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Plotinus’ Picture of Cosmos

Plotinus’ “Enneads” picture the harmony of Ancient Cosmos and influence further the Christian thought about the Trinity. Alongside with the contemplation of three Hypostases, namely, One (God, Good, the Divine Principle); the Intellectual Principle (Nous, Reason, Mind), Soul and individual Souls, Plotinus justifies a dependent self-creative activity which can be summarized by the following words: creation of self from itself and by itself, but directed by Logos and Cosmos. Creative activity refers both to Hypostases and to the self-seekings of Soul. Soul’s inclusion in the light of the Divine Emanation and force of Logos determines its self-becoming and marks its flexible place in Cosmos. The order and forces of Cosmos insinuate not only to creative activity and self-becoming, but also provide for living in harmony alongside with Souls, being tended towards true existence.

In Plotinus’ philosophy the order of Cosmos and its activity are illustrated by Hypostases and Logos where the former is viewed not as a separate Hypostasis, but as such which expresses the relationships present in Cosmos. “As to Logos, it is neither the Intellectual Principle, nor the absolute Divine Intellect, nor does it descend from the pure Soul alone. Logos is a radiation from two Divine Hypostases – the Intellectual Principle and the Soul. The latter, being preconditioned by the Intellectual Principle, engenders Logos which serves as a particular life holding measure of reason” (III. 1. 16.).Footnote 1

Hypostases are non-spatial and cannot be diminished. Existing as non-separate levels of being, they remain unaffected by what they produce, however, they are always in connection with the process of emanation and Logos. Logos is considered to be an aspect of Intellect, Soul, and also nature. It expresses the order of each Hypostasis and makes a bridge between the intelligible and the sensible. Logos is dual: its activity shows an upward tendency towards Intellect, at the same time descending towards things and particulars. As Logos creates the visible World, administrates it and connects the principles of Cosmos with things and forms it is creative and connective. Logos displays itself as a creative activity, makes individual Logoi and insinuates in different qualities and things. Logos is neither poiesis, nor praxis. Poiesis is an aspect of contemplation and contemplative producing, whereas praxis is for contemplation, which involves deliberation and even physical instruments, needed for man’s activity of creating real things. Praxis is inferior to poiesis, because poiesis transcends knowledge and is more directed towards the contemplation of true and intelligible realities. Poiesis as an activity of becoming is a flexible movement which is presented by Intellect and Soul. At the level of Intellect poiesis is compared to contemplation, whereas Soul contemplates Intellect in order to reach perfection.

Tymieniecka in her phenomenology of life states that poietic flow insinuates in life and in any other becoming being and that the poietic stream not only permeates in life, but also gives ground and order of existence for everything that exists and becomes. True existence, according to her, is a becoming being, engaged in ontopoiesis, or such a being who creates itself and makes the world. The process of making is woven together by life through creation and becoming. According to her opinion, the meaning of Logos can be recognized in a living being, in experiencing one’s self by creative and ontopoietic activity, but not in cognitive acts.

Tymieniecka writes that Logos as an onward way, the same as Plotinus’ contemplation of cosmic forces, directs to beings and in itself. Exploring the concepts of Logos, poiesis and praxis, one can see that the picture of Cosmos testifies to multilateral connections among things, nature, Soul and Intellect. Besides, it shows the realm of a self-becoming being and substantiates the wholeness of three Hypostases.

The highest Hypostasis One is beyond ousia, so, how to speak about One if it is higher than Intellect and Mind? How to reflect on One if it can be reached neither by creative, nor Intellectual Activity? Plotinus affirms that One can be reached by love and that Soul’s union with One is a mystical experience of non-material light. In other words, it is an ideal case of self-love, which achieves culmination in irrational and ecstatic moments of life. Such expressions as the One is from and through itself, it is tended towards itself, it makes or constitutes itself as a cause of itself, it is self-sufficient, One is before subsistence, One does not subsist show that Plotinus comes to the core of the order of Cosmos by means of a particular contemplation on the Divine Power in his own Soul. Such a deep penetration shows that the order of life and heaven is predicted by being that is relatively beyond a human Soul but, at the same time, Soul’s aspiration is a force which comes to the ground of life and architectonics of Cosmos. Consideration that One is like energeia which produces itself, but statements like what is before subsistence, what makes itself to subsist and is the origin of every Logos, order and limit, put forward a number of questions, among them: – How is self-creative activity possible in such a model of being? How does self-creation manifest itself in all three Hypostases? One creates itself from itself as a self-sufficient being which insinuates in other Hypostases and is always present. One preserves all things in being. It is more beautiful than Logos, it is of itself and roots Nous and Soul, but remains unidentified. The Union of Cosmos as an active fluxing being is determined by the Divine Light and One’s emanation.

