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The Essential Plotinus
"The Essential Plotinus is a lifesaver. For many years my students in Greek and Roman Religion have depended on it to understand the transition from antiquity to the Middle Ages. The translation is crisp and clear, and the excerpts are just right for an introduction to Plotionus's many-layered view of the world and humankind’s place in it." --F. E. Romer, University of Arizona
224 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 250
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About the author
Plotinus
405 books318 followersEgyptian-born Roman philosopher Plotinus and his successors in the 3rd century at Alexandria founded and developed Neoplatonism, a philosophical system, which, based on Platonism with elements of mysticism and some Judaic and Christian concepts, posits a single source from which all existence emanates and with which one mystically can unite an individual soul;
The Enneads
collects his writings.
Saint Thomas Aquinas combined elements of this system and other philosophy within a context of Christian thought.
People widely consider this major of the ancient world alongside Ammonius Saccas, his teacher.
He influenced in late antiquity. Much of our biographical information about Plotinus comes from preface of Porphyry to his edition. His metaphysical writings inspired centuries of pagan, Islamic, and Gnostic metaphysicians and mystics.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plotinus
Saint Thomas Aquinas combined elements of this system and other philosophy within a context of Christian thought.
People widely consider this major of the ancient world alongside Ammonius Saccas, his teacher.
He influenced in late antiquity. Much of our biographical information about Plotinus comes from preface of Porphyry to his edition. His metaphysical writings inspired centuries of pagan, Islamic, and Gnostic metaphysicians and mystics.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plotinus
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 43 reviews
December 4, 2017
Building on the teachings of Plato and with his profound impact on the Christian contemplative tradition, Plotinus is one of the most influential philosophers in the Western tradition. If you would like to begin studying Plotinus, this little book of selections translated by Elmer O’Brien is a great place to start – clear, crisp, accessible language with helpful introductory remarks and guiding editorial notes.
Rather than making general remarks about Plotinus’s ideas on such topics as the One or the Good, for the purposes of this review and to provide a small taste of the great philosopher’s mysticism, I will focus on the first chapter of O’Brien’s translation: Beauty. And within this critical topic and its application to our lives, I will share some personal observations based on my own practice of meditation and contemplation.
The treatise begins with the following words: “Chiefly beauty is visual. Yet in word patterns and in music (for cadences and rhythms are beautiful) it addresses itself to the hearing as well. Dedicated living, achievements, character, intellectual pursuits are beautiful to those who rise above the realm of the senses; to such ones the virtues, to, are beautiful.” So, right from the start, beauty for Plotinus is centrally the beauty we can see using our eyes and also the beauty of words and music and sounds we can hear using our ears.
Further on in this chapter, Plotinus urges spiritual seekers to transform themselves into works of beauty and pure light: “Withdraw into yourself and look. If you do not as yet see beauty within you, do as does the sculptor of a statue that is to be beautified: he cuts away here, he smooths it there, he makes this line lighter, this other one purer, until he disengages beautiful lineaments in the marble. Do you this, too. Never cease “working at the statue” until there shines out upon you from it the divine sheen of virtue, until you see perfect “goodness firmly established in stainless shrine.” Have you become like this? Do you see yourself, abiding within yourself, in pure solitude? Does nothing remain to shatter that interior unity, nor anything external cling to your authentic self? Are you entirely that sole true light, which is not contained by space, not confined to any circumscribed form, not diffused as something without term, but ever unmeasurable as something greater than all measure and something more than all quantity?” ---------- If you find this passage inspiring, congratulations! You are most definitely a candidate for the mystical, spiritual path elucidated by Plotinus.
Keeping in mind how beauty, for Plotinus, as noted above, is principally visual and secondarily audial, here is a quote from Tarthang Tulku, a contemporary Buddhist teacher from Tibet, on our working with our feelings, our senses and our body as a way to experience beauty: “The more we explore the intensifying of the senses, the more we find a great depth within our feelings. Sensations become richer, textured with subtle nuances, more deeply joyful. We can explore the creamy texture of our deeper feelings, and contact an ever subtler level of beauty within our bodies and our senses. Within the open space of meditation we can find infinite joy and perfect bliss. Once we discover that spirit of vitality, which is the essence of awareness, we find that our bodies, actually become a channel through which we are capable of contacting a higher level of awareness within ourselves.”
I cite the above quote as a point of contrast to the Western contemplative tradition. You can read and study Plotinus and hundreds of works in Western philosophy and religion going back to Plato and Aristotle and on to such thinkers as Augustine and Aquinas, but you will not find anything in any of those ancient and medieval texts like this quote from Tarthang Tulku.
And why am I including this in a review of Plotinus? Because, from my own experience, anyone on the spiritual path who attempts to minimize or discount the body does so at their own peril. With his emphasis on the intellect and the experience of beauty via seeing and hearing as a way of spiritual growth, Plotinus is nothing short of illuminating. However, one would be wise to also include a daily practice of working directly with the body through such disciplines as yoga, meditation, pranayama, tai-chi or qugong.
Returning to Plotinus, one last quote, a source of inspiration for us all: “We must close our eyes and invoke a new manner of seeing, a wakefulness that is the birthright of us all, though few put it to use.”
June 2, 2016
I picked up this book after reading Glenn’s fine review, and I’m glad I did. This is an excellent volume; and although I haven’t read the complete Enneads, so I can’t say for sure, I suspect that the editor and translator, Elmer O’Brien, did an expert job in selecting the very best sections from that long tome. In just 170 pages, one finds a complete philosophical system and worldview. I’ve read few books that pack so much into so few words.
It is often remarked that Plotinus was more of a mystic than a real philosopher. But of course, those two aren’t mutually exclusive categories. I’ve heard both Wittgenstein’s and Heidegger’s works compared to mystical poetry, and indeed the clear demarcation between philosophy and religion is a relatively recent phenomenon. So don’t let the mysticism put you off. This is a serious and significant work of philosophy.
