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
10. Above existence, therefore, is the One. This has by us been
proved as far as could reasonably be expected, and as far as such
subjects admit of demonstration. In the second rank are Existence and
Intelligence; in the third, the Soul. But if these three principles,
the One, Intelligence, and the Soul, as we have said, obtain in nature,
three principles must also obtain within us. I do not mean that
these three principles are in sense-objects, for they are separate
therefrom; they are outside of the sense-world, as the three divine
principles are outside of the celestial sphere, and, according to
Plato's expression,[254] they constitute the "the interior man."
Our soul, therefore, is something divine; it has a nature different
(from sense-nature), which conforms to that of the universal Soul.
Now the perfect Soul possesses intelligence; but we must distinguish
between the intelligence that reasons (the discursive reason), and
the Intelligence that furnishes the principles of reasoning (pure
intelligence). The discursive reason of the soul has no need, for
operation, of any bodily organ;[255] in its operations, it preserves
all its purity, so that it is capable of reasoning purely. When
separated from the body, it must, without any hesitation, be ranked
with highest intellectual entities. There is no need of locating it
in space; for, if it exist within itself, outside of body, in an
immaterial condition, it is evidently not mingled with the body, and
has none of its nature. Consequently Plato[256] says, "The divinity
has spread the Soul around the world." What he here means is that
a part of the Soul remains in the intelligible world. Speaking of
our soul he also says, "she hides her head in heaven."[257] He also
advises us to wean the soul from the body; and he does not refer to
any local separation, which nature alone could establish. He means
that the soul must not incline towards the body, must not abandon
herself to the phantoms of imagination, and must not, thus, become
alienated from reason. He means that the soul should try to elevate
to the intelligible world her lower part which is established in the
sense-world, and which is occupied in fashioning the body.[258]
THERE MUST BE AN OBJECTIVE JUSTICE AND BEAUTY TO WHICH WE ARE
INTIMATELY UNITED.
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