the wisdom of plotinus, a metaphysical study, ch. whitby, 1919

8/14/2019 The Wisdom of Plotinus, A Metaphysical Study, Ch. Whitby, 1919

1/144


2/144


3/144


4/144


5/144


6/144


7/144

7"

THE WISDOM OF PLOTINUS


8/144

the -same Author

THE OPEN SECRETIntuitions of Life and RealityCrown 8vo. Cloth. 2/6 net.The writer shows how speculative

thought has in the past often succeeded in anticipating the findings ofpositive research, and contends thatPhilosophy should be regarded as thevanguard of Science.

William R!der & Son, Ltd.,8 PATERNOSTER ROW. LONDON, E.C.4


9/144

tHE WISDOM OFPLOTINUSA METAPHYSICAL STUDT

ByCHARLES J. WHITBY

B.A., M.D., Cantab.Author of " The Logis of Human Character "

Thus needs, that ye may apprehend, we speak:Since from things sensible alone ye learnThat which, digested rightly, after turnsTo intellectual.

DANTE, Paradise. Canto iv., 40, 43(Cary sTr.)

Plotinus was a man of wonderful ability, and some ofthe sublimest passages I ever read are in his works.

S. T. COLERIDGE, Table Talk.

LONDONWILLIAM RIDER AND SON LTD

8 PATERNOSTER ROW E.C1919


10/144

TO MY FRIENDJ. R. E.,

WITH AFFECTIONATE REGARD

~ /r . / /? v

bora of the faults of the soul, not of itspure essence. 1 In the view of Plotinus passion, affectability, sensation, are functions not of the soul,which, properly speaking, even in contemplationis always active, nor of matter, which, as alreadyexplained, is in itself immutable and unimpressionable, but of the " living body "that which isneither spiritual nor corporeal, but a compositeentity partaking equally and imperfectly of bothkinds. Thus when the living organism is affectedwith pleasure or pain, the soul, itself impassive,observes and remembers the impression ; andsimilarly, for the soul properly so called, the emotionof shame, for example, consists merely in theopinion that such or such an act, purposed or

performed, is ignoble. Similarly in theShame, . . . , j jFear, act of external vision, the eye indeed

is the recipient of an impression ismore or less passive, but it is the soul or mind whichreally perceives. Plotinus argues that if the soul

1 Enn. Ill, Lib. v, sec. 7.


62/144

56 THE WISDOM OF PLOTINUSas such were liable to receive impressions, to suffer,for example, such an emotion as fear, the part ofthe soul so affected would not perform its function,and the appropriate bodily reaction would notoccur.1 In brief the doctrine of Plotinus is thatwe can only attribute to the soul " passions withoutpassivity," that is to say, that we must regard theseterms thus applied as metaphors derived from thenature of the body. 2 Even memory, which mightMemor ^e adduced as an obvious instance ofnot a mental impression, properly so called, is,

PassivelyRetained however, says Plotinus, to be regardedImpression. as the active retention of a form createdby, rather than imprinted on, the soul. 3 Thatthis is so might indeed be suspected from the fact(mentioned also in the Enneads) that the durationand intensity of a particular recollection is proportional not so much to the intensity or magnitudeof the bodily impressions or disturbances withwhich it originated, as to the degree of attentionon the part of the mind or soul which created it. iVice and Plotinus recognises the existence innce - every human being of a reasoning facultythe soul properly so called, and an unreasoning

Enn. Ill, Lib. vi, sec. 4.a Enn. Ill, Lib. vi, sec. i.Enn. Ill, Lib. vi, sec. 3.


63/144

A METAPHYSICAL STUDY 57principle the natural soul, which under the immediate guidance of universal reason, the laws of nature,presides over bodily functions, growth, nutrition/reproduction. Vice is a state of discord betweenthe individual reason on the one hand and thosefaculties which pertain to the unreasoning or natural soul on the other. 1 The proper function ofthe soul is spiritual vision, culminating in wisdomor speculative insight, and hence the supreme viceof Man as an essentially reasonable being, and themost fruitful source of moral delinquencies andperversities of every kind and degree, is that stateof blindness and ignorance which inevitably resultsfrom refusal, failure or neglect to cultivate thefaculty in question. Greed, lust, anger and thelike, although in particular instances they maybe directly traceable either to mental apathypure and simple or to that state of imperfect rationalcontrol which results from bodily affections ordefects, are invariably symptomatic of ignorance.That is to say that ignorance is always a cause,even if not necessarily the sole cause, of immoralbehaviour. The natural or animal soul of a humanbody in guarding the welfare and asserting theinstincts and desires of the material organism assuch, and Nature herself in regulating those pro-

