Both/And

9 December 2022

Both/And 

“But when you see him [The One], look at him as a whole; but when you think him, think whatever you remember about him, that he is the Good – for he is the productive power of thoughtful, intelligent life, from whom come life and intelligence and whatever there is of substance and being – that he is One – for he is simple and first – that he is the Principle – for all things come from him; from him comes the first movement (for it is not in him); from him comes rest, because he had no need of rest: for ‘he does not move, nor does he stand still’ . . . “

(Plotinus, Ennead V.5.10, Plotinus Ennead V, translated by A. H. Armstrong, Loeb Classical Library, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1984, page 187, ISBN: 9780674994898)

“Then it [The One] does not change its place by going anywhere or into anything, nor does it revolve in a circle, nor change.”

“Apparently not.”

“Then the one is without any kind of motion.”

“It is motionless.”

“Furthermore, we say that it cannot be in anything.”

“We do.”

“Then it is never in the same.”

“Why is that?”

“Because it would then be in that with which the same is identical.”

“Certainly.”

“But we saw that it cannot be either in itself or in anything else.”

“No, it cannot.”

“Then the one is never in the same.”

“Apparently not.”

“But that which is never in the same is neither motionless nor at rest.”

“No, it cannot be so.”

“The one, then, it appears, is neither in motion or at rest.”

“No, apparently not.”

(Plato, Parmenides, Plato: Cratylus, Parmenides, Greater Hippias, Lesser Hippias, translated by Harold North Fowler, Loeb Classical Library, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1926, pages 241 – 243, ISBN: 9780674991859)

1.  These two passages are examples of the negative way; a contemplative process where the ultimate, in this case The One, is approached by negating all pairs of opposites; meaning that, in this case, The One is neither in motion nor at rest.  The idea is that The One transcends any division, is prior to any division, as The One is purely One.

2.  This approach was adopted by Dionysius the Areopagite in his work Mystical Theology and came to have a big influence on Christian mysticism.

3.  A challenge to Platonic thought is how can The One be the principle from which all things are created, yet at the same time be changeless.  Partly the answer is that The One is neither changeless nor changing.

4.  It has been helpful to me to look at this from a different perspective.  I look at The One as that which embraces all opposites, that from which all opposites arise.  This perspective was inspired by the yin-yang mandala which I think most readers are familiar with.  It consists of a circle that is divided into two flowing sections.  One section is white and the other section is black.  In the white section there is a dot of black, and in the black section there is a dot of white.

I see the yin-yang mandala as a symbol of The One.  The circle itself symbolizes The One in its primal unity.  The two divisions of the circle symbolize the emergence from The One of primal opposites; I think of the two sections as symbolizing, from a Platonic perspective, the first emergence of division that is found in Intellect and Being, the second hypostasis.  The two dots in each section symbolize further division into Soul, the third hypostasis.  In this way the yin-yang mandala symbolizes the Platonic cosmology as whole.

In the Tao Te Ching, Chapter 42, it says:

            The Tao produced the One.

            The One produced the Two.

            The Two produced the Three.

            The Three produced All things.

(The Tao of Power: A New Translation of the Tao Te Ching, translated by R. W. Wing, Dolphin Book, Garden City, New York, 1986, pages are not numbered; go to Chapter 42, ISBN: 0385196377)

This is a concise statement of an emanationist cosmology.  I’m not saying that Platonism was influenced by Taoism, or that Taoism and Platonism had a common source.  I’m suggesting that they both have a core emanationist perspective of existence and that because of this it is possible to observe significant commonalities.

5.  I think of this as the transcendental both/and.  The One is both at rest and in stillness, both at rest and in motion, both in stasis and constantly changing, both darkness and light.

6.  I think this opens up a possible understanding of how The One creates all things.  All things emerge from The One because The One is change itself; not a change of something, but the change that exists before there is any separation.  Just as the unity of things, the fact that the world consists of things, is due to the transcendental unity of The One, so also the changing nature of all things is due to the transcendental change of Ultimacy.