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Select Works of Plotinus · 654 of 752 · tr. Thomas Taylor

Select Works, Section 628

Section 8 8. As then there is a Life-Form primal- which therefore is the Life-Form Absolute- and there is Intellectual-Principle or Being, Authentic Being, these, we affirm, contain all living things and all Number, and Absolute Justice and Beauty and all of that order; for we ascribe an existence of their own to Absolute Man, Absolute Number, Absolute Justice. It remains to discover, in so far as such knowledge is possible, how these distinct entities come to be and what is the manner of their being. At the outset we must lay aside all sense-perception; by Intellectual-Principle we know Intellectual-Principle. We reflect within ourselves there is life, there is intellect, not in extension but as power without magnitude, issue of Authentic Being which is power self-existing, no vacuity but a thing most living and intellective- nothing more living, more intelligent, more real- and producing its effect by contact and in the ratio of the contact, closely to the close, more remotely to the remote. If Being is to be sought, then most be sought is Being at its intensest; so too the intensest of Intellect if the Intellectual act has worth; and so, too, of Life. First, then, we take Being as first in order; then Intellectual-Principle; then the Living-Form considered as containing all things: Intellectual-Principle, as the Act of Real Being, is a second. Thus it is clear that Number cannot be dependent upon the Living-Form since unity and duality existed before that; nor does it rise in the Intellectual-Principle since before that there existed Real Being which is both one and numerous.
Themes
◆Body As Obstacleanthropology

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

The weakness of the recipient material is noted as preventing the higher power from being discerned at every point.

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◆Correspondencecosmology

The Hermetic axiom that the structure of the cosmos is reflected at every scale — 'as above, so below; as within, so without' — making each level a legible map of the others.

An analogy is drawn between Time and the Principle, with the secondary power corresponding to the course of Time in keeping with its source.

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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.

The distinction between the First Principle and the lower orders of Time and Corporeal matter implies a hierarchical structure.

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◇Apophatic Theologytheology

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

[auto] The nature of the Principle is described largely through negation ('not like a stone', 'measureless, not bounded').

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◇Divine Simplicitytheology

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

[auto] The text emphasizes the Principle's lack of parts or limits ('not like a stone', 'unity, an identity'), central to the concept of divine simplicity.

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◇Monadcosmology

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

[auto] The passage explicitly identifies a 'First Principle' that is measureless, unified, and the source from which Time depends.

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◇Opposites Transcendedanthropology

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

[auto] The Principle is described as outside Time and transcending spatial limits, dissolving the opposition between extended and unextended.

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◇Paradox As Teachingethics

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

[auto] The passage opens with a paradoxical question regarding how the unextended can reach over defined extension.

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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 focuses on the Principle's ability to maintain itself as a 'unity, an identity' despite its relation to extension.

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Related passages · 6 parallels
◆christian_mysticism|Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names|Chapter 13, Section 1c
“Emily Brontë: “Every existence would exist in Thee.”) And if all things be conceived as being ultimately unified with each other, then all things taken as a whole are One. 507 507 All things possess the same Super-Essence, and that is why…”
Both passages discuss the concept of a unified, transcendent principle that underlies all existence. They explore the nature of being, intellect, and life as emanating from a singular, ultimate source, though they use different terminology and frameworks.
◆christian_mysticism|Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names|Chapter 2, Section 1g
“Their ultimate nature, which they possess in their own original being, is beyond Mind and beyond all Being and Knowledge. 203 203 Even the Differentiations finally lead us up into the Undifferenced Godhead Where they transcend themselves.…”
Both passages discuss the nature of ultimate reality and the hierarchy of being, emphasizing the transcendence of the divine and the limitations of human understanding. They share a mystical approach to describing the ineffable nature of the highest principles.
◆christian_mysticism|Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names|Chapter 4, Section 1a
“CHAPTER IV Concerning ” Good ,” ” Light ,” ” Beautiful ,” “ Desire ,” ” Ecstasy ,” “ Jealousy .” Also that Evil is neither existent nor Sprung from anything existent nor inherent in existent things . 1. Now let us consider the name of “Go…”
Both passages discuss the nature of ultimate reality and its emanation, with Plotinus focusing on the Intellectual-Principle and the Living-Form, while Dionysius emphasizes the Supra-Divine Godhead and its goodness. Both describe a hierarchy of being and the emanation of lower realities from a higher, unchanging principle.
◆christian_mysticism|Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names|Chapter 5, Section 1e
“And if these Universals exist by participating in Existence, far more is this true of the things which participate in them. 6. Thus the first gift which the Absolute and Transcendent Goodness bestows is that of mere Existence, and so It d…”
Both passages discuss the concept of a transcendent, unifying principle that encompasses all existence, intellect, and life. They explore the idea of a primal unity from which all things derive their being and attributes, showing a genuine conceptual parallel across different mystical traditions.
◆christian_mysticism|Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names|Chapter 7, Section 1b
“(2) Wisdom as a whole = Wisdom embodied in the universe as a whole. (3) Wisdom in each individual instance = Wisdom as shown in the structure of some particular plant or animal, or part of a plant or animal. (1) Is an Emanation; (2) and (…”
Both passages discuss the nature of higher realities and the process of understanding them through intellectual principles. They emphasize the transcendence of these principles beyond material perception and the unity of higher forms of existence.
◆christian_mysticism|The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme|Chapter 11 (part 7)
“48.) "The soul and the Word are not one or one being. The soul is born from the centre of nature, from the essences, and belongs to the body, for she issues from the essences of the body, and attracts to herself the body; but the Word is f…”
Both passages discuss the relationship between a transcendent principle (the First Principle in Plotinus, the Word in the second passage) and the material or corporeal world. They explore the idea of an infinite, omnipresent power that is not bound by physical limitations and its interaction with the finite.