1 Enn. Ill, Lib. vi, sec. 2.


64/144

5 8 THE WISDOM OF PLOTINUScesses which characterise the inorganic plane ofexistence, allow no regard for particular interestsor spiritual exigencies unrecognised and unenforcedby the individual intelligence and will to rupturethe uniformity or limit the universality of theirrespective operations. Hence the danger of neglect

ing the voice of conscience and attendingC " * 4- 1Ochlocracy, exclusively to the bodily sensations, for in(Mob-Rule). theuproar of a crowded assembly it is notthe wisest counsellor whose word prevails, it is ratherthe noisiest and most factious ; and the tumultthese create compels the representative of wisdomto remain seated, powerless, and overborne bythe din. In the perverse man it is the animalwhich reigns. 1

ii. The doctrine of Plotinus withSubstance reference to the genesis of the pheno-Corporeal menai universe has already been indi-Essence.

cated.It was explained that, for the Neoplatonist

philosopher, matter as such, although it plays animportant part in the system as a whole, is nopositive entity possessing specific qualities capableof clear conception and logical definition, butthat as an objective metaphysical abstraction itis to be regarded as the nurse and receptacle of

1 Enn. IV, Lib. iv, sec. 18.


65/144

A METAPHYSICAL STUDY 59generation, anterior therefore, not temporally, butontologically, to generation, and as the privationof all positive qualities, that is of all goodness, itmay be identified with evil. It may be thoughtor speculatively envisaged by a process whichPlotinus calls bastard reasoning, the inverse ofthat process by which we apprehend the essenceof the intelligible world. It is poetically or symbolically described as aspiring eternally to realexistence, but as capable of appropriating only animperfect image or shadow of the Universal Soul,thus constituting the order which appears to usin the guise of an external universe, a universewhich, despite the large element of illusion whichpertains to its composition, is by most of us accreditedwith genuine

and unimpeachable reality. Thelife and essence of the Universal Soul (which isReason) is external to matter, not in the ordinarysense of the word, but as being of a totally contraryand irreconcilable nature.1 Matter participatesin goodness

without ceasing to be evil, but thephenomenal or sensible universe is intermediatebetween good and evil, form and matter, reasonand fatality, order and chaos. 2 The creativepower of Universal Reason (or of any reasonable

1 Enn. Ill, Lib. vi, sec. 15.Enn. Ill, Lib. vi, sec. n ; Enn. Ill, Lib. vi, sec. 17.


66/144


67/144


68/144

6s THE WISDOM OF PLOTINUSenters and emerges from the One, yet which neverleaves Him, but exists around and within and byHim. 1Time has been identified by some philosophers

with movement, 2 but this is obviously false, formovement can cease but time cannot. Nor is it(asserts Plotinus) identical with the measure ofmovement in general, the number of the extensionwhich follows movement (as Aristotle says), nora mere consequence or accident of movement (asEpicurus pretends). Time, says the Platonist, isthe Life of the (Universal) Soul, considered in themovement by which it passes from one act to another. Its continuous course is composed of equaluniform, and insensible changes. The universe existsin Time, and therefore in the Soul. Thus time,which is one only by continuity, presents an imageof the unity of the Eternal, and may be itself conceived as the duration of the Life pertaining tothe Universal Soul. It is engendered by the firstmovement (that of the divine Intelligence) andincludes all other movements. 3

If this be a correct account of the matter, itfollows that the abstraction we call Time is essentially objective, and that so far from its being a

