贝壳电子书 > 英文原著电子书 > the six enneads >

第195章

the six enneads-第195章

小说: the six enneads 字数: 每页4000字

按键盘上方向键 ← 或 → 可快速上下翻页,按键盘上的 Enter 键可回到本书目录页,按键盘上方向键 ↑ 可回到本页顶部!
————未阅读完?加入书签已便下次继续阅读!



e fluids within ourselves; the flesh and all that is formed out of the blood into flesh show the soul within; but the blood itself; not bringing us any sensation; seems not to have soul; yet it must; the blood is not subject to blind force; its nature obliges it to abstain from the soul which nonetheless is indwelling in it。 This must be the case with the three elements; it is the fact that the living beings formed from the close conglomeration of air 'the stars' are not susceptible to suffering。 But just as air; so long as it remains itself; eludes the light which is and remains unyielding; so too; by the effect of its circular movement; it eludes soul… and; in another sense; does not。 And so with fire and water。     12。 Or take it another way: Since in our view this universe stands to that as copy to original; the living total must exist There beforehand; that is the realm of complete Being and everything must exist There。     The sky There must be living and therefore not bare of stars; here known as the heavens… for stars are included in the very meaning of the word。 Earth too will be There; and not void but even more intensely living and containing all that lives and moves upon our earth and the plants obviously rooted in life; sea will be There and all waters with the movement of their unending life and all the living things of the water; air too must be a member of that universe with the living things of air as here。     The content of that living thing must surely be alive… as in this sphere… and all that lives must of necessity be There。 The nature of the major parts determines that of the living forms they comprise; by the being and content of the heaven There are determined all the heavenly forms of life; if those lesser forms were not There; that heaven itself would not be。     To ask how those forms of life come to be There is simply asking how that heaven came to be; it is asking whence comes life; whence the All…Life; whence the All…Soul; whence collective Intellect: and the answer is that There no indigence or impotence can exist but all must be teeming; seething; with life。 All flows; so to speak; from one fount not to be thought of as one breath or warmth but rather as one quality englobing and safeguarding all qualities… sweetness with fragrance; wine… quality and the savours of everything that may be tasted; all colours seen; everything known to touch; all that ear may hear; all melodies; every rhythm。     13。 For Intellectual…Principle is not a simplex; nor is the soul that proceeds from it: on the contrary things include variety in the degree of their simplicity; that is to say in so far as they are not compounds but Principles and Activities;… the activity of the lowest is simple in the sense of being a fading…out; that of the First as the total of all activity。 Intellectual…Principle is moved in a movement unfailingly true to one course; but its unity and identity are not those of the partial; they are those of its universality; and indeed the partial itself is not a unity but divides to infinity。     We know that Intellectual…Principle has a source and advances to some term as its ultimate; now; is the intermediate between source and term to thought of as a line or as some distinct kind of body uniform and unvaried?     Where at that would be its worth? it had no change; if no differentiation woke it into life; it would not be a Force; that condition would in no way differ from mere absence of power and; even calling it movement; it would still be the movement of a life not all…varied but indiscriminate; now it is of necessity that life be all…embracing; covering all the realms; and that nothing fail of life。 Intellectual…Principle; therefore; must move in every direction upon all; or more precisely must ever have so moved。     A simplex moving retains its character; either there is no change; movement has been null; or if there has been advance it still remains a simplex and at once there is a permanent duality: if the one member of this duality is identical with the other; then it is still as it was; there has been no advance; if one member differs from the other; it has advanced with differentiation; and; out of a certain identity and difference; it has produced a third unity。 This production; based on Identity and Difference; must be in its nature identical and different; it will be not some particular different thing but Collective Difference; as its Identity is Collective Identity。     Being; thus; at once Collective Identity and Collective Difference; Intellectual…Principle must reach over all different things; its very nature then is to modify into a universe。 If the realm of different things existed before it; these different things must have modified it from the beginning; if they did not; this Intellectual…Principle produced all; or; rather; was all。     Beings could not exist save by the activity of Intellectual…Principle; wandering down every way it produces thing after thing; but wandering always within itself in such self…bound wandering as authentic Intellect may know; this wandering permitted to its nature is among real beings which keep pace with its movement; but it is always itself; this is a stationary wandering; a wandering within the Meadow of Truth from which it does not stray。     It holds and covers the universe which it has made the space; so to speak; of its movement; itself being also that universe which is space to it。 And this Meadow of Truth is varied so that movement through it may be possible; suppose it not always and everywhere varied; the failing of diversity is a failure of movement; failure in movement would mean a failing of the Intellectual Act; halting; it has ceased to exercise its Intellectual Act; this ceasing; it ceases to be。     The Intellectual…Principle is the Intellectual Act; its movement is complete; filling Being complete; And the entire of Being is the Intellectual Act entire; comprehending all life and the unfailing succession of things。 Because this Principle contains Identity and Difference its division is ceaselessly bringing the different things to light。 Its entire movement is through life and among living things。 To a traveller over land; all is earth but earth abounding in difference: so in this journey the life through which Intellectual…Principle passes is one life but; in its ceaseless changing; a varied life。     Throughout this endless variation it maintains the one course because it is not; itself; subject to change but on the contrary is present as identical and unvarying Being to the rest of things。 For if there be no such principle of unchanging identity to things; all is dead; activity and actuality exist nowhere。 These 〃other things〃 through which it passes are also Intellectual…Principle itself; otherwise it is not the all…comprehending principle: if it is to be itself; it must be all…embracing; failing that; it is not itself。 If it is complete in itself; complete because all…embracing; and there is nothing which does not find place in this total; then there can be nothing belonging to it which is not different; only by difference can there be such co…operation towards a total。 If it knew no otherness but was pure identity its essential Being would be the less for that failure to fulfil the specific nature which its completion requires。     14。 On the nature of the Intellectual…Principle we get light from its manifestations; they show that it demands such diversity as is compatible with its being a monad。 Take what principle you will; that of plant or animal: if this principle were a pure unity and not a specifically varied thing; it could not so serve as principle; its product would be Matter; the principle not having taken all those forms necessary if Matter is to be permeated and utterly transformed。 A face is not one mass; there are nose and eyes; and the nose is not a unity but has the differences which make it a nose; as bare unity it would be mere mass。     There is infinity in Intellectual…Principle since; of its very nature; it is a multiple unity; not with the unity of a house but with that of a Reason…Principle; multiple in itself: in the one Intellectual design it includes within itself; as it were in outline; all the outlin

返回目录 上一页 下一页 回到顶部 0 0

你可能喜欢的