Selections from Plotinus' Enneads

"And we must consider that humans have forgotten That which from the beginning, and now still, they want and long for. For everything reaches out to That and longs for It by necessity of nature, as if divining by instinct that it cannot exist without It." (V.5.12)

"The grasp of the Beautiful and the wonder and the waking of love for it come to those who in a way already know it and are awake to it."(V.5.12)

"But the Good was there long before, arousing an innate desire. It is present even to those asleep and does not astonish those who at any time see It, because It is always there and there is never recollection of It: but people do not see It, because It is present to them in their sleep." (V.5.12)

"How did the One come to be then? And what are we to think of as surrounding the One in Its repose? It must be a radiation from It while It remains unchanged, just like the bright light which surrounds the sun, which remains unchanged though the light springs from it continually. (V.1.6)

"So Nous, veiling itself from other things and drawing itself inward, when it is not looking at anything will see a Light, not illuminating something else different from It, but suddenly appearing, alone by Itself in independent purity. Nous is at a loss to know whence it has appeared, whether It has come from outside or is within, and after going away from It will say, 'It was within, and yet It was not within.' (V,5,7)

"But one should not inquire whence It comes, for there is no 'whence,' and It does not really come or go away anywhere, but appears or does not appear. So one must not chase after It, but waiting quietly till It appears, preparing oneself to contemplate It, as the eye awaits the rising of the sun: and the sun rising over the horizon (from the Ocean, the poets say), gives itself to the eyes to see." (V,5,7)

"But from where does He of Whom the sun is an image rise? What is the horizon which He mounts above when He appears? He is above Nous which contemplates Him. Nous stands turned to its contemplation, looking to nothing but the Beautiful, all turned and giving itself up to Him: motionless and filled with strength, it sees first of all itself become more beautiful, all glittering, because He is near. But He does not come as one expected; his coming is without approach. He appears not as having come but as being there before all things, and even before Nous came." (V,5,7)

"It is Nous which comes and goes, because it does not know where to stay and where He stays, for He is in nothing. If it was possible for Nous to abide in that nowhere--I do not mean that Nous is in place; it is no more in place than He is, but in that sense absolutely nowhere--it would always behold Him or, rather, not behold Him but be one with Him, not two. But as it is, because it is Nous, it contemplates Him, when it does contemplate, with that in it which is not Nous." (V,5,7)

"They do not grow weary of contemplation There. . . This life is wisdom, wisdom not acquired by reasonings, but always all present, without any failing which would make it need to be searched for. It is the first, not derived from any other wisdom; the very being of Nous is wisdom; it does not exist first and then become wise. For this reason there is no greater wisdom: absolute knowledge has its throne beside Nous in their common revelation, as they say symbolically Justice is throned beside Zeus." (V,8,4)

Here is the greatest, the ultimate contest is set before our souls; all our toil and trouble is for this, not to be left without a share in the best of visions. The man who attains this is blessed in seeing that blessed sight, and he who fails to attain it has failed utterly. A man has not failed if he fails to win beauty of colours or bodies, or power or office or kingship even, if he fails to win this and only this. For this he should give up the attainment of kingship and rule over all earth and sea and sky, if only by leaving and overlooking them he can turn to That and see." (I,6,7)

"But how shall we find the way? What method can we devise? How can one see the inconceivable Beauty which stays within in the holy sanctuary and does not come out where the profane may see It? Let him who can follow and come within, and leave outside the sight of his eyes and not turn back to the bodily splendours which he saw before. When he sees the beauty in bodies he must not run after them; we must know that they are images, traces, shadows, and hurry away to That which they image." (I.6.7)

"Our country from which we came is There, our Father is There. How shall we travel to it, where is our way of escape? We cannot get there on foot; for our feet only carry us everywhere in this world, from one country to another. You must not get ready a carriage, either, or a boat. Let all these things go, and do not look. Shut your eyes and change to and wake another way of seeing, which everyone has but few use." (I.6,8)

"The person most fitted for the ascent must have gained an understanding of philosophy--the search for wisdom--for this will teach her to believe fervently in those organs of perception which she possesses without knowing it." (I.3.1)

"So the seeker must be taught not to cling to one body and be excited by that, but must be led by the course of reasoning to consider all bodies and shown the beauty that is the same in all of them, and that it is something other than the bodies and must be said to come from elsewhere, and that it is better manifested in other things, by showing her, for instance, the beauty of ways of life and of laws--this will accustom her to loveliness in things which are not bodies--and that there is beauty in arts and sciences and virtues. Then all these beauties must be reduced to unity, and she must be shown their origin. But from virtues she can at once ascend to Nous, to Being; and There she must go the higher way." (I,3.3)