1 Enn. Ill, Lib. vii, sees. 4, 5. * The Stoics.* Enn. Ill, Lib. vii, sees. 10-11.


69/144

A METAPHYSICAL STUDY 63mere subjective standard for the measurementof events, it were truer to assert that we measuretime by movements than movements by time. Itwas born with the universe (as Plato has alleged),and hence precedes all other movements and prescribes their quantity. It is not, therefore, engendered, but merely indicated, by the revolutions ofthe celestial bodies. As a property of the Soulit is one and the same throughout the universe. 1Doctrine of T 3- One of the most vital elements ofthe Soul. t ]ie SyStem of Plotinus is that portion

of it which may be summarily denominated theDoctrine of the Soul, comprising his views concerning the following important topics (i) TheNature of the Soul of the Universe, (2) that ofindividual souls of every degree, and especiallythose of human beings, (3) the mutual relationsof individual souls with one another and with thesoul of the universe, and (4) the precise mannerand degree in which particular souls may be saidto belong to or be present on. the phenomenal orintelligible planes of existence. His doctrines concerning all these points will, it is hoped, be in somemeasure, incidentally or directly, elucidated inthis essay, but a separate detailed account and

Enn. Ill, Lib. vii, sec. 12.


70/144

64 THE WISDOM OF PLOTINUSexhaustive criticism of each is quite beyond thescope of its intention.The Life The external, material or phenomenal

of Nature. Universe was conceived by Plotinus notas a mere inert mass, devoid of real unity andcongruity an edifice adorned with stocks andstones, nor even as a lifeless machine, but as amighty Organism, animated throughout with onepurposive energy the life of Nature, that is to say,her Soul. On the other hand not only does everyminutest part of its contents participate in greateror less degree (potentially or actually) in the lifeof the whole in universality, but conversely everysuch part is not merely and simply a part of theuniverse, but has also a degree of potential oractual independence a soul of its own. 1 Thisindependence potential merely in the unorganisedelements of Nature and even in those living creatureswhich participate only in the lower unreasoningfaculties of the universal soul, and whose vitalactivities are, therefore, absorbed in the functionsof nutrition and reproduction, is manifested at itshighest (so far as mere temporal existence is concerned) in Man, and especially in the truly rationalcareer of the Sages men who, like wise servants,as distinguished from unenlightened slaves, are

1 Enn. IV, Lib. iv, sees. 26-7.


71/144

A METAPHYSICAL STUDY 65able at the same time to obey their master s orders(that is to submit to the decrees of Necessity) andpreserve their essential freedom. 1

The Plotinus asserts that the Soul is theUmversal raison d etre of all things, the supreme

reason of the phenomenal world, thelowest reason of the intelligible world. 2 In Hegeliandialectic the different phases of thought, as represented by the great philosophies, are regarded asa series of definitions of the Absolute 3 and thatphase of the logical idea which corresponds to theUniversal Soul 4 implies the complete comprehension and explanation of Nature as a system ofcause and effect, but is capable of only a preliminary exposition of the sphere of essential realityand ideal perfection.

In the first place the Universal Soul is to beregarded as inhabiting the highest region of theintelligible world, and its life is in essence an active,impassive and eternal contemplation of the onetrue Being. 5 But the essential or constitutive act

1 Enn. IV, Lib. iv, sec. 34.* Enn. IV, Lib. vi, sec. 3, C, ncerning Memory.8 The Logic of Hegel (Wallace), chap, ix, 160, p. 288.4 The phase of discursive reason or abstract understand

ing. Pre- Kantian Metaphysic. Cf. Logic of Hegel (Wallace), chap, iii, p. 60.

6 Enn. Ill, Lib. viii, sec. 44E


72/144

66 THE WISDOM OF PLOTINUSof such a being as the Universal Soul is to be carefully distinguished from the act which proceedsor emanates from it. The first is the essence orbeing itself, the second is its reflex or image, andthe image of the Universal Soul is the inferiorbut still divine (because universal) principle calledNature. 1 In other words the Universal Soul has atwofold life and action, in virtue of one of whichit contemplates and assimilates the ideas of absolute wisdom, while by the other, which contemplates its own ideas, thus conceiving the genericprinciples of Nature, it simultaneously regulatesthe corporeal universe, conferring upon mattera form resembling, though inferior to, its own. 2Individual souls (our own for example) have alsothe potentiality of this twofold manifestation, butwith them, for reasons presently to be explained,the contemplative and regulative functions cannotco-exist in perfection, but predominate alternatelyin successive periods of time. Nature is to theUniversal Soul what the formative, nutritive,generative and sensitive faculties of the human soulare to the soul proper or human reason, but theUniversal Soul, as such, although necessarily

