Friday, August 21st, 1981

WISDOM'S GOLDENROD, JUNE FRITCHMAN SEMINAR NOTES (TYPED)

AUGUST 21, 1981

PLOTINUS; SOUL; TIME & ETERNITY

TOPIC: Plotinus

SUBJECT: Soul

SUBSUBJECT: Time and Eternity

BOOKS READ FROM OR REFERENCED:

• Plotinus, The Enneads (MacKenna translation, 4th ed.)

• John Francis Callahan, Four Views of Time in Ancient Philosophy

• Paul Brunton, The Hidden Teaching Beyond Yoga

• F. Th. Stcherbatsky, Buddhist Logic, Vol. 1

• H.P. Blavatsky, The Secret Doctrine, Vol. 1

PLOTINUS QUOTES READ OR REFERENCED: III.7.2, III.7.5, III.7.11, IV.4.15, IV.7.9

DIAGRAMS appended to these notes:

• FIGURE 1981 0821-1. Soul Ring, Eternity and Time.

• FIGURE 1981 0821-2. Three Grades of Life; Divided Line.

TYPED by JF; REFORMATTED by IT 2024

NOTES:

• RETYPED HANDWRITTEN NOTES (V08.1). From JF Notes.

• In 2024, IT updates prefatory matter and footer, completes Book List, adds Plotinus quotes section, fixes typos, adds notes, reformats to accord with new conventions.

1981 08/21 SEMINAR at Wisdom's Goldenrod

Plotinus; Soul; Time & Eternity

[JF Notes Begin]

--Another take on Plotinus' writings on Time & Eternity--

***

Callahan: Four Views of Time: "Time--The Life of the Soul"

IV.7.9

Eternity is equivalent to "life instantaneously instant [sic; infinite]". [Note: See Plotinus, III.7.5, last paragraph.]

DIAGRAM OF HOUSES 5-12 (Fig. 1981 0821-1): [Of the Soul Ring Planets, Saturn in Leo through Mercury Pisces Nature]: these are perpetuity, first [two] and last nature, others soul. Mercury Pisces Nature in time: Saturn in Leo [& Jupiter in Virgo] part of the soul in eternity.

Eternity: unchanging, not in succession.

Essence of soul is the principle of Life.

Time is not an abstraction from the world of sense, but (it) is the other way around.

Plotinus: "Time has a substantial existence."

Time is a descent from I.P. [Intellectual-Principle], from eternity.

DIAGRAM (Fig. 1981 0821-2): Divided Line with Time (outward aspect of Sun in Aquarius), Perpetual Life, Eternal Life. Referring to entire diagram: So 3 grades of life.

III.7.11

PB: "Time is the form of thought." [Note: See Paul Brunton, The Hidden Teaching Beyond Yoga, p. 301 in Dutton 1969 hardcover edition.]

Time is not the motion of the stars, but that motion is produced by time; Reason spreads (it) out (which is time), (into the) primordial image.

"Life is the unity of soul."

Succession only in the products of the soul.

Perpetuity -- continuous reasoning of the soul.

Time as the substance of continuity.

Experiencing the soul's life rather than the body's motion

Buddhists' view: no activity in the soul in each still [cinema analogy]. But soul produces those stills.

III.7.2.

Also quotes (from) Stcherbatsky [Note: See F. Th. Stcherbatsky, Buddhist Logic, Vol. 1.]

Also about Time in Pralaya [Blavatsky?] [Note: See H.P. Blavatsky, The Secret Doctrine, Volume 1 of two volume set.]

IV.4.15

[JF Notes End]