Soul purified
Reading Plotinus, treatise I.6.[1]: On Beauty. Part V.
“The form of the good is the last thing to be seen, and it is reached only with difficulty. Once one has seen it, however, one must conclude that it is the cause of all that is correct and beautiful in anything, that it produces both light and its source in the visible realm, and that in the intelligible realm it controls and provides truth and understanding, so that anyone who is to act sensibly in private or public must see it.”
(Plato, Republic VII, 517b)
There is this view attributed to the Platonists, that art is worthless. Why? Because if reality is nothing but an imitation of eternal Ideas, then art would be an imitation of an imitation. If a man’s body is only an image of a higher reality, then a sculpture of this body would be an image of an image. This is what is said about Plato and all who acknowledge his influence. But nothing could be further from the truth. With Plotinus, we read:
“But if anyone despises the arts because they produce their works by imitating nature, we must tell him, first, that natural things are imitations too. Then he must know that the arts do not simply imitate what they see, but they run back up to the forming principles from which nature derives; then also that they do a great deal by themselves, and, since they possess beauty, they make up what is defective in things. For Phidias too did not make his Zeus from any model perceived by the senses, but understood what Zeus would look like if he wanted to make himself visible.”
(Plotinus, V.8.1.)
The arts do not merely imitate imitations of Ideas, rather, they seek to express what the Ideas would look like if they would manifest themselves to the senses, not as an imitation, bus as themselves. Referring to the Athenian sculptor Phidias who made a statue of Zeus, Plotinus says that he did not imitate Zeus from anything perceived by the senses. Evidently, for Zeus cannot be seen by the senses. Rather, Phidias made a sculpture of “what Zeus would look like if he wanted to make himself visible.” In art, it is the invisible that is made visible. For a Platonist, everything that is ordinarily visible to us by our senses is only visible because it has an origin in something (usually) invisible —the Intelligible realm of Intellect and the Forms. But these Forms as such, they usually don’t make themselves visible to the senses. But, through various activities, their Beauty can shine forth in the material realm, and become somewhat visible to the senses. This happens in all great art, and this happens through virtuous action. When someone acts virtuously, you can see the “awe-inspiring visage of courage or dignity and reserve circling around a calm and unaffected disposition.”(I.6.5. 15) And art makes Intelligible Beauty shine forth in matter, thus aiding matter and its call for Being, to “make up what is defective in things.”(V.8.1.)
I. §1.6.6.
I.1. Purification
Here is the problem: we are so attached to matter, that we are incapable of letting the true Beauty that is our essential nature make itself manifest. And here is the solution: purification.
“For it is indeed the case, as the ancient doctrine has it, that self-control and courage and every virtue is a purification and is wisdom itself.” (I.6.6.)
In virtue, we refuse to let matter influence us, and we choose to influence matter by way of acting in conformance with Ideas. Our body trembles with fear, yet we do not listen to our body, and we act on the Idea of Courage. Our desires drag us into excessive sense-pleasure, but through self-control we stay centred. Looking out at the world, our eyes and minds become enamoured by all that there is to see and understand here, yet we refuse to look, and we choose to keep our vision focussed internally. This is the basic movement through which the soul purifies itself. Not only in order to retreat from the world and live a life of quiet contemplation, but in order to grasp the essence of things, so that we can now go forth into the world again, but this time as creators. Having knowledge of the Forms, we can now inform matter.
“The lover is turned to the great sea of beauty, and, gazing upon this, he gives birth to many gloriously beautiful ideas and theories.”
(Plato, Symposium, 210 c-d)
The purification Plotinus speaks about is a conversion from one mode of being, to a very different mode of being. It is from being a thing acted upon by material interactions, to an essence who is able to act on things.
Spinoza says: “The more perfection each thing has, the more it acts and the less it is acted on; and conversely, the more it acts, the more perfect it is.”(Ethica. V. Pr. 40)
Joy being, for Spinoza, nothing but the feeling of going from a lesser to a greater perfection. That is, joy is when we feel our capacity to act increase. Joy is the feeling of ourselves becoming active.
