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Select Works of Plotinus · 697 of 752 · tr. Thomas Taylor

Select Works, Section 665

Section 26 26. Any conscious being, if the good come to him, will know the good and affirm his possession of it. But what if one be deceived? In that case there must be some resemblance to account for the error: the good will be the original which the delusion counterfeited and whenever the true presents itself we turn from the spurious. All the striving, all the pain, show that to everything something is a good: the lifeless finds its share in something outside itself; where there is life the longing for good sets up pursuit; the very dead are cared for and mourned for by the living; the living plan for their own good. The witness of attainment is betterment, cleaving to state, satisfaction, settlement, suspension of pursuit. Here pleasure shows itself inadequate; its choice does not hold; repeated, it is no longer the same; it demands endless novelty. The good, worthy of the name, can be no such tasting of the casual; anyone that takes this kind of thing for the good goes empty, carrying away nothing but an emotion which the good might have produced. No one could be content to take his pleasure thus in an emotion over a thing not possessed any more than over a child not there; I cannot think that those setting their good in bodily satisfactions find table-pleasure without the meal, or love-pleasure without intercourse with their chosen, or any pleasure where nothing is done.
Themes
◆Divine Hiddennesstheology

The supreme God's radical concealment beyond ordinary knowledge or perception; the Hidden Father.

The Primal is described as having no determination or form, placing it beyond ordinary conceptual grasp.

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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.

The 'Intellectual-Principle' is mentioned as a secondary reality within the First, functioning similarly to a divine ordering reason.

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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 text describes Life looking towards the Primal Unity for determination, implying an upward ontological orientation.

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◇Apophatic Theologytheology

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

[auto] The First is described by what it transcends (Activity, Life, determination) rather than by positive attributes.

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◇Divine Simplicitytheology

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

[auto] The Primal is characterized by having no determination or form, implying an undivided nature distinct from composite derivatives.

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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 the ontological order where a 'giver' transcends the 'given' and a 'first' transcends its derivatives.

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◇Monadcosmology

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

[auto] The text identifies a 'First' or 'Primal' principle that is undetermined and transcends all subsequent activity and life.

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◇Paradox As Teachingethics

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

[auto] The statement 'Giving need not comport possessing' uses a paradox to explain the nature of divine origin.

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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] Life is described as looking towards 'unity' to receive determination, bound, limit, and form.

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Related passages · 6 parallels
◆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 higher, transcendent principle and a lower, manifested principle. They explore the idea of a giver and a gift, where the higher principle transcends and gives rise to the lower, while maintaining its own distinct nature.
◆greek_mystery|The Golden Verses of Pythagoras|Section 7 (part 2)
“Understand that no dissimulation can be long concealed. 24. The unjust man suffers greater evil while his soul is tormented with a consciousness of guilt, than when his body is scourged with whips. 25. It is by no means safe to discours…”
Both passages explore the nature of the good and the pursuit of virtue, emphasizing the importance of inner states and the alignment of the soul with divine principles. They share a focus on the inadequacy of mere pleasure and the necessity of temperance and self-mastery.
◆hermeticism|Corpus Hermeticum 1: Poimandres|Section 1b
“But when He raised His head, I see in Mind the Light, [but] now in Powers no man could number, and Cosmos grown beyond all bounds, and that the Fire was compassed round about by a most mighty Power, and [now] subdued had come unto a stand.…”
Both passages discuss the emanation of the divine into the intellectual and material realms, emphasizing the hierarchy and unity of being. They share concepts of a supreme, formless first principle and the derivation of lower realities from it, though they use different terminology and cultural contexts.
◆jewish_mysticism|The Book of Concealed Mystery (Siphra Dtzenioutha)|1b
“If the reader turn to the introduction, to the Table showing the Sephiroth arranged in three pillars, he will see that Malkuth is, as it were, the antithesis of Kether; and hence it is said that "Malkuth is Kether after another manner." And…”
Both passages discuss the relationship between a higher, formless principle and its manifestations or derivatives. Plotinus describes the First as transcending Intellectual-Principle, while the Kabbalistic text discusses the relationship between Kether (the Crown) and Malkuth (the Kingdom), emphasizing the unity and distinction between the higher and lower realms.
◆platonism|Plato: Republic|Section 1m
“Yes, I said, that they should begin by reproaching us with our ignorance of the good, and then presume our knowledge of it-- for the good they define to be knowledge of the good, just as if we understood them when they use the term `good'--…”
Both passages explore the nature of the good and the human pursuit of it. They discuss the inadequacy of pleasure as the ultimate good and the need for a deeper understanding of what constitutes true goodness.
◆platonism|Plato: Republic|Section 1n
“And you would say the same of the conception of the good? Until the person is able to abstract and define rationally the idea of good, and unless he can run the gauntlet of all objections, and is ready to disprove them, not by appeals to o…”
Both passages discuss the nature of the good and the pursuit of it, emphasizing the importance of true understanding and the inadequacy of mere pleasure or opinion. They share a philosophical inquiry into the concept of the good, though from different traditions.