THE MIND

ROUTE
Presented by: Manilyn M. Magarao
THE RISE
OF THE
SPIRIT
Plotinus
NEOPLATONISM
Neoplatonism
(c. 428-347 B.C.E.)
Neoplatonism is a thought form rooted in the
philosophy of Plato, but extending beyond or
transforming it in many respects.
Neoplatonism developed as a school of
thought in the Roman Empire from the third to
the fifth century of the common era (C.E.).
However, the term itself was coined only
recently in the mid-ninteenth century, when
German scholars used it to distinguish the
ideas of later Greek and Roman Platonists
from those of Plato himself. Plotinus (c. 204-
270 C.E.) is considered the first main
proponent of Neoplatonism, and his intent was
to use Plato's thought as an intellectual
basis for a rational and humane life.
Plotinus Neoplatonism
“The world is knowable, harmonious, and good.”

Plato
… a longing to return to the
realm of the soul…

Socrates
… wisest is she who knows what
she does not know…

Aristotle
… a meticulous organizer who
wanted to clarify our concepts…
Plotinus Neoplatonism
“The world is knowable, harmonious, and good.”

At the age of 40, Plotinus

Regarded as the moved from Alexandria to
founder of Rome and founded a school of
Neoplatonism philosophy there.

At first, his instruction too was

entirely oral, until his most
Born in the Egyptian talented pupil, Porphyry,
delta who lived in Rome persuaded him to commit his
and died near Naples, seminars to the page.
Italy.

After Plotinus’ death, Porphyry

edited and published these
He was a pupil of the
Plotinus Alexandrian
writings, having arranged them
in a collection of six books
(204/5–270) philosopher Ammonius consisting of nine essays each
Saccas (3nd century)
(the so-called “Enneads” or
“nines”).
Enneads and Enneagram
PERSONALITY PROFILING: The Enneagram refers to the
nine different types or styles, with each representing a
worldview and archetype that resonates with the way people
think, feel and act in relation to the world, others and
themselves.
2 Main Theses of Neoplatonism
Emanationism
The Many
The Cosmos – everything else - is a divine emanation (a
sort of radiation) from The One

The ONE
Absolute Transcendence
The god. The GOOD. There is a great order … many
levels of existence … with ‘The One’ (indefinable) at its
heart. Infinite in being. Beyond all description.
2 Types of Emanation
1st Emanation 2nd Emanation
The NOUS (Intellect) The Universal SOUL
The soul is the author of nature … The location in which
– a sort of cosmic intellectual spirit (a universal wisdom,
the cosmos takes objective shape and determinate,
perhaps, containing the world of ideas and more … )
physical form, is the Soul
Neoplatonism

The ONE LIGHT

The One can be said to be the 'source'
of all existence.

The INTELLECT SUN

The Intelligence may be
understood as the storehouse of
potential being(s).

The Universal SOUL

The Soul is both contemplative MOON
and active: it contemplates the
Intelligence.
Neoplatonism

The Universal SOUL

The soul is the author of nature …
The location in which the cosmos takes
objective shape and determinate, physical
form, is the Soul
Individual SOULS

Physical Universe
Neoplatonism

Beyond Matter It is the link

Cannot Create between Nous and Where
Main Source the sensible world MATTER exist
Nous has the One
and itself as the
object of immediate
apprehension. It
contains the Forms.

The ONE The INTELLECT The World The Individual The

SOUL Souls Physical
Universe
The Physical Universe
THE MATTER = Material World. The Conscious Realm.

The Existence of The Problem of

EVIL PAIN
C.S Lewis
“Spoiled Goodness”
“But pleasure, money, power, and safety are
all, as far as they go, good things. The
badness consists in pursuing them by the
wrong method, or in the wrong way, or too
much. I do not mean, of course, that the
people who do this are not desperately wicked.
I do mean that wickedness, when you
examine it, turns out to be the pursuit of
some good in the wrong way.

Badness is only spoiled goodness.

And there must be something good
first before it can be spoiled.”
Transcendence
“True Happiness”
Enlightenment or
Liberation
As the rays of the sun get further away
from their source, the sun, they lose
The Source their brilliance.
The Good
“LIGHT” As intermediaries get further away
from the One they become more
imperfect.

The The The World The Evil is the absence of the good, an
INTELLECT SOUL Individual The Physical
imperfection in things.
ONE Souls
Universe

Eventually, the rays fade into darkness.

 The Physical Universe

Conscious: The Material World

 The Metaphysical Realm

Unconscious: Non-Material
True Happiness &
the Solution to Evil
You
"You think you know how the world works?
think that this material universe is
all there is? What is real? What mysteries lie
beyond the reach of your senses? At the root of
existence, mind and matter meet. Thoughts shape
reality. This universe is only one of an infinite
number. Worlds without end. Some benevolent and
life-giving; Others filled with malice and hunger. Dark
places, where powers older than time lie...
ravenous... and waiting. Who are you in this vast
Multiverse, Mr. Strange?"

―Ancient One to Stephen Strange

Eckhart TOLLE
“You find peace not by
rearranging the circumstances
of your life,
but by realizing
who you are
at the deepest level.”
Ascend with The ONE

when
The individual soul falls into degradation
it is excessively concerned with
material things and forgets its true
identity.

The wayward soul that it is an immaterial

substance and thus opens the way for salvation,
whereby the enlightened soul chooses to return
to the intelligible world, from which it
can ascend to the bliss of union with
The ONE - THE GOOD the One.