Like Plotinus and the Cappadocian Fathers before him, Dionysius does not claim to be an innovator, but rather a communicator of a tradition.

Even in daily, physical action, the flourishing human ’ s “… Act is determined by the higher phase of the Soul .” ( Enneads III. 4. 6 ) Even in the most dramatic arguments Plotinus considers ( if the Proficient is subject to extreme physical torture, for example ), he concludes this only strengthens his claim of true happiness being metaphysical, as the truly happy human being would understand that which is being tortured is merely a body, not the conscious self, and happiness could persist.

With the neoplatonist Plotinus, wrote Nathaniel Alfred Boll ; " there even appears, probably for the first time in Western philosophy, idealism that had long been current in the East even at that time, for it taught … that the soul has made the world by stepping from eternity into time …".

Similarly, in regard to passages from the Enneads, " The only space or place of the world is the soul " and " Time must not be assumed to exist outside the soul ", Ludwig Noiré wrote: " For the first time in Western philosophy we find idealism proper in Plotinus, However, Plotinus does not address whether we know external objects, unlike Schopenhauer and other modern philosophers.

In response to the sceptical position that we only know the appearances presented by our senses, and not the world as it is, Plotinus placed the object of knowledge inside the soul itself, and accounted for this interior truth through the soul's kinship with its own productive principles.

Despite this relatively pedestrian assessment of the material world, Plotinus asserted the ultimately divine nature of material creation since it ultimately derives from the One, through the mediums of nous and the world soul.

For example, in the neo-platonist account of Plotinus, the cosmos has one soul, which is the seat of all reason, and the souls of all individual humans are part of this soul.

In the Enneads Plotinus writes: " Our thought cannot grasp the One as long as any other image remains active in the soul … To this end, you must set free your soul from all outward things and turn wholly within yourself, with no more leaning to what lies outside, and lay your mind bare of ideal forms, as before of the objects of sense, and forget even yourself, and so come within sight of that One.

In this integral philosophy ( inspired in part by the works of Plotinus, Hegel, Sri Aurobindo, Eric Jantsch, and many others ) reality is said to consist of several realms or stages, including more than one of the following: the physical, the vital, the psychic, ( after the Greek psyche, " soul "), the causal ( referring to " that which causes, or gives rise to, the manifest world "), and the ultimate ( or non-dual ), through which the individual progressively evolves.

In the 3rd century AD, Plotinus added mystical elements, establishing Neoplatonism, in which the summit of existence was the One or the Good, the source of all things ; in virtue and meditation the soul had the power to elevate itself to attain union with the One.

For Plotinus, these are the soul, being / intellect ( Nous ), and the One.

Authentic human happiness for Plotinus consists of the true human identifying with that which is the best in the universe.

Because happiness is beyond anything physical, Plotinus stresses the point that worldly fortune does not control true human happiness, and thus “… there exists no single human being that does not either potentially or effectively possess this thing we hold to constitute happiness .” ( Enneads I. 4. 4 ) The issue of happiness is one of Plotinus ’ greatest imprints on Western thought, as he is one of the first to introduce the idea that eudaimonia ( happiness ) is attainable only within consciousness.

In Neoplatonism, the Intelligence ( Nous ) is the true first principle — the determinate, referential " foundation " ( arkhe )— of all existents ; for it is not a self-sufficient entity like the One, but rather possesses the ability or capacity to contemplate both the One, as its prior, as well as its own thoughts, which Plotinus identifies with the Platonic Ideas or Forms ( eide ).

Plotinus sought to reconcile Aristotle's energeia with Plato's Demiurge, which, as Demiurge and mind ( nous ), is a critical component in the ontological construct of human consciousness used to explain and clarify substance theory within Platonic realism ( also called idealism ).

The main theme of this canto is one of harmony between human society and the natural order, and a number of passing references are made to related items from earlier cantos: Confucius, Kati, Dante on citizenship, the Book of the Prefect and Plotinus amongst them.

