" THE SYSTEM OF PLOTINUS "

THIS series of articles is intended as a preliminary step for those who aspire to be disciples of the Master Plotinus, to be inspired by his ardent spirit, to share his clear insight and follow in his footsteps to the sublime experience of the finding of his own Soul.

" It is the secret of the power of Plotinus .... that in him the mystic's impulse to the finding of his own Soul and the scientific impulse to criticize and understand experience are so completely united. There have been men in whom the power of metaphysical insight was as keen or keener than in Plotinus; there have been men who have lived the life of the mystic as intensely, if not more intensely. But there has perhaps never been another mystic who was so great a metaphysician, nor another metaphysician of equal power who lived so saintly a life with the same intensity." . . . " It is probably no exaggeration to say that as an acute psychological observer Plotinus has no equal in antiquity except his Master, Plato, and that very few modern psychologists have shown so true an eye for the facts of the intimate life of the Soul as either."-(" The Times, Lit. Sup., 27. 2. 1919.)

§ I. OUTLINE.

In the " Enneads " of Plotinus, which are his sole literary work and were arranged by Porphyry, no comprehensive outline can be found of his System, hence a beginner may find difficulty at first in apprehending it as a whole. Perhaps the easiest mode of approaching it is to do so by way of the Soul Principle, for the Soul is the centre of our being, and so too is it the central principle in the System of Plotinus.

" The Soul is in the Centre, not at the Summit, of Plotinus' philosophy. It stands between the phenomenal world, of which it is the principle, and the world of Spirit, which is its principle."- (W. R. Inge in " The Philosophy of Plotinus.")

The Soul has the potentiality of verging either downwards or upwards, that is, speaking metaphorically, descending to Body or ascending to Spirit. It its not itself any of the things it contacts or uses: it is not body, or feeling, or thought, or even will: neither is it Spirit. There are no words adequately to describe it.

" The Soul of man is not an organ, but animates and exercises all the organs: it is not a function like the power of memory, of calculation, of comparison, but uses these as hands and feet: it is not a faculty .... it is the background of our being in which all faculties lie. "-(Emerson in " Oversoul. ")

" The Soul is not only an intermediary between Appearance and Reality, it is the point where all converging and diverging lines meet; it binds extremes together and it is in vital correspondence with every region to which these lines lead. Within the soul all metaphysical principles are represented. It touches every grade in the hierarchies of value and existence, from the super­essential Absolute to the infra­essential Matter. It has its own centre, a life proper to itself, but it can expand infinitely in every direction without ceasing to be itself."-(W. R. Inge in " Plotinus.")

TABLE I.-THE PLOTINIAN PRINCIPLES.

(1) THE ONE AND THE GOOD,-the Absolute, Supreme God.

(2) NOUS,-the Spiritual World, Spiritual Life and Essence-called " Yonder" by Plotinus.

(3) SOUL,-the Over­Soul, or World Soul and the Human Soul.

(4) NATURE,& (5) MATTER, - the Sensible World, called "Here" by Plotinus

The World Soul and the Human Soul.

The human Soul can attain a knowledge of itself by knowing and realizing its relationship with the Universal or World Soul. The following passage, which as W. R. Inge says, is one of the finestin the "Enneads," explains this: ­ ­

" The Soul ought first to examine its own nature, to know whether it has the faculty of contemplating spiritual things, and whether it has indeed an eye wherewith to see them, and if it ought to embark on the quest. If the Spiritual is foreign to it, what is the use of trying? But if there is a kinship between us and it, we both can and ought to find it.

" First then let every Soul consider that it is the World Soul which created all things, breathing into them the breath of life,­into all living things which are on earth, in the air, and in the sea, and the stars in heaven, the sun and the great heaven itself. The Creative World Soul sets them in their order and directs their motions, keeping Itself apart from the things which it orders and moves and causes to live. The Divine Creative World Soul must be more honourable than they, since they are born and persist as the Over­Soul grants them life .... but the Over­Soul lives for ever and never ceases to be Itself.

" But how is life imparted in the whole and in individuals ? The Great Over­Soul, or World Soul, must be contemplated by another Soul, (i e. the human,-so­called) which is itself no small thing, but one that makes itself worthy to contemplate the Great Soul by ridding itself, through quiet recollection, of deceit and of all that bewitches vulgar souls. For it, let all be quiet: not only the body which encompasses it, and the tumult of the senses; but let all its environment be at peace. Let the earth be quiet and the sea and air and the heaven itself be calm. Let it observe how the Great Soul flows in from all sides into the resting world; pours itself into it, penetrates it and illumines it. Even as the bright beams of the Sun enlightens a dark cloud and give it a golden border, so the Soul, when it enters into the body of the heaven gives it life and immortality and awakens it from sleep. So the world guided in an eternal movement by the Divine Soul which directs it with intelligence, becomes a living and a blessed being, and the heaven, after the Soul has made it Her habitation, becomes a thing of Worth, after being, before the advent of the Soul, a dead body, mere earth and water or rather darkness of Matter.... The power and nature of the Soul are revealed still more clearly if we consider how it encompasses and guides the heaven by Its own Will. It gives Itself to every point in this vast Body and vouchsafes Its Being to every part, great and small, though these parts are divided in space and manner of disposition, and though some are opposed to each other, others dependent on each other. But the World­Soul is not divided, nor does it split Itself up in order to give life to each individual. All things live by the Soul in its entirety. It is all present everywhere like the Spirit (Nous) which begat it, both in its unity and in its universality. The heaven, vast and various as it is, is one by the power of the Soul, and by it is this universe of ours Divine. The Sun too is Divine, being the abode of Soul, and so are the stars: and we ourselves, if we are worth anything, are so on account of the Soul." . . . " Now our Soul is of one form with the World Soul, and if we remove from it all that is adventitious, and consider it in its state of purity, we will see how precious the essence of the Soul is; far more precious than anything bodily." . . . " Since then the Soul is so precious and Divine a thing; by It we can attain to union with the Spirit, and with It raise ourselves to the Supreme.(Ennead v. I. 3.)