The more we are able to act from our own essence, in conformance with Ideas, the more perfection there is in us. And the more we act from what the senses tell us, in conformance with material impulses, the less perfection there is in us. Why? Because only in the first scenario can we truly be said to act, while in the second scenario, we are only acted upon, our only agency consisting in reaction. In other words, acting from our essence as Soul, there is literally more Being in this action, than if we were to follow the guidance of our material existence. There is more action in this act, and it is more truly an act —an action finding its origin in itself.
Once again, Plotinus compares this mode of being attached entirely to matter to the life of a pig. Instead of desiring cleanliness, they have come to desire filth. They do not seek to rid themselves of the material, pursuing higher goals, rather, they seek to bathe in matter.
I.2. Becoming Form
“What would true self-control be, besides not having anything to do with the pleasures of the body and fleeing them as impure and as not belonging to one who is pure? And what is courage but the absence of fear of death?” (I.6.6.)
What is fear of death? It is fear of dissolution, of Being being no more. But for Plotinus, death is bodily dissolution. And as such, in line with Socrates’ thoughts in the Phaedo, death is merely the confrontation with the Intelligible. No longer connected to body, we come face to face to with our Selves. Courage is then left for he who does not fear being separated from his body, and is able to overcome the fear of dissolution, for he knows that it is an illusion. In fact, this so called dissolution of the body is not the end of Being, but rather an unveiling, in which Being finally presents itself fully. It follows, that he who has Courage, is he who desires Being above all else. This is why for Plato, and Plotinus, courage is a supreme philosophical virtue. There is no philosophy without a desire for wisdom, not only as a theoretical knowledge, but also as a lived experience of the truth of Being. And he who desires Being, does not fear death. Plotinus says that, death being the separation from the body, it is “not feared by one who longs to be alone.”(I.6.6.) It is body that connects us to the outside world and to other people, for without body, what remains is only our Soul, not yet individualized as a particular soul. As Soul, we are one with our Divine origin in Intellect. And as we know, in Intellect there is nothing but Intellect and its proper activity —intellection, the producing of Forms. In other words, Intellect is alone with itself, having nothing to turn to but its own activity which is its being. Intellect is self-thinking thought, which means that its Being —thought—, and its activity —thinking—, are one and the same thing. Contrary to Intellect, we as individual souls connected to a body, are never alone with ourselves. We think about this or that, we desire this person or that feeling. Our entire activity, is a turning to what is other than ourselves. And death is nothing but the announcement of the ending of this Being-with. Death is the end of us being with others, being with matter, and thinking about what is other than ourselves. Death forces us to be entirely present to ourselves. And it is this presence that is feared in the fear of death. And it is this presence that is desired in he who shows true courage.
“Greatness of soul is actually contempt for the things here below. And wisdom is the intellection that consists in a turning away from the things below, leading the soul to the things above.”(I.6.6.)
Plotinus now says that when the soul is purified from its material attachments, it “becomes form, and an expressed principle, and entirely incorporeal and intellectual and wholly divine, which is the source of beauty and of all things that have a kinship with it.”(I.6.6.)
We have already touched on this. In truth, the only ‘things’ with any creative force whatsoever are the Forms. As the thoughts of Intellect, it are the forms that create the visible universe. As such, when the soul ceases being acted upon by matter, and recognizes its true nature, it can now itself become like a Form: a principle of action, that is able to create its own life, that is able to exercise its dominion over matter. As we saw, Soul emanates out of Intellect by way of Intellect’s thinking itself. And with Soul, in a similar process, individual souls emanate from soul. It can be said that the Soul is the thought of Intellect, and that individual souls are the thoughts of Soul. Through the kinship and lineage that exists between the hypostases, we are nothing but the thoughts of God. It is when we realize this, that we can take on our true task, to be like Forms — original thoughts, endowed with the force to create reality, to shape our lives anew, in conformity with Divine Reason.
