Thursday, December 17th, 1981

SEMINAR at Wisdom's Goldenrod, Hector, NY

with Anthony Damiani (AD)

December 17, 1981

PLOTINUS; EPISTEMOLOGY

TOPIC: Plotinus

SUBJECT: Epistemology

SUBSUBJECTS: Perception, Mentalism

CONTENTS:

Ennead citations on perception

Mind going out

Diagram: the body is within the heart; within the heart center, already the object

Seed-thought expanding from heart to brain: psychic organism vs. psychosomatic organism

Light of soul animating the body; seed-thought coming in with the light

Does the psyche belong to the soul or the body?; bodies dividing and pluralizing the Intelligible World

Knowing from within; existence from without

Both minds in a greater mind; common vehicles, different souls

Individual mind as the locus of the instantiation of the Ideas, objectively or subjectively

BOOKS READ FROM OR REFERENCED:

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

DIAGRAM embedded in this transcript:

• FIGURE 1981 1217-1. The Body within the Heart, the Object within the Heart Center.

PLOTINUS QUOTES READ OR REFERENCED: I.1.7, IV.3.30, IV.4.1, 2, & 3, IV.4.23, IV.5.1, IV.6.1, 2, & 3, IV.8.8, V.1.12, VI.7.6 & 7

RETYPED AND REFORMATTED by IT 2026

NOTES:

• RETYPED PARTIAL TRANSCRIPT (hence V10). From 1981 1217S1-02R14.PDF. THERE ARE NO AUDIO CASSETTE TAPES EXTANT.

• All spelling corrected.

1981 12/17 SEMINAR at Wisdom's Goldenrod

Plotinus; Epistemology

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SEMINAR, THURS. 12-17-81

EPISTEMOLOGY

Quotes on perception:

IV.4.1, 2, 3. The mind goes out and takes the form of the object, because the mind is the whole world. "There the perception is formed..." Until the mind strikes there is no perception. The very act of the mind going out is the formation of the perception, as determined by the organ the mind exits.

DIAGRAM

When the seed thought in the heart expands outwards and upwards to the brain, then you can speak of the psycho-somatic organism. Before it expands, you can speak only of the psychic organism. A psychical organism is like in a dream, because there is not the physical. The somatic part is at the head.

The light of the Soul (mind) animates that body and interprets the body's functioning. Now you have a psycho-somatic system or an animate. The seed thought comes in with the light.

* I.1.7. Does the psyche part of the psycho-somatic organism belong to the Soul or to the body? The bodies themselves is what divides, pluralizes the intelligible world. But each body will be like a mirror reflecting that original face.

How do we explain mentalism according to Plotinus? What if one animate bumps into another animate? Does it receive something from the outside, since the animate is spoken of as receiving impressions?

The knowing but not the existence will come from within me.

If my knowledge is coming from within me, and your knowledge is coming from within you, our knowledge is coming from an absolute ground. If we come together, the existence of your psycho-somatic organism is from without.

If both minds are included in a greater mind, there would be a similar root in terms of the cosmic production, and there would be similar meanings, etc.

Our vehicles have something in common in the cosmos, but different souls.

* IV.4.23. The individual mind is the locus in which the instantiation of the ideas takes place, objectively or subjectively.

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