At both the literal and metaphorical center of Plotinus’s system is his concept of The One. The One is the source of all reality, the source of existence itself: “It is by The One that all beings are beings.” It transcends all forms of knowledge; it cannot be described in any words: “This principle is certainly none of the things of which it is the source. It is such that nothing can be predicated of it, not being, not substance, not life, because it is superior to all these things.” The One, which is the same as The Good, is the goal of Plotinus’s system: to seek, through contemplation, an experience of the wellspring of all existence. “By directing your glance towards it, by reaching it, by resting in it, you will achieve a deep and immediate awareness of it and will at the same time seize its greatness in all things that come from it and exist through it.”
Now this all sounds quite abstract and incomprehensible, but I think Plotinus’s point is rather simple. Nothing can exist without having some sort of unity; and the more unity something has, the more stable is its existence. For example, a choir only exists if all of the people composing it are organized in some way. When they disband, the unity is broken, and the choir ceases to exist. A human body exists because all of the diverse parts which compose it cooperate and coordinate their activities. Once this organization ceases, the unity of the parts is broken, and the body ceases to function and ultimately passes away. The more simple something is, the less contingency is has. To pick an inappropriately modern example, a molecule exists because the atoms which compose it are in a particular configuration; once this configuration is broken, the molecule is gone. What persists are the fundamental particles, quarks and electrons, which are (we think) absolutely simple, and therefore persist through all the shifting configurations of matter and energy that cause everything we experience through our senses.
The One is what Plotinus calls the “first hypostasis.” The One is the principle of all existence, because, without some sort of unity, nothing could exist. But by itself, The One doesn’t exist. In fact, to give it any predicate, even the predicate of “existence,” is to attribute some contingent quality to it. So just as Heidegger is fond of reminding us that Being is not a being—that is, the cause of existence cannot itself be something that exists—so does Plotinus warn us that we can know absolutely nothing about The One. It is formless, devoid of all qualities, transcendent of all thought, beyond even our categories of “real” and “unreal.”
But of course, the universe exists, and therefore cannot be identical with The One. This leads Plotinus to his “second hypostasis,” which is The Intelligence. Now, from what I understand, The Intelligence is the realm wherein dwell all the ideals and forms that comprise true reality. Plotinus, borrowing heavily from Plato and Aristotle, considers matter to be pure potentiality. What turns the potentiality into an actuality is a form or an ideal—such as Humanity or Fire in the abstract; and these can only be apprehended through the mind, or intelligence. These ideals are eternal and immaterial; hence it is these ideals that exist in the highest degree, being contingent only on The One, completely independent of matter.
But The Intelligence is static, comprising all things at once, timeless and perfect; yet the reality we know is ever-changing. This leads Plotinus to the “third hypostasis,” which is The Soul. Plotinus thinks not only that people have souls, but that The Soul is responsible for all movement and order in the universe. Just as a human is animated by an indwelling soul, so are the planets and animals and everything around us moved by The Soul, which mediates between the inactive realm of matter and the perfect world of The Intelligence. For Plotinus, each individual soul is just a part of The Soul; and like Plato, he believes in metempsychosis, or the transmigration of souls.
This elaborate metaphysical doctrine is the backdrop of Plotinus’s spiritual practices. Plotinus shares with many other Western mystics a scorn for the body. The senses are the source of nothing but illusion and suffering, and drag the soul down into petty considerations and vain pursuits. The first step is to appreciate the beauty in sensible objects, for beauty is not raw sensation, but consists of an order or organization in our sensations. The next step is to move beyond the senses altogether, engaging in dialectic to examine the pure ideals through thought alone. But unlike Plato, for whom philosophy was largely a social enterprise, the last step in Plotinus’s system is an introspective voyage to The One, a state of perfect blissful peace, a contemplation of the source of all reality, that transcendent origin which has no qualities and which cannot be grasped in words or thought.
It’s hard to know what to make of all this, especially for one such as myself, a secular rationalist. Of course, Plotinus is worth reading from a purely historical perspective, for his deep influence on St. Augustine, and thence on Christianity itself. And if you are religious or spiritual in any way, be it Christian or Hindu or Buddhist or simply fond of meditation, I’m sure that you can find something of value in Plotinus. From a modern perspective, as philosophy pure and simple, Plotinus's system isn’t very compelling; for Plotinus does not make strict arguments, but rather grounds his thought in introspective experiences. Yet if you are like me, or like Bertrand Russell—a man who could hardly be more secular or averse to nonsense—you will nonetheless find something beautiful in Plotinus, even if it is perhaps just an elaborate dream, a philosophical fancy, an extended description of one brilliant man’s lonely meditations.
It is often remarked that Plotinus was more of a mystic than a real philosopher. But of course, those two aren’t mutually exclusive categories. I’ve heard both Wittgenstein’s and Heidegger’s works compared to mystical poetry, and indeed the clear demarcation between philosophy and religion is a relatively recent phenomenon. So don’t let the mysticism put you off. This is a serious and significant work of philosophy.
At both the literal and metaphorical center of Plotinus’s system is his concept of The One. The One is the source of all reality, the source of existence itself: “It is by The One that all beings are beings.” It transcends all forms of knowledge; it cannot be described in any words: “This principle is certainly none of the things of which it is the source. It is such that nothing can be predicated of it, not being, not substance, not life, because it is superior to all these things.” The One, which is the same as The Good, is the goal of Plotinus’s system: to seek, through contemplation, an experience of the wellspring of all existence. “By directing your glance towards it, by reaching it, by resting in it, you will achieve a deep and immediate awareness of it and will at the same time seize its greatness in all things that come from it and exist through it.”
Now this all sounds quite abstract and incomprehensible, but I think Plotinus’s point is rather simple. Nothing can exist without having some sort of unity; and the more unity something has, the more stable is its existence. For example, a choir only exists if all of the people composing it are organized in some way. When they disband, the unity is broken, and the choir ceases to exist. A human body exists because all of the diverse parts which compose it cooperate and coordinate their activities. Once this organization ceases, the unity of the parts is broken, and the body ceases to function and ultimately passes away. The more simple something is, the less contingency is has. To pick an inappropriately modern example, a molecule exists because the atoms which compose it are in a particular configuration; once this configuration is broken, the molecule is gone. What persists are the fundamental particles, quarks and electrons, which are (we think) absolutely simple, and therefore persist through all the shifting configurations of matter and energy that cause everything we experience through our senses.