1 Enn. IV, Lib. iv, sec. 13.Enn. Ill, Lib. viii, sec. 4.


73/144

A METAPHYSICAL STUDY 67cognisant of all the events of past, present andfuture time, owes no part of this knowledge toimpressions from without, and cannot thereforebe accredited with sensitivity in the sense in whichwe ourselves possess it. The sensitivity of Nature,or that power which is analogous in the materialuniverse to the faculty so-called in ourselves, ismanifested as a vital nexus in virtue of which (asPlotinus believed and taught) every minutestand remotest part of the universe is intimatelycorrelated and sympathetically united to the rest. 1The universe as a whole, although thus endowedwith a potential sensitivity, may nevertheless beconsidered as impassive, because the Soul whichanimates and pervades it has no need of sensationsfor its own enlightenment, and does not, in fact,regard them. Nevertheless, and for the simplereason that Nature is a living organism, sympatheticthroughout, individual parts of the universe havea quasi-sensitivity, and respond to impressionsThe Basis from without. When, for example, the

Maglc> stars, in answer to human invocations,confer benefits upon men, they do so (says Plotinus)not by a voluntary action, but because their naturalor unreasoning psychical faculties are unconsciouslyaffected. 2 Similarly, demons may be charmed1 Enn. IV, Lib. iv, sec. 37. Enn. IV, Lib. iv, sec. 42


74/144

68 THE WISDOM OF PLOTINUSby spells or prayers acting upon

the unreasoningpart of their nature. 1Thus much is conceded to the views of those

who confide in the efficacy of magical incantations,but Plotinus is careful to add that the true philosopher is not only superior

to the temptation orneed to indulge in such practices on his own account,but also beyond the reach of injury by those whowould employ them against him. To pursue thatwhich is not, as if it were indeed the true Good, is theonly possible form of surrender to the charm ofmagical incantations which has any real terrorsfor such as him. 2

The stars and planets, which on ac-The Stars .and count of the perfection of their movements and the supposed perpetuity of

their existence were regarded by Plotinus andother philosophers of antiquity as direct manifestations of celestial or semi-divine Intelligence,are said then to respond to external impressions,only unconsciously and incidentally ; and an absoluteindependence of knowledge derived a posteriori,by means of impressions as such, is in like manneralleged of Nature as a whole. In fact, Nature as

i Enn. IV, Lib. iv. sec. 43.1 Fnn. IV, Lib. iv, sec. 44.


75/144

A METAPHYSICAL STUDY 69the reflex or image of the Universal Soul upon

matter, and as distinguished from thatNature anUnconscious Soul of whose wisdom it is the passiveAgent. expression, is an unconscious entity. Itsparts are correlated by a faculty analogous tosensibility, but the Soul of the Universe pays noheed to these sensations, being already endowedwith complete and comprehensive knowledge. 1The earth itself is in like manner animated by

an individual soul and intelligence (respectivelyknown to mythology as Ceres and Vesta) and,as in the case of the stars, the consciousness ofthe Earth-Soul is not necessarily involved in thesensitivity by means of which its body is relatedto the universe as a whole. The vegetation whichclothes the planet is, however, a manifestationof the power of the vegetative principle of theEarth-Soul, and is fancifully compared by Plotinusto the living flesh of an animal body. 2

Individu- I 4- Something must now be said withality. regard to the relation of individual souls

1 Enn. IV, Lib. iv, sec. 13 ; Enn. IV, Lib. iii, sec. 10.A common property of all being is to render other beingslike to itself. Hence the Universal Reason living in andby Reason impresses the material universe with q, likereasonable nature.

