Select Works of Plotinus · 683 of 752 · tr. Thomas Taylor
Select Works, Section 652 (part 2)
To a traveller over land, all is earth but earth abounding in difference: so in this journey the life through which Intellectual-Principle passes is one life but, in its ceaseless changing, a varied life.
Throughout this endless variation it maintains the one course because it is not, itself, subject to change but on the contrary is present as identical and unvarying Being to the rest of things.
For if there be no such principle of unchanging identity to things, all is dead, activity and actuality exist nowhere.
These "other things" through which it passes are also Intellectual-Principle itself; otherwise it is not the all-comprehending principle: if it is to be itself, it must be all-embracing; failing that, it is not itself.
If it is complete in itself, complete because all-embracing, and there is nothing which does not find place in this total, then there can be nothing belonging to it which is not different; only by difference can there be such co-operation towards a total.
If it knew no otherness but was pure identity its essential Being would be the less for that failure to fulfil the specific nature which its completion requires.
Themes
◆Divine Sparkscosmology
Fragments of divine light or spirit trapped inside material bodies, awaiting liberation and return to their source.
The concept of the soul entering into Matter aligns peripherally with the idea of divine spirit residing within material bodies.
All passages →◇Body As Obstacleanthropology
The material body viewed as a prison, tomb, or source of error that hinders spiritual knowledge and return.
[auto] The text describes how the form of Man is 'reduced to what body admits' and powers become 'feeble' within the material context.
All passages →◇Cosmic Dualismtheology
Ontological opposition between two primal principles (light/darkness, truth/lie, spirit/matter) as the fundamental structure of reality.
[auto] There is a clear ontological distinction drawn between the Reason-Principle/Soul and Matter/Body throughout the passage.
All passages →◇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 text outlines a hierarchy of principles and souls ranging from vegetal to animal to human forms.
All passages →◇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 passage centrally discusses 'Reason-Principle' (Logos) as the defining structure of Man and its relationship to Soul and Matter.
All passages →Related passages · 9 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 unifying principle that encompasses all existence. Passage A from Plotinus emphasizes the unchanging identity of Intellectual-Principle, while Passage B from the mystical tradition speaks of the One as the Super-Essence that unifies all things. Both texts explore the idea of unity and the interconnection of all things within a divine or metaphysical framework.
◆christian_mysticism|Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names|Chapter 4, Section 1h
“Hence comes the bare existence of all things, and hence their unions, 277 277 ἑνώσεις, διακρίσεις, ταὐτότητες, ἑτερότητες.
their differentiations, their identities, their differences, 278 278 Hence parts are united into wholes and wholes a…”
Both passages discuss the concept of an unchanging principle that underlies the diversity and change in the universe. They explore the idea of unity and difference within a comprehensive, all-embracing principle, highlighting the importance of identity and variation in the structure of reality.
◆christian_mysticism|Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names|Chapter 9, Section 1b
“Dante passes outwards through the concentric spheres of space to the Empyrean which is beyond space and encloses it.
There he sees the Empyrean as a point and his whole journey from sphere to sphere as a journey inwards instead of outwards…”
Both passages discuss the nature of a transcendent, unchanging principle that encompasses all things while allowing for diversity and difference. They explore the idea of an all-embracing, eternal, and unchanging essence that is the source of all existence and harmony.
◆christian_mysticism|The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme|Chapter 7 (part 5)
“13.) Man can attain real similarity to God and perfect beatitude only by decisively willing to put his will into the Son, as the Heart or Light of the Father.
"God has the eternal and unchangeable will to generate His Heart and his Son, an…”
Both passages discuss the nature of the human soul and its relationship to a higher, divine principle. They explore the idea of a higher self or soul that connects to a divine realm, though they use different metaphysical frameworks and terminology.
◆christian_mysticism|The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme|Chapter 9 (part 1)
“p.
180 CHAPTER IX.
GENERATION.
"Let every Brahman, with fixed attention, consider all nature, both visible and invisible, as existing in the Divine Spirit.
For when he contemplates the boundless universe in the Divine Spirit, he cannot…”
Both passages discuss the relationship between the human soul and a higher, divine principle. They explore the idea of a higher self or soul that connects to a divine realm, with the human soul being an emanation or reflection of this higher principle.
◆christian_mysticism|The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme|Chapter 9 (part 11)
“Unless this distinction of the various aspects of man is kept in mind, we are always exposed to mistaking the leaves of the tree of life for the branches, and the branches for the trunk, and the trunk for the roots.
197:1 Each soul constit…”
Both passages discuss the nature of the human soul and its relationship to a higher divine principle. They explore the idea of different aspects or levels of the soul and its connection to a universal or divine source, albeit within different mystical traditions.
◆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 the soul and a higher principle (Reason-Principle in Plotinus, the Word in Jacob Boehme). They explore how the higher principle illuminates or penetrates the soul, elevating it without losing its distinct identity.
◆egyptian|The Egyptian Book of the Dead (Papyrus of Ani)|Chapter 43 (part 50)
“386-97.] {p.
lxvii} supported by a passage in the XCIInd Chapter of the Book of the Dead,[1] where it is said:-- em xena ba-a sauti xaibit-a un uat Let not be shut in my soul, let not be fettered my shadow, let be opened the way en ba-d en…”
Both passages discuss the nature of the soul and its relationship to the divine or higher realms. The Egyptian Book of the Dead describes the soul's integration with the gods and its purification, while the Neoplatonic text discusses the soul as the Reason-Principle that shapes and elevates human existence. Both texts explore the concept of the soul as a bridge between the human and the divine.
◆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 diversity within a comprehensive principle or consciousness. They discuss how variation and otherness are essential components of a greater, all-embracing whole, and how different perspectives can reveal new understandings of this unity.