The One is what Plotinus calls the “first hypostasis.” The One is the principle of all existence, because, without some sort of unity, nothing could exist. But by itself, The One doesn’t exist. In fact, to give it any predicate, even the predicate of “existence,” is to attribute some contingent quality to it. So just as Heidegger is fond of reminding us that Being is not a being—that is, the cause of existence cannot itself be something that exists—so does Plotinus warn us that we can know absolutely nothing about The One. It is formless, devoid of all qualities, transcendent of all thought, beyond even our categories of “real” and “unreal.”
But of course, the universe exists, and therefore cannot be identical with The One. This leads Plotinus to his “second hypostasis,” which is The Intelligence. Now, from what I understand, The Intelligence is the realm wherein dwell all the ideals and forms that comprise true reality. Plotinus, borrowing heavily from Plato and Aristotle, considers matter to be pure potentiality. What turns the potentiality into an actuality is a form or an ideal—such as Humanity or Fire in the abstract; and these can only be apprehended through the mind, or intelligence. These ideals are eternal and immaterial; hence it is these ideals that exist in the highest degree, being contingent only on The One, completely independent of matter.
But The Intelligence is static, comprising all things at once, timeless and perfect; yet the reality we know is ever-changing. This leads Plotinus to the “third hypostasis,” which is The Soul. Plotinus thinks not only that people have souls, but that The Soul is responsible for all movement and order in the universe. Just as a human is animated by an indwelling soul, so are the planets and animals and everything around us moved by The Soul, which mediates between the inactive realm of matter and the perfect world of The Intelligence. For Plotinus, each individual soul is just a part of The Soul; and like Plato, he believes in metempsychosis, or the transmigration of souls.
This elaborate metaphysical doctrine is the backdrop of Plotinus’s spiritual practices. Plotinus shares with many other Western mystics a scorn for the body. The senses are the source of nothing but illusion and suffering, and drag the soul down into petty considerations and vain pursuits. The first step is to appreciate the beauty in sensible objects, for beauty is not raw sensation, but consists of an order or organization in our sensations. The next step is to move beyond the senses altogether, engaging in dialectic to examine the pure ideals through thought alone. But unlike Plato, for whom philosophy was largely a social enterprise, the last step in Plotinus’s system is an introspective voyage to The One, a state of perfect blissful peace, a contemplation of the source of all reality, that transcendent origin which has no qualities and which cannot be grasped in words or thought.
It’s hard to know what to make of all this, especially for one such as myself, a secular rationalist. Of course, Plotinus is worth reading from a purely historical perspective, for his deep influence on St. Augustine, and thence on Christianity itself. And if you are religious or spiritual in any way, be it Christian or Hindu or Buddhist or simply fond of meditation, I’m sure that you can find something of value in Plotinus. From a modern perspective, as philosophy pure and simple, Plotinus's system isn’t very compelling; for Plotinus does not make strict arguments, but rather grounds his thought in introspective experiences. Yet if you are like me, or like Bertrand Russell—a man who could hardly be more secular or averse to nonsense—you will nonetheless find something beautiful in Plotinus, even if it is perhaps just an elaborate dream, a philosophical fancy, an extended description of one brilliant man’s lonely meditations.
December 5, 2024
Some fun ideas but I found this quite tedious and repetitive. Much preferred the videos I’d seen on the subject, though it was interesting/valuable to hear Plotinus in his own words.
The myriad unnecessary assumptions herein were especially difficult to tolerate after having recently read Sextus Empiricus’ Pyrrhonist skepticism. But there is still plenty to enjoy and several ideas have value considered in isolation—or even in context—from a phenomenological perspective. One of my biggest problems with metaphysical systems such as idealism, religious cosmology, physicalism/materialism etc. is that they univeralise and reify metaphysics when such systems should—in my opinion—remain understood as subjective narratives about one’s experience. Of course I also take issue with the devaluing of the sensual, as sympathetic as I am at times to the deification of contemplation.
Still, there is some great reasoning and beauty within and I’m sure more could be derived with supplementary texts and further contemplation. Though I can’t see myself desiring any more neoplatonism anytime soon.
The myriad unnecessary assumptions herein were especially difficult to tolerate after having recently read Sextus Empiricus’ Pyrrhonist skepticism. But there is still plenty to enjoy and several ideas have value considered in isolation—or even in context—from a phenomenological perspective. One of my biggest problems with metaphysical systems such as idealism, religious cosmology, physicalism/materialism etc. is that they univeralise and reify metaphysics when such systems should—in my opinion—remain understood as subjective narratives about one’s experience. Of course I also take issue with the devaluing of the sensual, as sympathetic as I am at times to the deification of contemplation.
Still, there is some great reasoning and beauty within and I’m sure more could be derived with supplementary texts and further contemplation. Though I can’t see myself desiring any more neoplatonism anytime soon.
September 4, 2019
Unlike to Plato, The One (Τὸ Ἕν) is fundamentally unknowable to Plotinus - or perhaps it would be more accurate to say: impossible to comprehend. But man may reach union with it; not come to know or feel it, but become it, one with it. (According to O'Brien's interpretation) The One is not the negation of plurality but the transcendence of separateness (which makes me wonder about the much made of compatibility between neoplatonism and advaita vedanta (literally 'not two')). The One is formless and nameless (it doesn't even exist because existence implies temporality), named only so one can be directed towards it, but on his quest, if one is to attain union with The One, one must at some point forget all names, because they imply duality between namer and named, subject and object (all this being very similar to Laotse). Plotinus can only point you in the right direction. To attain the vision is beyond words. (And, Plotinus opines, this is why the mystery religions forbade talking of the mysteries to uninitiates: to speak of things one cannot speak of, would be only to invite confusion. Wittgenstein?)
Man is a microcosm, and falling deep into introspection, stepping outside himself, he forgets himself and his existence, thus attaining to The One. As one's self falls away, so falls away the Other, and the division between subject and object ceases to be. In this state man is "unconscious but not empty". Man's individual soul (psykhe) partakes of The Soul, which partakes of The Intelligence (nous), which contemplates The One. Through his soul into The Intelligence (which is the world of forms Plato spoke of), man must travel on his flight to the Alone.
