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Select Works of Plotinus · 594 of 752 · tr. Thomas Taylor

Select Works, Section 567

Section 6 6. Granted, it may be urged, that these observations upon the nature of Substance are sound, we have not yet arrived at a statement of its essence. Our critic doubtless expects to see this "Sensible": but its essence, its characteristic being, cannot be seen. Do we infer that fire and water are not Substance? They certainly are not Substance because they are visible. Why, then? Because they possess Matter? No. Or Form? No. Nor because they involve a Couplement of Matter and Form. Then why are they Substance? By existing. But does not Quantity exist, and Quality? This anomaly is to be explained by an equivocation in the term "existence." What, then, is the meaning of "existence" as applied to fire, earth and the other elements? What is the difference between this existence and existence in the other categories? It is the difference between being simply- that which merely is- and being white. But surely the being qualified by "white" is the same as that having no qualification? It is not the same: the latter is Being in the primary sense, the former is Being only by participation and in a secondary degree. Whiteness added to Being produces a being white; Being added to whiteness produces a white being: thus, whiteness becomes an accident of Being, and Being an accident of whiteness. The case is not equivalent to predicating white of Socrates and Socrates of white: for Socrates remains the same, though white would appear to have a different meaning in the two propositions, since in predicating Socrates of white we include Socrates in the [whole] sphere of whiteness, whereas in the proposition "Socrates is white" whiteness is plainly an attribute of Socrates. "Being is white" implies, similarly, that Being possesses whiteness as an attribute, while in the proposition "whiteness is Being [or, is a being]" Being is regarded as comprising whiteness in its own extension. In sum, whiteness has existence because it is bound up with Being and present in it: Being is, thus, the source of its existence. Being is Being on its own account, but the white is due to whiteness- not because it is "present in" whiteness, but because whiteness is present in it. The Being of the Sensible resembles the white in not originating in itself. It must therefore be regarded as dependent for its being upon the Authentic Being, as white is dependent upon the Authentic Whiteness, and the Authentic Whiteness dependent for its whiteness upon participation in that Supreme Being whose existence is underived.
Themes
◆Active Contemplationpraxis

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

The passage describes 'sheer intellection' and surveying the Magnitude as an active cognitive engagement.

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◆Monadcosmology

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

Although discussing Intellect, the text emphasizes its absolute unity and lack of parts characteristic of a monadic principle.

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◇Divine Lighttheology

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

[auto] The text describes surveying the Intellect with glory and light around it and beauty within it.

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◇Divine Simplicitytheology

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

[auto] The Intellect is described as integral with no part or individual, emphasizing its undivided nature.

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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 passage explicitly questions how particulars and grades of Being arise from the universal Intellect and primaries.

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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.

[auto] The text identifies the 'Reason-Principle' as the virtue by which the Intellect produces plurality while maintaining unity.

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◇Numerical Mysticismtheology

Numbers, proportions, and mathematical relationships as the underlying structure of divine reality.

[auto] The passage explicitly mentions Number within Intellect and references one, two, and three in relation to Magnitude.

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◇Paradox As Teachingethics

Using apparent contradiction, reversal, or riddle to destabilise ordinary understanding and induce insight.

[auto] The central question addresses the apparent contradiction of a single unity producing infinite plurality.

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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 inquiry focuses on how the Intellect remains a unity while being the source of all plurality.

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Related passages · 7 parallels
◆christian_mysticism|Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names|Chapter 5, Section 1b
“367 367 Sense-perception is a direct apprehension of that which we actually touch, see, hear, taste, or smell; Reason or Inference is an indirect apprehension of that which we do not actually touch, see, etc. Intuition is a direct apprehen…”
Both passages explore the nature of existence and being, discussing the relationship between the sensible and the authentic or divine. They both delve into the idea of participation in a higher reality, though from different philosophical and mystical traditions.
◆christian_mysticism|The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme|Chapter 4 (part 3)
“7.) "We cannot reasonably suppose any formation or differentiation to have existed in the eternal One from which, or according to which (formation) something could have been made; for if such a form, or predisposition to making a form, had…”
Both passages explore the nature of existence and being, with Plotinus discussing the essence of Substance and its dependence on Authentic Being, while the second passage discusses the creation of the world as a revelation of God's eternal nature. Both texts emphasize the primacy of a higher, unchangeable reality from which all else derives its existence.
◆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 explore the concept of a supreme, unified being that encompasses plurality and multiplicity. Passage A discusses the universal Intellect producing particulars while remaining a unity, whereas Passage B describes the Egyptian belief in a self-existent, one God who created all things and is hidden and mysterious.
◆greek_mystery|Orphic Hymns|Front Matter, p. 4 (part 4)
“Hence according to his theology there are two worlds, the intelligible and the sensible. Hence too his three demiurgic principles: Jovial, Dionysiacal, and Adonical, Δΐι#, ( ) Διονυσιακὴ, Αδωναϊκὴ, from whence many orders and differences o…”
Both passages discuss the hierarchical structure of reality, with a focus on the relationship between the divine intellect (or universal Intellect) and the soul. They both describe a system where the higher principles (Intellect, God) are the sources of all motion and life, and lower principles (soul, body) participate in the higher principles to varying degrees. The passages share a mystical and metaphysical approach to understanding the nature of reality and the divine.
◆hermeticism|Corpus Hermeticum 15: The Hymn of Hermes|Section 1b
“It sendeth forth of its 4 abundance, and in the place [of what it sendeth forth] receiveth the subsistence from above. 5 For thus the Demiurge 6 —I mean the Sun—eternally doth order Heaven and Earth, pouring down Essence, 7 and taking Matt…”
Both passages explore the relationship between a unified, divine intellect or principle and the multiplicity of existence. They discuss how a singular, transcendent source gives rise to the diversity of the cosmos, emphasizing the interplay between unity and plurality.
◆platonism|Plato: Timaeus|Section 1t
“To which end we must consider the nature of fire, and water, and air, and earth, such as they were prior to the creation of the heaven, and what was happening to them in this previous state; for no one has as yet explained the manner of the…”
Both passages explore the nature of fundamental elements (fire, water, air, earth) and their relationship to a higher, more authentic form of being or existence. They both delve into the concept of existence and the essence of substances, though from different philosophical and mystical traditions.
◆western_esoteric|Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky)|Chapter XXI (part 5)
“Penetrating there, it first of all renounces its fundamental axioms of identity and difference. In the world of infinite and fluent magnitudes, a magnitude may be not equal to itself; a part may be equal to the whole; and of two equal magn…”
Both passages explore the concept of a higher logic or intellect that transcends traditional Aristotelian logic. They discuss the idea of unity and plurality, and the inexpressibility of higher truths in conventional language, indicating a genuine conceptual parallel across different mystical traditions.