PLOTINUSS ENNEAD I SIXTH TRACTATE - BEAUTY
People often make mistake and see beauty as a singular state, but as Plotinus pointed out, beauty cannot be seen as a single thing, beauty can only be seen as a compound, the several parts will have beauty, not in themselves, but only as working together to give a comely total (Plotinus, 1976, p. 142). For example, when a person looks at a picture in general, heshe cannot judge that the picture is beautiful by just looking at the object the picture is focused on, heshe also needs look at the picture as a whole or as a compound. HeShe also has to look at the light, the background, etc. Plotinus said that people sometimes see things differently. A person can sometimes see hisher body beautiful and another may be annoyed by it. Although the soul is symmetrical to the virtue of a person, it is not always unified with one another. Each has a different virtue to which the soul deems beautiful. And not because this persons soul deemed hisher virtue beautiful means that heshe would also see it as beautiful as the other person, all virtues are a beauty of the soul, a beauty authentic beyond any of these other (Plotinus, 1976, p. 142).
Plotinus also wanted to recognize that the soul can see beautiful material things automatically and welcomes it as much as the soul can recognize ugly things and repel it. And that once the soul recognizes something related to the object, the soul can analyze the similarity of the object from the past, the soul can see if it is beautiful or if it is ugly. Plotinus calls it the noblest existents in the hierarchy of being (Plotinus, 1976, p. 143). The Divine-Thought (Plotinus, 1976, p. 143) is where a persons perception of beauty and ugliness comes from the Ideal-Form (Plotinus, 1976, p. 143) is what we hold on and the base idea of peoples perception in beauty, while the perception of ugliness is everything outside Reason and Idea (Plotinus, 1976, p. 143). A person can deem a material thing beautiful if it fits hisher ideal form, and if it is not within the range of hisher ideal form then the material will be seen as something ugly. The judgment of the soul may be gathered from the Divine-Thought (Plotinus, 1976, p. 143). People who do not see the beauty beyond things and who do not want to experience real beauty, according to Plotinus, will never see the face of Justice and of Moral-Wisdom (Plotinus, 1976, p. 145). They will only see skin-deep beauty and will never really experience what the beauty the material holds within. People who obtain the souls sight are the only people who can experience the beauty beyond evening and of dawn (Plotinus, 1976, p. 145).
By seeing with the soul, a person can also awaken hisher passion. Passion may not have color, shape or size but having a souls sight can also stimulate the passion inside a person and let himher have higher intelligence It is that you find in yourself, or admire in another, loftiness of spirit righteousness of life disciplined purity courage of the majestic face... shining down upon all, the light of god-like intellection (Plotinus, 1976, p. 145).
Plotinus said that a person can only perceive beauty if it sees with hisher eyes, but what if the soul itself was tampered and was considered dirty The perception of a person may change and still not see the true beauty because of it, but Plotinus said, like gold that is degraded by the soils of the earth, it still has its golden quality. The person just have to wash it off and remove the soils. When the soul of a person becomes ugly, heshe just have to remove the impurities that are hindering the person to see beauty with hisher soul. Seeing with the soul means one has reached seeing through god-like intelligence. With this, a person can also perceive or rather witness the manifistations of Gods or Supernals, and if a person witnessed such events, heshe will never stray from the vision of it again (Plotinus, 1976, p. 148). Plotinus, through his writing, stated how a person can achieve seeing through the soul. Because a person can see through the soul, that person can see purely by seeing purely, that person will recognize great things, like hisher passion, by having god-like intelligence and virtue.
Once a person obtained these things, heshe will always have it and will be seen as someone who is an offspring and essence of Intellectual Being (Plotinus, 1976, p. 150). The pot of gold at the end of the rainbow which Plotinus wanted people to understand is that when a person has reached the end, heshe would be able to understand true goodness and will see what basic good and beauty really is beyond the senses Good, which lies beyond, is the Fountain at once and Principle of Beauty the Primal Good and the Primal Beauty have the one dwelling-place and, this, always, Beautys seat is There (Plotinus, 1976, p. 150). Reference Plotinus (1976) Ennead I Sixth Tractate - Beauty. In Hofstadter, A. Kuhns, R. (Eds.), Philosophies of Art and Beauty Selected Readings in Aesthetics from Plato to Heidegger (pp. 141-150). Chicago Univerity of Chicago Press. Thesis statement - the road map for the paper. In Plotinuss opinion, a person can only perceive beauty if heshe sees the material with the Souls sight and through that sight, a person can also see what is truly good and beautiful means. Analogy Vision. Plotinuss Ennead I Sixth Tractate.
Categories:
0 comments:
Post a Comment