The soul is drawn towards its source, because like attracts like, but on the other hand it is terrified of finding nothingness in the formless it approaches, so it often throws itself into the bodily world of particulars, where things appear clear and stable. Plotinus espouses a monastic attitude to morality: one who is to unite with The One must abandon all civic virtues; he will not appear like a "good man", because his model is not a good man but god.
It's metaphysics! Big stuff. This book was just a peek, but as a peek, lovely. A different conception of reality, come get it folks. Straight from the source. (Extra points for the related readings appendix including selections from Heraclitus, Parmenides, Anaxagoras, Empedocles, Plato and Aristotle.)
Man is a microcosm, and falling deep into introspection, stepping outside himself, he forgets himself and his existence, thus attaining to The One. As one's self falls away, so falls away the Other, and the division between subject and object ceases to be. In this state man is "unconscious but not empty". Man's individual soul (psykhe) partakes of The Soul, which partakes of The Intelligence (nous), which contemplates The One. Through his soul into The Intelligence (which is the world of forms Plato spoke of), man must travel on his flight to the Alone.
The soul is drawn towards its source, because like attracts like, but on the other hand it is terrified of finding nothingness in the formless it approaches, so it often throws itself into the bodily world of particulars, where things appear clear and stable. Plotinus espouses a monastic attitude to morality: one who is to unite with The One must abandon all civic virtues; he will not appear like a "good man", because his model is not a good man but god.
It's metaphysics! Big stuff. This book was just a peek, but as a peek, lovely. A different conception of reality, come get it folks. Straight from the source. (Extra points for the related readings appendix including selections from Heraclitus, Parmenides, Anaxagoras, Empedocles, Plato and Aristotle.)
April 15, 2013
For anyone seeking an introduction to Plotinus, this is a fine place to start. The "essays" selected are among his more accessible, and the translations are clear, yet retain the inspired poetry when called for. The essay on "Beauty" alone is worth the price of the book, but there is much more here that will keep you coming back for enjoyment and nourishment.
January 23, 2019
I really struggled with this book for much of my way through it. I've not read a lot of mystical literature in my life, and though this translation often brings out Plotinus's humor (he must have been a marvelous teacher), I frequently found myself lost as he laid out the distinctions between Soul, Nature, Intelligence, and the One. I appreciated being exposed to the original formulation of some of essential concepts that came in time to shape the fundamentals of mainstream Christianity's doctrines about God, the Incarnation, and the Trinity, but mostly it was hard going. Still, when the reading group that I was going through Plotinus with met for a final time, looking at what he wrote about "contemplation," I found myself discovering so many wonderful connections to forms of and other philosophical ideas, that my appreciation of the book easily doubled. Not enough to turn it into a book I really liked or loved, but enough that I think that when I next ponder where ideas come from, or wonder about the nature of creativity, or ask myself what it means to meditate, or take a walk in the woods and feel yourself connected to something larger than oneself, that I'll be aware of some possibilities I wasn't before. And for that, I'm grateful.
June 21, 2014
Oh my word. Ouch. This was a tough one. I decided to read Plotinus after hearing about him in a couple different Teaching Company lecture series. The lecturers made him sound interesting, plus he seemed important for understanding Augustine, who is in my "to read" stack. Having slogged through this Essential Plotinus, though, I think that what I got from the TC lecturers was really all the Plotinus I needed, and that Plato, without Plotinus's added mysticism, would have be adequate preparation for Augustine. I guess I'll know more about that second point after I get to Augustine. Which Won't be for a couple books because my brain is Utterly worn out now.
In fairness, part of my problem with this was not Plotinus but the editor/translator/commentator of this version. Plotinus is tough enough, but Elmer O'Brien, the commentator, seemed to go out of his way to beat Plotinus in writing utterly incomprehensible sentences. For instance, on pg 106, in his introduction to the "Post Primals," he says "The reader should find not unprofitable the solving of one sole objection, which takes up the final two-thirds of the treatise. By such indirections often are the directions of this author's thought best discovered."
I did eventually find a way to turn O'Brien's love of obscurity to my advantage, though. The chapters that he recommended highly were invariably the ones I found most impossible to make sense of, and the ones he wasn't so crazy about were the ones I liked best. So when he gushed, I braced myself. The Post Primals ("a small bright gem") and Contemplation ("the best single instance of the mature thought and method of Plotinus") were particularly unclear to me.
Still there Were good bits! What I was looking forward to learning about, before I started, was Plato's Idea of the Good, and Plotinus's discussion of the One (his version of the Good) was very interesting.
"We are like a chorus grouped around a conductor who allow their attention to be distracted by the audience. If, however, they were to turn toward their conductor, they would sing as they should and would really be with him. We are always around The One. If we were not, we would dissolve and cease to exist. Yet our gaze does not remain fixed upon The One. When we look at it, we then attain the end of our desires and find rest. Then it is that, all discord past, we dance an inspired dance around it..." (p.84)
"We are not separated from The One, not distant from it, even though bodily nature has closed about us and drawn us to itself. It is because of The One that we breathe and have our being: it does not bestow its gifts at one moment only to leave us again; its giving is without cessation so long as it remains what it is. As we turn towards The One, we exist to a higher degree, while to withdraw from it is to fall. Our soul is delivered from evil by rising to that place which is free of all evils. There it knows. There it is immune. There it truly lives. Life not united with the divinity is shadow and mimicry of authentic life..." (p 85)
"The Good and the One and "The Three Primal Hypostases" were my favorite chapters, and bits of "The Soul" were quite nice. The others were, honestly, excruciating to varying degrees. You can definitely see places where Augustine's theology was probably influenced by Plotinus (Plotinus's description of his trinity, on pg 98, is clearer than the one our priest presented for the Christian Trinity last Sunday, but that isn't really a fair comparison since Plotinus's trinity isn't Really three-in-one), but there are more places where the differences are vast. Augustine's theology certainly isn't neo-Platonism, but I do think that having struggled through Plotinus Will give me a leg up when I get to Augustine. And I Do like the image of all the souls dancing their "inspired dance."