 
Before passing on to a consideration of the principles which are, in metaphysical language, above Soul, we will touch on the two principles which Plotinus places below Soul. Nature and Matter.

" Plotinus often speaks of 'Here' and ' Yonder' as if they were two countries," but not in the dualistic sense; the former is the world of Sense, embracing Nature and Matter; the latter is the World of Spirit embracing Spiritual Life and Spiritual Essence,-the one is the ' Below' and the other the 'Above.'

The World of Sense is created by the Over­Soul in accordance with patterns or 'ideas,' or archetypes residing in the Spiritual World.

" There is nothing 'Yonder' which cannot be found 'Here'" (" Enn., v, 9, 13). And, " all things Here that have 'ideas,' i.e. that represent some 'thought' in the Divine Mind, have a secure abiding­place ' Yonder.' It is only things contrary to Nature that have no place in the Spiritual World " (v, 9, 10)

Matter, as a principle in the Plotinian System is not merely dense physical substance, but rather is it the recipient of forms,-and these forms may be divine or human, visible or invisible. " Matter is matter only in relation to that which is 'above' it and which gives it form, meaning and definite existence." It has no permanent subsistence as 'a thing in itself,' but is always becoming something else. It is not evil, but only becomes so by a perversion of the authentic laws of Nature. It is an essential factor in every involving and evolving process, and may be regarded as the indispensable lower end of each upward progress, or rather the exterior of every interior activity.

" The sensible World is the creation of the World Soul, through the medium of Nature which is its moving power. Nature is the active faculty of the World Soul, its outer life, the expansion of its energy, .... On the other hand, Nature is the activity of Matter, gives it its substantiality, and without which Matter is mere abstraction and nonentity." (W. R. Inge in " Plotinus.")

Matter is always the inferior or secondary element in every manifestation,-it is the effect of each cause, and hence it is that there could be no cosmos without Matter; and hence likewise that " there is such a thing as ' Divine Matter,' which in receiving its proper form, has a definite Spiritual life, i.e., it is enriched and glorified by the Spirit which is infused into it and which gives it a place within Real Being."-ibid.

From the lower levels of manifestation Matter is dead and dark, but ' Yonder ' where the Eternal ' forms ' abide, Matter is no longer matter, but is Spiritual essence or substance. " To know is the same as to be: and the knowledge of immaterial things is identical with the things known. Thus Spirit and the Real World are one. Spirit contains all things in itself, not locally, but as it possesses itself. Yonder all things are together and yet remain distinct, even as the Soul may possess many sciences."-Ibid.

Nous,-Spirit and the Spiritual World.

" In the Spiritual World, all the faculties of the Soul must be transmuted to suit eternal conditions. There can be no reasoning Yonder; a constant activity takes the place of dubitative reasoning " (iv. 3. I8). " In the Spiritual World all is Logos and Wisdom " (iii. 3. 5). " The calm of the Spirit (Nous) is not an ecstatic condition, but a state of activity " (iii. 8. 8). When Soul verges to Spirit, it becomes, so to speak, " the Matter of Spirit " (iii. 9. 3) in other words, it makes itself the passive instrument of Spirit by turning its gaze steadily to God and Heaven. When it thus turns to God, it finds that 'there is nothing between ' " (iv. 4. 2). " It comes to Spirit, is moulded by Spirit, nor does it lose its individuality or its self­consciousness, though it is one and the same with the world of Spirit, and from this blessed state it will not change " (iv. 4. 2).

" In ascending to Spirit, the Soul loses itself in order to find itself again. We present ourselves a living sacrifice, not to death, but to life." (W. R. Inge in " Plotinus.")

The Nous or Spirit is analogous to the Logos­Christ and is the medium or Mediator between the Soul and God, even as the Soul in turn is the medium between Spirit and Matter.

The ONE and the GOOD.

"The Soul does not aspire to Spirit alone; Spirit is not our Supreme end " (vi. 7. 22). True life and true Spirit are identical, and come from the GOOD,-as Plotinus terms the Supreme God. The Spiritual World is the realm of the highest existence, but the GOOD is beyond existence, and the Cause of it. The Spiritual World is also the realm of all perfections and beauty, but the Supreme One is the BEAUTIFUL Itself, infinitely transcending our loftiest conceptions of beauty. " The Flower of all that is beautiful,- the Beauty above Beauty " (vi. 7, 8). Again, the Spiritual World is the Plain of Truth,-but the Absolute One is The TRUTH itself, Infinite, Eternal and never to be fathomed by finite means.

The highest forms in which the Soul can participate in Spiritual Reality are in the Goodness, Truth and Beauty of the Supreme, as they are manifested in their myriads of aspects in the Spiritual World, which is a realm of everlasting life, and ceaseless creativeness.

" It is the GOOD which fills the vision of Spirit (Nous); for if Spirit were the ONE Itself w hat occasion would there be for it either to see or energize in any respect?" (iii. 8).

" Spirit (Nous) indeed is beautiful and the most beautiful of all intelligible things, being situated in a pure light and a pure splendour and comprehending in Itself the nature of all existence and true being, of which indeed this our beautiful material world is but the shadow and image; .... but as he who diligently surveys the heavens and contemplates the splendour of the stars, should immediately think upon and search after their Artificer, so it is requisite that he who beholds and admires the Spiritual World, should diligently enquire after its Author, investigating Who HE is and how HE produced such an Offspring as Spirit (Nous), a Son beautiful and pure and full of His Ineffable Fire. But His father is neither Spirit nor a Son, but superior to both; for Spirit has a posterior subsistence and is indigent of nourishment and intelligence, being situated next in order to That Nature which is superior to every kind of want. Spirit possesses true plenitude and Spiritual Intelligence because it possesses the first of all intelligible things, but That which is prior to Spirit is neither indigent upon anything else nor possessed by anything, for if this were the case it would not be the Supreme GOOD Itself " (iii. 8).