In being “assimilated to god”, the soul discovers its true essence, which is of the Intelligible, and which is identical to Being and Beauty.
II.3. Beauty, Being, and the Good
Plotinus now says something interesting, which will complicate matters further from what we have already said.
“We should posit Beauty, which is the Good from which Intellect comes, which is itself identical with Beauty. And Soul is beautiful by Intellect. Other things are beautiful as soon as the are shaped by Soul, including examples of beauty in actions and in practices. Moreover, bodies that are said to be beautiful are so as soon as Soul makes them so. For inasmuch as it is divine and, in a way, a part of Beauty, it makes all that it grasps and masters beautiful.” (I.6.6.)
We have said that Intellect is identical to Being, and identical to Beauty. But now it seems, that Plotinus is saying that Beauty is beyond Intellect, and that Intellect comes from Beauty. Yet at the same time, Intellect is still identical to Beauty. How does this work? In Plotinus’ system, there is first the One, then there is Intellect, and then there is Soul. It is this One, which is identified with the Good, from which Intellect emerges. Intellect being Being, this Good is beyond Being. And Intellect being Beauty, this Good is beyond Beauty. But as the source of Intellect, the Good is also the source of Beauty. We are thus offered what seems like a paradox: the One Good is beyond Beauty, because it is beyond Being, yet at the same time it is identical with Beauty, because it is the source of all Intelligible and other beauty. We must remind ourselves of how hypostases come to exist. How did Intellect emerge out of the One? It is because the One’s activity is entirely concentrated in itself, because it contemplates itself, that Intellect emerges. Said otherwise, the activity of the One (contemplating itself) is Intellect, which is self-thinking-thought. So in this sense, as much as Beauty is identical to Being or Intellect, it was already present in the One. The One is productive of Beauty, and this Beauty is Intellect. Intellect’s activity is self-thinking thought, an activity characterized as Beauty, but Intellect’s essence, what makes it what it is, is the One Good. And in this same way, the essence of this force we call Beauty, is the One.
II. §I.6.7.
II.1. The most worthy vision
“We must, then, ascend to the Good, which every soul desires.” (I.6.7. 1)
Every soul desires the Good, Plotinus claims. At the start of treatise I.6. we read that every soul naturally turns to what is beautiful, and naturally turns away from what is ugly. In the same way, every soul naturally turns towards the good, even though it isn’t conscious of it. In fact, this natural turning towards the beautiful things of the senses, is explained by this very movement of naturally turning towards the good. For why did we naturally turn to beautiful things? Because they gave expression to Ideas, and thus to Being and Life, and thus to Beauty. Everything we call beautiful acts as a sign, a stepping-stone towards the great Beauty beyond Being —the Good.
This is the beauty of Platonism. Even though there is a supreme Beauty, existing far above the sensible beauties, which is to be desired most of all, there is no condemnation of sensible beauty. The beauty of nature, a beautiful person, a beautiful custom, a great work of art. All these things sing the praise of the one Beauty, and in making this beauty manifest on earth, are they not to be praised most of all? For, what is the One, but this process of outflowing, of sharing its Goodness with all that is. And thus, in acting beautifully, in becoming beautiful ourselves, or in creating a beautiful work of art, we share in this Divine process. In creating beauty, we act like the One. The gift of Beauty, the greatest gift of all. But we cannot give what we do not have, and thus, we must first become Beautiful ourselves. And thus, we must revert to the Good. And attaining the Good, the “primary Beauty” as Plotinus calls it, its lovers will be made beautiful and lovable. (I.6.7. 30)
“And with the Good as the prize the greatest and ‘ultimate battle is indeed set before souls’, a battle in which our entire effort is directed towards not being deprived of the most worthy vision.” (1.6.7. 31.)
