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Select Works of Plotinus · 684 of 752 · tr. Thomas Taylor

Select Works, Section 653

Section 14 14. On the nature of the Intellectual-Principle we get light from its manifestations; they show that it demands such diversity as is compatible with its being a monad. Take what principle you will, that of plant or animal: if this principle were a pure unity and not a specifically varied thing, it could not so serve as principle; its product would be Matter, the principle not having taken all those forms necessary if Matter is to be permeated and utterly transformed. A face is not one mass; there are nose and eyes; and the nose is not a unity but has the differences which make it a nose; as bare unity it would be mere mass. There is infinity in Intellectual-Principle since, of its very nature, it is a multiple unity, not with the unity of a house but with that of a Reason-Principle, multiple in itself: in the one Intellectual design it includes within itself, as it were in outline, all the outlines, all the patterns. All is within it, all the powers and intellections; the division is not determined by a boundary but goes ever inward; this content is held as the living universe holds the natural forms of the living creatures in it from the greatest to the least, down even to the minutest powers where there is a halt at the individual form. The discrimination is not of items huddled within a sort of unity; this is what is known as the Universal Sympathy, not of course the sympathy known here which is a copy and prevails amongst things in separation; that authentic Sympathy consists in all being a unity and never discriminate.
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Themes
Anthropomorphismtheology

Attributing human characteristics, emotions, or form to the divine; embodied divine imagery.

The use of Man in the Intellectual attributes human form to the archetypal principle.

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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.

[auto] The passage explicitly mentions 'aware of that correspondence' between the sense-realm and the Intellectual realm, using analogy to connect them.

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Divine Lighttheology

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

[auto] Metaphors of fire and shining such as fire Intellectual and the diviner shines out illustrate the transmission of divine illumination.

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Divine Sparkscosmology

Fragments of divine light or spirit trapped inside material bodies, awaiting liberation and return to their source.

The shining of the diviner upon lower levels suggests fragments of divine light permeating material existence.

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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] The passage explicitly describes a downward flow from the Intellectual realm to the sense-realm through secondary and tertiary levels.

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Inner Lightanthropology

The divine spark or luminous quality residing within the human person, potentially recognisable through introspection.

[auto] The passage describes how the diviner shines upon the secondary and tertiary levels, implying an internal luminous quality within lower beings.

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Kingdom Withinanthropology

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

[auto] It states that Man in the Intellectual contained the Man that existed before any man, indicating the archetype resides within the individual.

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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] The text references Reason-Principles contained in copy within the secondary Man, acting as ordering principles mediating between realms.

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Soul Migrationcosmology

The transmigration of the soul across lives.

[auto] The text directly addresses the soul occupying the body of an animal after human life, stating 'the soul has always been all, and will at different times be this and that.'

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Spiritual Ascentpraxis

A staged journey of the soul upward through heavenly realms or levels of being toward the divine source.

The hierarchical structure implies a path for the soul to move from the lowest extremity back toward the Intellectual.

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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 correspondence between the sense-realm and the Intellectual realm suggests an underlying ontological unity despite apparent separation.

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Related passages · 10 parallels
christian_mysticism|The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme|Chapter 7 (part 4)
“28.) "In Paradise the substance of the divine world penetrated the substance belonging to time, comparable to the power of the sun penetrating a fruit growing on a tree, and endowing it with such qualities as render it lovely to the sight a…”
Shared concept: Logos — The divine reason, word, or ordering principle through which the universe was created; mediates between the transcendent God and the material world. (derived)
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“Herbert Spencer has of late so far modified his Agnosticism, as to assert that the nature of the "First Cause,"* which the Occultist more logically derives from the "Causeless Cause," the "Eternal," and the "Unknowable," may be essentially…”
Shared concept: Unity Of Being — The doctrine that all existence is ultimately one substance or one divine reality; non-duality as a theological claim. (derived)
western_esoteric|The Kybalion (Three Initiates)|Chapter VIII (part 1)
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Shared concept: Correspondence — 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. (derived)
platonism|Plato: Timaeus|Section 1ad
“That which yields has a small base; but that which rests on quadrangular bases is firmly posed and belongs to the class which offers the greatest resistance; so too does that which is the most compact and therefore most repellent. The natu…”
Shared concept: Correspondence — 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. (derived)
christian_mysticism|Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names|Chapter 1, Section 1f
“And in all the other Divine enlightenments which the occult Tradition of our inspired teachers hath, by mystic Interpretation, accordant with the Scriptures, bestowed upon us, we also have been initiated: apprehending these things in the pr…”
Shared concept: Divine Light — The uncreated luminous quality of the divine, sometimes experienced directly in mystical states; illumination as revelation. (derived)
christian_mysticism|The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme|Chapter 1 (part 6)
“The human selfhood will then follow in its perceptions the Spirit of God, tremblingly and in the joy of humility, and become able to see what is contained in time and in eternity. Everything is near to a soul in that state, for the soul is…”
Shared concept: Kingdom Within — The claim that the divine realm is present inside the individual, accessible without external mediation. (derived)
western_esoteric|The Secret Teachings of All Ages (Manly P. Hall)|The Ancient Mysteries and Secret Societies Which Have Influenced Modern Masonic Symbolism-g
“In the present world, said they, Good and Evil are so exactly balanced that man has the utmost freedom and is able to choose or reject either. The Welsh Triads tell us there are three objects of metempsychosis: to collect into the soul the…”
Shared concept: Soul Migration — The transmigration of the soul across lives. (derived)
western_esoteric|The Tarot of the Bohemians (Papus)|Page 34
“THE MOON. THE MOON. 18. צ 18th Hebrew letter (Tzaddi). ORIGIN OF THE SYMBOLISM OF THE EIGHTEENTH CARD OF THE TAROT. The hieroglyphic idea connected with the Tzaddi is the same as that of the Teth (9th card); but it chiefly signifies a term…”
Shared concept: Divine Sparks — Fragments of divine light or spirit trapped inside material bodies, awaiting liberation and return to their source. (derived)
western_esoteric|The Secret Teachings of All Ages (Manly P. Hall)|Atlantis and the Gods of Antiquity-g
“At the first gate the great crown is removed from her head, at the second gate the earrings from her ears, at the third gate the necklace from her neck, at the fourth gate the ornaments from her breast, at the fifth gate the girdle from her…”
Shared concept: Spiritual Ascent — A staged journey of the soul upward through heavenly realms or levels of being toward the divine source. (derived)
christian_mysticism|Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names|Chapter 9, Section 1c
“For just as, supposing we were in thought to represent the soul itself in bodily shape, and represent this indivisible substance as surrounded by bodily parts, we should, in such a case, give the surrounding parts a different meaning suited…”
Shared concept: Anthropomorphism — Attributing human characteristics, emotions, or form to the divine; embodied divine imagery. (derived)