Plotinus – The Founder of the Neoplatonic School

Plotinus’ era coincides with the beginning of the end of ancient civilization and the formation of Christianity. In the vast Roman Empire, the internal impulse that drove it was gradually fading away, leading to spiritual upheaval and the emergence of numerous sects. The mysterious centers of knowledge that were the driving force behind ancient culture began to decline, while politics and religion distanced themselves from ethics. In short, there was a collapse of the value system, the old culture and civilization began to crumble, while new ones had not yet been created. In such a decadent Rome, Plotinus founded the Neoplatonic school, dedicating his entire life to learning and transmitting knowledge.

Plotinus’ Life

We know very little about his life, which comes from the biography compiled by his student Porphyry. He was born in Lykopolis in Egypt around 205 AD. We know nothing about his youth as he avoided talking about his origin, and we first encounter him in Alexandria when he is already 28 years old. In Alexandria at that time, he encountered a vibrant intellectual and spiritual environment. Philosophy of East and West and diverse teachings were being explored. In search of the meaning of life, Plotinus listened to various philosophical lectures in the hope of finding the right teacher to help him. He experienced disappointment until he met the dockworker Ammonius Saccas. As soon as he heard his speech, Plotinus said, “This is the man I’ve been looking for!”

Ammonius Saccas was called theodidaktos, meaning “taught by God”, because he supposedly received answers to deep philosophical questions through dreams and visions. He gathered a few disciples around him who found their way to him through persistent seeking, dedication, and readiness to devote themselves to acquiring knowledge. In his school, philosophies and religions of all nations were studied and compared, from the teachings of Plato, Pythagoras, Orpheus to Vedantic, Zoroastrian, Buddhist, and other teachings. This eclectic approach did not mean taking bits and pieces from each teaching and putting them together into a specific system, but rather seeking to find what is at the heart of each of them through their study. They strived beneath the surface and found a common essence that united them. Ammonius taught that the source of all religions is the same, that they are branches of the same tree, and he considered the establishment of universal brotherhood as the greatest goal. He transmitted his teachings orally and bound his followers with an oath not to write them down. His most famous disciples were Clement of Alexandria, Origen, and Plotinus.

Plotinus spent eleven years with Ammonius Saccas. In an attempt to reach India and Persia, where he intended to further study Indian and Persian philosophy, Plotinus joined Emperor Gordian III on a military campaign against the Persians. After a failed campaign in which the emperor was killed, Plotinus returned to Antioch and then settled in Rome. There, he established a school similar to Ammonius Saccas’s and began giving philosophical lectures based on Plato’s teachings. His lectures were more like friendly conversations and he delivered them with great enthusiasm, attracting many influential Romans.

Due to his righteousness, He enjoyed great respect and was often surrounded by children entrusted to him by the citizens. His most prominent student, the Syrian Porphyry, conveys that he radiated moral purity, kindness, and gentleness, but never spoke about himself, did not allow his picture to be made, and even neglected the care of his own body.

In his sixtieth year, with the support of Emperor Galienus, he tried to establish the philosophical city of Platonopolis in Campania, which would be the realization of Plato’s idea of a just state, but he did not succeed due to the emperor’s death. Shortly afterwards, Plotinus withdrew to the estate of his friend in Campania due to illness (some form of leprosy), where he passed away in the year 270. He was only accompanied by his student and physician Eustochius, to whom he uttered his last words: “Try to elevate God within yourself to the divine in everything.”

Enneads

Due to the need in working with students, Plotinus began recording his lectures in his mature age. and answering his students’ questions. His notes were not systematized, nor were the explanations exhaustive, as they were supplemented with interpretations and discussions held in school. His student Porphyry thematically connected them into six groups of nine treatises, as he believed that the harmony between the numbers six and nine was perfect, and he published them thirty years after Plotinus’ death. Thus, the knowledge and experience gained in the Neoplatonic school in Alexandria and in the school in Rome were embodied in the Enneads2.

The following will not discuss each Ennead separately, but will provide an overview of the basic elements of Plotinus’ teachings that permeate the Enneads.

Plotinus’ teachings

Plotinus teaches about the existence of the One from which the “cosmic triad” emerges through emanation. Plotinus describes emanation as “radiation that originates from it, from that which is at rest, like the shine of the Sun that surrounds it as if it revolves around it, radiation that is eternally born from it while it rests”3. The first creation of the One is Nous (Mind), and we can and understanding it as the potential of everything that can come into being, the synthesis of all forces, the latent Universe. From the first principle of the triad, Nous or Spirit, the second principle emerged – the World Soul, which has creative power. The World Soul impresses images into matter, derived from Nous, resulting in the third principle of the triad – the Creation of the manifested Universe.