There is no task more important, than to attain this vision of the Good. For one, because it offers the experience of the greatest beauty and love, and since we all naturally desire beauty and love, no one will want to miss out on this experience. But also, as Plato tells us in book 7 of The Republic concerning the Good, “anyone who is to act sensibly in private or public must see it.”(Plato, Republic VII, 517b) The mysticism of Plotinus is not the mysticism that advises us to renounce the world, and to never care for it ever again. It is rather a philosophy, a love of wisdom, for which mysticism is a necessary component of its activity. The philosopher desires wisdom, which is conceived of as being a life lived in accordance with truth. But in order to live such a life, we must first see the Truth. And to see the Truth, we have to purify our souls from all that the senses have to offer. And once we have reverted back to the One, we can now act from the One. Once we have seen Beauty, we can now create Beauty. Hence, the ‘ultimate battle is set before souls’. All other battles, for this or that good, for material gain, for sovereignty, for worldly freedom, for justice or for anything else, are only downstream from the battle between Good and Evil that lies at the heart of each and every soul. It is this Good, that makes other things good. And it is only when we are in possession of this Good, that we can make other things good. Like is only known by like, and we can only give birth to what is our own. Hence, the task to ascend to the Good, the task to see Beauty, “the most extreme toil and struggle that a soul will face.” (Plato, Phaedrus, 247b)
Referring to Plotinus’ saying that the greatest battle is set before souls, Russian philosopher Lev Shestov writes:
“Philosophy must not, then, be a looking around, a turning backward, as we have become accustomed to think—to look backward is the end of all philosophy—but it must go forward fearlessly, without taking account of anything whatever, without turning around to look at anything whatever. That is why the divine Plato said: “It is necessary to dare everything,” without fearing, he ads, to pass as impudent. And Plotinus also tells us: “A great and final struggle awaits the soul.” This is also what Nietzsche’s “will to power” wished to be. Philosophy is not Besinnen but struggle. And this struggle has no end and will have no end. The kingdom of God, as it is written, is attained through force.”
(Lev Shestov, Athens and Jerusalem, LXVI, 330)
Yet again, we have a case of misunderstanding. Philosophy is indeed a ‘looking backward’, but it ceases being philosophy, when looking backward is all it is. Philosophy is a re-ascent to our Divine lineage, but it falls into mere mysticism, or bland contemplation, when it is not also interested in re-descending once journey’s end has been reached. Hence, why the Platonic ideal of the philosopher is not the wise man sitting on a mountaintop, but the guardian. The one who ascends to the Good, but who also chooses to re-descend, now armed with wisdom.
Those who spend their life only in pure contemplation, are no true philosophers. They know truth, they contemplate the Forms, but they refuse to in-form the world, “thinking that they had settled while still alive in the faraway Isles of the Blessed.”(Plato, Republic, VII, 519c). Plato says that the philosopher should “make the ascent and see the good.” But once the philosopher has made it, he should “go down again to the prisoners in the cave and share their labors and honors.”(Plato, Republic, VII, c-d) The philosopher should not seek to escape life, he should seek to create a better life. He should not seek to escape what is ugly, but should seek to make it beautiful. But in order to do so, one must first know what a better life is like, and one must know what beauty is.
Having attained knowledge of the Good, the philosopher should now seek to shape reality in accordance with the Good. The guardian-philosopher, acting himself as a Form on earth, an Idea incarnate, an “expressed principle”. The kingdom of God is indeed attained through force, and no challenge requires more force, than the challenge of coming face to face with our Divine lineage, of killing off all that stands in the way of seeing Beauty. But having seen Beauty, the philosopher should now seek to create beauty where it is lacking —in matter.
Sources:
Plato. Complete Works. Edited by John M. Cooper. Cambridge: Hackett, 1997.
Plotinus, The Enneads. Edited by Lloyd P. Gerson. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018.
Spinoza. Ethics. Translated by Edwin Curley. London: Penguin, 1996.
Lev Shestov. Athens and Jerusalem. Translated by Bernard Martin. Ohio: Ohio University Press, 1966.