Dancing towards the One | Plotinus

Life is like a dance, where we keep moving and turning. Like a Greek chorus we keep together by watching the dance leader, the One. In the dance we face away, but keep together by turning back towards the One.

Graham Blackbourn explores Plotinus.

Plotinus said:
"That One… has not otherness, is always present, and we are present to it when we have no otherness… And we are always around it, but do not always look to it; it is like a choral dance: in the order of its singing the choir keeps round its leader but it may sometimes turn away, so that he is out of their sight; but when they turn back to him they sing beautifully and are truly with him: so we too are always around him… but not always turned to him; but when we do look to him, then we are at our goal and at rest and do not sing out of tune, as we truly dance our god-inspired dance around him."
From Ennead 9 “On the Good or the One”

Plotinus lived until AD 204-270, and was the founder of Neoplatonism. As a young man, Plotinus went to Alexandria to study philosophy; here he found inspiration in Ammonius Saccas.

The philosophy which Plotinus taught, based on his understanding of Plato, considered ultimate truth to be in the form of what became known as the Good or the One. According to Plotinus, all else somehow emanates from this One Good, is never separate from it and depends entirely upon it – so that only the One has any reality and is worth seeking or knowing, everything else is just a poor reflection of it.


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#plotinus #greekphilosophy #neoplatonism

You may find this video also relates to The Good, Ammonius Saccas, Platonic Academy, practicalphilosophy, spirituality, philosophy, porphyry, beauty