The Web of Descent

16 November 2023

The Web of Descent

Sometimes when I read about the process of emanation in Platonist writings the idea seems to be what is referred to as a ‘line of descent.’  The idea seems to be that a material manifestation is connected to a particular, and traceable, line of emanation and material realities are, for this reason, connected to specific higher realities as their ultimate source.

In my understanding the way emanation happens more closely resembles a web of relationships rather than a line of descent.  I mean that there are horizontal emanations as well as hierarchical emanations; both functioning at the same time.  Here are a few observations:

1.  Think of the sun as an analog for the One.  Human beings are an emanation of the sun; without the sun there would be no human beings.  But it is more complex than that.  Trees have the same direct relationship to the sun.  But trees also have the same relationship to human beings that the sun has to human beings; I mean that without trees creating oxygen there would be no human beings.  This is what I refer to as a ‘horizontal’ emanation or relationship rather than a hierarchical relationship.

2.  Sometimes I get the impression that emanation is depicted as a sequence, or a series of steps; a bit like the sequence found in a recipe.  First you measure out the four, then you add some water, then you add some sweetening, and then some spices, and then you stir it, and then you shape it, and then you bake it.

In emanation this way of looking at it would be first you have the One, then you have the Noetic (Being, Life, and Mind), then you have the third hypostasis beginning with the world soul and continuing to material things.  And the result is the cosmos as we perceive it and live in it.

3.  But I think an ecological model is a more accurate presentation of Platonic emanation, a model that would include horizontal as well as vertical emanations.  In this way you could see the complexity of relationships in an ecological system as instantiations of the complexity of metaphysical relationships in emanation.

4.  I think this model helps us to understand why, or how, the One is present throughout all space and time.  In the hierarchical model the tendency is to construe the One as geographically above and distant from material reality.  The same would apply to the Noetic.  The hierarchical depiction has allowed some Late Classical Platonists to think of the soul as separate from the One and, in addition, unable to access the Noetic. 

In a model that takes into account horizontal emanation, access to the Noetic and the One, because of their eternal permeating presence, makes more sense.

5.  Horizontal emanation would help us understand how the three primary aspects of the Noetic (Being, Life, and Mind) are intimately intertwined.  The idea is that Being emanates Noetic Life and Noetic Mind, that Noetic Life emanates Noetic Being and Noetic Mind, and that Noetic Mind emanates Noetic Being and Noetic Life.  This further implies that emanations from Noetic Being would inherently participate in Noetic Life and Noetic Mind, and so forth.

This does not eliminate the reality of hierarchical emanation.  Hierarchical emanation generates differentiation and multiplicity.  Horizontal emanation generates the web of relationships that constitute the reality of the material cosmos in which we dwell.

6.  The one is always present.  Being is always present.  Life is always present.  Mind / Consciousness is always present.  They are not far away as a presence, but they are far away in their purity.  As we practice purification we become more aware of the presence of the facets of transcendence and the presence of eternity.  Eventually the purity of this relationship becomes simpler and simpler until we merge with our constant companion, the Good, the One, and the Beautiful.