Three Neoaristotelian and Neoplatonic Concepts: Monopsychism, Mysticism, Metaconsciousness

Abstract

(I) In II Пερί τϖν τριϖν άρχιϰϖν ύποστάεϖν (Enn. V l) Plotinus undertakes to remind the souls which have forgotten their father-god, of their true origin and nature. First, every soul should contemplate the action of the universal soul as she `enlivens’ the cosmos and rules it. By so doing she will become more aware of her own worth. Afterwards she should realize that she is a kind of word pronounced by intelligence (νοũζ),<sup>1</sup> and that her perfection consists in the contemplation of intelligence. Next, she should learn to appreciate the quality of intelligence by comparing it with its image, viz. the visible universe. Eventually, she should ascend to that which is the cause (αίτία) of both intelligizing (νοείν) and being. This cause is that which is simple or one; whereas intelligence is multiple (intelligizing or being, difference and identity, motion and rest, constitutive of number, quantity and quality). Furthermore, our soul should inquire how that which is simple passed into that which is multiple — a problem of old and much discussed — this passing to be understood as a non–temporal `event’ comparable to the warmth emanating from fire, different but not separated from it.