The same role that the triad plays in the Universe is also present in the microcosm, that is, in the realm of human beings. The reflection of the triad in humans consists of spirit, soul, and body.

The One

The One, the Good, or the Being are names for something that is first, the root of everything visible and invisible, unlimited in space and time. In the Enneads, the One is often referred to as God. By using reason, humans cannot comprehend the One due to the limitations of cognitive knowledge. In order to understand the One, we must be similar to it because, as Plotinus says, the similar is known by the similar. How does one become similar to the One? The soul can comprehend it by uniting with it.

We must not imagine the One as something finite. se svjetlošću istine. Duh je kreativan i životvoran, daje smisao i svrhu svemu što postoji. On je izvor spoznaje i mudrosti, donosi nam unutarnje prosvjetljenje i inspiraciju za djelovanje. Duh je prisutan u svemu što jest, ali najpotpunije ga možemo doživjeti kroz introspekciju i duhovnu praksu. On je veza između naše individualne svijesti i univerzalnog uma, omogućuje nam da spoznamo svoje pravo biće i povežemo se s većim planom postojanja. Kroz duhovni razvoj i usklađivanje s Duhom, postajemo svjesni svoje povezanosti sa svemirom i postižemo duhovnu harmoniju. And it enlightens the soul and makes it rational. The spirit never changes because, “why would it change when it’s good?” Only the imperfect must change until it fulfills its purpose.

Plotinus tells us that we should look “upwards” and strive towards the Spirit who is our king. The human spirit can “see” its “father” and tries to be as similar to Him as possible. Plotinus tells us: “Each individual thing should be observed with what it is supposed to be observed with: some with the eyes, others with the ears, and so on. And, one should believe that something can be seen with the spirit as well…” When we act in harmony with it, we can see things more clearly, understand ourselves and the world around us. Then the veils fall and the Truth reveals itself in all its magnificence. We must not wait for the Spirit to “come” to us, or for the veils to disappear on their own, we must take an active stance. We must start the adventure of self-discovery.

By its spirit, a person can reach the world of ideas and come to the very Spirit itself. It is eternal, unmoving, and peaceful, and it enlightens the soul and makes it rational.

Soul

Around the spirit, The soul revolves and it makes it spiritual. The soul has two parts: the higher soul turned towards the spirit and the lower one turned towards the body, which is transient and perishable. The higher soul is a link between the sensory and super-sensory world. It is like a mirror that reflects what it is turned towards, and it needs to be calm and pure so that the reflection does not distort and appear as something else. If the soul turns towards the spirit, it becomes similar to the divine. Then it will be able to remember what it carries within itself, which has not been illuminated.

A beautiful soul can see with its eyes the beauties that cannot be perceived by the senses. People tend to consider what they cannot see, what they cannot touch, as non-existent. More subtle instruments are needed to grasp a higher reality.

Plotinus calls the soul mixed with the body a bad soul. It is often immoderate, filled with fear, unrest, envy, so it cannot perceive clearly because it is constantly turned outward, towards the lower and the dark. The soul moves from body to body until it achieves its purpose, i.e. When it becomes pure and merges with the source. Every soul gets the place it deserves, and this takes into account not only this life but also previous cycles of rebirth. Plotinus, in this regard, says: “One should not neglect or accept the opinion that takes into account not only the constant present but also previous circles of rebirth, as well as the future, and based on this determines the value of souls and changes their destiny. From those who were previously wicked masters, it makes slaves, and it does so because it is beneficial for them.” That’s why we must not complain about the circumstances in which we live and say how unfair it is. This is not revenge but justice.

Our soul is imprisoned, bound in the body, but despite this, Plotinus does not advise us to pity and mourn, but on the contrary, he says that souls can be happy in this world too, and it is not the wrong place but their powerlessness. In order to purify the soul, we must develop virtues. When we discard everything that is excessive, only the true and eternal will remain.

Each individual soul achieves The soul of the world comes from a single source. It gives itself to everything, yet remains one, just as the Sun gives light but remains unique and unchanging. The soul of the world is one, yet at the same time it is also multiplicity, as it resides in all beings to which it gives life.

The Body

In order for the body to partake in life, the soul must descend into it and lose its wings. Plotinus says that a philosopher should not neglect the body, but rather provide it with what it needs until it can separate from it. This raises the fundamental question: what does the body need?

