PLOTINUS

Neo-Platonism may be defined as a religio-philosophical system developed at Alexandria, Egypt in the third century A.D. by Plotinus and his successors. It is based on Western Platonism with elements of Eastern mysticism. It assumes the existence of a single source from which all existence comes and with which an individual soul can be mystically united with the ultimate One. Plato's theory of Ideas indirectly influenced Christian theology; Neo-Platonism, however, had a direct effect on its composition.

The founder of Neo-Platonism, Plotinus (A.D. 205 - 270) was perhaps the last great so-called philosopher of antiquity. I say so-called philosopher because rather than searching for truth (which is what I think a true philosopher does), he claimed to have found it. Along with his own imagination, however, he did succeed in creating a powerful system of ideas that are a mixture of Western thought (influenced largely by Plato's theory of Forms or Ideas) and Eastern mysticism (basically derived from Hinduism).

Plotinus was born perhaps in the Egyptian town of Lyco, or Lycopolis. He turned to philosophy at the age of 28 and studied 11 years with the eminent philosopher Ammonius Saccas at Alexandria.

In 243, desiring to learn about Eastern philosophy, Plotinus joined the expedition led by the Roman emperor Gordian III against the Persians. Plotinus did not begin to write until he was 50 years old. His work, the Enneads, was arranged and published some 30 years after his death by his most famous pupil, Porphyry. It consists of six groups of nine essays and deals with the whole range of ancient philosophical thought with the exception of political theory.

Plotinus had a distrust of materiality (an attitude common to Platonism), holding to the view that phenomena (things that are perceptible by the senses) were a poor image or mimicry of something "higher and intelligible" which was the "truer part of genuine Being".

Plotinus taught that there is a supreme, totally transcendent "One", containing no division, multiplicity or distinction; likewise it is beyond all categories of being and non-being. The concept of "being" is derived by us from the objects of human experience called the dyad, and is an attribute of such objects, but the infinite, transcendent One is beyond all such objects, and therefore is beyond the concepts that we derive from them. The One "cannot be any existing thing", and cannot be merely the sum of all such things but "is prior to all existents". Thus, no attributes can be assigned to the One.

For example, thought cannot be attributed to the One because thought implies distinction between a thinker and an object of thought.

The One, being beyond all attributes including being and non-being, is the source of the world--but not through any act of creation, willful or otherwise, since activity cannot be ascribed to the unchangeable, immutable One. Plotinus argues instead that the multiple cannot exist without the simple. The "less perfect" must, of necessity, "emanate", or issue forth, from the "perfect" or "more perfect". Thus, all of "creation" emanates from the One in succeeding stages of lesser and lesser perfection. These stages are not temporally isolated, but occur throughout time as a constant process.

Perhaps unbeknownst to Plotinus, the One that he keeps referring to is synonymous in identity with that which we now call nature. Some incorrectly call it Mother Nature but it is gender neutral--that is, it is neither male nor female. It is in all and affects all, but respects no one and is partial to no one. Nature has no reason for being--it just is. Similarly, anything produced by nature (including human beings) likewise has no inherent reason for being. But, because we think, we seem to need reasons for everything; if we can't find them in reality, then we tend to imagine them. Too often, the problem is that many people can't tell the difference between that which has been discovered in reality from that which has been merely imagined. Then, false conceptions lead to inaccurate thinking that may cause unwise actions that may lead to problematic consequences. And, if the person doesn't realize that his or her actions or inactions were based upon false beliefs, then he or she would be powerless to solve the problems that these false beliefs caused. Perhaps that's one reason that Francis Bacon'[s famous statement, "Knowledge is power," is so true. In other words, one is virtually powerless to solve real problems with inaccurate thinking.

I might add to Plotinus' theory that the One (or nature) neither be characterized as good or bad because these are imperfect terms used by humans, which are imperfect beings. The One (or nature) is perfect. It doesn't think; it did not come into existence and it will never cease to exist. The most accurate thing that we can say about it is that it is infinite being that has no cause but is the cause and effect of everything else.

According to Plotinus, the first emanation is, however, Nous (Divine Mind, logos or order, Thought, Reason), identified metaphorically with the Demiurge in Plato's Timaeus.

[According to Classical Literature Companion, Demiurge in Plato's Timaeus is the creator of the visible world, and in Greek Christian writers the Demiurge is God the Creator of all things.]

Also according to Plotinus, the Demiurge is the first Will toward Good. [This is a contradiction in Plotinus's own religio-philosophy because if the Nous (or the One) does not think, then how can it possibly Will? One has to think in order to will.]

According to Plotinus the individual human souls proceed from the world soul, and finally, matter, is at the lowest level of being and thus the least perfected level of the cosmos. 

At the heart of Plotinus's religio-philosophical system is a supreme divinity which is infinite, unitary, and good. It is the ultimate but not the direct cause of all that is, although it is under no compulsion or necessity to produce anything outside itself. It is so perfect that it lacks nothing. It simply is.

Plotinus's teachings attracted many followers. The most noteworthy were Porphyry and Iamblichus, who carried on his teachings with slightly different emphasis. Neo-Platonism, through the development of the many schools it spawned, came to embrace a great number of mystical and superstitious beliefs from the East. Neo-Platonism proved to have a lasting influence on Christianity and remained influential in the development of beliefs during the "Dark Ages".