2 Enn. IV, Lib. iv, sec. 27.


76/144

70 THE WISDOM OF PLOTINUSto that Universal Soul of which \ve have just beenspeaking. In the Platonic and Neoplatonic systems every atom is not merely an atom, but alsoa potential universe, every individual intelligenceis in like manner, that is, implicitly, a universalMind the so-called intelligible universe. 1 For the

basis of individuality (which includesIts Basis.

atomicity) is in every case an eternalidea, subsisting immutably in the universal mind,partaking therefore of the Divine universality,but constituting meanwhile the particular intelligence which dominates a given terrestrial career. 2But individual souls are also in another aspect

mere constituent factors of the UniversalIndividuality

as a Soul which generates and includes them,Function . ...of the just as, on the material plane, organs

Universal. an(j members are a part O f the bodiesto which they belong, while our bodies are theoffspring of other bodies, and subject like themto the laws which condition matter in general. 3Or to use another comparison, just as the distinction between the formative, sensitive and reasoning faculties is compatible with the unity of thesoul which comprises them, so the existence and

1 Enn. IV, Lib. iv, sec. 8 ; Enn. IV, Lib. vi. sec. }.8 Enn. V, Lib. vii, sec. I.8 Eiin. IV, Lib. ix, sec. 4.


77/144


78/144

72 THE WISDOM OF PLOTINUSThe existence of the Divine Intelli-Umty and

Multiplicity gence in virtue of an absolute co-inte-of theUniversal gration of infinite variety with essentialSoul. oneness, is properly described as con

stituting a multiple Unity, while that of the UniversalSoul, possessing unity in virtue of its eternal participation in the one Divine Being and also as conditioning the existence of a system of individualsouls, and multiplicity by reason of its presenceentire in each of these (in the same way as, forexample, the universal notion is present by implication in every proposition of science) is truly char-acterisable either as a unity or a multiplicity, asboth One and Many. Or to express the same truthin terms of mythology, we may assert with Plotinusthat in cognising the infinity of his life Jupiter(the Demiurge or governor of the world) simultaneously observes that his action upon the universeis one. 1

Incarnation I 5- If now we transfer our attentionor

. to the chief problems connected withDescension.the existence of individual souls as such,

a thought which inevitably occurs to us is that,being of one substance with the reasonable essencewhich constitutes the governing principle of theuniverse, they must be entitled to some share in

1 Enn. IV, Lib. iv, sees. 10, n ; Enn. IV, Lib. ii, sec. 2.


79/144

A METAPHYSICAL STUDY 73its divine prerogatives. In the case of humansouls, the constitutive essence or principal powerof which is not mere sensibility but the comparatively-divine faculty of discursive reason or understanding, this prima facie claim will naturallyappear stronger than in that of souls pertainingto lower orders of conscious existence.The individual soul belongs in virtue of its reason

able nature to the Reason-World or intelligible order,and in so far as it participates in this nature it maybe said, like the Universal Soul of which it is inone sense a part, to inhabit the intelligible universe,and to share in the creative and administrativepowers of the Divine Being. 1 But the individualsoul is not (even in the case of humanity) a homogeneous entity is not merely and entirely reasonable. As in the Universal Soul we distinguishedbetween a principal power whose life was bound upwith that of the Divine Intelligence and an inferiorpower, called Nature, which was the immediateprinciple and source of natural phenomena andeven included a sort of impassive quasi-sensitivity,so in the case of the human individual we distinguish between the constitutive faculty of reasonproperly so called and the natural or unreasoning

1 Enn. IV, Lib. vii, sec. 3 ; Enn. IV, Lib. viii, sec. 4.


80/144


81/144


82/144

76 THE WISDOM OF PLOTINUSdefinite form upon it, and charmed by this formenters it, and a living inhabitant of the materialuniverse is the result. 1

This descent into generation on the part of theindividual soul is at the same time necessary andvoluntary, or rather, perhaps, instinctive, for it isnot only a fall from a high estate into a comparatively humble and degraded one, but also an exampleof the universal law which ordains that in everycase the potential shall be fully actualised ; andbeing, so far as individual souls are concerned,the only conceivable means by which this lawcould be fulfilled, it may in a certain sense be regarded not as a fall but as a normal development. 2The Universal Soul, in virtue of its universality,

is privileged without descension or volun-Descensionthe Logical tarY inclination towards the materialInSuality.Plane (consequently without forfeiting

in any degree the prerogative of Divinecontemplation) but rather by an act of condescension or procession to create, uphold and regulate theexternal universe which is its body. 3 But the

1 Enn. IV, Lib. viii, sec. 4 ; Enn. Ill, Lib. ix, sec. 2.a Enn. IV, Lib. viii, sec. 4, cf. also sec. 2.8 Enn. II, Lib. ix, sec. 7. It is important to noticethat individual souls also differ from the Universal Soul,In that the bodies which they enter and subsequently


