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Select Works of Plotinus · 500 of 752 · tr. Thomas Taylor

Select Works, Section 477

Section 3 3. In the case of twin birth among human beings how can we make out the Reason-Principles to be different; and still more when we turn to the animals and especially those with litters? Where the young are precisely alike, there is one Reason-Principle. But this would mean that after all there are not as many Reason Principles as separate beings? As many as there are of differing beings, differing by something more than a mere failure in complete reproduction of their Idea. And why may not this [sharing of archetype] occur also in beings untouched by differentiation, if indeed there be any such? A craftsman even in constructing an object identical with a model must envisage that identity in a mental differentiation enabling him to make a second thing by bringing in some difference side by side with the identity: similarly in nature, where the thing comes about not by reasoning but in sole virtue of Reason-Principles, that differentiation must be included in the archetypal idea, though it is not in our power to perceive the difference. The consideration of Quantity brings the same result: If production is undetermined in regard to Quantity, each thing has its distinct Reason-Principle: if there is a measured system the Quantity has been determined by the unrolling and unfolding of the Reason-Principles of all the existences. Thus when the universe has reached its term, there will be a fresh beginning, since the entire Quantity which the Kosmos is to exhibit, every item that is to emerge in its course, all is laid up from the first in the Being that contains the Reason-Principles. Are we, then, looking to the brute realm, to hold that there are as many Reason-Principles as distinct creatures born in a litter? Why not? There is nothing alarming about such limitlessness in generative forces and in Reason-Principles, when Soul is there to sustain all. As in Soul [principle of Life] so in Divine Mind [principle of Idea] there is this infinitude of recurring generative powers; the Beings there are unfailing.
Themes
◆Divine Hiddennesstheology

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

The unity is described as 'essentially distinguished' from things and must be sought beyond how it appears in the mass.

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◇Apophatic Theologytheology

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

[auto] The unity is defined by being 'essentially distinguished' from the manifold and existing in 'pure identity,' relying on negation of composite attributes.

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◇Divine Simplicitytheology

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

[auto] The text argues that the underlying unity must be 'simplex' and exist within itself alone to avoid losing coherence.

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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 text suggests the unity is 'displayed beyond itself' and resident among outside things, implying a flow from the source to the manifold.

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◇Gnosis Direct Knowledgesoteriology

Salvation through direct experiential knowledge of the divine nature, not through faith, ritual, or moral works alone.

[auto] Salvation or understanding is framed as 'recognizing' and 'seeing' the unity directly rather than through external forms.

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◇Kingdom Withinanthropology

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

[auto] The text states the unity is 'resident among the mass of things' and 'present to the items,' suggesting the divine is immanent.

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◇Monadcosmology

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

[auto] The passage explicitly describes a unity that is 'numbered as first before all' and 'solitary and self-existent,' matching the definition of the absolutely simple first principle.

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◇Mystical Unionsoteriology

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

[auto] The goal described is to 'apprehend' the solitary unity and 'see it for what it is,' indicating a direct merging or contact with the divine.

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◇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 passage instructs the reader to seek the underlying unity 'no longer as it appears in those other things but as it stands in its pure identity.'

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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 instruction to seek the underlying reality beyond its appearance in material things implies an upward journey of the soul.

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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 core argument is that a manifold is impossible without a unity for its source or ground, asserting the fundamental oneness of existence.

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Related passages · 1 parallel
◆egyptian|The Egyptian Book of the Dead (Papyrus of Ani)|Chapter 43 (part 70)
“He giveth life to man, He breatheth the breath of life into his nostrils--God is father and mother, the father of fathers, and the mother of mothers. He begetteth, but was never begotten; He produceth, but was never produced; He begat hims…”
Both passages discuss the concept of a singular, self-existent unity or divine being that underlies the multiplicity of existence. They emphasize the primacy and purity of this unity, which is distinct from the manifold things it encompasses.