It was the Egyptian-born philosopher Plotinus CE who brought Greek Idealism to the Roman Empire as Neo-Platonism, and with it the concept that not only do all existents emanate from a " primary essence " but that the mind plays an active role in shaping or ordering the objects of perception, rather than passively receiving experiential data.

Evola refers to Plotinus, who deemed homosexual loves to be shameful and abnormal, like diseases of degenerate persons " which do not arise from the essence of being and are not the outcome of the development thereof " ( Enneads, III ).

The Neoplatonic philosopher Plotinus taught that above the gods of traditional belief was " The One " and polytheist grammarian Maximus of Madauros even stated that only a mad person would deny the existence of the supreme God.

540 ), on the Dionysian Corpus constitutes the first defense of its apostolic dating, wherein he specifically argues that the work is neither Apollinarian nor a forgery, probably in response both to monophysites and Hypatius — although even he, given his unattributed citations of Plotinus in interpreting Dionysius, might have known better.

Plotinus writes, " We ought not even to say that he will see, but he will be that which he sees, if indeed it is possible any longer to distinguish between seer and seen, and not boldly to affirm that the two are one.

Plotinus accused Gnosticism of vilifing the Demiurge or craftsman that crafted the material world, even thinking of the material world as evil or a prison.

He is the immediate ancestor in a long line that stretches back through Freud, Dilthey, Coleridge, Schelling, Vico, Ficino, Plotinus, and Plato to Heraclitus-and with even more branches yet to be traced ” ( p. xvii ).

He is the immediate ancestor in a long line that stretches back through Freud, Dilthey, Coleridge, Schelling, Vico, Ficino, Plotinus, and Plato to Heraclitus — and with even more branches yet to be traced ( p. xvii ).

Plotinus, a third-century Platonist, taught that the One transcendent absolute caused the universe to exist simply as a consequence of its existence-" creatio ex deo.

However, some significant differences between neoplatonism and Gregory's thought exist, such as Gregory's statement that beauty and goodness are equivalent, which contrasts with Plotinus ' view that they are two different qualities.

Plotinus argues instead that the multiple cannot exist without the simple.

But they did eventually help inspire Middle Platonic ( including Philo's ) and Neoplatonic metaphysics in which the ideas exist in the mind of God or the Demiurge, or ( according to Plotinus and hence Neoplatonism ) the Divine Mind or Nous.

He also conducted dedicated studies of the fashionable philosophers of the time John Locke, Christian von Wolff, Leibniz, and Descartes, as well as returning to earlier thinkers Plato, Aristotle, Plotinus, Augustine, and others.

As a philosophical notion, it is most clearly found for the first time in the West in the second century C. E, in the Neoplatonism of Plotinus and his followers.

In the preface to his work On Ends, which is preserved in Porphyry's Life of Plotinus, Longinus himself relates that from his early age he made many journeys with his parents, that he visited many countries and became acquainted with all those who at the time enjoyed a great reputation as philosophers, among whom the most illustrious were Ammonius Saccas, Origen the Pagan, Plotinus, and Amelius.

Of the first two Longinus was a pupil for a long time, but Longinus did not embrace the Neoplatonism then being developed by Ammonius and Plotinus, rather he continued as a Platonist of the old type.

In 262 he went to Rome, attracted by the reputation of Plotinus, and for six years devoted himself to the study of Neoplatonism, during which time he severely modified his diet.

An " secluded " person that can free himself from time, experiences eternity by " mystical show " ( spiritual perception ) ( Plotinus ).

Thus, eternity can be experienced by " mystical show " ( spiritual perception ) ( Plotinus ) within time.

At, Plotinus compared the One to " light ", the Divine Nous ( first will towards Good ) to the " Sun ", and lastly the Soul to the " Moon " whose light is merely a " derivative conglomeration of light from the ' Sun '".

Plotinus offers an alternative to the orthodox Christian notion of creation ex nihilo ( out of nothing ), which attributes to God the deliberation of mind and action of a will, although Plotinus never mentions Christianity in any of his works.

