“Every soul, authentically a soul, has some form of rightness and moral wisdom; in the souls within ourselves there is true knowing: and these attributes are no images or copies from the Supreme, as in the sense world, but actually are those very originals in a mode peculiar to this sphere. …
“Thus, if by the content of the sense-world we mean simply the visible objects, then the Supreme contains not only what is in the realm of sense but more; if in the content of the Cosmos we mean to include Soul and the Soul-things, then all is here that is There.
“There is, thus, a Nature comprehending in the Intellectual all that exists, and this principle must be the source of all. But how, seeing that the veritable source must be a unity, simplex utterly?
“The mode by which from the unity arises the multiple, how all the universe comes to be, why the intellectual principle is all and whence it springs, these matters demand another approach.
“But on the question as to whether the repulsive and the products of putridity have also there Idea-whether there is an ides of filth and mud—it is to be observed that all that the Intellectual Principle derived from the First is of the noblest; in those idea the base is not included; these repulsive things point not to the Intellectual Principle but to the Soul which, drawing upon the Intellectual Principle. …
“The products of putrefaction are to be traced to the Soul’s inability to bring some other thing to being.” ~Plotinus
Rightness and Moral Wisdom
First, I remind everyone of what I have stated before regarding Plotinus, that what he calls the Intellectual-Principle is not intellect at all, but Consciousness. Without going into too much detail, Intellect is a purely material thing, while Consciousness is more spiritual.
It is true that all souls have some sense of rightness and moral wisdom. I’m not sure what Plotinus means by “authentically a soul,” as I am not aware of any sort of cheap imitation souls. It is true, though not often taught, that humans have two souls. We have, as with all animals and perhaps even plants, a mundane soul that is linked to the body and mind and knows no more than they do. Yes, it still has a sense of rightness and morality, though limited to the realm of matter. Humans also have a Divine Soul, which is pure spirit and comes from God. This Divine Soul doesn’t just have “some form of rightness and moral wisdom,” it has the highest, most complete form of truth and wisdom. But when we are in the material world, that Divine Soul is dormant and must be awakened and developed for that nature to be realized. Continue reading “True Knowing is Spiritual Knowing”