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Wisdom and teachings of
Néoplatonism

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T his proves that in their enthusiasm [i.e., their state of inspiration] they are not aware of what they are doing and are not living a human or bodily existence as far as sensation and volition are concerned, but live instead another and diviner kind, which fills them and takes complete possession of them.

quote 3966 | Iamblichus
On the Mysteries, III, 4-6, Translation and introduction by Frederick C. Grant, in his Hellenistic Religions (New York, 1953), PP. 173-5

W hen there enters into it a glow from the Divine, the soul gathers strength, spreads true wings, and, however distracted by its proximate environment, speeds its buoyant way to something greater; ... its very nature bears it upwards, lifted by the Giver of that love. ... Surely we need not wonder that It possesses the power to draw the soul to Itself, calling it back from every wandering to rest before It. From It came everything; nothing is mightier.

quote 3670 | Plotinus
Enneads, 38:6:22-23; in Porphyry, Life Of Plotinus, Turnbull, 1936; p. 199

H ow is this to be accomplished?
Let all else go!

quote 3669 | Plotinus
Enneads, 49:5:17; in Porphyry, Life Of Plotinus, Turnbull, 1936; p. 163

S uppose the soul have attained; the Highest has come to her, or rather has revealed Its presence; she has turned away from all about her and has made herself apt, beautiful to the utmost, brought into likeness [with the Divine] by the preparings and adornings known to those growing ready for the vision. She has seen that Presence suddenly manifesting within her, for there is nothing between, nor are they any longer two, but one; for so long as the Presence remains, all distinction fades. It is in this way that lover and beloved here [in this world], in a copy of that [Divine] union, long to blend their being.

quote 3668 | Plotinus
Enneads, 38:6:34; in Porphyry, Life Of Plotinus, Turnbull, 1936; p. 203

W e ought not to question whence it [the experience of Unity] comes; there is no whence, no coming or going in place; it either appears [to us] or does not appear. We must not run after it, but we must fit ourselves for the vision and then wait tranquilly for it as the eye waits on the rising of the Sun which in its own time appears above the horizon and gives itself to our sight

quote 3667 | Plotinus
Enneads, 32:5:8; in Porphyry, Life Of Plotinus, Turnbull, 1936; p. 165

W e dare not keep ourselves set towards the images of sense, or towards the merely vegetative, intent upon the gratifications of eating and procreation; our life must be pointed towards the divine Mind, toward God.

quote 3666 | Plotinus
Enneads, 15:3:2; in Porphyry, Life Of Plotinus, Turnbull, 1936; p. 89

W ithdraw into yourself and look. And if you do not find yourself beautiful yet, act as does the creator of a statue that is to be made beautiful; he cuts away here, he smoothes there, he makes this line lighter, this other purer, until a lovely face has grown upon his work. So do you also; cut away all that is excessive, straighten all that is crooked, bring light to all that is in shadow; labor to make all one glow of beauty and never cease chiseling your statue until there shall shine out on you from it the godlike splendor of virtue, until you shall see the perfect goodness established in the stainless shrine.

quote 3665 | Plotinus
Enneads, 1:9; in Porphyry, Life Of Plotinus, Turnbull, 1936; p. 49

T here, our Self-seeing is a communion with the Self, restored to purity. No doubt we should not speak of "seeing," but, instead of [speaking of] "seen" and "seer," speak boldly of a simple unity. For in this seeing we neither see, nor distinguish, nor are there, two. The man is changed, no longer himself nor belonging to himself; he is merged with the Supreme, sunken into It, one with It; it is only in separation that duality exists. This is why the vision baffles telling; for how could a man bring back tidings of the Supreme as something separate from himself when he has seen It as one with himself?

quote 3664 | Plotinus
Enneads, 9:6: 10; in Porphyry, Life Of Plotinus, Turnbull, 1936; p. 221

I n this state of absorbed contemplation, there is no longer any question of holding an object in view; the vision is such that seeing and seen are one; object and act of vision have become identical

quote 3663 | Plotinus
Enneads, 38:6:35; in Porphyry, Life Of Plotinus, Turnbull, 1936; p. 204

B ut possess yourself of It by the very elimination of [individual] being, and you hold a marvel! Thrusting forward to This, attaining, and resting in Its content, seek to grasp It more and more, understanding It by that intuitive thrust alone, but knowing its greatness by the beings that follow upon It and exist by Its power.