83/144

A METAPHYSICAL STUDY 77individual body in order to

live safely in a worldgoverned with reference not so much to the immediate welfare of individuals as to the justice andharmony of the system which comprises them,requires a more intimate alliance with the reasonableprinciple to which it owes its being : and henceit follows that the individual soul is called upon torenounce in a measure the supreme privilege ofcelestial contemplation when by its fall into generation it voluntarily and legitimately undertakes theadministration of a particular terrestrial

career. 1But the individual soul as being essentiallyasonable that is as beill not nly

Result of enlightened by the wisdom of an indivi-Intelhgence. dual intelligence, but even through thatrelated to the one celestial wisdom which is itsultimate source and goal, has an ineradicabletendency towards, and an inalienable privilegeof returning in due time to, its original state ofblessedness and repose. So it is that when wespeak of a soul s conversion we simply imply thata fundamentally reasonable principle has begunto re-emancipate itself from the bonds of necessityand to re-enter its native sphere of liberty andcontrol have previously been organised by Nature, theexpress agent of the Universal Soul.1 Enn. IV, Lib. viii, sec. 2.


84/144

78 THE WISDOM OF PLOTINUSreason. 1 And further, in the case at least of humanity, it is even possible to pass through earthlylife without ever forfeiting entirely the privilegein question, for the true philosopher does notallow his tranquility to be disturbed by the vicissitudes of earthly existence, estimating at their truevalue, that is as of no essential value, alike the choicestgifts and the direst reverses of fortune. It is notthen absolutely an evil, but in some sense also anadvantage for the soul, to bestow upon the bodyform and life, because the providential care thusaccorded to an inferior nature does not preventthe being which accords it from itself remainingin (or at the worst from ultimately regaining) astate of perfection. 2

Briefly summarised, then, the doctrine of Plotinusas to this important point is that our souls descendinto bodies and become bound to them becausethese require more intimate direction and guardianship than the body of the universe, which is complete and immortal. In so far as this necessaryfall or descent into

"

generation," this inclinationof reason towards the plane of sensibility, is tobe counted as a fault or sin, it finds its adequateand appropriate punishment in the state of limita-

1 Enn. IV, Lib. viii, sec. 4.* Enn. IV, Lib. viii, sec. 2.


85/144

A METAPHYSICAL STUDY 79tion which it involves, and in that alone. Plotinusrecognises, however, the possibility of absolute orspiritual wickedness (sin properly so called), whichhe places in a different category and for whichhe hints that full retribution at the hands of demonsis ultimately exacted. 1 Generally speaking theacts committed in each particular existence willdetermine the good or ill fortune experienced byReincar- ^ne same individual soul in the coursenation. Qf subsequent incarnations. The ad

herence of Plotinus to the doctrine of metempsychosis, so far as that implies a belief in the alternation of longer or shorter states of spiritual reposewith successive terms of terrestrial existence, asthe normal if not inevitable destiny of individualsouls, is clear and definite. Thus he asserts that"it is a universally accepted belief that the soul commits errors, that it expiates them, that it submits topunishment in the infernal regions, and that it passesinto new bodies."* Also he declares that "the godsbestow upon each the destiny which pertains to him,and which harmonises with his antecedents in hissuccessive existences" (Kara d/j,oi/3d), the absolute andMo?aT comprehensive measure of all things.Things. He is also the within, the infinite depth

or profoundly, the occult wellspring of reality,the infinite Ideal. That which approaches Himthe nearest, and, as it were, circularly impingesupon Him, is universal Reason or Intelligence,which in virtue of this aspiration towards, and

1 Enn. VI, Lib. viii, sec. 8. * Ibid., sec. 9.


128/144

122 THE WISDOM OF PLOTINUSattainment of the Good, is itself one and perfect.Hence, the universal Reason (Logos) is symbolicallydesignated a ccntriform circle. 1 Be it noted that theform of the universal Being, although absolutelyperfect and therefore absolutely accordant withthe will of the One, is such by its own act and notmerely in passive obedience to an impulse fromwithout and above. Otherwise it were impossibleto say, as Plotinus does say, that God is the Authorof Liberty. And, nevertheless, God, as superior toReason, essence or Spirit, has engendered it, andconstitutes its principle and raison d etre.