The Intellectual Principle, produced by One’s Emanation is not a level of being, but something which lives according to Logos and apprehends itself. Separated from One, Nous represents the distinction and definition but it does not imply separation in parts. Intellect generates time, universe of thoughts and sensations through Soul. In apprehension of self, Nous activity concerns the whole architectonics of Cosmos, namely, One – Nous – Soul.

The existence of Soul is threefold. It comprises One as absolute Soul, Hypostasis as the Soul of the world and individual Souls. Being the Principle of sensations and emotions, Soul makes everything live. As Soul is an inhabitant of the world of the Divine intuitive Thought, its range has a cosmic dimension. Plotinus states that every living being is an intelligible universe and that we can choose on what level this living being is going to live: on the empirical level or on the ascending way towards One. These phases are not active in all Souls. Not always Soul has a tendency to transcend itself and reach the ecstatic experience of One. Every individual Soul marks its boundary from itself to itself and also from itself to other Souls by reasoning and desiring.

Soul manifests itself in different ways of life and is developing in various kinds of seeing. Its deepest self-knowing is inexpressible and inaccessible to any act of observation. Soul’s knowledge about one’s true Self is not in need of spoken word because it is like the awareness of being which is beyond all questions: “As speech is the echo of the thought in the Soul, so thought in the Soul is an echo from elsewhere. In other words, as any uttered thought is an image of the Soul-thought, so the Soul-thought images a thought above itself and is the interpreter of the higher sphere” (I. 2. 3.).

Plotinus begins The First Ennead with a description of Soul, then he searches for the seat of affections and experiences, writes about the living organism – Animate, and confirms that Soul uses the body as an instrument. Animate is a body, having life. It is a unity of Soul and body, where body’s seat is the material but the body itself functions as a potential recipient of life. “The body is a brute touched to life; the true man is the other, going pure of the body, natively endowed with the virtues which belong to Intellectual Activity” (I. 1. 10).

In a downward or upward way through the spheres of Cosmos Soul adopts knowledge about things, the body, Intellect and Principles of Cosmos. Soul’s experience of material things and the body is added to the essential being of Soul in its downward way. Unlike the omnipresent dwelling of Soul, the body is made up of single parts and is located in its own place. The true being of Soul is its own Beauty. In its way up Soul must get rid of everything that it has acquired while descending. Then it returns to its own true home by means of contemplation, thus reaching its origin and One. Plotinus compares the self-creation of Soul to the doings of a sculptor who is creating a statue.

And if you do not find yourself beautiful yet, act as does the creator of a statue that is to be made beautiful: he cuts away here, he smooths there, he makes this line lighter, this other – purer, until a lovely face has grown upon his work. You also do the same: cut away everything that is excessive, straighten everything that is crooked, bring light to everything that is overcast, labour to make all one glow of beauty and never cease chiselling your statue, until the god-like splendour of virtue shall shine out on you from it, until you see the perfect goodness, surely established in the stainless shrine. When you know that you have become this perfect work, when you are self-gathered in the purity of your being, nothing remains that can shatter that inner unity, nothing from without, clinging to the authentic man, when you find yourself wholly true to your essential nature, so wholly that only veritable Light which is neither measured by space, nor narrowed to any circumscribed form, nor again diffused as a thing, void of term, but ever unmeasurable as something greater than all measure and more than all quantity – when you perceive that you have grown to this, you have now become the very vision: now call up all your confidence, strike forward yet a step – you need a guide no longer – strain, and see. (I. 6. 9.)

