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Select Works of Plotinus · 518 of 752 · tr. Thomas Taylor

Select Works, Section 496

Section 4 4. But, soul reached, why need we look higher; why not make this The First? A main reason is that the Intellectual-Principle is at once something other and something more powerful than Soul and that the more powerful is in the nature of things the prior. For it is certainly not true, as people imagine, that the soul, brought to perfection, produces Intellect. How could that potentiality come to actuality unless there be, first, an effective principle to induce the actualization which, left to chance, might never occur? The Firsts must be supposed to exist in actuality, looking to nothing else, self-complete. Anything incomplete must be sequent upon these, and take its completion from the principles engendering it which, like fathers, labour in the improvement of an offspring born imperfect: the produced is a Matter to the producing principle and is worked over by it into a shapely perfection. And if, further, soul is passible while something impassible there must be or by the mere passage of time all wears away, here too we are led to something above soul. Again there must be something prior to Soul because Soul is in the world and there must be something outside a world in which, all being corporeal and material, nothing has enduring reality: failing such a prior, neither man nor the Ideas would be eternal or have true identity. These and many other considerations establish the necessary existence of an Intellectual-Principle prior to Soul.
Themes
◆Monadcosmology

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

The God silently present implies the simple first principle from which unity flows.

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◇Active Contemplationpraxis

A form of meditation that uses imagery, imagination, or symbolic thought rather than purely empty stillness.

[auto] The novice is instructed to hold himself under an image of the Divine Being as a practice.

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◇Apophatic Theologytheology

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

[auto] The practitioner must ignore the lovely image to sink into identity beyond separation.

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◇Divine Lighttheology

The uncreated luminous quality of the divine, sometimes experienced directly in mystical states; illumination as revelation.

[auto] The seeker is told to seek in the light of a clear conception and penetrates sublimity.

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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 is framed through deep conviction and knowing whither one is going into sublimity.

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◇Inner Lightanthropology

The divine spark or luminous quality residing within the human person, potentially recognisable through introspection.

[auto] The text instructs bringing the divine-within before consciousness to see an image of oneself.

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◇Kingdom Withinanthropology

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

[auto] The Divine is described as possessed within and present silently inside the individual.

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◇Mystical Unionsoteriology

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

[auto] The passage centrally describes the soul forming a multiple unity with God where the two become one.

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◇Opposites Transcendedanthropology

The dissolution of binary oppositions (male/female, inner/outer, above/below) as a mark of spiritual completion.

[auto] The goal is to sink into perfect self-identity with no separation remaining between self and God.

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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 details retreating inwards to become one in the Divine, reversing separation.

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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 text emphasizes seeing oneself and sinking into perfect self-identity as the path to the Divine.

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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 passage describes retreating inwards and penetrating into a sublimity beyond separation.

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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 text asserts that in the degree of power and will, the soul and God become one.

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Related passages · 10 parallels
◆christian_mysticism|Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names|Chapter 2, Section 1i
“The Godhead is not a Whole because it is indivisible, nor a Part because there is nothing, on the ultimate plane, outside It. Yet It is a Whole because It includes the true existence of all things, and is Partitive because It contains the…”
Both passages discuss the nature of a higher, transcendent principle (Intellectual-Principle in Plotinus and the Godhead in the second passage) that is prior to and more fundamental than the soul or individual beings. They both emphasize the self-completeness and perfection of this higher principle.
◆christian_mysticism|Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names|Chapter 2, Section 1o
“Yet It is a Whole because It includes the true existence of all things, and is Partitive because It contains the principle of separate Individuality whereby Christ possesses a Human Soul distinct from all other human souls, and whereby, too…”
Both passages discuss the hierarchical nature of existence and the existence of a higher principle or Godhead beyond the soul or individuality. They explore the relationship between the higher principle and the lower, emphasizing the necessity and prior existence of the higher principle.
◆christian_mysticism|Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names|Chapter 4, Section 1c
“The Good is beyond this distinction, for nothing (on the ultimate plane) is outside It. See Intr., p. 5. and Lifelessness an excess of Life and Its Mindless state is an excess of Wisdom, 252 252 This apparently profitless speculation rea…”
Both passages explore the nature of higher principles beyond the soul or the material world. Passage A discusses the Intellectual-Principle as prior to the soul, while Passage B discusses the transcendent nature of the Good beyond existence and the material world.
◆christian_mysticism|Meister Eckhart's Sermons (Field translation)|IIb
“So, if my soul is to know God, it must be God-like.” Now, how is the soul to arrive at this heavenly state that it recognizes God in itself, and knows that He is near? By copying the heavens, which can receive no impulse from without to ma…”
Both passages discuss the nature of the soul and its relationship to a higher principle or God. They emphasize the need for the soul to transcend earthly and temporal concerns to attain knowledge of the divine, though they come from different mystical traditions.
◆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 achieving unity with the divine through inner transformation and self-knowledge. They emphasize the idea of transcending the physical and intellectual to attain a higher, spiritual understanding.
◆christian_mysticism|The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme|Chapter 1 (part 6)
“The human selfhood will then follow in its perceptions the Spirit of God, tremblingly and in the joy of humility, and become able to see what is contained in time and in eternity. Everything is near to a soul in that state, for the soul is…”
Both passages describe a mystical union with the divine, emphasizing the transcendence of the self and the attainment of a higher state of consciousness through identification with the divine. They share the theme of moving beyond sensory perception to achieve a deeper, more unified understanding.
◆christian_mysticism|The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme|Chapter 5 (part 10)
“119 The evil spirits are especially inimical to man; but they cannot injure him if his will is directed towards the divine, and if he does not permit himself to be captured by evil desire. No man, except he who is regenerated in the spirit…”
Both passages discuss the concept of union with the divine and the transformation of the self through this union. They emphasize the importance of inner focus and the rejection of external distractions to achieve a higher state of being.
◆christian_mysticism|The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme|Chapter 8 (part 8)
“For the internal being is continually labouring to manifest itself outwardly. Thus everything has its own mouth for the purpose of revealing itself, and therein is based the language of nature, by means of which each thing speaks out of it…”
Both passages discuss the concept of unity with the divine or universal spirit, emphasizing the idea of transcending the self to achieve a higher state of being and knowledge. They both explore the notion of internal transformation and the relationship between the individual and the divine or universal.
◆hermeticism|Corpus Hermeticum 13: The Discourse of Hermes to Tat|Section 1b
“Thou seest me with eyes, my son; but what I am thou dost not understand [even] with fullest strain of body and of sight. 4. Tat: Into fierce frenzy and mind-fury hast thou plunged me, father, for now no longer do I see myself. Hermes: I…”
Both passages describe a mystical experience of self-transcendence and union with the divine. They emphasize the need to move beyond the physical senses and the ego to achieve a state of unity with the divine, which is described as a state of pure being and knowledge.
◆western_esoteric|Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky)|Chapter XIX (part 7)
“In the reduction of your soul to its simplest self, its divine essence, you realize this union—this identity. But this sublime condition is not of permanent duration. It is only now and then that we can enjoy this elevation above the limi…”
Both passages discuss the nature of the soul and its relationship to higher principles or divine essence. They explore the idea of a higher, impassible intellect or divine presence that the soul can aspire to or unite with, though they come from different mystical traditions.