The 'Amphibious' Soul

4 April 2024

The ‘Amphibious’ Soul

“. . . for, in spite of everything, it (the soul) always possesses something transcendent in some way.  Souls, then, become, one might say, amphibious, compelled to live by turn the life There (in the Noetic), and the life here (in the material realm): those which are able to be more in the company of Intellect (Noetic Realities, or Mind) live the life There more, but those whose normal condition is, by nature or chance, the opposite, live more the life here below.”

(Plotinus, Ennead IV.8.4, The Descent of the Soul into Bodies, translated by A. H. Armstrong, Loeb Classical Library, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1984, page 411, ISBN: 9780674994881)

“But in spite of all it has, for ever, something transcendent: by a conversion towards the intellective act, it is loosed from the shackles and soars, when only it makes its memories the starting-point of a new vision of essential being.  Souls that take this way have place in both spheres, living of necessity the life there and the life here by turns, the upper life reigning in those able to consort more continuously with the divine Intellect, the lower dominant where character or circumstances are less favourable.”

(Plotinus, Ennead IV.8.4, The Soul’s Descent into Body, translated by Stephen MacKenna, Larson Publications, Burdett, New York, 1992, page 414, ISBN: 978943914558)

1.  It’s interesting that the Armstrong translation offers the metaphor of the soul as something ‘amphibious’, while the MacKenna translation uses the more abstract rendering of ‘both spheres.’ 

2.  The soul ‘always possesses something transcendent in some way.’  This is the great secret of human existence, a secret that is uncovered by turning within and by turning within to become aware of the presence of this transcendent and eternal reality. 

3.  When a student of philosophy first has an experience of this presence of the transcendent within, what follows is a life that shifts back and forth between the realm of the transcendent and the realm of material realities and concerns.  At times, especially early in a student’s practice, this can be disconcerting.  It’s not easy to balance these two experiences.  Over time, it becomes easier. 

Cultivating the awareness of the transcendent is done primarily through contemplation.  Contemplation is supported by the cultivation of the virtues and ascetic practices.

4.  This quote is a description of the human predicament; human beings have one foot in the material domain and its concerns and one foot in the transcendental and its presence.  As long as one is embodied this sense of living in two places at once continues.  It is possible to become used to the situation, but there is always a degree of tension: This kind of tension is not unusual in human life.  For example, amateur gardeners often would like to spend more time gardening, but the demands of ordinary life make that difficult.  This is also true of amateur musicians, sportsmen, and so forth.  For most people there are certain activities that give life meaning and then there are the demands of life that are undertaken out of material concerns such as having a job and familial concerns, and so forth.  It is a struggle to find time to engage in those things that are meaningful, but many people come to a way of balancing these conflicting demands.

For the student of philosophy, I think the tension is greater because it is a tension between the entire material domain and the transcendental domain.  And the practices that assist in accessing the transcendental, such as asceses, are more at odds with the culture at large.  By ‘more at odds’ I mean that if someone tells a friend that they would like to spend more time gardening, the friend will easily understand what they are saying.  But if someone tells a friend from work that they would like to spend more time in the Noetic, in the realm of the transcendent, the friend is unlikely to know what they are referring to.

5.  But it is possible to negotiate the conflicting demands of the material and transcendent realms.  The friendship of the Dialogues of Plato and the Enneads of Plotinus, which slowly become a living presence in one’s life, greatly assist the student of philosophy in negotiating this task.