In fairness, part of my problem with this was not Plotinus but the editor/translator/commentator of this version. Plotinus is tough enough, but Elmer O'Brien, the commentator, seemed to go out of his way to beat Plotinus in writing utterly incomprehensible sentences. For instance, on pg 106, in his introduction to the "Post Primals," he says "The reader should find not unprofitable the solving of one sole objection, which takes up the final two-thirds of the treatise. By such indirections often are the directions of this author's thought best discovered."
I did eventually find a way to turn O'Brien's love of obscurity to my advantage, though. The chapters that he recommended highly were invariably the ones I found most impossible to make sense of, and the ones he wasn't so crazy about were the ones I liked best. So when he gushed, I braced myself. The Post Primals ("a small bright gem") and Contemplation ("the best single instance of the mature thought and method of Plotinus") were particularly unclear to me.
Still there Were good bits! What I was looking forward to learning about, before I started, was Plato's Idea of the Good, and Plotinus's discussion of the One (his version of the Good) was very interesting.
"We are like a chorus grouped around a conductor who allow their attention to be distracted by the audience. If, however, they were to turn toward their conductor, they would sing as they should and would really be with him. We are always around The One. If we were not, we would dissolve and cease to exist. Yet our gaze does not remain fixed upon The One. When we look at it, we then attain the end of our desires and find rest. Then it is that, all discord past, we dance an inspired dance around it..." (p.84)
"We are not separated from The One, not distant from it, even though bodily nature has closed about us and drawn us to itself. It is because of The One that we breathe and have our being: it does not bestow its gifts at one moment only to leave us again; its giving is without cessation so long as it remains what it is. As we turn towards The One, we exist to a higher degree, while to withdraw from it is to fall. Our soul is delivered from evil by rising to that place which is free of all evils. There it knows. There it is immune. There it truly lives. Life not united with the divinity is shadow and mimicry of authentic life..." (p 85)
"The Good and the One and "The Three Primal Hypostases" were my favorite chapters, and bits of "The Soul" were quite nice. The others were, honestly, excruciating to varying degrees. You can definitely see places where Augustine's theology was probably influenced by Plotinus (Plotinus's description of his trinity, on pg 98, is clearer than the one our priest presented for the Christian Trinity last Sunday, but that isn't really a fair comparison since Plotinus's trinity isn't Really three-in-one), but there are more places where the differences are vast. Augustine's theology certainly isn't neo-Platonism, but I do think that having struggled through Plotinus Will give me a leg up when I get to Augustine. And I Do like the image of all the souls dancing their "inspired dance."
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March 22, 2022Enjoyed it. Plotinus is oftentimes ignored, but he has had a massive influence on Christianity and Islam. And within Western philosophy, Plotinus's Neoplatonism comes closest to the Upanishads, Advaita (non-dualism), and Indian philosophy in general.
September 27, 2022
Neoplatonism is credited with having its roots in the mystic philosopher Plotinus. He felt that throughout his life, he had repeatedly attained unity with the Supreme Principle, also known as the One. According to his idea, the Intellect, the Soul, and mankind were all manifestations of the One, as were all other material creatures and things. In his worldview, people should strive to achieve union (or reunion) with the One in order to escape the limitations of material reality. Plotinus was a well-known instructor who delivered lectures on this philosophy. One of his pupils, Porphyry of Tyre, eventually organized these lectures into six books with nine chapters each, which he termed Enneads. This book contains a selection from those lectures.
Plotinus’s interpretation of Platonic philosophy centers on his conception of the One, the creator-being. The One is that which makes all things possible; thus he claimed that the One is the penultimate element. It is made up of everything else, yet it remains in the purest form. Plotinus calls this state “the light before the light.” As this purest form, it cannot be described or discussed; living beings can only hope to realize that even with a sense of perfection in meditation, they must be aware that there is a greater perfection that exists.
The One is known only by what it is not; it is not comprehensible, but it is the source of both the intelligence and the soul. These three entities form a trinity that is hierarchical and to a great extent ineffable. The intelligence remind one of the forms of Plato's thought. In addition to clear connections to Platonic philosophy there are resonances with both the thought of Aristotle and the writings of Paul in the New Testament of the Christian Bible.
Plotinus' thought is paradoxical, yet through contemplation it appears to form a natural hierarchical structure that leads from the sentient world to the ultimate source of everything.
Plotinus’s interpretation of Platonic philosophy centers on his conception of the One, the creator-being. The One is that which makes all things possible; thus he claimed that the One is the penultimate element. It is made up of everything else, yet it remains in the purest form. Plotinus calls this state “the light before the light.” As this purest form, it cannot be described or discussed; living beings can only hope to realize that even with a sense of perfection in meditation, they must be aware that there is a greater perfection that exists.
The One is known only by what it is not; it is not comprehensible, but it is the source of both the intelligence and the soul. These three entities form a trinity that is hierarchical and to a great extent ineffable. The intelligence remind one of the forms of Plato's thought. In addition to clear connections to Platonic philosophy there are resonances with both the thought of Aristotle and the writings of Paul in the New Testament of the Christian Bible.
Plotinus' thought is paradoxical, yet through contemplation it appears to form a natural hierarchical structure that leads from the sentient world to the ultimate source of everything.
November 14, 2022
Alternating between the radically sublime to the completely silly, it's fascinating to read what the white male Mediterranean mind came up with as the nature of reality before the science of measurement existed, i.e. the history of the growth of Western beliefs, attitudes and values still present and unaccounted for in society today. Plotinus was a neoPlatonist influenced by every guy with too much time on his hands who came before him back to Aristotle. It's a little sickening to notice the innocent narcissism that put(s) man at the center of universe, that perpetrated a way of thinking that perpetuated for over 18 centuries and is directly responsible for the destruction of our ecosystem. Sadly, a fate we can't escape because of the way we think. My eyes cross when reading the anthropocentric blather bubbling up through these pages, a time capsule containing the blueprint for the mess we find ourselves and our planet in now. Definitely worth a read. Beware: your thoughts are not your own...