The moving of Soul from the bodily forms towards the utmost ideal, virtue and reason is characteristic of Soul towards its self-seeking and purification. Owing to its faculty of reasoning, Soul confirms its emanation from the Intellectual Principle and connection with the Divine Mind. The capacity of Soul to see the Divine Mind justifies its authentic existence, however, by dividing among living bodies, Soul presents itself as belonging to Animate. The true location of Soul is Intellectual Activity. In accordance with Plotinus’ philosophy, Intellection is the highest phase of life which manifests itself both as an act of Soul and an act of the Intellectual Principle. Hence, purification as a necessary human quality depends on the capacity of Soul to raise itself above all passions and affections.

Self-creation in Plotinus’ philosophy is a circular way home to the deepest layer of existence and back to the foundation of the universe. However, there are two movements: Soul makes a descent in order to create single individual Souls, the latter then having to find within themselves the way back to the One and to their origin. In the process of descending Souls are taking part in the work of creation, which proves to be an integrity of acts in that phase of the development of Soul when it is tended towards Ideal Principles. Individual Soul has its own self-will and an ability to make decisions. Besides, the true Self moves away from the influence of Matter. In other words, Soul gets free from bodily ties, separating itself spiritually. Soul, owing to the Power of Emanation, overcomes the lower world and evil. The ultimate goal of Soul is uniting with One that can be experienced within a short moment of life by Soul’s liberation from the influence of the lower world.

Soul gets united to the Intellectual Principle by disrupting its ties with Matter on its way up. Soul’s ascending towards One is a continuous self-activity which comes to an end when mystically uniting with One, namey, resting in ecstatic union with the Divine Light. A question arises, concerning the self-identity of Soul: Does Soul lose its identity, being in union with One? The experience of Soul uniting with One is characterized by a very special kind of awareness. By something like an erotic state and a particular experience of Self which shows that the deepest level of consciousness can be reached only uniting with cosmic forces.

According to Plotinus, Cosmos is a spiritual being where Soul always is in movement. Soul is linked with all other Hypostases by its own activity and predication of Cosmos. Self-creation is not only an activity, but also a vision, depending on the spiritual cosmic energy which Plotinus calls the “light or power”. “Our vision is light or rather becomes one with light, and it sees light for it sees colours. In the Intellectual, the vision sees not through some medium, but by and through itself alone, for its object is not external: By one light it sees another not through any intermediate agency; a light sees a light, that is to say a thing sees itself. This light shining within the Soul enlightens it; that is, it makes the Soul intellective, working it into likeness with itself, the light above” (V. 1. 8.).

Soul is the seeker and conductor of rhythmic motions. Linking all heavenly activities with all living things, Soul unites the diverse heavenly system, its manifold existence outlines a directions of human activity. From Plotinus’ point of view real existence and authenticity are observed in the life of Soul. Soul attains its genuine self-identity and authentic existence only after choosing and acting in ways exclusively appropriate for man’s own higher nature. Plotinus suggests the following hierarchy of man’s faculties: first – sensation and imagination; secondly – reasoning and Intellection. When Soul reaches the unity of intelligible world, it comes to rest in its native realm, however, the Intellectual Principle is not its ultimate resting place – the highest step is Soul’s uniting with One.

According to Plotinus, Soul is a spiritual place which finds itself in movement by its own activity and by the emanation of One. The Divine Light insinuates in Soul, however, light is in Soul forever. During contemplation Soul sees the light and ascends towards One. In this spiritual motion Soul experiences its own spiritual place and adherence to Cosmos.

