Enneads IV 1: On the Essence of the Soul (1)

[sdi]

Oh, alright, the next tractate is really short, so I'll take a crack at it before trying to get back to sleep.

IV 1: On the Essence of the Soul (1)

While the Ideal admits distinction (of Knower and Known), separation is alien to It: It is still too close to the One for such a thing. Separation, rather, is the thing of Soul. But since the nature of the Ideal is unity, souls are unified within the Ideal; but since the nature of Soul is separation, souls "descend" into bodies that they may be separate. But this "descending" is not a complete separation: the soul simultaneously exists above, unified in the Ideal, and below, separated in Matter. Each separate part has the Whole latent within it.

HEN TO PAN 🐍

Comments

[emmanuelg]

Well Daing!
This would be a pretty good description of Jung's ideas about the soul and its relationship to the Archetypes. We are individuals and yet we share a collective unconscious, the ocean where the Archetypes swim.