Select Works of Plotinus · 638 of 752 · tr. Thomas Taylor

Select Works, Section 611

Section 4 4. Then consider this god [in man] whom we cannot think to be absent at some point and present at another. All that have insight into the nature of the divine beings hold the omnipresence of this god and of all the gods, and reason assures us that so it must be. Now all-pervasion is inconsistent with partition; that would mean no longer the god throughout but part of the god at one point and part at another; the god ceases to be one god, just as a mass cut up ceases to be a mass, the parts no longer giving the first total. Further, the god becomes corporeal. If all this is impossible, the disputed doctrine presents itself again; holding the god to pervade the Being of man, we hold the omnipresence of an integral identity. Again, if we think of the divine nature as infinite- and certainly it is confined by no bounds- this must mean that it nowhere fails; its presence must reach to everything; at the point to which it does not reach, there it has failed; something exists in which it is not. Now, admitting any sequent to the absolute unity, that sequent must be bound up with the absolute; any third will be about that second and move towards it, linked to it as its offspring. In this way all participants in the Later will have share in the First. The Beings of the Intellectual are thus a plurality of firsts and seconds and thirds attached like one sphere to one centre, not separated by interval but mutually present; where, therefore, the Intellectual tertiaries are present, the secondaries and firsts are present too.

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Themes

Divine Immanencetheology

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's central claim is the omnipresence of the god pervading all being — 'its presence must reach to everything; at the point to which it does not reach, there it has failed' — and specifically 'holding the god to pervade the Being of man.'

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Divine Lighttheology

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

[auto] Presence is analogized to light shining differently on transparent versus opaque objects based on adequacy.

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Divine Simplicitytheology

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

[auto] The text asserts that diversity remains 'simplex still' and that the multiple is ultimately one.

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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] It explicitly questions and explains the existence of 'firsts, seconds, thirds' in participation determined by rank and power.

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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] It identifies a 'Reason-Principle' that constitutes a unity in variety within the Intellectual Order.

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Monadcosmology

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

The entire argument centers on the absolute unity that cannot be partitioned without ceasing to be one god — 'the god ceases to be one god, just as a mass cut up ceases to be a mass' — establishing the undivided first principle.

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Opposites Transcendedanthropology

The dissolution of binary oppositions (male/female, inner/outer, above/below) as a mark of spiritual completion.

[auto] It states that difference is no bar to coexistence, allowing soul and Intellectual-Principle to exist together.

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Paradox As Teachingethics

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

[auto] The passage employs the apparent contradiction that diversity is simplex and the multiple is one to convey ontological truth.

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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 passage concludes that despite apparent diversity, 'all Being is one' and the multiple is fundamentally simplex.

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Related passages · 15 of 255 parallels

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