Eternity in the Noetic Realm and as the One

 15 May 2023

Eternity in the Noetic Realm and as the One

“For even here below a thoughtful life is majesty and beauty in truth, though it is dimly seen.  But there it is seen clearly: for it gives to the seer sight and power to live more, and by living more intensely to see and become what he sees.  For here below most of our attention is directed to lifeless things, and when it is directed to living beings what is lifeless in them stands in the way, and the life within them is mixed.  But there all are living beings, living as wholes and pure; and if you take something not to be a living being it immediately itself flashes out its life.  But when you contemplate the substance running through them, giving them a life which does not move by changing, and the thought and the wisdom and knowledge in them, you will laugh at the lower nature for its pretension to substantiality.  For by this substance life abides and intellect abides, and the real beings stand still in eternity . . . “

(Plotinus, Ennead VI.6, On Numbers, 18.25 - 18.35, Translated by A. H. Armstrong, Plotinus: Ennead VI.6-9, 1988, Loeb Classical Library, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, page 73, ISBN: 9780674995154)

“Even here the august and veritably beautiful life is the life in wisdom, here dimly seen, There purely.  For There wisdom gives sight to the seer and power for the fuller living and in that tenser life both to see and to become what is seen.

“Here attention is set for the most part upon the unliving and, in the living, upon what is lifeless in them; the inner life is taken only with alloy: There, all are Living Beings, living wholly, unalloyed; however you may choose to study one of them apart from its life, in a moment that life is flashed out upon you: once you have known the Essence that pervades them, conferring that unchangeable life upon them, once you perceive the judgment and wisdom and knowledge that are theirs, you can but smile at all the lower nature with its pretension to Reality.

“In virtue of this Essence it is that life endures, that the Intellectual-Principle endures, that the Beings stand in their eternity; . . . “

(Plotinus, The Enneads, VI.6, On Numbers, Translated by Stephen McKenna, Plotinus: The Enneads, Larson Publications, Burdett, New York, 1992, page 632, ISBN: 9780943914558)

1.  This passage is a series of contrasts that Plotinus uses to describe what our existence, our life, is like in materiality, as opposed to what life is like in ‘nous’, the second hypostasis.  (As I have mentioned before, ‘nous’ is often translated as ‘intellect’, but it is also translated as Mind or Spirit.)  

2.  This series of contrasts is signaled by Plotinus through the use of the words ‘here’ in the material dimension’ and ‘there’, sometimes ‘There’, which means the dimension of nous/intellect/mind/spirit.  This is a pattern that appears in a number of Enneads; the pattern being the contrast between ‘here’ and ‘there’.

3.  I think that this passage is based on the direct experience that Plotinus has had of the noetic realm and Plotinus is using that experience to inspire people to ascend to that realm.  This is helpful for students who have not yet experienced the noetic realm; it helps students because a passage like this is inspirational as the noetic realm is depicted in very attractive terms.

4.  Plotinus does not similarly describe what the One is like because the One is ineffable and beyond predication, affirmation or negation.  The noetic realm is dependent upon the One, but nothing can be asserted of the One.  But rather than remain completely silent, Plotinus uses his experience of the noetic realm, which is immediately adjacent, or next to the One, to inspire his students on their journey.

5.  Plotinus starts out by pointing to the traces of the transcendent that are found in the material realm such as the majesty, beauty, and truth of the noetic realm which can be dimly accessed here in the material realm.  Here majesty, beauty, and truth are seen dimly.  There majesty, beauty, and truth are clearly seen.  

This indicates a difference in degree rather than kind.  It’s a matter of the metaphysical ‘distance’ from the One.  The material realm in which we dwell is very distant from the One.  The noetic realm is, in contrast, as close as at is possible to be to the One.

It is like sunlight: the nearer you are to the sun the brighter and more radiant the light.  If you are very far from the sun, say on Pluto, or an even more distant solar system object, the light of the sun will be dim and remote.

6.  The three primary facets of the noetic realm are Being, Life, and Intellect or Mind.  These are facets but not separate functions; they are completely united in the noetic realm, but because we dwell in the material realm, the realm of disunity, the realm where things exist one thing after another, we have to talk about these three aspects one at a time.  Think of someone you know who is a father, a husband, owns a company, and likes to play baseball.  We have to talk about these facets of this person one at a time, but the person doesn’t feel fragmented by these various facets.

7.  Plotinus uses Being, Life, and Intellect as a way of structuring his comments about the noetic realm.  For example, in the last quoted sentence, Plotinus states, “For by this substance LIFE abides and INTELLECT abides, and the real BEINGS stand still [i.e. abides] in eternity.”  Here Plotinus points to a unity that is above the noetic realm, that unity being the Eternal.

8.  Being, Life, and Intellect are eternal realities (as are numbers, which is one of the connections between this passage and what Plotinus has to say about numbers).  But their eternal nature is derived from the Eternal as such.  

I think of the Eternal as another name for the One.  Like other words, such as the beautiful, that Plotinus uses the meaning changes somewhat depending on what hypostasis Plotinus focuses on.  The beautiful here is dim and subject to dispersion.  The beautiful There is radiant and not subject to dispersion.  Similarly the eternal in the noetic realm is structured into facets that are dependent upon the emanation from the One to receive their eternal nature.  In other words, Being, Life, and Intellect/Mind, and their eternal nature, are a dependent eternality, whereas the One is inherently Eternal by its very nature.

9.  Plotinus does not speak often about the eternal.  Much more often Plotinus speaks about the Beautiful and Intellect and Being.  But there is an Ennead devoted to a discussion about Eternity and Time; the Ennead has that title.  My recollection is that in that Ennead Plotinus talks about eternity in the noetic realm, using it as a contrast to the temporal experience of the material realm.  But in this Ennead eternity appears as the source from which the basic facets of the noetic are derived.

10.  It takes a while to get used to how Plotinus shifts meanings with certain key terms as his focus moves from one hypostasis to another.  But once you get a clear understanding of the Platonic map of the metaphysical ascent to the One, this kind of shift in meaning becomes natural and useful.

11.  One way I understand the nature of soul in Platonism is that the soul is the presence of eternity in the ephemeral individual.  This is how the soul is connected to the One, by this presence of eternity.

12.  Awakening to the presence of eternity within is done by mimicking the stillness, the silence, and the clarity of the eternity found within.  And mimicking this stillness and silence is accomplished by, and is the nature of, ascetic practice.