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Select Works of Plotinus · 647 of 752 · tr. Thomas Taylor

Select Works, Section 621

Section 1 1. It is suggested that multiplicity is a falling away from The Unity, infinity being the complete departure, an innumerable multiplicity, and that this is why unlimit is an evil and we evil at the stage of multiplicity. A thing, in fact, becomes a manifold when, unable to remain self-centred, it flows outward and by that dissipation takes extension: utterly losing unity it becomes a manifold since there is nothing to bind part to part; when, with all this outflowing, it becomes something definite, there is a magnitude. But what is there so grievous in magnitude? Given consciousness, there will be, since the thing must feel its exile, its sundrance from its essence. Everything seeks not the alien but itself; in that outward moving there is frustration or compulsion; a thing most exists not when it takes multiplicity or extension but when it holds to its own being, that is when its movement is inward. Desire towards extension is ignorance of the authentically great, a movement not on the appropriate path but towards the strange; to the possession of the self the way is inward. Consider the thing that has taken extension; broken into so many independent items, it is now those several parts and not the thing it was; if that original is to persist, the members must stand collected to their total; in other words, a thing is itself not by being extended but by remaining, in its degree, a unity: through expansion and in the measure of the expansion, it is less itself; retaining unity, it retains its essential being. Yet the universe has at once extension and beauty? Yes; because it has not been allowed to slip away into the limitless but is held fast by unity; and it has beauty in virtue of Beauty not of Magnitude; it needed Beauty to parry that magnitude; in the degree of its extension it was void of beauty and to that degree ugly. Thus extension serves as Matter to Beauty since what calls for its ordering is a multiplicity. The greater the expansion, the greater the disorder and ugliness.
Themes
◆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.

It briefly mentions a 'sequent to the absolute unity,' implying a hierarchical flow from the source.

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◆Gnosis Direct Knowledgesoteriology

Salvation through direct experiential knowledge of the divine nature, not through faith, ritual, or moral works alone.

The text mentions that those who have 'insight into the nature of the divine beings' hold the view of omnipresence.

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◆Microcosm Macrocosmcosmology

The human being as a small-scale image of the entire cosmos; the body, soul, and intellect mirroring the structure of the heavens and the divine — distinct from correspondence in that it makes the human the privileged mirror.

The passage states that the god pervades the Being of man, implying the divine structure is present within the human.

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◆Opposites Transcendedanthropology

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

The argument resolves the opposition between presence and absence through the concept of integral identity.

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◆Theosis Deificationsoteriology

The doctrine — central to Eastern Orthodox and Maximian theology — that the human person is progressively transformed into a partaker of the divine nature by grace, not merely justified or united in passing ecstasy.

The passage explains that participants in the Later have share in the First, indicating participation in the divine nature.

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◇Apophatic Theologytheology

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

[auto] The divine nature is described as infinite and confined by no bounds, negating limitations and spatial constraints.

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◇Divine Simplicitytheology

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

[auto] The passage explicitly argues that divine omnipresence is inconsistent with partition or division into parts, asserting the god remains one.

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◇Kingdom Withinanthropology

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

[auto] It posits a god present within man who is omnipresent and integral, suggesting the divine realm resides inside the individual.

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◇Monadcosmology

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

[auto] The passage refers to the 'absolute unity' as the singular source from which any sequent must be bound.

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◇Mystical Unionsoteriology

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

[auto] The concept of the god pervading the Being of man suggests a state of union or indwelling rather than separation.

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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 text emphasizes an 'integral identity' and 'absolute unity' where the divine pervades all without failing or being divided.