Self-creation

Plotinus acknowledges Self-creation by uniting two realms: spiritual cosmic Hypostases and the location of human existence and life. Self-creation as a becoming being unites the Intellectual Principle with the activity of Soul. It insinuates in cosmic directions as well as in individualities. Human personality as a variable entity, depending on the realm of existence he or she lives in, is dwelling between two ultimate areas – One and the body. In the direction of the body every Soul acquires inferior things, located on the lower levels, whereas, ascending towards Intellect and One, Soul acquires more elevated qualities. Human beings are of two kinds: for men of the lowest kind bodily power predominates, and on the contrary, men can achieve the transcendence of their body, becoming their truly authentic Selves. Plotinus distinguishes between two concepts – Soul and Self. Self is something that cannot be hypostatized and is not identical, as to its contents, with Soul. The concept of Self is mainly used by later interpreters of Plotinus’ philosophy for a more clear understanding of man and the order of Cosmos. In Plotinus’ “Enneads” we can find itself, one-self, self-existence, self-directed, self-Intellection, self-centered, self-dwelling. Self as the essence and the centre of human personality as an interior being is directed towards something. If Self concerns realm, relating to the man and his Soul, then the concept of Self can be compared to ontic Self. However, if Self is related to One, it is true Self.

Self-creation as an activity of Soul is directed towards the spiritual order of Cosmos, the Divine Mind and the Intellectual Principle. In uniting self-experience with cosmic energy human activity is acquiring likeness with his highest Self which manifests itself as a contemplative wisdom of everything that exists in the Intellectual Principle. Levels below Intellect can also be generated by contemplation, but – only as a causative-generative sequence. Plotinus holds that self-contemplation of Intellect is a self-directed activity which knows itself and thereby creates the visible world through Soul and Logoi. The Intellectual Principle is a self-directed and self-reflexive activity, thus, the Intellectual Subject is identical with its object and in such a way the object is located within Intellect and becomes part of it by focusing Intellect from within, but not from the outside, thus, self-becoming of Intellect always remains identical with itself. To put it differently, Intellect thinks of itself. Intellect and the object of thinking provide for a complex co-existence where Intellect is not filled with objects, but is fused together with images, with the subject and with the object. The same as being, motion and rest are apprehended as an integrity of Sameness and Otherness or as an activity which occurs simultaneously. Sameness and Otherness, self-identity and self-otherness are fused together like the subject and the object. To put it differently, Intellect grasps various concepts in Sameness by Sameness. Intellect considers itself from itself and by itself as such a being which does not create itself but, based on the movement of thought and images, creates art, philosophy, literature and other Intellectual and spiritual things.

Plotinus writes about art, music, mathematics, born lovers and philosophy. Art combines the mystery of creating with intelligible activity and constructive thinking, hence, the artist, producing true and genuine art, dwells on the upward trend. His journey to the Intellectual Principle is mediated by temperament and contemplation, thinking and creation. Artistic creation involves three aspects: (1) the source of beauty; (2) artistic creation; (3) the artist’s answer to being.

The ultimate criterion of Beauty is presented as an idea, and total Beauty dwells in Hypostasis of the Intellectual Principle.

Plotinus highlights the mystical experience of Absolute Beauty without any shape and concreteness. Beauty manifests itself through the Cosmos by emanation and tends to unite with the Intellectual Principle. The source of Beauty is the highest realm of pure idea and wholeness, from which art derives its existence and such qualities as symmetry, proportion, unity, brightness and consonance of single parts.

The artist transfers the idea of Beauty in the representation of things. “No doubt, the wisdom of the artist may serve as a guide in his work. The artist himself goes back, after all, to that wisdom in nature which is embodied in himself; and this is not a wisdom, built up of theorems, but one totality, not a wisdom consisting of manifold detail, coordinated into a unity, but rather a unity, working out into detail” (V. 8. 5.).

The highest form of art comes close to the Intellectual Principle. Plotinus shows the way up, comprising several stages: lower life, the way to the sphere of the intelligible and to the third degree – the sphere of absolute Beauty. The artist shows himself from a spiritual place where he is and wherefrom he creates his work of art. If the artist is in contiguity with the material life, he is very far from the absolute form of true Beauty and Intellectual Cosmos. However, if the artist reaches his authentic existence by contemplative wisdom, he finds himself in the true spiritual realm of creation. These ideas of Plotinus show that the self-creative degree for any man depends on what that man thinks, sees, listens to and contemplates. Creating an artwork, the artist shows his own spiritual dwelling place in Cosmos. The aim of creation is to deal with being by true knowing. True knowing or contemplative wisdom is the highest point of creative Intellectual Activity which produces art and philosophy.