June 15, 2016
The Essential Plotinus
Learning philosophy for this reader is largely about learning to live one’s life well. The central word for this reader is “eudaemonia”, a steady state of happiness or human flourishing, anchored in the experience of soul. (Alternative choices may include “pleasure” or “avoidance of suffering”, “state of flow”, or even House of Cards’ power couple’s “Being Powerful or Significant”.)
Among the ancient Greeks, questing “eudaemonia” in human is through the practice of “virtue” which is both ethical wisdom and practical excellence. The dividing line between Plato and Aristotle seems to be whether virtue is both necessary and sufficient for attaining eudaemonia. Plato yes to both, Aristotle yes to the necessity, but insufficient without considering the external conditions such as “good birth, good children and beauty”. (That is why Aristotle is more congenial to modern age, including the modern religious life.)
Alternative to eudaemonia as the center theme, there is the hedonism anchoring in the sensory world of pain and pleasure. From Epicurus to utilitarianism of Bentham and John Stuart Mill, this central theme has triumphed over the modern world in politics and popular culture. For Epicureans, virtue is an instrumental mean to the aim of pleasure, while for the eudaemonia-centered philosophers virtue is intrinsic part of soul.
It is the Stoic who gives a hierarchical structure of pleasure and pain at the lower level of sensation, the virtue and vice at the higher level of life. The difference of Stoic and Christians concept of virtue is the Stoic’s absence of mercy, charity, self-abasement, self-sacrificial love which are central in the Christianity. However the overlapping themes are significant in the virtues of justice, simplicity, self-discipline, etc.. One can see how Stoic is conducive toward a Christian life while Epicurean only marginally. However, Christ’s self-sacrificial love (agape) is still off Stoics’ map. It is an entirely different dimensional thought.
What does Plotinus bring to the map of philosophic idea? An infinite, The One, that is vertical from the realm of the world of sense but higher than the pantheistic gods. This level of abstraction brings the mind of the mathematical infinite ∞. Emanating from the One, there are “The Intellect” and “The World Soul”. The Intellect is the “logo”, the Order, Thought, Reason. The World Soul has higher and lower part, with the higher one associated with the Intellect, the lower associated with Nature.
Where does Human stand in this scheme? Human soul resides at the border of the higher and lower realms, but it can move up or down depends on how we live our lives. We can weigh down by the world below to live at the sense-world of animals, or we can lighten our souls to return to the higher realms. As Philo (which predates Plotinus) said “The soul is many things, linked to the realm of sense b what is lower in us, linked to the intelligible realm by what is highest. For each of us is uno intelligible cosmos. By what is intellective, we are permanently in the higher realm; by our lower part, we are prisoners of sense.”
Hence the “true human” has the capacity of the soul, which is capable of connecting with the One. There is a vivid phrase used by Plotinus “the soul-center”, or the “apex of soul” where the essential Divine links the soul with God. The soul knows God, not by external observations, but by a return to its proper center, through the willed separation from external, sensory distractions. How do we know our soul knows God? We know beauty — beauty in bodily forms, beauty in actions, beauty in a person’s character. Such “knowing” is not because of external data gathering nor learning, but an instinctual recognition of our own soul vis-a-vis the souls of what we observed and experienced, in bodily form or abstract forms. From beauty we can move on to appreciate virtue.
Hence perhaps in Plotinus’ theme, virtue becomes the path through which one can orient toward One. But virtue itself is not the goal, nor is pleasure. Eudaemonia is experience in the returning journey to the One, and possible to experience the ecstatics - the standing aside of one’s self. (Somewhere I read that Plotinus had experienced “the One” four times in his life).
Here the top-down structure of Plotinus’s metaphysicals come into how one view’s one’s human life, and how one can put into action of reaching eudaemonia which is the practical guide of “dialectic of the return” — the orienting and journey toward a return to the One through purgation. What hurdles we have to overcome? The distraction of senses in the realm of multiplicity, the seduction of images.
Later Christian theologians will have developed the concept of “sin” which is a susceptibility to evil inherently in human nature, and the “agape” love. Plotinus’ mysticism journey toward the One is still far from Christ’s self-sacrificial love for the redemption of human sinfulness. But the structural sketch of a trinity (One, Intellect, Soul) and the Creator-Creature relationships emanating top-down from One to human is already outlined. Plotinus’ journey is soul’s returning home while gives no direct account for the bodily experience and memories. It requires a reclamation of the bodily reality in human life to find the meeting point of Neoplatonism and Christianity. (Otherwise the Manichaeism seems to be more reasonably agreeable to Plotinus). It is from St. Augustine that we see the respect to Body as in his body-soul unit “caro tua, coniunx tua — your body is your wife”. Certainly Plotinus gives the one important contribution to high/low taxonomy of human existence of soul is superior to body. It is unto the church fathers such as St. Augustine to argue that be a human is to be a composite of soul and body, any theology has to give some account on both.
Learning philosophy for this reader is largely about learning to live one’s life well. The central word for this reader is “eudaemonia”, a steady state of happiness or human flourishing, anchored in the experience of soul. (Alternative choices may include “pleasure” or “avoidance of suffering”, “state of flow”, or even House of Cards’ power couple’s “Being Powerful or Significant”.)
Among the ancient Greeks, questing “eudaemonia” in human is through the practice of “virtue” which is both ethical wisdom and practical excellence. The dividing line between Plato and Aristotle seems to be whether virtue is both necessary and sufficient for attaining eudaemonia. Plato yes to both, Aristotle yes to the necessity, but insufficient without considering the external conditions such as “good birth, good children and beauty”. (That is why Aristotle is more congenial to modern age, including the modern religious life.)
Alternative to eudaemonia as the center theme, there is the hedonism anchoring in the sensory world of pain and pleasure. From Epicurus to utilitarianism of Bentham and John Stuart Mill, this central theme has triumphed over the modern world in politics and popular culture. For Epicureans, virtue is an instrumental mean to the aim of pleasure, while for the eudaemonia-centered philosophers virtue is intrinsic part of soul.