( Enneads I. 4. 4 ) A happy person will not sway between happy and sad, as many of Plotinus ’ contemporaries believed.

The first hypostasis, the One, is contemplation ( by the nous, or second hypostasis ) in that " it turns to itself in the simplest regard, implying no complexity or need "; this reflecting back on itself emanated ( not created ) the second hypostasis, Intellect ( in Greek Νοῦς, Nous ), Plotinus describes as " living contemplation ", being " self-reflective and contemplative activity par excellence ", and the third hypostatic level has theoria.

The most famous pupil of Ammonius Saccas was Plotinus who studied under Ammonius for eleven years.

One way to explain much of the confusion concerning Ammonius is to assume that there were two people called Ammonius: Ammonius Saccas who taught Plotinus, and an Ammonius the Christian who wrote biblical texts.

Some philosophers who have had more noteworthy theories are Parmenides, Leucippus, Plato, Aristotle, Augustine, Plotinus, Aquinas, Descartes, Spinoza, Leibniz, Hegel, Heidegger, and Sartre.

The idea of Demiurge was, however, addressed before Plotinus in the works of Christian writer Justin Martyr who built his understanding of the Demiurge on the works of Numenius.

The traditional view of Gregory is that he was an orthodox Trinitarian theologian, who was influenced by the neoplatonism of Plotinus and believed in universal salvation following Origen.

His innermost circle included Porphyry, Amelius Gentilianus of Tuscany, the Senator Castricius Firmus, and Eustochius of Alexandria, a doctor who devoted himself to learning from Plotinus and attending to him until his death.

Other students included: Zethos, an Arab by ancestry who died before Plotinus, leaving him a legacy and some land ; Zoticus, a critic and poet ; Paulinus, a doctor of Scythopolis ; and Serapion from Alexandria.

According to the account of Eustochius, who attended him at the end, Plotinus ' final words were: " Strive to give back the Divine in yourselves to the Divine in the All.

Plotinus intensely disliked the editorial process, and turned the task to Porphyry, who not only polished them but put them into the arrangement we now have.

Plotinus offers a comprehensive description of his conception of a person who has achieved eudaimonia.

At least two modern conferences within Hellenic philosophy fields of study have been held in order to address what Plotinus stated in his tract Against the Gnostics and who he was addressing it to, in order to separate and clarify the events and persons involved in the origin of the term " Gnostic ".

By the 11th century, Neo-Platonism was adopted by the Fatimid state of Egypt, and taught by their da ' i. Neo-Platonism was brought to the Fatimid court by Iraqi Hamid al-Din al-Kirmani, although his teachings differed from Nasafi and Sijistani, who were more aligned with original teachings of Plotinus.

Plotinus urged contemplations for those who wished to perform theurgy, the goal of which was to reunite with The Divine ( called henosis ).

Iamblichus of Calcis ( Syria ), a student of Porphyry ( who was himself a student of Plotinus ) taught a more ritualized method of theurgy that involved invocation and religious, as well as magical, ritual.

In his view not only Plotinus, but also Syrianus, Proclus, and Ammonius, are great philosophers, who have penetrated into the depths of the wisdom of Plato.

As a student of Pseudo-Dionysius, Maximus was one of many Christian theologians who preserved and interpreted the earlier Neo-Platonic philosophy, including the thought of such figures as Plotinus and Proclus.

* Marsilio Ficino ( 1433 – 1499 ) Influential Italian humanist philosopher who revived Neoplatonism and was a leader in the Renaissance ; translated all of Plato's and Plotinus ' works into Latin, as well as many Neoplatonic authors and the Corpus Hermeticum.

Some propose that he did not in fact have a revelation at all, but rather developed his theological ideas from sources ranging from his father to earlier figures in the history of thought, notably Plotinus. This position was first and most notably taken by the Swedish writer Martin Lamm, who wrote a biography of Swedenborg in 1915, which is still in print.

However, Plotinus influenced Victorinus who then influenced Augustine of Hippo.