quote 3662 | Plotinus
Enneads, 30:3: 10; in Porphyry, Life Of Plotinus, Turnbull, 1936; p. 116

T he All-Transcendent, utterly void of multiplicity, is Unity's Self, independent of all else... It is the great Beginning, wholly and truly One. All life belongs to It. (1)

... The One is, in truth, beyond all statement; whatever you say would limit It; the All-Transcendent has no name. (2)

.. [It] is That which is the truly Existent. ... It is the Source from which all that appears to exist derives that appearance. ... (3)

Everywhere one and whole, It is at rest throughout. But, ... in Its very non-action It magnificently operates and in Its very self-being It produces everything by Its Power . (4)

... This Absolute is none of the things of which It is the Source; Its nature is that nothing can be affirmed of It not existence, not essence, not life-It transcends all these. (5)

quote 3661 | Plotinus
(1) Enneads, 44:5:15-16; in Porphyry, Life Of Plotinus, Turnbull, 1936; pp. 162-163 ; (2) Enneads, 49:5:13; in Porphyry, Life Of Plotinus, Turnbull, 1936; p. 162 ; (3) Enneads, 26:3:4; in Porphyry, Life Of Plotinus, Turnbull, 1936; p. 101 ; (4) Enneads, 47:1; in Porphyry, Life Of Plotinus, Turnbull, 1936; p. 76 ; (5) Plotinus, Enneads, 30:3: 10; in Porphyry, Life Of Plotinus, Turnbull, 1936; p. 116

O nce we know our own soul rising still higher, we sing the divinity of the Mind [which produced it], and above all these, the mighty King of that dominion (the Absolute), who, while remaining as He is, yet creates that multitude, all dependent on Him, existing by Him and from Him.

... In advancing stages of contemplation, rising from contemplation of Nature, to that in the soul, and thence again to that in the divine Mind, the object contemplated becomes progressively a more and more intimate possession of the contemplating being, more and more one with them.

... In the divine Mind itself, there is complete identity of knower and known, no distinction existing between being and knowing, contemplation and its object, [but] constituting a living thing, a one Life, two inextricably one.

quote 3660 | Plotinus
Plotinus, Enneads, 30:3:8; in Porphyry, Life Of Plotinus, Turnbull, 1936; pp. 113-114

W hat is meant by the purification of the soul is simply to allow it to be alone. [It is pure] when it keeps no company, entertains no alien thoughts; when it no longer sees images, much less elaborates them into veritable affections.

quote 3659 | Plotinus
Enneads, 26:3:5; in Porphyry, Life Of Plotinus, Turnbull, 1936; p. 100

H e that has the strength, let him arise and withdraw into himself, foregoing all that is known by the eyes, turning away forever from the material beauty that once made his joy.

quote 3658 | Plotinus
Enneads, 1:8; in Porphyry, Life Of Plotinus, Turnbull, 1936; p. 48

T here is one identical Soul, every separate manifestation being that Soul complete. The differentiated souls issue from the Unity and strike out here and there, but are united at the Source much as light is a divided thing on earth, shining in this house and that, and yet remains one. One Soul [is] the source of all souls; It is at once divided and undivided. (1)

... Diversity within the ONE depends not upon spatial separation, but sheerly upon differentiation; all Being, despite this plurality, is a Unity still. (2)

... The souls are apart without partition; they are no more hedged off by boundaries than are the multiple items of knowledge in one mind. The one Soul so exists as to include all souls. (3)

quote 3657 | Plotinus
(1) Enneads, 27:4:2-5; in Porphyry, Life Of Plotinus, Turnbull, 1936; p. 118 ; (2) Enneads, 22:6:4; in Porphyry, Life Of Plotinus, Turnbull, 1936; p. 184 ; (3) Enneads, 22:6:4; in Porphyry, Life Of Plotinus, Turnbull, 1936; p. 184

T ime was not yet; ... it lay ... merged in the eternally Existent and motionless with It. But an active principle there ... stirred from its rest; ... for the One contained an unquiet faculty, ... and it could not bear to retain within itself all the dense fullness of -its possession.

[Like] a seed at rest, the nature-principle within, unfolding outwards, makes its way towards what appears a multiple life. It was Unity self-contained, but now, in going forth from Itself, It fritters Its unity away; It advances to a lesser greatness.

quote 3656 | Plotinus
Enneads, 45:3:11; in Porphyry, Life Of Plotinus, Turnbull, 1936; p. I

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