books to order over the Internet. Almost whatever we want can be delivered to our doors next day by an express service. Except, it seems, what we really want: simple truth and lasting happiness. For that, we must return to the One, “whence.”
For Plotinus, then, it isn’t what we do that is most important but who we are. There is no harm in doing so long as all our activity doesn’t diffuse our spiritual energy and leave us with less being. What comes before is always a higher good than what comes after. The creator is never less than what is created. Thus our attention should be directed toward the source, not its products.
This holds for ourselves, since the creative power of our souls is the source of many things: ideas, technology, children, art, knowledge, emotions, to name but a few. If we are masters of what we create there is no problem. But all too often these creations usurp our control and come to dominate our energy and attention. The master is enslaved by the servant.
Creation when viewed from above is contemplation. This is Plotinus’s vision of the natural order. Whatever is higher contemplates and brings what is lower into being. At this moment my attention is contemplating my train of thoughts, picking and choosing which should be brought to the forefront of consciousness and which should be consigned to the dustbin of useless ideas. When a thought appears promising my attention shifts to typing out the letters that represent the concept and watching them appear on a computer screen.
In an ideal situation, I should be able to toss away the words I write as easily as I create them. But every writer knows how difficult it is to highlight a lengthy passage and hit the “delete” key. Why? Because we are captured by our creations.
I come to think that part of me is in those words and that I somehow will be diminished if they are sent into electronic oblivion. Actually, says Plotinus, this cannot happen, since my true self is soul, eternal and unchangeable. However, we fail to see this and over-identify with what we do or create. And what we make, including what we make of ourselves in life, is beset by limitation. This is why the universal soul, also called the Soul of the All, has the power to create entire universes; in contrast, our individual souls sometimes can barely get our bodies out of bed in the morning.
The Soul of the All, then, abiding in itself makes, and the things which it makes come to it, but the particular souls themselves go to the things. [IV-3-6]
The Soul of the All effortlessly manages the affairs of its “body,” the physical universe. Nature always is natural. Everywhere the laws of nature operate seamlessly, flawlessly, incessantly. Never is there any sort of hitch, glitch, fatal error, or breakdown. We don’t find nature posting a “Sorry, gravity temporarily unavailable” sign.
The Soul of the All, whose lower contemplation manifests as nature, never becomes confused, depressed, listless, or out-of-sorts. But we, to the extent that we leave our center, lose sight of the perfect harmony of the cosmos. We become deluded by the diversity that surrounds us and seemingly is us. We forget that conflict and contention are products of a limited vision, not the way things really are.
There is a great lesson here for us: look toward what is higher, not lower. Create, but do not lose yourself in what you fashion. Always remain in close communion with what lies above, and inspires, your present state of consciousness. For spirit, this is the One. For the universal soul and particular souls, this is spirit. For nature, this is the universal soul, the Soul of the All. Wisdom and power belong to those who draw their intelligence and energy from a higher source. Their contemplation is of what is greater than themselves, not lesser.
We shouldn’t think that if we learn how to abide in ourselves we will attain world-creating powers. For one thing, who really would want such a
For Plotinus, then, it isn’t what we do that is most important but who we are. There is no harm in doing so long as all our activity doesn’t diffuse our spiritual energy and leave us with less being. What comes before is always a higher good than what comes after. The creator is never less than what is created. Thus our attention should be directed toward the source, not its products.
This holds for ourselves, since the creative power of our souls is the source of many things: ideas, technology, children, art, knowledge, emotions, to name but a few. If we are masters of what we create there is no problem. But all too often these creations usurp our control and come to dominate our energy and attention. The master is enslaved by the servant.
Creation when viewed from above is contemplation. This is Plotinus’s vision of the natural order. Whatever is higher contemplates and brings what is lower into being. At this moment my attention is contemplating my train of thoughts, picking and choosing which should be brought to the forefront of consciousness and which should be consigned to the dustbin of useless ideas. When a thought appears promising my attention shifts to typing out the letters that represent the concept and watching them appear on a computer screen.
In an ideal situation, I should be able to toss away the words I write as easily as I create them. But every writer knows how difficult it is to highlight a lengthy passage and hit the “delete” key. Why? Because we are captured by our creations.
I come to think that part of me is in those words and that I somehow will be diminished if they are sent into electronic oblivion. Actually, says Plotinus, this cannot happen, since my true self is soul, eternal and unchangeable. However, we fail to see this and over-identify with what we do or create. And what we make, including what we make of ourselves in life, is beset by limitation. This is why the universal soul, also called the Soul of the All, has the power to create entire universes; in contrast, our individual souls sometimes can barely get our bodies out of bed in the morning.
The Soul of the All, then, abiding in itself makes, and the things which it makes come to it, but the particular souls themselves go to the things. [IV-3-6]
The Soul of the All effortlessly manages the affairs of its “body,” the physical universe. Nature always is natural. Everywhere the laws of nature operate seamlessly, flawlessly, incessantly. Never is there any sort of hitch, glitch, fatal error, or breakdown. We don’t find nature posting a “Sorry, gravity temporarily unavailable” sign.
The Soul of the All, whose lower contemplation manifests as nature, never becomes confused, depressed, listless, or out-of-sorts. But we, to the extent that we leave our center, lose sight of the perfect harmony of the cosmos. We become deluded by the diversity that surrounds us and seemingly is us. We forget that conflict and contention are products of a limited vision, not the way things really are.
There is a great lesson here for us: look toward what is higher, not lower. Create, but do not lose yourself in what you fashion. Always remain in close communion with what lies above, and inspires, your present state of consciousness. For spirit, this is the One. For the universal soul and particular souls, this is spirit. For nature, this is the universal soul, the Soul of the All. Wisdom and power belong to those who draw their intelligence and energy from a higher source. Their contemplation is of what is greater than themselves, not lesser.
We shouldn’t think that if we learn how to abide in ourselves we will attain world-creating powers. For one thing, who really would want such a
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