Plotinus holds that creative action is immanent to Intellect and Soul, that true reality of Intellectual World exists forever as the second Hypostasis of being. Intellectual World appears in created works and in everyday life as the realm of Otherness. Plotinus justifies the reality of Intellectual and conceptual World as the realm of Soul’s self-seeking, as the union of Sameness and Otherness, as a movement that always possesses its objects where the contemplator and the contemplated are the same. Plotinus comes forward with fundamental philosophical questions: What are we? Where is our place of dwelling? His answer could be that our seat is in the wholeness of being, in connection of every realm where man lives and creates, in the movement between Intellection and sensibility, true Self and delusive Self.

Plotinus’ writings are based on his own life experience and, being a philosopher of late antiquity, he uses the language and concepts of antique philosophy. Plotinus’ philosophy shows notable philosophical and religious aspects of self−creation, but as the central axis I personally see the notion of the spiritual place of Soul. His description of activity of Intellect and Soul displays a deep self-understanding that enables us to analyze his philosophy in connection with self-knowing, self-thinking, self-becoming, etc.

The phrase To think self (Intellection of self), in the history of philosophy is analyzed from various aspects and in different modifications. This statement can also be interpreted and characterized as the origin of the philosophy of subjectivity. However, if Plotinus considers self-thinking as the activity of Hypostases as well as the activity of individual Souls, then the philosophy of subjectivity rises from “I.” Since “I” is the central axis and beginning of every process of thinking, it postulates the following question: How do I think? In contradistinction to Plotinus’ interpretation of Intellect, Husserl elaborates a subjective structure of consciousness as fluxing noese and noema correlations and shows that man knows object as a meaningful phenomenon that is grasped in the stream of consciousness. At the same time there is a common position for both thinkers – existence of objects is justified within Intellectual Activity. For Plotinus it obtains cosmic directions – the Intellectual Principle justifies that object is known in Intellect by Intellection and thus Intellect knows itself from itself, whereas for Husserl it is the realm of subjectivity – in structures of consciousness are grasped meaningful phenomena and the given structures of consciousness are illuminated by phenomenological reduction and reflection. Common for both philosophers is a standpoint that the faculty of knowing things is given a priori, difference appears in it what is contemplated. Plotinus interprets contemplation of One – Intellect – Soul in ancient cosmic directions where objects have not got any independent existence outside of Intellect. Husserl, in his turn, holds the opinion that we know an object as it is given in our subjectivity.

In some aspects Plotinus’ philosophy is allied with such concepts in Tymieniecka’s philosophy as Logos of life, ontopoiesis and self-becoming. Tymieniecka discovers ontopoietic Logos of life as a dynamic activity which pervades every level of being. In accordance with ontopoietic Logos of life each thing can find its proper place in the stream of flowing life, each thing can be characterized by ontopoietic position as becoming-towards-being, as a processes of self-creating. The concepts of ontopoiesis and Logos of life find their roots in pre-Socratic philosophy. Analyzing the Heraclitean interpretation of Logos, Tymieniecka writes: “We find, indeed, that the human Soul which grows “without limits” in its Logos is a microcosm interchangeable with the all-engulfing macrocosm. The human Soul, understood by Heraclitus as the centre of personality and as the one, caught in element transformation, is, actually, the measureless Logos. Seeking for one’s own Self, one finds one’s identity with the universe” (1. 5.).Footnote 2

At the same time, Tymieniecka’s concept of ontopoiesis shows a new perspective of human beingness nowadays, a way of better self-understanding. It is a new way of philosophical thinking in several aspects. I will mention some of them: The concept of ontopoietic self-becoming shows a unique approach to thinking that unites phenomenological standpoints with ancient thinking. So, what does phenomenology think about cosmic forces, if phenomenology arises as a philosophy of subjectivity, as a new method for philosophy, as such a philosophy that illuminates the structures of consciousness, the formation of meaning and intentionality? How can we reach the ground of cosmic order by method of phenomenological reduction and reflection, epoche and empathy? It provokes new and new questions. An assumption which is made on the basis of Plotinus’ philosophy is, that Plotinus’ reflection on Soul’s movement to One resonates with transforming the subject into an object which can be measured not solely from the angle of capacity of the subject, but also from the angle of the Divine Force. In accordance with Tymieniecka’s writings, the subject of perception transforms into an object and opens the sphere of the Divine in self-creative process. In such way, she shows the wholeness of a living being that opens to heaven and Divine Forces.