26. \Ylicn finally we pass on, as despite of all that has been said to the con

trary, we inevitably do pass to the contemplationof the One as existing in and for Itself, we leaveReason behind us and rise upon the wings of ecstasyinto a rarer and more exalted the most exaltedregion of consciousness. What we say of the Good

is not to be regarded as an attempt toInadequacyof Science, define its nature, for the ineffable cannot be formally and impassively scrutinised, northe absolutely indivisible analysed and explained. 2For whereas mere science, as the act of discursivereason, involves multiplicity, its inherent tendency

1 Enn. VI, Lib. viii, sec. 18.1 Enn. VI, Lib. ix, sec. 4.


129/144

A METAPHYSICAL STUDY 123is to separate us from God, but the act of Divinityis an eternal super-intellection, and such knowledgeas we have of this transcendent Activity is due toits actual presence in contact with and illuminationof the soul of the beholder, which becomes for thetime being indistinguishable from Itself. As wemay imagine the master of a glorious palace, whoseown beauty surpasses that of the formally perfectbut comparatively lifeless statues which adorn it,so the beauty of the Good surpasses that of mereintelligible essence. Yet the One does not at firstreveal Itself visibly and separately, but, as hasjust been explained, penetrates and becomes identified with the soul of the worshipper. 1 We discussthe Divine Nature, says Plotinus, not in the hopeof defining or comprehending it (for such hope werebaseless and irrational) but in order to awaken andstimulate the soul, and thus rekindle its innate desireof this Divine, this ultimate experience. " I am trying," said Plotinus on his deathbed to Porphyrius,"to bring back the Divine that is in me to theDivine that is in the All." That, indeed, behovesus ; and, further, the need of this reunion is notconfined to ourselves but is instinctive and universal. For

" As flame ascends,As vapours to the earth in showers return,

1 Enn. VI. Lib. vii, sec. 35.


130/144

124 THE WISDOM OF PLOTINUSAs the pois d ocean toward th attracting moonSwells, and the ever list ning planets, charm dBy the sun s call, their onward pace incline,So all things which have life aspire to God,Exhaustless fount of intellectual day,Centre of souls." x

Every living soul yearns after the Good as a virginfor her destined spouse, but may and often doesforget this heavenly love and plunge for awhile intoadulterous excesses. Nevertheless, the sole objectof existence for all is contact with and direct contemplation of the Good, in virtue of which contactthe centre of our own being may become coincidentwith that of the universe, and the purport of ourotherwise trivial and meaningless existence, in soberverity, Divine. Exalted thus, and in virtue of thisspiritual contact, the soul becomes clear, subtle andluminous, full of the light of intellect, conscious,moreover, of its own perfection, and may be likenedto a resplendent flame. 2 Even yet, supposing itsprevious detachment from sensuous allurementsto have been incomplete, it may fall again into comparative obscurity, but by every such ecstaticascension and beatific reunion it is permanentlybeautified and exalted, and its ultimate return and

1 Akenside, Pleasures of Imagination, bk. ii, 264.1 Enn. VI, Lib. ix, sec. 9.


131/144

A METAPHYSICAL STUDY 125reabsorption are inevitable ; for when the soullias once beheld God, a virtue or image remainswith it, which serves to guide it back to Him,manifesting its presence by the light which wecall intelligence and the love which creates wisdom.

Potential 27. With reference to this doctrine ofImport of ,, . , _ . . TTthe Doctrinetne ^irst Divine Hypostasis many questions will suggest themselves to the

student which find in the Enneads of Plotinusno very clear or satisfactory answer. For instance, it may be asked, is the Good a personalor an impersonal Being, is this principle the philosophical equivalent of the First Person in theTriune God of Theology, or, peradventure, of theThird ? It must be admitted that, at first sight,there is something extremely unsatisfying in theaccount given of the One by Plotinus ; but allowancemust be made for the enormous difficulty of thetask, no less than that of describing the indescribableand of defining that which is beyond all comprehension. If, however, in completing this brief studyof the lifework of a great thinker, we would befaithful to his own spirit of free and fearless inquiry,we must not shrink from the endeavour to solvethis supreme problem of the nature of the One,not merely as it was interpreted by Plotinus him-