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Related passages · 9 parallels
◆christian_mysticism|The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme|Chapter 1 (part 1)
“p. 33 THE DOCTRINES OF JACOB BOEHME. "Our whole doctrine is nothing else but an instruction to show how man may create a kingdom of light within himself. . . . He in whom this spring of divine power flows, carries within himself the d…”
Both passages discuss the omnipresence of the divine within the individual. Plotinus emphasizes the integral identity of the divine pervading all of existence, while Boehme focuses on the divine principle within man, leading to self-knowledge and the creation of an inner kingdom of light.
◆christian_mysticism|The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme|Chapter 2 (part 1)
“p. 58 CHAPTER II. THE UNITY OF THE ALL. "We are all one body in Christ, and have all the Spirit of Christ within our reach. If, then, we enter into the Christ, we may see and know everything by the power of His Spirit." ( Forty Question…”
Both passages discuss the omnipresence and unity of the divine, emphasizing that the divine is not limited by physical boundaries or time, and that the divine pervades all existence. They share a mystical perspective on the nature of the divine, though they come from different traditions.
◆christian_mysticism|The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme|Chapter 4 (part 1)
“p. 89 CHAPTER IV. CREATION. Everything we see in nature is manifested truth; only we are not able to recognise it as such, unless the truth is manifest within ourselves. God is the supreme, fundamental, universal, self-existent eternal…”
Both passages discuss the omnipresence of the divine and its relationship with creation. Plotinus emphasizes the integral unity and omnipresence of the divine, while Boehme explores the divine within creation and the distinction between God and the world, both touching on the nature of divine presence and its manifestations.
◆christian_mysticism|The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme|Chapter 7 (part 12)
“145:1 This was the divine Man, out of whom the world was created, while the natural man is a product of the world. 145:2 Because everything was within his own will, within himself. 145:3 This celestial Adam has not died, but still exists…”
Both passages discuss the omnipresence of the divine within the individual and the concept of divine unity. Passage A emphasizes the integral identity of the divine within man, while Passage B speaks of the divine nature within each person and the importance of self-knowledge to attain a divine state.
◆christian_mysticism|The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme|Chapter 11 (part 1)
“p. 224 CHAPTER XI. INCARNATION—THE CELESTIAL VIRGIN. The doctrine of the incarnation of Christ, or, to express it in other words, of the awakening of the germ of divine self-knowledge in man, is so grand, that it is impossible to form a…”
Both passages discuss the omnipresence and incarnation of the divine. Passage A from Plotinus emphasizes the integral identity and omnipresence of the divine within all beings, while Passage B from Boehme explores the incarnation of the divine in human form, highlighting the interconnectedness of the spiritual and material realms.
◆western_esoteric|Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky)|Chapter XIII (part 8)
“They may vary infinitely, i.e., may seem various, ever new from some new standpoint, but they cannot utterly vanish, any more than they can cease, come to an end. All that is highest to which we shall come in the understanding of the meani…”
Both passages explore the concept of unity and multiplicity, discussing how extension and diversity relate to the essence of being. They both touch on the idea of infinity and the nature of existence from different perspectives within their respective traditions.
◆western_esoteric|Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky)|Chapter XVI (part 14)
“The mystery of infinity —the greatest of all mysteries—it tells us that all the visible universe and its galaxies of stars have no dimension : that in relation to infinity they are equal to a point , a mathematical point which has no extens…”
Both passages discuss the concept of unity and multiplicity, exploring the idea that extension and multiplicity lead away from true essence or unity. They both touch on the nature of infinity and the limitations of finite perception.
◆western_esoteric|Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky)|Chapter XX (part 1)
“p. 243 CHAPTER XX The sense of infinity. The Neophyte's first ordeal. An intolerable sadness. The loss of everything real. What would an animal feel on becoming a man? The transition to the new logic. Our logic as founded on the obse…”
Both passages discuss the concept of unity and multiplicity, and the idea of a falling away from a higher state of being. They explore the themes of extension, disorder, and the struggle to comprehend higher realities, though from different mystical traditions.
◆western_esoteric|Tertium Organum (P.D. Ouspensky)|Chapter XXI (part 1)
“p. 254 CHAPTER XXI Man's transition to a higher logic. The necessity for rejecting everything "real." "Poverty of the spirit." The recognition of the infinite alone as real. Laws of the infinite. Logic of the finite—the Organon of Arist…”
Both passages discuss the nature of unity and multiplicity, and the limitations of finite logic or extension. Passage A from Plotinus emphasizes the importance of unity and the detriment of multiplicity, while Passage B from P.D. Ouspensky explores the inadequacy of finite logic in understanding the infinite and the noumenal world. Both texts share a mystical perspective on the limitations of the finite and the importance of unity or the infinite.