It’s everything
— praxis
His - Plotinus's - "One" "cannot be any existing thing", nor is it merely the sum of all things, but "is prior to all existents". — Gus Lamarch
If you’re suggesting a contradiction then what is it? — praxis
Actually, you have not. Try to find where you define it. It's not there. Also: — tim wood
If you’re suggesting a contradiction then what is it?
— praxis
Are you reading the discussion? I doubt so. — Gus Lamarch
Plotinus compared the One to "light", the Divine Intellect to the "Sun", and lastly the Soul to the "Moon" whose light is merely a "derivative conglomeration of light from the 'Sun'". The first light could exist without any celestial body. — Gus Lamarch
That doesn't explain the contradiction, if you believe there is one. — praxis
A sun is a celestial body. — praxis
I get the impression that you’re being evasive for some reason. Your prerogative of course. — praxis
Are you seriously suggesting that radio waves and thoughts are physical objects at the human scale? — EricH
My question is about how to abstract the One, without the deficiencies caused by our finitude. I came to the thinking that we could arrive at the conception of the One, through the division of concepts. - Ex: We would (?) describe (?) part (?) of the One by mathematics, another part by language, another by metaphysics, reason, emotion, etc ... - — Gus Lamarch
"Our thought cannot grasp the One as long as any other image remains active in the soul. To this end, you must set free your soul from all outward things and turn wholly within yourself, with no more leaning to what lies outside, and lay your mind bare of ideal forms, as before of the objects of sense, and forget even yourself, and so come within sight of that One." — Gus Lamarch
there isn't an attribute that each and every object in the universe possesses. — TheMadFool
Yes, I'm referring to objects at the human scale - things we can, well, bump into. — TheMadFool
We're in search of something that runs like a thread through all physical phenomena, in effect unifying them, just as producing milk for offspring unifies a segment of the living world as mammals. — TheMadFool
there isn't an attribute that each and every object in the universe possesses. — TheMadFool
Plotinus describes his concept of "the One" as follows: — Gus Lamarch
"Our thought cannot grasp the One as long as any other image remains active in the soul. To this end, you must set free your soul from all outward things and turn wholly within yourself, with no more leaning to what lies outside, and lay your mind bare of ideal forms, as before of the objects of sense, and forget even yourself, and so come within sight of that One." — Gus Lamarch's Plotinus
Our thought cannot grasp the One as long as any other image remains active in the soul. To this end, you must set free your soul from all outward things and turn wholly within yourself, with no more leaning to what lies outside, and lay your mind bare of ideal forms, as before of the objects of sense, and forget even yourself, and so come within sight of that One. — Gus Lamarch
You'd have to prove that simplicity is possible, that it exists, and that it is greater than matter — Gregory
I'm not playing your games. Your inability after numerous requests to give a clear explanation of your terms demonstrates that you yourself don't understand what you're saying.
I give you the last word in this fruitless exchange. — EricH
I get the impression that you’re being evasive for some reason. — praxis
The reason I suggested using the word space to describe "The One" is that doing so translates an abstract religious sounding concept in to a tangible property of the natural world. Much of the language traditionally used to discuss such things was developed long before science came to dominate our culture. Translations may be helpful in reaching modern audiences. — Hippyhead
Once you have uttered 'The Good,' add no further thought: by any addition, and in proportion to that addition, you introduce a deficiency. — Gus Lamarch
The more we try to define unity the farther we travel from it, because definitions are by their nature divisive. — Hippyhead
Ancient texts is just some guy like us sharing his opinion at a time now long past. — Hippyhead
I get the impression that you’re being evasive for some reason.
— praxis
I don't think he's being evasive, but is perhaps using language which isn't on the right channel for many readers of philosophy forums.
One way out of the endless round and round to nowhere which tends to afflict philosophy forums would be to shift the methodology of investigation from explanations to experience. To me, that's what's being implied by the philosophy being discussed. — Hippyhead
I was saying that we are always experiencing the absolute and we simply don’t realize it. It’s not like it’s some other reality or metaphysical dimension that we don’t have access to. — praxis
The more we try to define unity the farther we travel from it, because definitions are by their nature divisive. — Hippyhead
Once you have uttered 'The Good,' add no further thought: by any addition, and in proportion to that addition, you introduce a deficiency." — Plotinus
Adapting the vocabulary to the standards of the "new generations" is to distort the content and the message that the writer wanted to convey. — Gus Lamarch
Once you have uttered 'The Good,' add no further thought: by any addition, and in proportion to that addition, you introduce a deficiency." — Plotinus
It’s not like it’s some other reality or metaphysical dimension that we don’t have access to. — praxis
Nor would I agree that's it's essential that we understand what Plotinus meant. He's another writer on the forum. He's said some things which have sparked interesting discussion. All that's good. To me, the bottom line is, how useful is that discussion to participants? — Hippyhead
This way the One was complete but the Good remained a metaphysical puzzler — magritte
Reminds me of Spinoza's Ethics, aside from the fact the Spinoza aimed at God as the source of all creation(I think) and Plotinus seemed to want to avoid all that. Seems also that Spinoza's results are in line with Plotinus' aims. — creativesoul
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