It is the Stoic who gives a hierarchical structure of pleasure and pain at the lower level of sensation, the virtue and vice at the higher level of life. The difference of Stoic and Christians concept of virtue is the Stoic’s absence of mercy, charity, self-abasement, self-sacrificial love which are central in the Christianity. However the overlapping themes are significant in the virtues of justice, simplicity, self-discipline, etc.. One can see how Stoic is conducive toward a Christian life while Epicurean only marginally. However, Christ’s self-sacrificial love (agape) is still off Stoics’ map. It is an entirely different dimensional thought.
What does Plotinus bring to the map of philosophic idea? An infinite, The One, that is vertical from the realm of the world of sense but higher than the pantheistic gods. This level of abstraction brings the mind of the mathematical infinite ∞. Emanating from the One, there are “The Intellect” and “The World Soul”. The Intellect is the “logo”, the Order, Thought, Reason. The World Soul has higher and lower part, with the higher one associated with the Intellect, the lower associated with Nature.
Where does Human stand in this scheme? Human soul resides at the border of the higher and lower realms, but it can move up or down depends on how we live our lives. We can weigh down by the world below to live at the sense-world of animals, or we can lighten our souls to return to the higher realms. As Philo (which predates Plotinus) said “The soul is many things, linked to the realm of sense b what is lower in us, linked to the intelligible realm by what is highest. For each of us is uno intelligible cosmos. By what is intellective, we are permanently in the higher realm; by our lower part, we are prisoners of sense.”
Hence the “true human” has the capacity of the soul, which is capable of connecting with the One. There is a vivid phrase used by Plotinus “the soul-center”, or the “apex of soul” where the essential Divine links the soul with God. The soul knows God, not by external observations, but by a return to its proper center, through the willed separation from external, sensory distractions. How do we know our soul knows God? We know beauty — beauty in bodily forms, beauty in actions, beauty in a person’s character. Such “knowing” is not because of external data gathering nor learning, but an instinctual recognition of our own soul vis-a-vis the souls of what we observed and experienced, in bodily form or abstract forms. From beauty we can move on to appreciate virtue.
Hence perhaps in Plotinus’ theme, virtue becomes the path through which one can orient toward One. But virtue itself is not the goal, nor is pleasure. Eudaemonia is experience in the returning journey to the One, and possible to experience the ecstatics - the standing aside of one’s self. (Somewhere I read that Plotinus had experienced “the One” four times in his life).
Here the top-down structure of Plotinus’s metaphysicals come into how one view’s one’s human life, and how one can put into action of reaching eudaemonia which is the practical guide of “dialectic of the return” — the orienting and journey toward a return to the One through purgation. What hurdles we have to overcome? The distraction of senses in the realm of multiplicity, the seduction of images.
Later Christian theologians will have developed the concept of “sin” which is a susceptibility to evil inherently in human nature, and the “agape” love. Plotinus’ mysticism journey toward the One is still far from Christ’s self-sacrificial love for the redemption of human sinfulness. But the structural sketch of a trinity (One, Intellect, Soul) and the Creator-Creature relationships emanating top-down from One to human is already outlined. Plotinus’ journey is soul’s returning home while gives no direct account for the bodily experience and memories. It requires a reclamation of the bodily reality in human life to find the meeting point of Neoplatonism and Christianity. (Otherwise the Manichaeism seems to be more reasonably agreeable to Plotinus). It is from St. Augustine that we see the respect to Body as in his body-soul unit “caro tua, coniunx tua — your body is your wife”. Certainly Plotinus gives the one important contribution to high/low taxonomy of human existence of soul is superior to body. It is unto the church fathers such as St. Augustine to argue that be a human is to be a composite of soul and body, any theology has to give some account on both.
October 19, 2021
Two stars. There’s a great author in here somewhere, only god-willing and perhaps if Plotinus himself had an editor or if the manuscripts weren’t corrupted. That’s beyond me. Here’s what isn’t :
Somewhere between the god awful translation that anyone who has studied a smidge of Greek & read City of God + Confessions (Augustine) will immediately recognize and the book’s packaging, my heart gave up on this book. Great conversation prompts. Mind numbing page formatting. I take one star off for the green on the cover with the granular bust. What was the editor thinking throwing all of these minute and annoying choices together? One whole star off for the packaging of the book, one for translation, and one for Plotinus himself. That’s two stars this book could have earned.
Somewhere between the god awful translation that anyone who has studied a smidge of Greek & read City of God + Confessions (Augustine) will immediately recognize and the book’s packaging, my heart gave up on this book. Great conversation prompts. Mind numbing page formatting. I take one star off for the green on the cover with the granular bust. What was the editor thinking throwing all of these minute and annoying choices together? One whole star off for the packaging of the book, one for translation, and one for Plotinus himself. That’s two stars this book could have earned.
May 11, 2024
Ok so its a chopped down version of the Enneads. I want to be so sincerely honest with you, unless you already understand the premise to his philosophical framework you’re going to want to toss this book to the wind. I had to make a CHART, constantly adding aspects to it surrounding The One, The Intelligence, and The Soul (which you probably should do) to grasp how they interact with the world. Don’t even get me started on having to differentiate The Soul and the soul with how its homogeneous, unquantifiable, BUT STILL distinctly different in every individual. HE JUST TALKING TO TALK 😭 (well not really it makes sense later but it still made me mad).
Banger book tho, great for starting Neoplatonism.
Banger book tho, great for starting Neoplatonism.
April 16, 2019
A real challenge to read. One of the last major philosophers of antiquity, he gets a lot of his ideas from Plato. He stipulates the existence of "The One" which is the supreme essence of all things, and from which all things emanate, including Intelligence and the Soul. The writing is quite dense and difficult, and you often find yourself lost in a maze of words and ideas that seem totally speculative. Despite that, the challenge of this work is refreshing and stimulating.
Read
August 15, 2022translation was very readable but the authorial notes suggested some influence from christian interpretation (the translator came from this background i believe), which may or may not have found itself into technical translation choices, just something to keep in mind.
November 30, 2024
Overall, a ponderworthy read but not my favorite of all time. I enjoyed the section on Beauty, but it seemed that otherwise the best parts could be enjoyed in Plato or Aristotle, and the rest of Plotinus was curious but really not that enjoyable to read or formative in any good way.
