(Originally written November 12, 2006 in Book 11)
Plotinus continued...
The Nature of Reality
The One, the Absolute is a power, a force, an energy.
The One is the cause of all being, of all existence.
Types of existence have varying degrees of reality, depending on their distance from the One.
Nous is closest to the One. Then soul comes from Nous. The Soul creates the sensible or phenomenal world.
A problem with Plotinus' account of Being and existence coming from a succession of creations shows the difficulties of basing a philosophy on mystical experience.
Plotinus' version of a causal One seems to break his rule of giving the One attributes.
A problem with Plotinus' account of being and existence coming from a succession of creations shows the difficulties of basing a philosophy on mystical experience.
Plotinus' version of a causal One seems to break his rule of giving the One attributes.
Another problem with Plotinus' account of reality is that he holds the One as an indivisible unity and yet nous is somehow taken out of it in the creation process.
Plotinus would have replied to these problems is that the theory is not flawed only the terminology is flawed. How can one truly express a mystical experience of truth?
The Way of Ascent
The universe is a double movement: one away from and one towards god.
There are two ways for man to return to god:
1) The long way: reincarnation process like Plato and Pythagoras believed
2) A mystical experience when man and god become a union
The first way happens by man living virtuously. The second way happens without man's help. Man can only prepare himself for the mystical experience when man and god become a union.
Preparation was purifying the soul through a meditation process.
The via negativa is the path many mystics have taken.
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