Select Works of Plotinus · 570 of 752 · tr. Thomas Taylor
Select Works, Section 546 (part 2)
In so doing, we shall not withhold Identity and Difference from the subsequents of the Intellectual order; the thing of Sense has, it is clear, a particular identity and a particular difference, but Identity and Difference have the generic status independently of the particular.
They will, moreover, be primary genera, because nothing can be predicated of them as denoting their essential nature.
Nothing, of course we mean, but Being; but this Being is not their genus, since they cannot be identified with any particular being as such.
Similarly, Being will not stand as genus to Motion or Stability, for these also are not its species.
Beings [or Existents] comprise not merely what are to be regarded as species of the genus Being, but also participants in Being.
On the other hand, Being does not participate in the other four principles as its genera: they are not prior to Being; they do not even attain to its level.
Themes
◇Divine Simplicitytheology
The doctrine that God has no parts, divisions, or composite attributes; pure undivided being.
[auto] The inquiry into considering Being as a unity relates to the concept of undivided divine reality without parts.
All passages →◇Monadcosmology
The absolutely simple, undivided first principle from which all multiplicity and existence flows.
[auto] The text explicitly investigates the nature and identification of first-principles in relation to genera.
All passages →◇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 centrally debates whether all existence is subsumed under one genus or unity versus multiple genera.
All passages →Related passages · 1 parallel
◆western_esoteric|Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky)|Chapter XXIII (part 16)
“329 cases it is more correct to regard them all as the highest types in their own evolution.
The absence of intermediate forms makes this view much more probable than that which is usually accepted, and which gives such rich material for d…”
Both passages explore the nature of existence and consciousness, proposing different forms or categories to understand the complexity of reality. Ouspensky's passage discusses various states of consciousness and their evolutionary processes, while the second passage from Plotinus examines the nature of Being and its distinction from Becoming, both seeking to classify and understand the fundamental aspects of existence.