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Plotinus Quotes

Browse 7 quotes about Plotinus.

Plotinus Quotes

“When one has achieved the object of one's desires, it is evident that one's real desire was not the ignorant possession of the desired object but to know it as possessed--as actually contemplated, as within one.”

Desire Ignorance Possession Contemplation Phenomenon Object Plotinus

Book:The Essential Plotinus

Source: The Essential Plotinus

“According to Plotinus (c. 204/5—270 CE), God is Intelligence or Mind (Nous), and the world is created out of God (ex deo) and not from nothing (ex nihilo). “The power of the One is to provide a foundation (arkhe) and location (topos) for all existents. The foundation provided by the One is intelligence. The location in which the cosmos takes objective shape and determinate, physical, form is the soul.” … “The being of intelligence is thought, and the thought of intelligence is Being.” … “No idea is different from intelligence but is itself intelligence.” Plotinus accepted the Stoic’s idea of logoi spermatikoi; for him, logoi spermatikoi is a bridge between the soul and the material.”

God Universe Cosmos Dejan Stojanovic Absolute Universal Mind Logos Religions Plotinus Divine Mind

Book:ABSOLUTE

Source: ABSOLUTE

“Never did an eye see the sun unless it had first become sun-like, and never can the soul have vision of the First Beauty unless itself be beautiful.”

Inspirational Beauty Sun Plotinus

Book:Tangled Tides

Source: Tangled Tides

“One jests because one wants to contemplate.”

Comedy Expression Communication Dialogue Contemplation Mysticism Interaction Plotinus Jesting

Book:The Essential Plotinus

Source: The Essential Plotinus

“They have been instructed by nature and the sacred laws to serve the living God, who is superior to the good, and more simple than the one, and more ancient than the unit; with whom, however, who is there of those who profess piety that we can possibly compare?”

Philosophy Theology Plotinus Neoplatonism Divine Simplicity

Book:The Works of Philo

Source: The Works of Philo

“Fusing the doctrines of Plotinus and Proclus with the creeds and beliefs of Christianity, Dionysius the Pseudo-Areopagite combined the Neo-Platonic conviction of the fundamental oneness and luminous aliveness of the world with the Christian dogmas of the triune God, original sin and redemption. The universe is created, animated and unified by the perpetual self-realization of what Plotinus had called "the One," what the Bible had called "the Lord," and what he calls "the superessential Light.”

God Christianity Unity Theology Oneness Dogma Plato Medieval Platonic Plotinus Neoplatonism Abbot Suger St Denis Procus Pseudo Areopagite Pseudo Dionysius

Book:Meaning in the Visual Arts

Source: Meaning in the Visual Arts

“That the matter originated just by itself or was always "there" in the form of "energy" and organized itself into superbly sophisticated organisms forming the Universe borders on insanity. We can, perhaps, all (both atheists and those who believe in a higher source) agree that there always was Something. The question is how we define this Something. It is much easier to prove that the Something always existed than to prove the opposite. Scientists can deal with this Something more easily because, moving back, step by step, scientists will come to nothing. When they come to nothing, the "spotless spot" before the Big Bang, they will have to scientifically explain how all the reality, the whole of what we think the "Universe" is, was contained within an immeasurable "spotless spot." Once they find the answer, they will understand that this "spotless spot" from which everything originated is immaterial and spaceless. This immaterial Being is the Creator of all reality and is the reality itself. Plotinus would call this reality intelligence or mind.”

Science Dejan Stojanovic Absolute Universal Mind Big Bang Black Holes Stephen Hawking No Boundary Proposal Plotinus

Book:ABSOLUTE

Source: ABSOLUTE