responsibility? For another, there is scant evidence that humans have ever demonstrated such power regardless of their spiritual attainment. Rare purported miracles, it must be admitted, always are picayune in comparison to what nature produces all the time. No saint or prophet ever has placed a star in the sky or established a new law of physics.
It is much more important to attain inward freedom and wisdom than outward power and knowledge. There is a rhyme and reason to creation and our role as individual souls isn’t to play Master of the Universe. That function is being carried out by another.
Who, then, could capture its [the One’s] power all together as a whole? For if one did capture it all together as a whole, why would one be different from it? [V-5-10]
Our goal, says Plotinus, should not merely be to remain as limited human beings with slightly increased capabilities. No, it is to return to the One and enjoy a form of consciousness that is vastly different from what we experience now. But because we are always busy with the world, we never make this grand spiritual journey, a mystical voyage like Ulysses’. We are attached to materiality. We are mesmerized by matter.
For everything which is directed to something else is enchanted by something else…. For this reason all practical action is under enchantment, and the whole life of the practical man: for he is moved to that which charms him. [IV-4-43]
When we are motivated by anything outside ourselves, we are reacting to that thing. It is in control of us. Neither a man lusting after a fast car nor a woman pining for a pretty dress is in control of his or her desire. The car and the dress are fully in command of the situation, lifeless objects dominating conscious beings. What a strange state of affairs. On the other hand, when action truly comes from within ourselves there is no question of it being a reaction. This is genuine contemplation, making real, or realizing, that which is within us.
Contemplation alone remains incapable of enchantment because no one who is self-directed is subject to enchantment. [IV-4-44]
So the mystic philosopher is self-contained. He or she realizes that the One is overall and thus is at the core of every atom of creation, including the consciousness of every soul. It is senseless to look for treasure outside a dwelling when it is known to lie within. The energy wasted in digging for happiness out in the world would be put to much better use by exploring the mine of well-being that is inside us.
The great Plotinian message is exceedingly simple: contemplate and become what truly is—genuine being, not shadows and reflections. Look within yourself and turn to a new way of knowing. Learn to be what you truly are.
Infinity Is Ineffable
I MAGINE A WORLD without words, images, or thoughts.
You can’t, because imagination involves words, images, or thoughts. As soon as we try to capture this sort of world in a concept such as “all would be so flowing and connected there,” our thoughts about thoughtlessness cut ourselves off from actually experiencing that reality. Our imagining destroys what we wish to imagine. This is the great conundrum of mystical spirituality: is it possible to describe the indescribable?
Plotinus, though he spends thousands of words saying so, answers: No. The One is the highest, beyond all description in terms of lower things.
It is, therefore, truly ineffable: for whatever you say about it, you will always be speaking of a “something.” But “beyond all things and beyond the supreme majesty of Intellect” is the only one of all the ways of speaking of it which is true. [V-3-13]
It is easy to understand intellectually why the One is ineffable. When something is unity, wholly and completely, it possesses no qualities that could be described. Even to say that the One is love implies that there is the One, and there also is an attribute that it possesses called love. Now we have
It is much more important to attain inward freedom and wisdom than outward power and knowledge. There is a rhyme and reason to creation and our role as individual souls isn’t to play Master of the Universe. That function is being carried out by another.
Who, then, could capture its [the One’s] power all together as a whole? For if one did capture it all together as a whole, why would one be different from it? [V-5-10]
Our goal, says Plotinus, should not merely be to remain as limited human beings with slightly increased capabilities. No, it is to return to the One and enjoy a form of consciousness that is vastly different from what we experience now. But because we are always busy with the world, we never make this grand spiritual journey, a mystical voyage like Ulysses’. We are attached to materiality. We are mesmerized by matter.
For everything which is directed to something else is enchanted by something else…. For this reason all practical action is under enchantment, and the whole life of the practical man: for he is moved to that which charms him. [IV-4-43]
When we are motivated by anything outside ourselves, we are reacting to that thing. It is in control of us. Neither a man lusting after a fast car nor a woman pining for a pretty dress is in control of his or her desire. The car and the dress are fully in command of the situation, lifeless objects dominating conscious beings. What a strange state of affairs. On the other hand, when action truly comes from within ourselves there is no question of it being a reaction. This is genuine contemplation, making real, or realizing, that which is within us.
Contemplation alone remains incapable of enchantment because no one who is self-directed is subject to enchantment. [IV-4-44]
So the mystic philosopher is self-contained. He or she realizes that the One is overall and thus is at the core of every atom of creation, including the consciousness of every soul. It is senseless to look for treasure outside a dwelling when it is known to lie within. The energy wasted in digging for happiness out in the world would be put to much better use by exploring the mine of well-being that is inside us.
The great Plotinian message is exceedingly simple: contemplate and become what truly is—genuine being, not shadows and reflections. Look within yourself and turn to a new way of knowing. Learn to be what you truly are.
Infinity Is Ineffable
I MAGINE A WORLD without words, images, or thoughts.
You can’t, because imagination involves words, images, or thoughts. As soon as we try to capture this sort of world in a concept such as “all would be so flowing and connected there,” our thoughts about thoughtlessness cut ourselves off from actually experiencing that reality. Our imagining destroys what we wish to imagine. This is the great conundrum of mystical spirituality: is it possible to describe the indescribable?
Plotinus, though he spends thousands of words saying so, answers: No. The One is the highest, beyond all description in terms of lower things.
It is, therefore, truly ineffable: for whatever you say about it, you will always be speaking of a “something.” But “beyond all things and beyond the supreme majesty of Intellect” is the only one of all the ways of speaking of it which is true. [V-3-13]
It is easy to understand intellectually why the One is ineffable. When something is unity, wholly and completely, it possesses no qualities that could be described. Even to say that the One is love implies that there is the One, and there also is an attribute that it possesses called love. Now we have
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