Thus does the divine Plotinus conduct the mystic upwards and inwards ascending from that which is' Here 'and leading him stage by stage through all realms of consciousness 'Yonder ' until he arrives at that Great Principle about which no words can truly be uttered.

(The next article is on " The Plotinian Trinity.")

N.B.-In the preparation of the above articles we here express our indebtedness to Dr. W. R. Inge for his valuable work on Plotinus.

§ 2. THE PLOTINIAN TRINITY.

All. things are three and three is everywhere,"-there is a beginning, a middle and an end; there is the abiding, the proceeding and the returning; there is the unity, and the duality which proceeds from it when it manifests, and unity plus duality makes a trinity,-hence as the Pythagoreans say: " all things are three and three is everywhere."

The Teaching of Plotinus regarding the Trinity was derived from Plato and other masters. As he himself states:

``It is no new doctrine, it was held in the earliest times although without being explicitly developed: we desire only to be in this matter the interpreters of the wise men of old and to show by the evidence of Plato that they held the same views as ourselves. " (Ennead, v. I, 8.)

To Plotinus the Trinity represented Three Divine Hypostases-an hypostasis being a subsistent or substantial principle, that which stands under-and they constitute the three underlying Principles of all existence.

The First Divine Hypostasis or Principle is the ONE and the GOOD; the Second Divine Hypostasis is NOUS, or Intellect, which is best translated as Spirit; the Third Divine Hypostasis is the All-Soul, or Creative World Soul.

It is an axiom with Plotinus that every Being or Principle tends necessarily to produce an image of itself (iv. 5, 7) the Second and Third of these Divine Principles are accordingly to be viewed as manifestations or emanations of the First and Second respectively. The First is designated the ONE as being the Source and Cause of all, and the GOOD as being the Goal and End of all. It is poetically likened by Plotinus to a stream which is its own source (iii. 8, 9), whose derivative waves flow centrifugally in all directions, but which continues nevertheless, to subsist immutably in and for itself. The First Divine Hypostasis transcends all known attributes, transcends even the ' idea ' of existence and is known alone by its first Image, the Nous or Spiritual Intelligence. The Third in order of dignity of the Divine Hypostases-the World Soul-is the image of the Second even as that is the Image of the First, but differs from its principle in that it is conceived of, in a metaphysical sense, as perpetually revolving about and within the Sphere of Spiritual Intelligence (ii. 9, 1).

Although the Three Principles are conceivable as Three Aspects of One Supreme Deity, the Triad or Trinity being sometimes referred to as "The Divinity, "i.e., a Unity-yet inasmuch as the Second and Third are Emanations or Irradiations and are dependent upon the First, they are not absolutely co­equal and con­substantial with the Supreme, and therefore in this respect are not analogous to the Christian Trinity; but nevertheless the general characteristics of the Three Persons of the Holy Christian Trinity will be found to correspond very closely with those of Plotinus' Three Divine Hypostases.

Briefly the Plotinian Triple Divinity is: (1) God as the Absolute; (2) God as the Archetypal Image or Logos, and (3) God as The Creator Lord.

THE FIRST DIVINE HYPOSTASIS.

Appellations:-The ONE, The GOOD, the TRUE, the BEAUTIFUL, the Absolute, the Father, the Supreme, GOD.

The First Cause is called the ONE, as being that whence all numbers spring; " it is not one of the units which make up the number two " (v. 5, 4), but the Unity of all Unities, the Principle of Principles, the " ONE " of all things, and yet the ONE prior to all.

The ONE was, for Plotinus as for Plato and all the Great Sages, absolutely ineffable, and no words can be found to describe it. We can say what It is not, but not what It is. After ascribing to It the highest attributes conceivable we must add-" yet not these, but something greater."

The ONE is the First Cause of all causes: the GOOD is the Final Cause of all that is or ever will be.

" The GOOD is unity as the Goal of Desire " (vi. 8, 7). " The Absolute Principle is the GOOD Itself, which all things desire. It is requisite therefore that It abides immutably, converting all things to Itself, just as the circle revolves about the centre, from which all the lines flow and to which they tend. An example to us is the sun which is as it were a centre to light which emanates from it and at the same time is attached to it. Indeed light everywhere co­exists with the sun and is nowhere separated from it: even if you should wish to sunder it into parts remain concentred in the sun" (i. 7, I).

It must be remembered that the 'circles,' 'centres ' and 'suns' are used only as metaphors. " The ONE does not strive to encircle us, but we may strive to encircle It." All things exist because they are 'one '-" for what would they be if they were not one " (vi. 9, 1), and in virtue of partaking of a conscious oneness they possess the potentiality of union with the ONE as well as with the All.

" The goal of the intellect is the ONE; the goal of the will is the GOOD: the goal of the affections is the BEAUTIFUL." (W. R Inge).

The Transcendence of the Supreme One is made very clear in Plotinus and yet at the same time the Immanence of the Supreme is also clearly postulated.

" The One could not be alone: if It were, all things would remain hidden, having no form in the One " (v. 3, 10).

" There is a mysterious power which impels each nature to create and go on creating down to the lowest limit of existence Why should we suppose that the ONE would remain standing still in Itself ? (v. 4, I).

" The creation is a kind of overflow of the ONE " (v. 2, I).

" It is like the efflux of light and heat from the sun which loses nothing in imparting itself " (v. I, 6). " The existence of the world is due to the necessity of there being ' a second nature' " (iii. 2,2). " If there were no necessity for each principle ' to give of its own to another,' the GOOD would not be the GOOD, Spirit would not be Spirit, and Soul would not be Soul " (ii. 9, 3).

