking activity into the Principle.
All passages → 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 asserts that in the Divine Intellect, 'what it sees it is', indicating a non-dual identity.
All passages → Related passages · 15 of 18 parallels
christian_mysticism | Pseudo-Dionysius: The Mystical Theology | Chapter III-b
“Now in the former treatises the course of the argument, as it came down from the highest to the lowest categories, embraced an ever-widening number of conceptions which increased at each stage of the descent, but in the present treatise it…”
Shared concept: Apophatic Theology — Describing the divine only by negation—God transcends all positive categories and concepts; the via negativa. (derived)
christian_mysticism | Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 5, Section 1a
“131 CHAPTER V Concerning ” Existence “ and also concerning ” Exemplars .” I.
Now must we proceed to the Name of “Being” which is truly applied by the Divine Science to Him that truly Is.
But this much we must say, that it is not the purpo…”
Shared concept: Mystical Union — The merging of the individual soul or self with the divine, transcending personal identity. (derived)
theosophy | The Secret Doctrine | Page 19 (part 1)
“The Secret Doctrine by H.
P.
Blavatsky -- Vol.
1 [[Vol.
1, Page]] 325 THE IMPARTIALITY OF SCIENTIFIC DENIALS.
[[This page continued from previous section ]] § III.
PRIMORDIAL SUBSTANCE AND DIVINE THOUGHT.
"As it would seem irrational…”
Shared concept: Unity Of Being — The doctrine that all existence is ultimately one substance or one divine reality; non-duality as a theological claim. (derived)
western_esoteric | The Secret Teachings of All Ages (Manly P. Hall) | The Human Body in Symbolism-j
“When humanity has completed its physical evolution, the empty shell of materiality left behind will be used by other life waves as steppingstones to their own liberation.
The trend of man's evolutionary growth is ever toward his own essent…”
Shared concept: Self Knowledge — The recognition of one's own true divine nature as the primary path to liberation; 'know thyself' as soteriology. (derived)
christian_mysticism | Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names | Chapter 1, Section 1d
“And we press upwards to those beams which in the Holy Scripture shine upon us; wherefrom we gain the light which leads us unto 55 the Divine praises 64 64 πρὸς τοὺς θεαρχικοὺς ὕμνους.
Either (1) “leads us to declare the Divine praises”; or…”
Shared concept: Return To Source — The soul's journey back to its divine origin, reversing the fall into matter through stages of purification or illumination. (derived)
christian_mysticism | The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme | Chapter 2 (part 3)
“This other will is the sensitivity and conceivability of the primordial will, by means of which that which is nothing finds itself to be something.
By so doing the inconceivable causeless will issues by means of that which it has eternally…”
Shared concept: Living God — The divine conceived as active, present, and dynamic—not an abstract principle but a personal responsive reality. (derived)
renaissance_hermeticism | The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part II (Gli Eroici Furori) | First Dialogue-m
“Thus everything has an impetus towards its beginning retrogressively, and progressively towards its end and perfection, as Empedocles well said, and from which sentence I think may be inferred that which the Nolan said in this octave: The s…”
Shared concept: Spiritual Ascent — A staged journey of the soul upward through heavenly realms or levels of being toward the divine source. (derived)
hinduism | Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, Book III | Sutra 47
“Mastery over the powers of perception and action comes through perfectly concentrated Meditation on their fivefold forms; namely, their power to grasp their distinctive nature, the element of self-consciousness in them, their inherence, and…”
Shared concept: Active Contemplation — A form of meditation that uses imagery, imagination, or symbolic thought rather than purely empty stillness. (derived)
renaissance_hermeticism | The Heroic Enthusiasts, Part II (Gli Eroici Furori) | First Dialogue-g
“Wherefore not only can we never discourse about things divine, but we cannot even think of them without detracting from, rather than adding to the glory of them; so that the best thing to be done with regard to them is, that man, in the pre…”
Shared concept: Inner Silence — The practice of stilling the mind and speech to open receptivity to divine knowledge or presence. (derived)
buddhism | The Dhammapada | Chapter VIII, Section 1a
“p.
31 CHAPTER VIII.
THE THOUSANDS.
100.
Even though a speech be a thousand (of words), but made up of senseless words, one word of sense is better, which if a man hears, he becomes quiet.
101.
Even though a Gâthâ (poem) be a thousand…”
Shared concept: Inner Silence — The practice of stilling the mind and speech to open receptivity to divine knowledge or presence. (derived)
celtic | The Mabinogion | Tale PEREDUR THE SON OF EVRAWC-f
““Tell me, my soul,” said the man, “which of the youths thinkest thou plays best.” “I think,” said Peredur, “that the yellow-haired youth could draw blood from the other, if he chose.” “Arise thou, my life, and take the cudgel and the shield…”
Shared concept: Inner Silence — The practice of stilling the mind and speech to open receptivity to divine knowledge or presence. (derived)
hinduism | Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, Book I | Sutra 15
“Ceasing from self-indulgence is conscious mastery over the thirst for sensuous pleasure here or hereafter. Rightly understood, the desire for sensation is the desire of being, the distortion of the soul's eternal life. The lust of sensual s…”
Shared concept: Inner Silence — The practice of stilling the mind and speech to open receptivity to divine knowledge or presence. (derived)
hinduism | Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, Book I | Sutra 34
“Or peace may be reached by the even sending forth and control of the life-breath. Here again we may look for a double meaning: first, that even and quiet breathing which is a part of the victory over bodily restlessness; then the even and q…”
Shared concept: Inner Silence — The practice of stilling the mind and speech to open receptivity to divine knowledge or presence. (derived)
hinduism | Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, Book I | Sutra 35
“Faithful, persistent application to any object, if completely attained, will bind the mind to steadiness. We are still considering how to overcome the wavering and perturbation of the psychic nature, which make it quite unfit to transmit th…”
Shared concept: Inner Silence — The practice of stilling the mind and speech to open receptivity to divine knowledge or presence. (derived)
hinduism | Yoga Sutras of Patanjali, Book II | Sutra 51
“The fourth degree transcends external and internal objects. The inner meaning seems to be that, in addition to the three degrees of control already described, control, that is, over the incoming current of life, over the outgoing current, a…”
Shared concept: Inner Silence — The practice of stilling the mind and speech to open receptivity to divine knowledge or presence. (derived)
← Select Works, Section 444 (part 2) Select Works, Section 446 →