In the case of Plotinus, his system was not grounded entirely on astronomical theories, but rather on the structure of his own inner or visionary experiences. If this is the case, then his thought is better understood in terms of the structure of the heavens as we know it today than on the inadequate astronomical theories of his own time. If Plotinus' inner experiences were true for him, and the structure of his metaphysics kept firmly in accord with those experiences, then what his thought embraces is that model of the heavens we know today as the solar system.
The idea of a solar system, that is, a stationary sun with a group of planets in revolution about it, was a novel idea to the early Greeks. Although the concept had been suggested throughout the history of thought, it remained until the sixteenth century to receive final confirmation. We know it today as the heliocentric theory of Copernicus.
The task then is to conceive Plotinus' system of three hypostases, the Divine Triad, in terms of the structure of the solar system. At the summit of Plotinus' system is the ONE; he constantly refers the ONE by analogy to the sun. As the ONE "over- flows" producing the Intellectual-Realm, so too the sun issues forth the planetary spheres--a unity in diversity. As the planetary spheres turn to contemplate their source--the ONE, the World Soul or the Earth, belonging essentially to the Intellectual Sphere, generates in its own contemplative power the things of the physical world. The planetary spheres, each distinct in their own orb, together keep and hold the divine intelligence as they circle in contemplation of their source--the Sun.
Plotinus was without the knowledge of what a solar system might have been, but his thought points to the idea of a solar system. In his words:
"...the entire intellectual order may be figured as a kind of light with the ONE in repose at its summit as its King: but this manifestation is not cast out from it--that would cause us to postulate another light before the light--but the ONE shines eternally, resting upon the Intellectual Realm; this, not identical with its source, is yet not severed from it nor of so remote a nature as to be less than Real-Being. . . . "11
Plotinus conceives the Intellective power as circling around the ONE as the planets circle the sun. The ONE being at the summit is also at the center; as the sun shines, so does the ONE. The planets represent diversity within unity, and maintain the individual characteristics of the ONE as defined astrologically. The planetary Beings, as the second hypostasis, while identical with the One, nonetheless encompass the diversity within the totality of their Source. As Plotinus has said, the three hypostases are not separate or exclusive from each other, but are together everywhere, with the ONE, or the sun, at the center. The sun is thought of as the physical manifestation of the ONE. The planets are the physical manifestation of the Intellectual Realm. The Earth is considered the third hypostasis or World Soul, and the means Intellect and Being come to exist in the physical world.
The ONE expresses its idea of creation through the power of the star. As the ultimate unity, and undifferentiated source of totality, it is not known, discursively, even to itself. It does not remain self-contained, it goes out of itself into its "otherness"; its over-flowing is an over-flowing into diversity and multiplicity. As the Intellectual Realm turns to contemplate its source the ONE comes to know itself as Self, or as Self-Hood.
It is one system of three heirarchies, with contemplation and generation as the dynamics of each stage. Plotinus even alludes to planets as if moving in a solar system with these words:
"Thus the Intellective power circles the Supreme which stands to it as archetype to image. The archetype is intellect-in-unity; the image in its manifold movement about its Prior [the ONE] has produced the multiplicity by which it is constituted Intellect or Mind; that prior has no movement; it generates Mind by its sheer wealth. The planets are divine in virtue of cleaving to the ONE because they remain linked with the Primal Soul [the ONE], and through it possess the vision of the Intelligible World."12
My major premise is that the universe is a Spiritual universe; that the power of stars generates life. Plotinus' words become figurative and even dramatic when he says: " . . . By the power of Soul the manifold and diverse heavenly system is a unit: through Soul this universe is a God: and the sun is a God because it is ensouled, so too the stars; and whatsoever we ourselves may be, it is all in virtue of Soul . . . ."13
The sun represents the ONE, a unity that Plotinus speaks of as un-nameable and un-knowable because it contains potentially all that can be known without distinction or differentiation. The ONE does not remain self-locked, it pours forth its radiant energy as a star. Just as consciousness seems independent of the elements of which the body is composed, so too the heat of the sun must be akin to creative power. It must be independent of the material of which the sun is composed. This radiant energy is focused within the planetary orbs as an image of the ONE, and each planet represents a distinct and diverse characteristic that makes the One knowable. Here the unity of thought as bestowed by the ONE becomes manifest as multiplicity or objects of thought. Reasoning is at once potential and possible.
The planetary spheres, as the Intelligible Realm, and second hypostasis of the Divine Triad, manifest that unity-in-diversity through which each contains and radiates its own unique character and quality. The Earth, or third hypostasis, represents birth, growth--the fertile womb of humanity in which reasoning becomes actual. The sun transmits life to the Earth through light, heat, and magnetism, and the planets share in the work by blending their fields with the solar radiation. We might even say that the Earth is our divine mother, and that we have been sired by that celestial power that is the ultimate source of all life--the SUN.
Creation is not without a purpose. We are divine through that which has given us life, and our purpose can only be realized through that process which sustains the very existence of the universe itself. *
* See appendix A for a discussion of creation and the work of the Third Hypostasis.
Copyright © 1975 By JohnK Hammelton