" Without Spirit, the ONE would have no object for Its activities: it would be alone and deserted, and unprolific. For activity is not possible in a being which has no inner multiplicity, unless it acts on another " (iv. 3, 6).

THE SECOND DIVINE HYPOSTASIS.

Plotinus' name for the Second Principle is " Nous," which has no exact English equivalent. It is variously translated as " Intellect," or " Reason," but the manner in which these terms are used nowadays render them unsuitable for conveying an adequate and true conception of what Plotinus intends to signify by " Nous." The best equivalent, although not literally correct, is " Spirit."

Nous can be regarded as signifying Spirit and the Spiritual World, or, as Spiritual Essence and Spiritual Life. The Spiritual Essence is the First Emanation from the ONE, It is His Image as the First Thinker, and inseparable from the Thinker is the Thinking and the First Thought, which is the Spiritual Life. In the Spiritual World subsist all the " Thoughts " of God which Plato and Plotinus called " Ideas " or Spiritual Prototypes of all that is manifested or manifestible.

Every Thought of Spirit is an Eternal Form or Being or Idea:-

" Spirit embraces all the Ideas as the whole includes all the parts. Each idea is Spirit, and Spirit is the totality of the Ideas. The Kingdom of the Ideas is the True Reality, the True Beauty They are unity in diversity, and diversity in unity " (vi. 5, 6).

As these Ideas are Spiritual they are formless from the finite point of view, although they are phenomenal to the ONE. They are causal and fontal wholenesses from which all manifestation and differentiation springs.

They are the potential Perfections of all Ideals which are made actual by the energies of the Divine All­Soul and become realized Perfections when that which is manifested returns to its Source.

"Spirit not only engenders all things: it is all things" (vi. 7, 3).

This Great Spirit, or Nous, is the same as the Logos, or Word, the Voice of God which calls all things into existence, and which Itself causes them to be ensouled; the Word is thus made incarnate, and yet remains the Word. Each manifestation of the Spirit, or aspect of the Logos, exists both in itself and in the wholeness of the Nous, " which is the totality of all Spiritual Ideas in actuality and each of them potentially."

"After having admired the world of sense, its grandeur and beauty, the regularity of its movement . . . we may rise to the archetype of this world, a world more real than ours is: we may there contemplate all the Spiritual objects which are of their own nature eternal and which exist in their own knowledge and life, and the pure Spirit which, presides over them and the infinite Wisdom and the True Kingdom of Nous " (v. I, 5).

`` It is necessary," as W. R. Inge reminds us, " for us to be carefully on our guard against interpreting the Neoplatonic 'Yonder' as merely the future life. It is intimately bound up with present experience. Every worthy object of human activity .... belongs at least in part to the Eternal World " (v. 9, I1). " Spirit is the universal element in all worthy occupations. Spirituality means a persistent attitude of mind, which will never be immersed in the particular instance '' (W. R. Inge in Plotinus).

`` Nothing which can ever die was ever born. Our true Self is a denizen of the Eternal World. Its Home is in the Sphere of eternal and unchanging activity Yonder, even while it energizes in the execution of finite but divine purposes Here below '' (W. R. Inge).

But in order to realize that eternal life and become a conscious and active participant in It, it is requisite for the Immortal Soul to be associated first with that which is mortal, finite and transient ere it can learn to recognize Eternity, the Infinite and the Spirit which will unite it to the Supreme.

THE THIRD DIVINE HYPOSTASIS.

PSYCHE, the All­Soul, World­Soul, Universal­Soul, the Creator, the Demiurgus.

The Divine Soul in the Plotinian System is Creative but not created. It is an external emanation or extension of Spirit and is therefore co­eternal with it. But it is not co­equal with Spirit else it would be Spirit, and could not be contemplated as proceeding from and returning to Spirit. The distinction between the Two Principles from one point of view is this-all that proceeds from and returns to Spirit is co­eternal with It-is uncreated; but that which proceeds from Soul is not co­eternal with it, being created, and therefore, having a future, is in a continual state of becoming. The Image of Spirit is Soul; the Image of Soul is Nature, which is created by the Soul's outgoing energies, and is the expression of the Divine Soul's (i.e., God as Creator Lord) prolificness.

·" The World­Soul always desires to translate what It sees in the Eternal World into another form " (iv. 4, I5).

Thus Nature and Matter and the whole Universe here below have a beginning in Time-and Time is the moving image of Eternity (Plato in "Timaeus").

" Time is the activity of an Eternal Soul, not turned towards itself nor within itself, but exercised in creation and generation "

(iii 7, I2)

The thoughts of the Soul are not eternal Ideas as in the case of Nous, but are creative powers.

" The World of Sense is, as it were, the Shadow of Soul cast by the Sun of Spirit. The Soul is the offspring of Spirit . . . and as an image of Spirit, it resembles its Principle closely. But while on one side it is closely attached to Spirit, of which it is the effluence, on the other it touches the phenomenal World. Soul is still a part of the Divine World, though the lowest part " (v. I, 7). " Soul is distinguished from Spirit not by being localised, but, among other things, by the presence of unfulfilled desires in Soul, Spirit being free from all desires " (W. R. Inge).

" Soul, as an activity proceeding from Spirit, is in labour to create after the pattern which it sees in Spirit and from this desire the whole World arises and takes shape " (iv. 7, I3).

Soul is only separated from Spirit as word is from thought, as activity from power.

" It is the nature of Soul to look both up and down" (iv. 8, 8).

"And so to be the intermediary between Spirit and the World that we know. The Soul has its own proper place in this intermediate sphere." (iv. 8, 3.)

" The World­Soul is not in the world: rather the world is in It, embraced by It and moulded by It." (W. R. Inge.)

