Plotinos: Complete Works, v. 1: In Chronological Order, Grouped in Four PeriodsPlotinus
Philosophy
Plotinos: Complete Works, v. 1: In Chronological Order, Grouped in Four Periods
Plotinus
Plotinus
5. Such as imagine that beings are governed by luck or chance, and
that they depend on material causes are far removed from the divinity,
and from the conception of unity. It is not such men that we are
addressing, but such as admit the existence of a nature different from
the corporeal one, and who at least rise (to an acknowledgment of the
existence of) the Soul. These should apply themselves to the study of
the nature of the soul, learning, among other truths, that she proceeds
from Intelligence, and that she can achieve virtue by participating in
Intelligence through reason. They must then acknowledge the existence
of an Intelligence superior to the intelligence that reasons, namely,
to discursive reason. They must (also realize) that reasonings imply
an interval (between notions), and a movement (by which the soul
bridges this interval). They must be brought to see that scientific
knowledge consists also of reasons of the same nature (namely, rational
notions), reasons suitable to the soul, but which have become clear,
because the soul has received the succession of intelligence which is
the source of scientific knowledge. By intelligence (which belongs to
her), the soul sees the divine Intellect, which to it seems sensual,
in this sense that it is perceptible by intelligence, which dominates
the soul, and is her father;[194] that is, the intelligible world, a
calm intellect which vibrates without issuing from its tranquility,
which contains everything, and which is all. It is both definite and
indefinite manifoldness, for the ideas it contains are not distinct
like the reasons (the rational notions), which are conceived one by
one. Nevertheless, they do not become confused. Each of them becomes
distinct from the others, just as in a science all the notions,
though forming an indivisible whole, yet each has its own separate
individual existence.[195] This multitude of ideas taken together
constitutes the intelligible world. This is the (entity) nearest
to the First. Its existence is inevitably demonstrated by reason,
as much as the necessity of the existence of the Soul herself; but
though the intelligible world is something superior to the Soul, it is
nevertheless not yet the First, because it is neither one, nor simple,
while the one, the principle of all beings, is perfectly simple.
THE SUPREME IS ONE ONLY IN A FIGURATIVE SENSE.
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