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Select Works of Plotinus · 524 of 752 · tr. Thomas Taylor

Select Works, Section 501

Section 9 9. What, then, is the content- inevitably separated by our minds- of this one Intellectual-Principle? For there is no resource but to represent the items in accessible form just as we study the various articles constituting one science. This universe is a living thing capable of including every form of life; but its Being and its modes are derived from elsewhere; that source is traced back to the Intellectual-Principle: it follows that the all-embracing archetype is in the Intellectual-Principle, which, therefore, must be an intellectual Kosmos, that indicated by Plato in the phrase "The living existent." Given the Reason-Principle [the outgoing divine Idea] of a certain living thing and the Matter to harbour this seed-principle, the living thing must come into being: in the same way once there exists- an intellective Nature, all powerful, and with nothing to check it- since nothing intervenes between it and that which is of a nature to receive it- inevitably the higher imprints form and the lower accepts, it. The recipient holds the Idea in division, here man, there sun, while in the giver all remains in unity.
Themes
◆Body As Obstacleanthropology

The material body viewed as a prison, tomb, or source of error that hinders spiritual knowledge and return.

The text states that what the body receives is but image and imitation, contrasting it with the authentic reality received by the soul.

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◆Divine Providencetheology

Pronoia — the doctrine that the divine actively orders the unfolding of the cosmos and human affairs toward intelligible ends, against pure chance or blind necessity.

The Intellectual-Principle and Soul are described as imparting the pattern of the Kosmos, indicating active ordering.

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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.

The passage situates the Intellectual-Principle within the total of being as a separate existence distinct from compound matter.

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◆Logoscosmology

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

The Intellectual-Principle is described as containing Ideas and being identified by reasoning, functioning as the divine ordering principle.

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◆Microcosm Macrocosmcosmology

The human being as a small-scale image of the entire cosmos; the body, soul, and intellect mirroring the structure of the heavens and the divine — distinct from correspondence in that it makes the human the privileged mirror.

The text applies the same analytical method to the human being and the total of things, mirroring cosmic structure in human constitution.

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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.

The text seeks a single authentically existent principle that underlies the multiplicity of compound things.

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◇Divine Simplicitytheology

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

[auto] The passage explicitly contrasts the compound nature of visible existence with the sought-after simplex nature of the Intellectual-Principle.

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Related passages · 8 parallels
◆christian_mysticism|Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names|Chapter 7, Section 1b
“(2) Wisdom as a whole = Wisdom embodied in the universe as a whole. (3) Wisdom in each individual instance = Wisdom as shown in the structure of some particular plant or animal, or part of a plant or animal. (1) Is an Emanation; (2) and (…”
Both passages discuss the concept of an Intellectual or Divine Principle that is the source of all creation and wisdom. They describe a hierarchy of being where the highest principle is beyond intellect and matter, and from which all lower forms derive their existence and knowledge.
◆christian_mysticism|The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme|Chapter 2 (part 2)
“That Will, by conceiving of its own self, thereby creates a mirror within its own self. The same takes place in the microcosm of man. By conceiving of his own self man creates a mirror in which he " feels " his own self, and thereby he be…”
Both passages discuss the nature of a higher, intellectual or divine principle that is the source of creation and existence. They explore the concept of a self-existent, self-sufficient entity that conceives of itself, leading to the manifestation of the world or reality.
◆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 nature of the divine and its relationship to the created world, emphasizing the distinction between the divine principle and the material world. They both explore the idea of an intellectual or spiritual principle that underlies reality.
◆christian_mysticism|The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme|Chapter 6 (part 8)
“They are fire-flames, illumined by the light of God, but we attain the great fountain of meekness and love which is welling up within the holy essentiality of God." 1 ( Menschwerdung , i. 5.) Man comprises all three principles: the princip…”
Both passages discuss the nature of reality and the components of existence, identifying different principles or elements that constitute the universe and human beings. They both explore the idea of an intellectual or divine principle that shapes and gives form to the material world.
◆christian_mysticism|The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme|Chapter 6 (part 9)
“Thus he was in possession of divine and terrestrial essentiality; but the terrestrial one was in the divine one like consumed or impotent (latent). The substance or the matter from which the body was made or created contained itself also t…”
Both passages discuss the nature of the Intellectual or Divine Principle and its role in creation. They explore the relationship between the divine and the material, and the concept of a higher, shaping principle that informs and gives form to the material world.
◆christian_mysticism|The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme|Chapter 7 (part 6)
“2.) There existed in man also the third principle, wherein resides sensual desire. He was not endowed with this principle for the purpose of surrendering himself to it, but that he might introduce it into the light of God, and glorify Him…”
Both passages discuss the nature of the human soul and its relationship to higher principles. They explore the idea of an intellectual or divine principle that shapes and guides the lower, material aspects of existence, highlighting the duality within human nature and the aspiration to unite with the divine.
◆western_esoteric|Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky)|Chapter XVI (part 9)
“In our language only an eternally becoming universe exists. The "Eternal Now" cannot be expressed in language. Thus our language pictures to us beforehand a false universe— dual , when in reality it is one ; and eternally becoming when it…”
Both passages discuss the nature of reality and the unity of existence, with Plotinus describing the Intellectual-Principle as an all-embracing archetype and the other passage emphasizing the monism of the universe and the unity of spirit and matter. Both explore the relationship between the divine or ultimate reality and the manifest world.
◆western_esoteric|Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky)|Chapter XVII (part 8)
“Doesn't this show a singularly indigent imagination? Isn't this brave universe made on a richer pattern, with room in it for a long hierarchy of beings? Materialistic science makes it infinitely richer in terms, with its molecules, and et…”
Both passages discuss the concept of a hierarchical, interconnected universe with a divine or intellectual principle that encompasses all forms of life. They explore the relationship between the divine and the material world, though from different philosophical and mystical traditions.