Select Works of Plotinus · 543 of 752 · tr. Thomas Taylor
Select Works, Section 519 (part 2)
And even if Ideal Forms of qualities are not posited, yet once the term "habit" is used in reference to Intellect, the question arises whether there is anything common to that habit and the habit we know in the lower.
Wisdom too is generally admitted to exist There.
Obviously, if it shares only its name with our wisdom, it is not to be reckoned among things of this sphere; if, however, the import is in both cases the same, then Quality is common to both realms- unless, of course, it be maintained that everything There, including even intellection, is Substance.
This question, however, applies to all the categories: are the two spheres irreconcilable, or can they be co-ordinated with a unity?
Related passages · 3 parallels
◆hermeticism|Corpus Hermeticum 4: The Epistles|Section 1c
“It is Itself Its Source, since It may have no other Source.
The Oneness then being Source, containeth every number, but is contained by none; engendereth every number, but is engendered by no other one.
11.
Now all that is engendered is…”
Both passages explore the nature of relationships and the inherent qualities that define them. Passage A discusses the reality of relations and their independence from the objects they relate, while Passage B describes the superiority and inferiority of the 'Like' and 'Unlike' in relation to the Oneness, highlighting the source and root of all things.
◆taoism|The Writings of Chuang Tzu (Inner Chapters)|Book 124 (part 6)
“Let us abjure such procedure, and simply rest here 1 .
7.
The Tâo at first met with no responsive recognition.
Speech at first had no constant forms of expression.
Because of this there came the demarcations (of different views).
Let m…”
Both passages discuss the nature of relations and their reality. Plotinus explores the objective truth behind relations like priority, excess, and deficiency, while the Taoist text discusses the demarcations of different views, including relations and their obligations, highlighting the elusive nature of these concepts.
◆western_esoteric|Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky)|Chapter XXI (part 8)
“Therefore we must reconcile ourselves to the fact that all attempts to express super-logical relations in our language will seem absurdities, and really can only give hints at that which we wish to express.
Thus the formula, A is both A an…”
Both passages discuss the limitations of language in expressing higher or super-logical truths. They explore the idea that conventional language and logic are inadequate for describing the nature of reality, particularly in the realm of causes or noumena. Both emphasize the need for a different mode of understanding, though they come from different philosophical and mystical traditions.