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Select Works of Plotinus · 479 of 752 · tr. Thomas Taylor

Select Works, Section 454 (part 2)

How does the Intellectual-Principle come to meet with them as it travels round; what keeps each true to its character; what gives them enduring identity; what conceivable shape or character can they have? They are being presented to us as some collection of figures, in gold or some other material substance, the work of some unknown sculptor or graver: but at once the Intellectual-Principle which contemplates them becomes sense-perception; and there still remains the question how one of them comes to be Justice and another something else. But the great argument is that if we are to allow that these objects of Intellection are in the strict sense outside the Intellectual-Principle, which, therefore, must see them as external, then inevitably it cannot possess the truth of them. In all it looks upon, it sees falsely; for those objects must be the authentic things; yet it looks upon them without containing them and in such knowledge holds only their images; that is to say, not containing the authentic, adopting phantasms of the true, it holds the false; it never possesses reality. If it knows that it possesses the false, it must confess itself excluded from the truth; if it fails of this knowledge also, imagining itself to possess the truth which has eluded it, then the doubled falsity puts it the deeper into error. It is thus, I suppose, that in sense-perception we have belief instead of truth; belief is our lief; we satisfy ourselves with something very different from the original which is the occasion of perception. In fine, there would be on the hypothesis no truth in the Intellectual-Principle. But such an Intellectual-Principle would not be truth, nor truly an Intellectual-Principle. There would be no Intellectual-Principle at all [no Divine Mind]: yet elsewhere truth cannot be.
Themes
◆Logoscosmology

The divine reason, word, or ordering principle through which the universe was created; mediates between the transcendent God and the material world.

Intellect is described as holding the Universe with life and intellect, functioning as an ordering principle.

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◇Apophatic Theologytheology

Describing the divine only by negation—God transcends all positive categories and concepts; the via negativa.

[auto] The passage defines the supreme principle by negation, stating it is 'not itself a Being' despite being the author of Being.

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◇Demiurgecosmology

A secondary creator deity—often ignorant or malevolent—responsible for fashioning the material world, distinct from the supreme transcendent God.

[auto] The text discusses 'The Making Principle' as a creator figure that requires a higher source to explain its virtue.

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◇Divine Hiddennesstheology

The supreme God's radical concealment beyond ordinary knowledge or perception; the Hidden Father.

[auto] The supreme principle is characterized as having a self-sufficing existence 'outside of all things'.

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◇Divine Simplicitytheology

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

[auto] The One is described as having a self-sufficing existence outside of all things, implying an undivided nature.

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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 passage explicitly outlines a hierarchy ascending from Intellect to the Making Principle and finally to The One.

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◇Monadcosmology

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

[auto] The text centers on 'The One' as the absolutely simple source from which all multiplicity and existence flows.

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◇Mystical Unionsoteriology

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

[auto] The text describes particular entities participating in The One, suggesting a union or indwelling of the divine principle.

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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 paradox that the author of all Being is not itself a Being.

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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 author argues that reasoning must 'go higher' beyond the made and the maker to reach the ultimate source.

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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 describes how all entities participate in The One, which converts multiplicity into self-sufficing existence.

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Related passages · 8 parallels
◆christian_mysticism|Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names|Chapter 7, Section 1d
“Furthermore, we must ask how it is that we know God when He cannot be perceived by the mind or the senses and is not a particular Being. Perhaps ‘tis true to say that we know not God by His Nature (for this is unknowable and beyond the rea…”
Both passages explore the nature of divine knowledge and the limitations of human understanding in comprehending the divine. They discuss the idea that the divine is both knowable and unknowable, and that true understanding transcends ordinary perception and intellect.
◆christian_mysticism|The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme|Chapter 1 (part 1)
“p. 33 THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. "Our whole doctrine is nothing else but an instruction to show how man may create a kingdom of light within himself. . . . He in whom this spring of divine power flows, carries within himself the d…”
Both passages discuss the concept of a higher, divine principle that transcends human understanding and existence. Plotinus refers to 'The One' as the ultimate principle above being and self-sufficiency, while Boehme talks about the divine principle within man that is superior to the intellect and animal nature. Both emphasize the need to rise above ordinary understanding to perceive this divine reality.
◆christian_mysticism|The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme|Chapter 1 (part 4)
“Let them, therefore, again go out with their will from their wilful ignorance or malignity and enter again into the will of God." ( Menschwerdung , 3, 5.) All this goes to show that it is useless and vain to seek for divine wisdom, meaning…”
Both passages discuss the concept of achieving a higher state of being or understanding through inner vision and the rejection of external dependencies. They emphasize the need to look within oneself to perceive the divine or ultimate reality, though they come from different mystical traditions.
◆christian_mysticism|The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme|Chapter 13 (part 11)
“27.) No Christian should contemplate his own holiness, or fancy himself to be better than others; but he should rather realise his own unworthiness, and regret the perverted state of himself and of humanity as a whole. "No one should want…”
Both passages explore the concept of transcending the self and seeking a higher, divine reality. Passage A discusses the ascent to The One, a principle above being and self-sufficiency, while Passage B emphasizes dying to the self and living in the love of God, aiming for spiritual perfection and union with the divine.
◆hermeticism|Corpus Hermeticum 1: Poimandres|Section 1b
“But when He raised His head, I see in Mind the Light, [but] now in Powers no man could number, and Cosmos grown beyond all bounds, and that the Fire was compassed round about by a most mighty Power, and [now] subdued had come unto a stand.…”
Both passages explore the nature of the Intellectual-Principle or Divine Mind and its relationship to the cosmos and reality. They discuss the concept of truth and the nature of perception, though from different mystical traditions.
◆platonism|Plato: Phaedrus|Section 1z
“And if he is ignorant of the true nature of any subject, how can he detect the greater or less degree of likeness in other things to that of which by the hypothesis he is ignorant? Phaedr. He cannot. Soc. And when men are deceived and t…”
Both passages explore the nature of truth and perception, discussing how understanding and misconception arise from the interpretation of appearances and the distinction between true knowledge and false belief. They both emphasize the importance of discerning the true nature of things to avoid error.
◆western_esoteric|Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky)|Chapter I (part 5)
“It is not true because our experimental knowledge is not a confused perception of a real world . It is a very acute perception of an entirely unreal world appearing round about us at the moment of our contact with the world of true causes,…”
Both passages explore the nature of perception and the limitations of human understanding, questioning the reality of what is perceived and the nature of true knowledge. They both delve into the idea that our sensory experiences may not reflect the true nature of reality.
◆western_esoteric|Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky)|Chapter XXII (part 16)
“Having become indifferent to objects of perception, the pupil must seek out the Rajah of the senses, the Thought-Producer, him who awakes illusions. The mind is the great slayer of the real. Let the Disciple slay the Slayer. For— When to…”
Both passages discuss the nature of perception and the distinction between true knowledge and illusion. They emphasize the need to transcend sensory perception to attain higher truth, with Plotinus focusing on the Intellectual-Principle and the Theosophical passage on the inner voice and the realm of SAT.