Plotinus says that a musician carries the lyre as long as they can use it, and when they can no longer do so, they will leave it by their side and sing without an instrument…

There are beauties in perceptible things that we must not discard, but we must strive for higher beauties. Because we must not forget that we are not just a body.

Virtues

Plotinus says that virtues are necessary for the purification of the soul and for it to become like the divine, which is pure. They belong to In the unity of soul and body, which is achieved through exercise, virtues are acquired. Acquiring virtues is within our power because they are the result of our decisions and choices. In order to acquire virtues, we must know precisely what a virtue is. Only when we know what, for example, courage, justice, is can we strive to awaken it within ourselves.

Virtues liberate a person and they represent the realization of the best in the mind. Virtues are activities directed towards the spirit that makes the soul harmonious and beautiful.

Plato said that evils necessarily inhabit mortal nature and that we should escape from them. But how? Certainly not by changing places, but by directing the eyes of the soul towards what is akin to it, towards the spirit, by which we separate ourselves from the body and draw closer to ourselves. Plotinus says: “Its good is to be with what is akin to it, and its evil is to be with what is contrary to it. It must be with it after it has been purified, and it will achieve this when it turns. (…) Is that then its virtue? That is what becomes of it based on turning (…) Did it not have what it looks at and does it not remember it?” She had it, but it was not efficient, but it lay on the unlit side.” Virtues liberate man and they fulfill the best in the mind. Virtues are activities directed towards the spirit that makes the soul harmonious and beautiful. After virtues comes wisdom.

The Philosopher’s Relationship to the Perceptual World

Plotinus tells us that we should understand this world as a theater stage, that we are currently playing our assigned role and that we must accept everything that happens to us. Every person needs to play their role well, but they must not identify with it. “… And when people, who are mortal, fight with weapons in a line of beautiful appearance, as they do in jest in the dance under arms, they manifest that all human seriousness is childish play and proclaim that death is not terrifying at all, and that to die in war or battles means to take earlier what usually happens in old age, to depart faster and return again…”. If we could perceive life in this way, many things would be less dramatic to us.

In the visible In the world, a person necessarily lives in community with a body that brings many troubles, but Plotinus believes that troubles are not useless, but quite the opposite. Namely, we must not forget that within given circumstances, a person always has freedom of choice. They can choose to overcome pain, not to view things like most people, to be cheerful, polite, and brave. Even if a great misfortune befalls us, we can maintain our integrity and set an example for others. If we did not know what evil is, we would not know what good virtue is. The sun shines in both the visible world and the invisible world, and we must not be bats that hide from it. A philosopher must be able to see the beauty behind perceptible things, they must feel excitement when they recognize greatness of the soul, justice, courage, and holiness.

The place and role of humans in the cosmos

Plotinus emphasizes that everything in the cosmos is alive, that the cosmos is filled with immortal beings. It is meaningless to consider that only the human soul is immortal, while the entire “heaven,” although we notice regularity and order there, has no part in it. It is difficult for us to rid ourselves of anthropocentrism, deeply rooted in our subconscious, to understand that we do not have an exclusive right to immortality, that everything does not revolve around the Earth and humans. One of the many beings is man, whom Plotinus places between the gods and the animals. Although man plays a modest role on the cosmic stage, he should take an active stance and strive to know himself and the world around him, rather than complain and wait for what is destined to happen to him. Man possesses the ability to choose. His future depends on what he does and how he lives “here”. If he indulges in pleasures, passions, and fulfilling the desires of the body, it leads to the decay of his soul, i.e. it forgets where it comes from and where it must go. It then lives as if asleep… Awake, it hurries to leave this world and return to where it originated. The true activity of the soul is not caring for the body, but for itself and its unity with the universal soul and merging with the One.

A philosopher must be able to see the beauty behind perceptible things, he must… to feel excitement when recognizing the greatness of the soul, righteousness, bravery, holiness.

1 Today’s Antakya in Turkey, near the border with Syria.
2 The word “Enead” in Greek means “nines”, because of the nine writings in each group.
3 Enead V. 5. 1. 29 – 32
4 Enead I. 1.8.1.
5 intelligible (Latin intellegenter – wisely), that which can only be comprehended by the spirit.
6 Enead V. 5. 12. 1 – 5.
7 Enead III. 2. 13. 1 – 5.
8 Enead I. 2. 4. 15.
9 Enead III. 2. 15. 32 – 57.