" It is not only the Creator of the World, but the providence which watches over it. Universal Providence consists in the fact that the World is framed in the Image of the Spiritual World " (iii. 2).

Briefly recapitulating then what has been postulated concerning the Three Divine Hypostases:-

The First is the ONE and the GOOD; the Absolute; the Causeless Cause; the Unity of unities; the ONE of all things and yet the ONE prior to all.

The Second is NOUS, Spirit and the Spiritual World; Spiritual Essence and Spiritual Life; the Archetypal Image or Logos, Eternal, Immutable, Infinite; the Realm of Ideas and Ideals; the Highest Heaven and the Word that will never pass away.

The Third is the OVERSOUL or World­Soul; the proximate Creator of the Manifested universe-all that is Here-and the Eternal Providence thereof, moving, all things onwards and ultimately upwards.
 

IN these days when such a multitude of theories abound 1 concerning the nature of Spirit, of Spirituality, and of the Spiritual World generally, it may be especially interesting to consider the significance assigned by Plotinus to those transcendental realms where Nous is the ruling principle.

We must not expect, however, from such a brief consideration as is here given, to gain an adequate conception of this lofty principle. Plotinus was just as conscious as was Plato of the total inadequacy of human language to describe, except in imagery, those realms of Reality which, according to them, are to be glimpsed only in rare moments of exalted contemplation.

Many of the statements of Plotinus are paradoxical, and at times they seem even incoherent. But paradoxes may express or suggest subtle truths which escape precise definition. Moreover, the reflection induced is sometimes productive of intuitive flashes in which indefinable Ideas take the place of definitions.

TABLE II.-Nous, THE SECOND DIVINE HYPOSTASIS.

1. DEFINITIONS.

(1) Spirit and the Spiritual World;

(2) Spiritual Being or Be­ness and Spiritual Energy;

(3) Spiritual Essence and Spiritual Life;

(4) The Intelligible­Intellectual Principle;

(5) " Yonder," the Realm of ideas and Archetypes.

II. CHARACTERISTICS.

(1) Eternal in Being and Essence

(2) Eternal in Energy and Activity.

(3) Indivisible and Universal.

(4) Self­gnostic; the Home of Wisdom.

III. REALIZATION.

(1) Macrocosmic.

(2) Microcosmic.

I. DEFINITIONS.

(1) Spirit and the Spiritual World.

As previously explained the term " Spirit " is by no means a true or adequate metaphysical equivalent to the word " Nous "-and so, as a translation, the English word falls far short in significance. " Nous " embraces both Spiritual Essence and Spiritual Life-both Being and Energy.

The term " world " is here an expression in mystical cosmology signifying a plane, a realm or a state of subsistence or existence.

(2) Spiritual Being or Be­ness and Spiritual Energy.

According to Plotinus the ONE is beyond the very idea of Being. But Nous is Being Itself-the First Being-the Image of Be­ness.

Again, the ONE is exempt in transcendency and is there_ fore beyond all energy. It is ineffably immovable. But Nous, comprehending the first full emanation of the Godhead, is the very plenum of Spiritual Energy.

Being is static. Energy is dynamic. Hence it can be seen how the World of Nous is at once the World of Potentiality and of Actuality, and 1low, in a causal sense, duality begins in the Spiritual World.

(3) Spiritual Essence and Spiritual Life.

Nous is the causal undifferentiated essence and the fontal life of all things " to be." It is that which makes it possible for all things, germinally, to abide in, proceed from and return to their Source.

(4) The Intelligible­Intellectual Principle.

" We call Nous the Image of the ONE. Let us explain this. It is His Image because Intelligence is in a certain respect begotten by Unity: because Intelligence possesses much of the nature of the Father, and because it resembles Him as Light resembles the Sun." (V. I,7.)

It not only IS, but knows it is.

" It does not become knowing after being ignorant. It is always active and always Spirit " (v. 9,5,).

It is the Logos of Wisdom itself.

(5) " Yonder," the Realm of Ideas and Archetypes.

The Spiritual World " Yonder " is the realm of all ideas, ideals and archetypes.

Every Idea is an eternal activity in Spirit. Ideas are infinite and cannot therefore be expressed fully here below. They are the unparticularized prototypes of all that is, has been or ever will be.

II. CHARACTERISTICS .

(1) Nous is Eternal in Being and Essence, having no beginning but existing from all eternity. It is uncreate and unborn.

" In the case of created things if you take away their future you take away their existence which consists in continual growth; but in things that are not created you cannot apply the idea of futurity without ousting them from their position in Reality, for they could not belong originally to the world of Real Being if their life consisted in a becoming and in the future .... The blessed Beings which are in the highest rank have not even any desire for the future, for they are already all that it is their nature to be" (iii. 7, 3).

(2) Nous is Eternal in Energy and Activity, but this activity must not be judged from the finite standpoint else erroneous conceptions will arise. It is spiritual and can be discerned only by spiritual faculties. The activity of Nous is not directly in Matter, although there would be no activity in Matter without it. Soul is the intermediary principle, which is eternal in essence, like Spirit, but temporal in energy like Matter, thus it touches both.

Nous is only inactive or apparently absent inasmuch as the Soul is not consciously aware of it, but it is ever present and ceaselessly active.

" Eternal activity is a sublime thing: it is identical with God. . . it is Being in its calmness, its self­identity, its permanent life. We must not be surprised to find plurality in Nous, for everything ~ Yonder ' is multiple on account of its infinite power " (iii. 7, 36).

(3) Nous is Indivisible and Universal.

" Eternal Being is not divided. It subsists ever in the same manner and in the same state, neither is born, nor perishes; occupies neither place nor space; does not reside in any determinate locality; neither enters, nor issues, but remains in itself " (vi. 5, 3).
 

It is not subject to evolution else it could not be the perfection of evolving things.

