Friday, March 19th, 1982

Soul Outline

by Anthony J. Damiani

Paper V09MP

3-LETTER CODE: ASN

TOPIC: Astronoesis

SUBJECT: Soul

SUBSUBJECTS: Third Hypostasis, Absolute Soul, Universal Soul, Individual Soul

ORIGINAL LOCATION & FILE NAME (of PDF used for typing): 1982 0319a V11ap. Plotinus - Soul - Nature.DOC & PDF

BOOKS QUOTED FROM OR REFERENCED:

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

PLOTINUS QUOTES REFERENCED: See Soul Outline in Astronoesis, pp. 170-171, for Plotinus references.

AD HANDWRITING: This retyped version is the same (but prior to the edits) as ASN MASTER SOUL 151-171.PDF (pp. 169-171), which is typewriter typed and has extensive AD edits

COMPLETENESS: Full Paper

PUBLISHABILITY: No, already published in Astronoesis in a different form

ALTERNATE VERSIONS: ASN ALT The One Outline AD Hand.PDF (pp. 6-7) (typewriter typed, few AD edits); AD SUPPG 1-10.PDF (pp. 6-7) (typewriter typed, no edits); Soul Outline as read in WG Classes 1982 0312a and 1982 0402a

DATES ASSOCIATED WITH THIS PAPER: 1982 0312, 0319, 0402

VERSION OF PAPER IN ASTRONOESIS: This is an early draft which is published in a different form in Astronoesis, Chapter 3, Soul, Soul Outline, pp. 170-171

RETYPED AND REFORMATTED by IT 2022

NOTES:

• RETYPED AD PAPER presented in class (V09MP).

• This is 1982 03/19b, Soul Outline, and the second entry associated with this date. 1982 03/19a = Plotinus: Soul & Nature Class. 1982 03/19c = Nature Outline.

SOUL OUTLINE

[Paper as read by AS in WG Class 1982 0319a Begins]

1. The Third Hypostasis is also an authentic essence, Real Being, and similarly constituted by the five genera peculiar to Soul, that is, characterized primarily by Life.

2. It is said to be both a one and a many.

3. In Plotinus Soul as a generic term may be regarded in three distinct ways. Nonetheless in all three its essence or principle is said to be Life. He distinguishes: a) Absolute Soul or the Principle of Life in the Nous, also called Rhea, in Greek Theology; b) the Universal Soul as an outraying of the Absolute Soul toward the manifestation of the fourth Plotinian principle, the system of Nature and the objective world; and c) the Individual Soul which also is rooted in Absolute Soul, in the Divine Mind, but reaches down to its association with bodies. In this last category he places planetary souls, star souls, and the cosmic soul as well.

a) The Absolute Soul is the unity of soul in the Intellectual-Principle, and in this are rooted both Universal and Individual Soul. It is the principle of Life or matter for the Intellectual-Principle, in which all the forms are simultaneously reflected.

b) The Universal Soul is spoken of as two-fold. It is the Providence which presides over the whole of manifestation, and illumines matter with its reason-principles. It is the One Life of the Universe and that is its outer aspect or Fate. Its other aspect is its inner conjunction with Absolute Soul. Thus Plotinus tells of the Royal Soul and Royal Intellect which belong to Zeus.

c) Because of the prior activity of Universal Soul, the groundwork, it now becomes possible for an Individual Soul which can be cosmic in its sweep, to elaborate what is to become the objective manifestation, and for the Individual Souls that are conjoined with various bodies within that cosmos to participate therein. These Individual Souls are not produced by the Universal Soul--they too spring from Absolute Soul and in this unity are in continual contemplation of the Divine Mind. In this contemplation the indeterminate life of Soul is eternally conjoined with a vision of the Idea of Man as in our case. This is the Authentic Man, a true essence, a permanent possibility in the Intellectual-Principle. The tendency of Souls toward secession must be with a desire toward a fuller self-realized vision of this Idea.

4. Through their association with bodies, they are individuated and eventually taught to be self-conscious of their divine origin in the Nous.

5. Each soul is a permanent unity.

6. It is also an outflow of graded powers and life, to unfold what it contemplates in the Intellectual-Principle. It is a logos or transmitter of the Ideas to the cosmos through its multiple powers.

7. Summing up then, for Plotinus, the Individual Soul must be of such a nature--a unity and a multiplicity, divisible and indivisible. At its highest--in the Divine Mind--it is a unity but it has phases and powers which unfold through various levels down to the sensible world. But even in its association with body, with the universe which has been illumined by the Universal Soul, it remains impassive. Soul is entire and indivisible even where its distinct powers are operative.

8. Soul gives from itself a light conjoined to body to the formation of living entities, and thus produces living images of its powers. [Note: In WG Class 1982 0402a, this sentence reads: "It gives from itself a light to the formation of living entities when conjoined to body, and thus produces living images of its powers."] These images, seated in the animate principle, coupled with body, bring about the relation of Individual Soul to the Cosmic Soul.

[Paper as read by AS in WG Class 1982 0319a Ends]