132/144

ia6 THE WISDOM OF PLOTINUSself, but also in respect of its true potential import.The One as In the first place it is to be noted that,Abstraction. in common with the second and thirdDivine Hypostases (literally substances) the Oneis arrived at by a process of abstraction, and accordingly presents itself at first to the mind as a mereformless residuum, void of all real content, orgenuine significance. But this was equally the

case with the Divine Intelligence, which,Intelligence .as an although similarly apprehended in then first place, by the abstraction of all lowerforms of consciousness, as a mere informing lightor essence, ultimately proved itself capable ofembracing all that pertains to the notion of positiveexistence. The case of the First Divine Hypostasis,to which, as lias been stated, cannot be ascribeda genuine existence, is no doubt different in manyPsycholo- respects from that of the two inferiorgl

of the5 5 principles ; but it lias at least this in

Soul, the common with them both, that the infer-Intelhgence,and the One. ence of its existence (in so far as it canbe said to exist) rests like theirs in part on apsychological basis. For, as was pointed outin the beginning of this essay, each of the threegrades of spirituality corresponding respectivelyto the third, second and first Divine Hypostasis,is in some degree of immanence or actuality repre-


133/144

A METAPHYSICAL STUDY 127sentect in every individual human or other microcosm. Plotinus asserts, in fact, that sensationsaspire to become thoughts, and thoughts to mergein wisdom or intelligence, and similarly, from thepsychological standpoint we may say that the First_, Q Divine Hypostasis is simply the humanPotence of or other consciousness carried to itsthe Soul.

supreme potentiality and there mergedand, so far as reason is concerned, lost to view.Can we not, at all events, give a name to this highest, ineffable power of consciousness, a name which,without controverting in one single detail theaccount given of it by Plotinus, but rather coincidingin a remarkable way with every indication of itsmysterious nature, may yet serve to redeem theconception once for all from the charge of barrenand empty formalism ?The First Divine Hypostasis is superior, indeed

it is infinitely superior, to^thought and existence.It does not think, or even will, but has merely asimple intuition of itself. It is the transcendentprinciple of all beauty, the ultimate source of allemancipation, yet in itself neither free nor subject

Matter to necessity- It is the measureless mea-and the One. sure of au things, the rule of wisdom orintelligence, and as the absolutely formless and(hence) impersonal, yet creative and self-deter-


134/144

[28 THE WISDOM OF PLOTIXUSmined Good is the complement of the ide invoked and revealed by Love,are to be " crucified," or at the least controlled bythe converted will of the aspirant. Their seatmoreover, is neither the body as such, nor the soul,but that composite product of Nature and theirrational or vestigial soul of the individual, whichPlotinus calls the living body. To the soul itself

we can properly attribute neither sensa-Emotions ^ nor a other mere feelings, butcompatiblewith " passions without passivity," that is,Freedombelong to emotions compatible with freedom, or,

in other words, the desire of that whichis good, or ultimately of the Good itself. When


137/144

A METAPHYSICAL STUDY 131the soul seems to will that which is evil it is (appearances notwithstanding), according to Plotinus, atworst, the victim of ignorance : for (as Meredithbeautifully says) " the light of every soul burnsupwards," and the aim of a rational entity cannotin the long run be otherwise than good. And thereason of this is that the love which impels theindividual soul and intellect knows no rest untilit has completed its circuit and returned to thesource whence it was derived. Regarded as animpersonal abstract entity, we may say, indeed, thatit has never really left that source, but regardedas a mere potentiality of any particular humanconsciousness, its ultimate return is, at all events,inevitable.We are now, therefore, in a position more fullyto appreciate the latent significance of the above-quoted words of the dying philosopher: "/ am trying to bring back the Divine that is in me to theDivine that is in the All."

Printed in Great Britain ly Butler & Tanner. From* and Londa-.


138/144


139/144


140/144


141/144


142/144


143/144

IINDING SECT. MAY 2 8 1975

PLEASE DO NOT REMOVECARDS OR SLIPS FROM THIS POCKETUNIVERSITY OF TORONTO LIBRARY

Whitby, Charles Joseph693 The wisdom of Plotinus


144/144

the wisdom of plotinus, a metaphysical study, ch. whitby, 1919

Documents