" Since it never departs from itself,-as it is never divided, as it subsists with all things simultaneously, without undergoing any change, as it exists within itself, one and simultaneously entire,- it must while existing in several things, remain everywhere identical, that is, everywhere entire, both in itself and out of itself "(vi. 5, 3)

" Spirit possesses all things at all times simultaneously . . . It is: it knows no past or future All things in the Spiritual World co-exist in an Eternal Now. Each of them is Spiritual Being and Spiriual Life, taken together they are universal essence and life "(v, 1, 4)

" Considering its universality Nous contains all entities as the genus contains all species; as the whole contains all the parts " (v. 9, 6)

" Nous actually constitutes all beings It contains them all but not locally It contains them as it possesses itself ,' (v 9, 6).

" If Universal Being were in a place, our world should (instead of having a circular motion) rush towards it in a straight line, touching different parts of this Being by different parts of its own, and find itself, on one side distant from It and on the other side near It . But Nous is entirely present to all things that are able to receive It " (vi. 4, 2).

(4) Nous is Self­Gnostic.

" Since It thinks of itself and by itself, It itself is what It thinks. If we could distinguish between its existence and its thought (activity) its 'being' would be unintelligent It would be potentiality but not also actuality " (v. 9, 5).

Soul in contradistinction to Nous, is infinite in potentiality but not in actuality. Hence it is not self­gnostic until it is conscious of Spirit.

" Spirit perceives, not as one that seeks, but as one that already possesses " (v I, 4)

" Reality is that which is seen, not the act of seeing " (vi. 2, 8.)

Nous is all that really exists. In possessing itself in constancy, it is the plenitude of all things.

Plotinus warns us that-

"We must not regard the objects of Spiritual perception as things exterior to Spirit, nor as impressions stamped upon it. Thus denying to Spirit the immediate possession of Truth. To do so would be to condemn Nous of ignorance in Spiritual things and to destroy the reality of Spirit itself. If we wish to maintain the possibility of Knowledge and of Truth and of the Reality of True Existence and the Knowledge of what each thing is,-instead of confining ourselves to the simple notion of its qualities which only gives us an image of the object and forbids us possessing it-to unite ourselves with it and become one with it, we must allow to true Spirit the possession of everything So only can it know and know truly and never forget or wander in search, and the Truth will be in It, and Reality will abide with It, and It will live and know " (v 2, 2).

III. REALIZATION.

Intellectuality counts for little unless it contributes towards realization. But if Real Being were knowable without any intellectual effort, it would not be an object of realization.

Nous is the Ideal Realm both macrocosmically and microcosmically, and to realize It is to be one consciously with Reality.

" Nous in beholding Reality, beholds Itself, and in beholding enters into Its proper activity, and this activity is Itself " (v 3, 5).

(1) Macrocosmically, Nous is the Kingdom of absolute verities, permanent values, primal and ultimate attributes. It is phenomenal to the Infinite ONE but noumenal to the finite Many. In it is the Archetypal World where everything Subsists in perfect harmony and integrality.

There is an analogy or parallelism between the macrocosm " Yonder " and the macrocosm " Here "; the latter being, as it were, a dim reflection of the former.

Every Spiritual Idea or Archetype is an infinite potentiality and therefore productive of infinite effects.

The word " Here " is the sum total of these differentiated effects, each of which is able to manifest but a limited aspect of its infinite prototype.

For instance, the Idea of " Treeness " is the producing cause of an infinite number and variety of trees. But all the individual trees conceivable do not exhaust the One Idea of Treeness.

And thus too with all other things. " Here " they are in part, particularized, and separated, but " There " they are perfect, universal and united.

(2) Microcosmically, Nous contains the one, primal, perfect, archetype of Humanity.

"Nous contains the Ideas of universals; the Idea of Man as such and not of individual men'' (v. 9, 12).

This Universal Idea is in the Image of God, it is the Eternal Word or Logos which is ever becoming flesh and is realizable to all who make it possible.

It is man's spiritual paradigm through which alone can he know God.

" In knowing God, Nous knows itself, for it will know what it receives from Him; what God has given to it and can give. In knowing this it knows itself, for it is itself one of God's Gifts, or rather the sum total of them all.

" If then Spirit will know Him and His Powers, it will know itself as having come from Him and having derived from Him all that it is.

" If It cannot see Him clearly it is because Seer and Seen are the same. For this reason Spirit wild know and see itself, because to see Spiritually is to become oneself the thing seen" (v. 3, 7).

And for such who win this wondrous realization-

"A blissful life is theirs. They have the Truth for Mother, Nurse and Nutriment; they see all things: not the things that are born and die, but those which have Real Being and they see themselves in others. For them all things are transparent and there is nothing dark or impenetrable, but everyone is manifest to everyone interiorly and all things are manifest to the most intimate depth of their nature. Light is everywhere manifest to light. There, everyone has all things in himself and sees all things in others, so that all things are everywhere and all is all and each is all, and the glory is infinite." (v. 8, 4).

§ 4. " THE SOUL."

THROUGHOUT the Enneads, the nature of the Soul is a theme of cardinal consideration. Even when dealing with other Principles, Plotinus frequently presents them in the light of the Soul. Therefore, to understand the Plotinian conception of Soul is to possess a key to the whole System.

Previously we have made a distinction between the World-Soul and the Human­Soul, but now, except where otherwise indicated, whatever is postulated applies equally to both.

TABLE III.-THE SOUL, THE SECOND DIVINE HYPOSTASIS.

I. DEFINITIONS.

(1) A Centre

(2) A Unity.

(3) A Plural­Unity, " one­manyness."

(4) A Form Creator

(5) A Self­motive Principle.

(6) A Self­vital Principle.

(7) A Self­subsistent Principle.

II. CHARACTERISTICS.

(1) Universal.

(2) Essentially Pure.

(3) Perpetually Active.

(4) Incorporeal.

(5) Infinite.

(6) Indivisible.

