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Select Works of Plotinus · 719 of 752 · tr. Thomas Taylor

Select Works, Section 687

Section 5 5. Are we, however, to make freedom and self-disposal exclusive to Intellectual-Principle as engaged in its characteristic Act, Intellectual-Principle unassociated, or do they belong also to soul acting under that guidance and performing act of virtue? If freedom is to be allowed to soul in its Act, it certainly cannot be allowed in regard to issue, for we are not master of events: if in regard to fine conduct and all inspired by Intellectual-Principle, that may very well be freedom; but is the freedom ours? Because there is war, we perform some brave feat; how is that our free act since had there been no war it could not have been performed? So in all cases of fine conduct; there is always some impinging event leading out our quality to show itself in this or that act. And suppose virtue itself given the choice whether to find occasion for its exercise- war evoking courage; wrong, so that it may establish justice and good order; poverty that it may show independence- or to remain inactive, everything going well, it would choose the peace of inaction, nothing calling for its intervention, just as a physician like Hippocrates would prefer no one to stand in need of his skill. If thus virtue whose manifestation requires action becomes inevitably a collaborator under compulsion, how can it have untrammelled self-disposal? Should we, perhaps, distinguish between compulsion in the act and freedom in the preceding will and reasoning? But in setting freedom in those preceding functions, we imply that virtue has a freedom and self-disposal apart from all act; then we must state what is the reality of the self-disposal attributed to virtue as state or disposition. Are we to put it that virtue comes in to restore the disordered soul, taming passions and appetites? In what sense, at that, can we hold our goodness to be our own free act, our fine conduct to be uncompelled? In that we will and adopt, in that this entry of virtue prepares freedom and self-disposal, ending our slavery to the masters we have been obeying. If then virtue is, as it were, a second Intellectual-Principle, and heightens the soul to Intellectual quality, then, once more, our freedom is found to lie not in act but in Intellectual-Principle immune from act.
Themes
Divine Hiddennesstheology

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

The Supreme is described as holding an august repose and transcending intellection, placing it beyond ordinary knowledge.

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Divine Providencetheology

Pronoia — the doctrine that the divine actively orders the unfolding of the cosmos and human affairs toward intelligible ends, against pure chance or blind necessity.

Providence is explicitly mentioned as being sufficiently saved by the fact that the Supreme is the source of all.

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Gnosis Direct Knowledgesoteriology

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

The text mentions an intuitional approach to the Supreme that differs from standard intellection.

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Mystical Unionsoteriology

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

It implies that only the Supreme itself can approach the Supreme, suggesting a state of identity or union.

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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.

The passage emphasizes the Supreme's lack of interval and self-differentiation as a singular, unified principle.

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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 Supreme is defined through negations such as lacking interval or self-differentiation.

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Divine Simplicitytheology

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

[auto] The passage explicitly describes the Supreme as simplex, having no interval or self-differentiation.

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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] It outlines the metaphysical distinction where difference emerges from the Supreme into Intellectual-Principle and Being.

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Monadcosmology

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

[auto] The text identifies the Supreme as the undivided first principle from which differentiation arises at the level of Intellect.

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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 Supreme is characterized by the absence of duality and difference, which only exist at lower levels.

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Related passages · 3 parallels
christian_mysticism|Meister Eckhart's Sermons (Field translation)|VIa
SANCTIFICATION 1 1 That is separation from all outward things. St Luke x. 42 .—“One thing is needful.” I have read many writings both of heathen philosophers and inspired prophets, ancient and modern, and have sought earnestly to discover…”
Both passages explore the concept of freedom and the highest virtues leading to union with the divine or intellectual principle. Passage A discusses freedom and virtue in the context of Intellectual-Principle and soul, while Passage B emphasizes sanctification as the highest virtue for union with God.
greek_mystery|Orphic Hymns|Front Matter, p. 4 (part 4)
Hence according to his theology there are two worlds, the intelligible and the sensible. Hence too his three demiurgic principles: Jovial, Dionysiacal, and Adonical, Δΐι#, ( ) Διονυσιακὴ, Αδωναϊκὴ, from whence many orders and differences o…”
Both passages discuss the hierarchical structure of reality, with a supreme, immaterial principle (Intellect or God) at the top, followed by intermediate beings (souls or divinities), and finally the material world. They also emphasize the unity and interconnectedness of all things, deriving from this supreme principle.
greek_mystery|The Golden Verses of Pythagoras|Section 11
p. 62 PYTHAGOREAN SENTENCES FROM THE PROTREPTICS OF IAMBLICHUS 1. As we live through soul, it must be said that by the virtue of this we live well; just as because we see through the eyes, we see well through the virtue of these. 2. It must…”
Both passages discuss the nature of virtue and its relationship to the soul and intellectual principle. They explore the idea of freedom and self-disposal in the context of virtuous action, though from different philosophical traditions.