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Select Works of Plotinus · 707 of 752 · tr. Thomas Taylor

Select Works, Section 675

Section 36 36. We need not carry this matter further; we turn to a question already touched but demanding still some brief consideration. Knowledge of The Good or contact with it, is the all-important: this- we read- is the grand learning, the learning we are to understand, not of looking towards it but attaining, first, some knowledge of it. We come to this learning by analogies, by abstractions, by our understanding of its subsequents, of all that is derived from The Good, by the upward steps towards it. Purification has The Good for goal; so the virtues, all right ordering, ascent within the Intellectual, settlement therein, banqueting upon the divine- by these methods one becomes, to self and to all else, at once seen and seer; identical with Being and Intellectual-Principle and the entire living all, we no longer see the Supreme as an external; we are near now, the next is That and it is close at hand, radiant above the Intellectual. Here, we put aside all the learning; disciplined to this pitch, established in beauty, the quester holds knowledge still of the ground he rests on but, suddenly, swept beyond it all by the very crest of the wave of Intellect surging beneath, he is lifted and sees, never knowing how; the vision floods the eyes with light, but it is not a light showing some other object, the light is itself the vision. No longer is there thing seen and light to show it, no longer Intellect and object of Intellection; this is the very radiance that brought both Intellect and Intellectual object into being for the later use and allowed them to occupy the quester's mind. With This he himself becomes identical, with that radiance whose Act is to engender Intellectual-Principle, not losing in that engendering but for ever unchanged, the engendered coming to be simply because that Supreme exists. If there were no such principle above change, no derivative could rise.
Themes
◆Divine Simplicitytheology

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

The Good is contrasted with pleasure which demands novelty, implying the Good's stable, undivided nature.

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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 'original' Good and its 'counterfeit' implies a hierarchy of reality.

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◆Evil As Privationtheology

Augustinian and Plotinian doctrine that evil has no positive being of its own but is a lack, distortion, or absence of the good — denying ontological dualism while preserving moral seriousness.

The passage defines error and deception as counterfeits of the true Good, implying evil is a lack or distortion rather than a positive substance.

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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.

It asserts that 'to everything something is a good', suggesting a unified orientation of all existence.

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◇Apophatic Theologytheology

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

[auto] The Good is defined negatively by what it is not, such as pleasure or casual tasting.

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◇Gnosis Direct Knowledgesoteriology

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

[auto] It states that a conscious being will 'know the good and affirm his possession of it' upon attainment.

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◇Monadcosmology

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

[auto] The passage identifies 'the good' as the singular 'original' from which delusions counterfeit.

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◇Mystical Unionsoteriology

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

[auto] Attainment is described as 'cleaving to state, satisfaction, settlement', implying union with the Good.

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◇Return To Sourcesoteriology

The soul's journey back to its divine origin, reversing the fall into matter through stages of purification or illumination.

[auto] The text describes turning from the spurious to the true whenever the true presents itself.

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◇Spiritual Ascentpraxis

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

[auto] The passage describes a 'pursuit' and 'longing for good' that leads to turning from the spurious.

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Related passages · 7 parallels
◆christian_mysticism|Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names|Chapter 5, Section 1b
“367 367 Sense-perception is a direct apprehension of that which we actually touch, see, hear, taste, or smell; Reason or Inference is an indirect apprehension of that which we do not actually touch, see, etc. Intuition is a direct apprehen…”
Both passages discuss the concept of attaining knowledge or vision of the divine through a process of purification and ascent. They emphasize the unity and transcendence of the divine, which is beyond ordinary perception and intellect.
◆christian_mysticism|Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names|Chapter 7, Section 1a
“CHAPTER VII Concerning “Wisdom,” “Mind,” “Reason,” “Truth,” “Faith.” 1. Now, if it like thee, let us consider the Good and Eternal Life as Wise and as Very Wisdom, or rather as the Fount of all wisdom and as Transcending all wisdom and und…”
Both passages discuss the concept of transcending human understanding to attain knowledge of the divine. They emphasize the limitations of human intellect and the need for a higher, mystical experience to comprehend the ultimate reality, which is beyond reason and intellect.
◆christian_mysticism|Pseudo-Dionysius: The Divine Names|Chapter 7, Section 1d
“Furthermore, we must ask how it is that we know God when He cannot be perceived by the mind or the senses and is not a particular Being. Perhaps ‘tis true to say that we know not God by His Nature (for this is unknowable and beyond the rea…”
Both passages discuss the concept of knowing the divine through a process of purification, ascent, and transcendence of the intellect. They emphasize the unknowable nature of the divine essence while acknowledging it through its manifestations and effects.
◆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…”
Both passages discuss the pursuit of the good or divine, emphasizing that true fulfillment comes from union with the divine rather than fleeting pleasures or worldly desires. They share a mystical focus on the transformation of the self through this union.
◆christian_mysticism|The Life and Doctrines of Jacob Boehme|Chapter 13 (part 11)
“27.) No Christian should contemplate his own holiness, or fancy himself to be better than others; but he should rather realise his own unworthiness, and regret the perverted state of himself and of humanity as a whole. "No one should want…”
Both passages discuss the nature of the good or holiness and the human striving towards it. They emphasize the inadequacy of worldly pleasures or self-focused holiness and the importance of a higher, more enduring good or divine connection.
◆hermeticism|Corpus Hermeticum 6: The All-Father|Section 1b
“So then, Asclepius, the name alone of Good is found in men, the thing itself nowhere [in them], for this can never be. For no material body doth contain It - a thing bound on all sides by bad, by labors, pains, desires and passions, by err…”
Both passages explore the nature of the good and its distinction from mere pleasure or material satisfaction. They emphasize that the true good is not found in transient or material things but is instead a higher, more transcendent concept.
◆taoism|The Writings of Chuang Tzu (Inner Chapters)|Book 128 (part 1)
“p. 236 BOOK VI. PART I. SECTION VI. Tâ Zung Shih, or 'The Great and Most Honoured Master 1 .' 1. He who knows the part which the Heavenly 2 (in him) plays, and knows(also)that which the Human 2 (in him ought to) play, has reached the p…”
Both passages describe a mystical union with the divine or ultimate reality. Passage A discusses the attainment of knowledge of The Good through purification and intellectual ascent, while Passage B describes the True Man who achieves True Knowledge and harmony with the Tao. Both emphasize a state of being where the individual transcends ordinary consciousness and becomes one with the ultimate principle.