"The philosopher--lover of wisdom--is naturally ready to respond and 'winged,' we may say, and in no need of separation like the others. She has begun to move to the higher world, and is only at a loss for someone to show her the way." (I.3.3)

"Since the soul is in error when it is thoroughly identified with the body, and shares its experiences and has all the same opinions, it will be good and possess virtue when it no longer has the same opinions but acts alone--this is intelligence and wisdom--and does not share the body's experiences--this is temperance--and is not afraid of departing from the body--this is courage--and is ruled by reason and Nous, without opposition--this is justice. One would not be wrong in calling this state of the soul likeness to God, in which its activity is intellectual, and it is free in this way from bodily affections." (I.2.2)

"Plato was right in maintaining that the man who intends to be wise and happy must take his good from There, from above, and look to that Good and be made like it and live by it. He must hold on to this only as his goal, and change his other circumstances as he changes his dwelling-place, not because he derives any advantage in the point of well-being from one dwelling-place or another, but considering how the rest of his environment will be affected if he lives here or there. He must give to this bodily life as much as it needs and he can, but he is himself other than it and free to abandon it, and he will abandon it in nature's good time, and always plans for it with independent authority." (I.4.16)

"Some, when they are looking at pictures, see the works of art with their eyes but recognize in them an imitation in the world of sense of the reality existing in Nous, and are excited by it and come to a recollection of the truth: this is the experience from which passionate loves arise. But if someone who sees beauty excellently represented in a face is carried to that higher world, will anyone be so sluggish in mind and so immovable that, when he sees all the beauties of the world of sense, all its good proportion and the mighty excellence of its order, and the splendour of form which the stars, for all their remoteness, make manifest, he will not be seized with reverence and think, 'What wonders, and from what a source?" If he does not, he neither understands the world of sense nor sees that higher world." (II.9.16)

"If you are able to go along with the All, or, better, are in the All, you will seek nothing more; or else you will give and turn aside to something else and fall, not seeing it when it is present because you are looking at something else. But if you are not looking for anything any more, how will you experience it? Because you have come to the All, and not staying in a part of it, and have not said even about yourself, 'I am just so much.' By rejecting the 'so much' you have become all--yet you were all before. . ." (VI,5,12)

"How can one describe the Absolutely Simple? It is enough if the intellect comes into contact with It; but when it has done so, while the contact lasts it is absolutely impossible, nor has it time, to speak; reasoning about It comes afterwards. One must believe one has seen, when the soul suddenly takes light; for this light is from Him and He is it. We must think that He is present, when, like another god whom someone called to his house, He comes and brings light to us; for if He had not come, he would not have brought the light. So the soul which does not see Him is without light; but when it is enlightened it has what it sought, and this the soul's true end, to touch that Light and see It by Itself, not by another light, by Itself, Which gives it sight as well. It must see that Light by which it is enlightened; for we do not see the sun by another light than his own. How then can this happen. Take away everything!" (V.3.17)

"The soul is not afraid of any misfortune while it is with This and while it has full vision; if everything else belong to the soul is destroyed, it is with its full approval, so that it may be only with This; to so great happiness has it attained." (V.7.34)

"The greatest thing is knowledge of or contact with the Good. Plato says that it "is the greatest study,' meaning by 'study' not the actual vision but learning something about It beforehand. We learn about It by comparisons and negations and knowledge of the things which proceed from It and intellectual progress by ascending degrees; but we advance towards It by purifications and virtues and adornings of the soul and by gaining a foothold in the world of Nous and settling ourselves firmly There and feasting on its contents. Anyone who attains to this at once contemplates himself and everything else and is the object of his contemplation; he becomes real being and Nous and the Perfect Living Creature and does not look at it any more from outside." (V.7.35)

"Then letting all study go, led by his instruction to Nous and firmly established in beauty, he raises his thought to that which he is, but is carried out of it by the very surge of the wave of Nous and, lifted high by its swell, suddenly sees without knowing how; the Sight fills his eyes with light but does not make him see something else by it, but the Light is That Which he sees. There is not in It one thing which is seen and another which is Its light, or Nous and that which it thinks, but a radiance which produces these at a later stage and lets them exist beside it. The Good is a Radiance which simply produces Nous without extinguishing Itself in the production. The Radiance remains, and Nous comes to be by reason of the Good's existence." (V.7.36)

"When we ascend to this and become this alone and put away everything else, what can we say about it except that we are more than free, more than independent? Who then could bind us to chance or hazard or accident, when we have come to be the true Life, or to be in It, the Life which has nothing else but is Itself alone?" (VI.8.15)

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