Select Works, Section 608

Platonic recollection: knowledge as the soul's recovery of what it knew before birth, with learning as remembering rather than acquisition.

The passage states 'we do not piece it up item by item, but find it within beforehand; it precedes even the principle by which we affirm,' presenting knowledge of the One as pre-existing within the soul rather than acquired.

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

[auto] The principle is defined primarily through negation, described as having no source, coming from no place, and being independent of body.

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

[auto] The body is contrasted with the principle as the source of partition and modification that the immaterial entity transcends.

The doctrine that the divine is present within all things and the universe itself, pervading creation rather than remaining solely transcendent above it. Distinct from unity_of_being (the general claim that all existence is one substance, agnostic about whether that substance indwells its parts) and from kingdom_within (the divine present specifically IN THE INDIVIDUAL human, accessible without mediation) — divine_immanence is the general pervading-presence claim applied to all of creation, not a human-specific indwelling.

The passage explicitly argues that the Good 'is present, self-contained, in everything' and that 'we are in it,' making the pervading presence of the divine within all of creation a central theme.

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

[auto] The passage centrally argues that the immaterial principle has no parts, cannot be partitioned, and is free from bodily modification.

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 text implies a hierarchy where the immaterial principle is of an earlier nature than body and allows for participation.

The doctrine that the cosmos unfolds as a structured descent of spirit into matter — a directional process traced stage by stage from an unconditioned principle down through successive planes to full materialization — complemented by its own eventual return ('evolution'). Distinct from emanation_hierarchy (the static structure of the resulting levels of the cascade) and cosmogony (a single originating event rather than an ongoing staged process) in naming the directional cosmic PROCESS of descent itself, paired with its own complementary ascent.

The passage traces the directional process of the One going forth into multiplicity ('must become manifest as multiplicity') and the complementary return ('lead back to what is authentically one'), naming the paired descent-ascent process.

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

The passage affirms 'the god in each of us to be one, the same in all' and that we 'find it within beforehand,' locating the divine realm inside the individual accessible without external mediation.

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

[auto] The text describes a self-based, autonomous, immaterial entity that serves as a prior nature to all body.

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

The passage describes participation in the principle as a whole-to-whole connection where the participant links with the unparticipated entirety.

The soul's journey back to its divine origin, reversing the fall into matter through stages of purification or illumination.

The passage states that 'the primal nature and the appetition of the good, which is appetition of unity, lead back to what is authentically one; to this every form of Being is urged in a movement towards its own reality.'

The doctrine that all existence is ultimately one substance or one divine reality; non-duality as a theological claim.

[auto] Participation in the principle is described as entirety with entirety, implying a non-divided unity between participant and source.