(7) Indestructible.

III. RELATIONSHIPS.

(1) With Secondary Natures,-" Here."

(2) With Similar Natures,-other Souls.

(3) With Primary Natures,-" Yonder."

I. DEFINITIONS.

(1) The Soul is a Centre. It is a focussing point for manifestation. It matters not what aspect of Soul is considered, it is still a centre of activity, of consciousness, and of subsistence. It never departs from the centre, but perpetually retains this relationship with all things. Neither time, nor space, nor motion can affect it.

But-

`` When we speak of the Soul as a Centre we must not understand the term in the same sense as when applied to the body. For the Soul, though a Centre, is the focus of Nous whence it radiates " (ii,2,2 )

(2) The Soul is a unity. It is not the UNITY, for That is the ONE, but it is a unity, which

"imparts unity without being the unity " (vi. 9, I).

It is an immutable Oneness in essence, and, because of this, always possesses the potentiality of union with other natures.

Each of the secondary natures depending upon Soul is one, and receives oneness through the Soul principle. The Soul causes all its parts to unite and sympathize into a complete wholeness.

" The Soul is one and its work is one .... it abides unchanged in one and the same work " (iv, 4, 10).

But-

" If the Soul were absolutely One, essentially indivisible, and one within itself, if its nature were incompatible with manifoldness and division, it could not, when animating the body, animate it in its entirety . . .

" The Soul, therefore, must be simultaneously one and manifold, divided and undivided ."

" By its manifold unity it unifies all parts of the universe, while its indivisible unity directs everything with wisdom" (iv. 2, 2).

 Therefore

(3) The Soul is a Plural­Unity, one in essence, but plural in activity. Moreover:-

" The unity of Souls does not exclude the plurality of Souls, any more than the unity of essence excludes the plurality of beings....

" Individual Souls exist in the universal (world) Soul, not potentially but each in actuality. The unity of the universal Soul does not hinder the multitude of the individual Souls contained within it Neither does the multitude of individual Souls hinder the unity of the universal Soul They are distinct without being separated by any interval. They are present to each other instead of being foreign to each other, for they are not separated from each other by any limits any more than different sciences are within a single Soul " (vi. 4, 4).

Souls are one without being identical because of their activity" (iv. 9, 8).

"All Souls are potentially all things. Each of them is characterized by the faculty principally exercised " (iv 3, 8)
P> For instance:-

" One is united to the Spiritual World by activity, another by thought, another by desire.

" The Souls, contemplating different objects are, or become, identified with that which they contemplate " (iv. 3, 8).

(4) The Soul is a Form Creator.

" The Soul is a yearning to create many forms " (iv. 4, 22).

Perhaps this is the best definition of Soul; subsisting, as it does, between the realm of archetypes and the worlds of form. It is itself, the principle through which the undifferentiated and unparticularized becomes differentiated and particularized.

It causes the noumenal to become phenomenal, and the potential to become actual, yet remains itself distinct in mediation.

" The Soul produces form and therefore must itself be distinct from form " (iv, 3, 20).

" The Soul that imparts form and figure to bodies is not identical with form and figure .... It unifies each of its productions by contemplating the ONE, just as it produces Man by contemplating the Idea (or archetype) of Man " (vi. 9, I).

" Every body is multiple and diverse and yet all things are derived from Unity.

" The Formative Principle is One and is therefore a plural-unity " (vi. 2, 5).

(5) The Soul is a Self­Motive Principle. It possesses an inherent impulse to manifest, expressing this objectively, just as the Impulse or Will of Nous, is expressed subjectively.

Nous is conceivable as the Principle of Motion, Progression and Emanation; it is therefore immoveable itself.

Soul is conceivable as a " Self­Motive " Principle which causes other natures to be moved, without moving itself, because it transcends all spatial conceptions. It subsists between the Idea or Principle of Motion and those Natures moved by its acts which are called alter­motive, or moved.

" The Soul extends everywhere and subsists as far as it wishes without moving; but it is everywhere with bodies and penetrates them according to its nature " (iv. 3, 8).

" When the body participates in the Soul, the Soul does not go beyond itself to enter the body; on the contrary, the body enters into the Soul. Hence when ancient philosophers say that the Soul comes into the body, this means that the body enters essence and participates in the life of the Soul " (vi. 4. 16).

The Self­motive nature of Soul is its Elective Power or Will, which although originally free becomes conditioned by the consequences of its activity. This free­will has to do with the Soul's so­called descent and fall.

Plotinus asks:-

" What can be the cause that has led Souls to forget God, their Father, and Members of Him though they are, and wholly His, to cease to know both themselves and Him? "

He answers:-

" The evil that has befallen them is due to a 'rebellious-audacity ' (or self­will) in the manner of their entry into birth, to the primal differentiation and to the desire of Souls to have a life of their own " (v.3, 9).

(6) The Soul is a Self­Vital Principle, it causes secondary natures to be vitalized

"The Soul, as looking to the Divine Order, is perfect; going outside of itself into a movement secondary to its primal essence, it engenders an image, which is sensitive and vegetative nature " (V. 2, I).

The Soul is not life, but rather the self­vital principle that causes its secondary natures to participate in life. The Soul itself is neither involving nor evolving life.

" What the Soul is, it ever will be " (i, 1, 2).

" If the Soul always is, the consequence to itself with respect to itself are, the self­motive, the self­vital and the self­subsistent."- (Thos. Taylor.)

(7) The Soul is a Self­Subsistent Principle. It is not an essence, but rather a self­subsisting formative principle of essence.

Its primal " acts " are triple: (1) the self­motive, or volitional; (2) the self­vital or generative; and (3) the formative. These are represented respectively by the will, the heart and the mind.