In comparison with the place of the human and his or her activity in the philosophies of Plotinus, Husserl and Tymieniecka we can identify some common positions and also differences. First of all, I would like to draw your attention to the notion of bilateral direction. The relations between Self and Other are considered in detail in the phenomenology and philosophy of existence. “I” is directed towards itself and also towards Other, Other can recognize “I” identity, and “I” life can be posited by Others. However these relations move through all living wholeness and identify the place where we dwell. In Husserl’s philosophy the bilateral direction appears as a formation of meaning – the subject grasps an object as a meaningful phenomenon, where phenomenon shows itself from itself in intentionality. Also multiplicity of bilateral relations are justified in such concepts of Husserl’s philosophy as intersubjectivity and constitution of meaningful worlds. These directions resonate with the activity of Soul in Plotinus’ philosophy where Soul becomes performative, differentiating Self from itself, and together with it Soul performs the order of Cosmos. In such a way Soul illuminates its own spiritual place in Cosmos which depends on the intensity of contemplation. Soul’s activity in Plotinus’ philosophy shows the place of self-creation as the finding of one’s Self in the cosmic order, and justifies that life is not only a subjective activity, but is also involved in the flux of being wherein man dwells and finds his true Self. According to Plotinus, self-creation is involved in the flux of being without being rooted in subjective intentionality as it is in Husserl’s phenomenology. Husserl identifies three aspects of intentional contents: the intentional object of the act, the certain manner in which the object is intended in consciousness and the intentional essence of act. Later Husserl talks about Lebenswelt as a source of our experience, whereas Tymieniecka extends the meaningful horizon from Lebenswelt to the mode of Cosmos and Logos of life. Tymieniecka’s concept of ontopoiesis provides for a new perspective for humanism in line with a conviction that philosophy comprises a deep understanding of Self through the wholeness of being, the latter involving nature, heaven, society, culture, etc. The ontopoietic interpretation of life justifies self-creation as an emphatic attitude and intentionality which is directed towards contemplation of the world as the wholeness of seeing, listening and thinking. It means that we are in dialogue with the World and the World is in dialogue with us. The World where we live is already preconditioned: according to Husserl, the meaningful worlds of theorizing, science and art are conditioned by intentionality and Lebenswelt, whereas from Plotinus we can conclude that the World is pre-conditioned by three Hypostases, Logos and self-activity. As for Tymieniecka, the World is pre-conditioned by the flux of being and Logos of life. Conditioned World is also a place for an endless process of self-realization, self-creation and self-understanding. Tymieniecka’s philosophical approach reveals how intentionality develops in the wholeness of life and fluxing being. Life for her is more fundamental than particular activities, in other words, life is the initiator of philosophy, of thinking, of knowing, of unknowing, etc. Exclusively, the intentionality of consciousness does not concentrate on the illumination of life, art and philosophy as becoming beings. For Tymieniecka it is important to recognize that philosophical acting solely upon the subject does not solve the problem of human’s place and time in the wholeness of life. The philosophy of subjectivity does not look upon the human from the metaphysical point of view as it is pictured in the philosophy of Plotinus, still I can agree that “Enneads” are created from Plotinus’ self-seeking and self-becoming that prove to be a special kind of self-reflection and self-purification.

Focusing on Plotinus’ contemplation of Soul, I admit that his self-reflection expresses his own deepest self-identity as Soul’s mystical connection with One. Plotinus’ philosophy confirms that self-being is not the subjective “I”, but the kind of being that is involved in the order of Cosmos and is predicted by the Divine Emanation. Self-creation is an endless seeking for One, Good and God. In the meantime Soul becomes increasingly clear and beautiful in the process of going upwards to One.