October 9, 2017
I feel absolutely in love with Plotinus with the bro-Platonic form of The One. Absolutely stunningly beautiful!
July 11, 2018
Kind of a short hand version of the main text. Good for that. A truncated paraphrased copy if you will. I would prefer a summary/encyclopedia entry myself, but as a quick primer, good for that.
August 17, 2020
bogged by an occasionaly incoherent translation tbh
November 2, 2022
confusing. wild. a few lovely lines but overall what the HELL is going on.
May 24, 2024
Was not terribly fond of the translation, to read again in Italian.
November 18, 2024
Very cool stuff very Aristotelian at times but also very starkly not at others. Still not 100% what the contemplation he talks about is.
December 4, 2024
big plotinus fan girl. phenomenal writing and good points, blending of platonism and religion.
July 14, 2025
Great book, great intros, great and translations! Thank you!
Want to read
September 16, 2025Robert John Russel references Plotinus in his book "Time in Eternity: Pannenberg, Physics, and Eschatology in Creative Mutual Interaction" - should read this to understand his point better.
March 19, 2025
"Were one to ask Nature why it produces, it might-if willing-thus reply: 'You should never have put the question. Silently, as I am silent and little given to talk, you should have tried to understand."
What struck me most in reading this small volume was the beauty of the words. I have read several of these treatises before, in other translations, but in O'Brien's rendering they achieve a wonderful balance of clarity and poetry. One can only lament he never did a full translation.
Plotinus's thought itself, I am of course completely taken with. Many of these are spiritual classics in their own right, and I will come back to them in this translation again and again. On Beauty, On the Good or the One, On the Descent of the Soul, etc, are to me masterpieces. And all of the treatises included here have haunting and poignant passages about the Ineffable, the Good, the Beautiful.. God if you will, about religious ecstasy, about contemplative practice, about virtue, and about (to use Schelling's phrase) "nature's connection with the spirit world."
Whether read to gain insight into the roots of Christian mysticism, or as a spiritual and mystical guide in his own right, I heartily recommend Plotinus, and this translation as a starting point. I would also recommend A H Armstrong's Plotinus as a companion to it, as well as Pierre Hadot's Plotinus, or The Simplicity of Vision.
What struck me most in reading this small volume was the beauty of the words. I have read several of these treatises before, in other translations, but in O'Brien's rendering they achieve a wonderful balance of clarity and poetry. One can only lament he never did a full translation.
Plotinus's thought itself, I am of course completely taken with. Many of these are spiritual classics in their own right, and I will come back to them in this translation again and again. On Beauty, On the Good or the One, On the Descent of the Soul, etc, are to me masterpieces. And all of the treatises included here have haunting and poignant passages about the Ineffable, the Good, the Beautiful.. God if you will, about religious ecstasy, about contemplative practice, about virtue, and about (to use Schelling's phrase) "nature's connection with the spirit world."
Whether read to gain insight into the roots of Christian mysticism, or as a spiritual and mystical guide in his own right, I heartily recommend Plotinus, and this translation as a starting point. I would also recommend A H Armstrong's Plotinus as a companion to it, as well as Pierre Hadot's Plotinus, or The Simplicity of Vision.
January 20, 2016
Definitely a good book and it was high time I read Plotinus. Obviously, while there are some things in Platonism and Neoplatonism that parallel Christian theology, there are definitely things that are NOT compatible within a Christian framework. Plotinus espouses reincarnation and a division between "Being" and "the One"; in Christianity the former is rejected, while the latter is held to be one and the same; albeit possibly distinct in a Trinitarian framework. Plotinus' notion that the One is transcendent, while Psuche (Soul) and Nous (intelligence) is not, seems very problematic, given that numerics must stand for something, not nothing. Also, Platonism and Neoplatonism both espouse theurgy, and that, in a pagan and pantheistic framework. Other than the preceding, there are many things in here that support certain aspects of Christian theology. One can also see much here that influenced later philosophical movements, especially German idealism. A very good read. I will probably pick up his complete works at some point in the future.
May 22, 2025
For those unable to read ancient Greek, this feels like an essential entry point into Plotinus' work. O'Brien's translation comes across as both opinionated and lively, essential qualities often lacking in other philosophy works in translation that strive for transparency or "clarity" at the cost of coherence and vigor (see almost every academic translation of Aristotle). The curation feels sufficient to orient me with respect to Plotinus' overall project and method, and to inspire me to delve deeper into the Enneads, though I would leave further judgment of that to someone who has read them.
Absolutely fascinating and crucial for those looking for a reasoned exploration of Platonism taken to its logical endpoint and then pushed beyond it. There is value in approaching Plotinus' work from both a philosophical and mystical point of view, though I would argue the former is the superior approach and will clarify and hone one's initial understanding of the nature of "mysticism" itself. Dive in, rejoice, and above all stay contemplating.
Absolutely fascinating and crucial for those looking for a reasoned exploration of Platonism taken to its logical endpoint and then pushed beyond it. There is value in approaching Plotinus' work from both a philosophical and mystical point of view, though I would argue the former is the superior approach and will clarify and hone one's initial understanding of the nature of "mysticism" itself. Dive in, rejoice, and above all stay contemplating.
March 15, 2016
A terrific read and a bold philosophical vision. Plotinus, with his philosophy, reduces the world to contemplation, where the act of thinking penetrates all being. The ultimate goal is to escape all earthly entanglements, desires, troubles, etc., and abstract ourselves spiritually. He talks about his concept of The One, which for Plotinus seems to be Truth and goodness, which can be apprehended via contemplation. The One is non-discursive. I appreciate this unique and early Greek/neo-Platonist vision, which is in stark contrast to modern philosophy, such as the early empiricists and the later logical positivists.
June 29, 2017
Read The Descent of the Soul: IV. 8 (pp. 62-71), The Good and the One: VI. 9 (pp. 73-89), The Three Primal Hypostases: V.1 (pp. 91-105), Contemplation: III.8 (pp. 163-175).
Plotinus experienced some kind of enlightenment experience.
Later read the section on Beauty; would like to read the others.
Plotinus experienced some kind of enlightenment experience.
Later read the section on Beauty; would like to read the others.
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