The last act, in which the Soul makes the intelligence of Nous manifest, is a natural consequence of the self­subsistence of the Soul as an intermediary principle. However, it is not self-subsistent in the same sense as Nous is said to be, for the Soul is not primarily self­gnostic, but, as it were, looks to Nous when generating secondary natures. These generations are themselves the means whereby the Soul becomes Self­gnostic, i.e., conscious of its own self­subsistence.
 

"As there are two kinds of being, one sensible and the other intelligible (spiritual), it is preferable for the Soul to subsist in the Intelligible world, nevertheless, as a result of its nature it is necessary for the Soul also to participate in the sensible activities since it occupies an intermediate rank. The Soul can rise above body after having learned to perceive things on high, by the experience of things seen and suffered here below and after having appreciated the Truly Good by the comparison of contraries; indeed, the knowledge of the Good becomes clearer by the experience of the privation of Good" (iv. 8, 7).

II. CHARACTERISTICS.

(1) The Soul is Universal, its centre is everywhere, and its circumference nowhere.

" The Soul, outside all the limits of Space and Time and Magnitude, is able to embrace within its unvarying nature the entire body of the All, and is ever at the furthest and the nearest point which the All includes " (iv. 3, 9).

" The Soul, being one and simple, is everywhere entire . .(but) it is impossible for a body to be entire in several places simultaneously. "

" The Soul cannot increase or diminish without ceasing to be soul " (iv. 7, 5).

" Each soul is universal " (iv. 3, 2).

(2) The Soul is Essentially Pure; it is not an essence, but, as an eternal and essential unity. it is immutable and pure. It can never, really, become defiled, although its secondary principles may.

Potentially it is perfect, although not actually so. In this it differs from Nous. Plotinus asks:-

" What do we mean by ' purifying the Soul,' inasmuch as it could not possibly be stained ? What do we mean by separating the Soul from the body, since the Soul is said to be everywhere ? "

Again, he answers his own questions, paradoxically:-,

" To purify the Soul is to isolate it, preventing it from attaching itself to other things."

" To purify the Soul consists in raising it from the things here below to the Spiritual realms. Also, it is to wean it from body, for it is then no longer enslaved by the body " (iii. 6, 5).

(3) The Soul is Perpetually Active. Although it is immutably and essentially One, yet Soul would not be Soul unless it were acting upon other natures.

In other words, being a Plural­Unity, it is always setting up secondary causes and itself entering into relations with the effects of these causes.

Primarily, the causes are three:-

"A free attraction or voluntary inclination; the law of Necessity proceeding from the nature of Soul; and thirdly, the inherent impulse of the Soul to bestow order and beauty on the stage of being which is next below itself " (iv. 8, 5).

These three causes correspond to the self­motive, self­vital and self­subsistent principles of the Soul.

And, it should be remembered, all this applies to the human Soul as well as to the universal world Soul.

(4) The Soul is Incorporeal. Its own essential nature is not changed by alliance with secondary corporeal natures, although they are perpetually changed by Soul.

It is formless, yet creates forms. It is intangible, yet, by means of the effects of its activities, i.e., its instruments or vehicles of expression, it contacts other natures.

" 1t is not a body, has neither figure nor colour, but is impalpable " (iv. 7, 10).

"`Soul penetrates the whole body, while an entire body cannot penetrate another entire body.

"If the soul were corporeal and pervaded the whole body, it would form a mixture with the body .... and would cease to be Soul, even as the sweet ceases to be sweet when it is mingled with the bitter " (iv. 7, 5).

(5) The Soul is Infinite. It can neither be contained in nor comprehended by finite natures, save in so far as its relationships with them are realized.

The Soul is not the Infinite, but resembles It in many ways. For instance:-

" The Soul is such that in its unity it is one with all Souls. Such a nature is infinite " (vi. 4, 4).

For it has no limits. In this it is like the ONE. But the limitlessness of Soul is only potential, as well as relative in comparison with the Absolutely Infinite.

(6) The Soul is Indivisible. This can only be explained by paradoxes.

The Soul is indivisible even when it is divided; for it is all in all, and all in every part " (iv. 2, 1)

" When Plato says that the Soul is indivisible, he speaks absolutely. When he declares it is divisible he speaks relatively "(iv. 3, I9).

" We must not believe that the plurality of Souls comes from the plurality of bodies. Particular Souls subsist as well as the universal Soul, independently of bodies, without the unity of the universal Soul absorbing the multiplicity of the particular Souls, or of the multiplicity of particular Souls splitting up the unity of the universal."-(Porphyry.)

" The World­Soul is not divided, nor does it split itself up in order to give life to each individual thing. All things live by the Soul in its entirety; it is all­present everywhere like the Father Who begot it, both in its unity and in its universality " (v. I, 3).

"The Soul cannot be divided quantitatively, nor can it have heterogeneous parts or limbs like a body. Individual Souls are not functions of the Universal Soul " (iv. 3, 5)

" It is the body, and not the Soul, which makes the illusory divisions. The Soul, even in its relations with the body, is only in appearance divided " (iv. 2, I).

" It never loses its intercourse with the universal Soul.

"All souls are one " (vi. 5, 9).

(7) The Soul is Indestructible, it neither comes into existence nor can it pass out, in the absolute sense. It is eternally self­subsistent.

"All that dissolves, existing only by its compositeness, can naturally dissolve in the same manner that it became composite.

" But the Soul is a single, simple actualization, whose essence is immutable. Not in this manner, therefore, can the Soul perish. Neither could the Soul perish by division into a number of parts, for, as we have seen, the Soul is neither a mass, nor a quantity. As little could the Soul perish by alteration, for when alteration destroys anything, it may remove its form but it leaves its matter; alteration, therefore, is a characteristic of something composite.

" Consequently, as the Soul cannot perish in any of these ways, it is indestructible ', (iv. 7, I2).

Thus the Soul is immortal; but its purpose is to gain a self­conscious immortality by alliance with its Principle- Nous.