APPENDIX A
I
The ONE is the cornerstone and foundation for the rest of the System, and least understood of the three hypostases. It is easy to describe its physical qualities by what we observe of most stars, but more difficult to describe its mental attributes since we can only say what they are not. By analogy, we usually do not think of the physical form of the human body without considering the mental states that denote it as something special, namely, a Spiritual Being that obviously cannot be observed. We can extend and reverse the same analogy to say that the ONE is possessed by the physical structure of the sun, and conversely, that the sun is embraced by the mental body of the ONE.
As previously mentioned, the empiricist is convinced that mind is a product of the brain, and cannot exist independently of it. The mind is reduced to an appendage that helps the organism find food, and procreate. Once done, the organism dies, and mind ceases to exist. It is difficult to prove otherwise, since the mind has to gather data from sense organs limited to an awareness of the physical world. It seems that mind must seek its own reality from within itself, and then convince itself that Mind is ever the builder, and that creation is a product of its own truth.
Plotinus likes to think that the ONE holds the sum total of all that IS. It is difficult to understand what this means, especially if he is referring to the entire universe, but if we are considering the relationship between our sun and what it has given rise to, then we are held to "our" reality, or life within the solar system. The relationship between the sun and the galaxy of which it is a part may also partake of a similar "Plotinian" system, or even one entirely different. I would tend to think that the ONE may contemplate the higher planes, or the galaxy, and in turn generate toward the lower. There may even be a two way psychic road or highway leading to the galactic planes, but I leave that for further speculation. I am more interested in maintaining proper perspective regarding individual Souls, and the fulfillment of their destiny in this star system.
I am inclined to believe the ONE came to its sum of knowledge, and I mean knowledge of creation, before the actual process of physical evolution in the Earth plane. It would be like possessing a recipe for life with foreknowledge of preexistent ingredients going into the mixing bowl. Whatever comes out of the oven would be expected based on appropriate conditions. I am sure if conditions had been somewhat different on Earth, then we would have evolved somewhat differently too. The big question is: Where did the ONE come to its store of knowledge to initiate the creative process unfolding in the physical plane? To be on the safe side, we could postulate that its knowledge is derived from its prior, or THAT out of which its own existence takes on meaning or purpose. The ONE takes embodiment in matter to accomplish its ends in the only material that is available to it, that is, the dust and gas lying about the universe mostly in galaxies. Astronomers tend to think that star formation occurs by gravitational attraction alone, and that once begun is self-perpetuating, but I believe that Mind is a power unto itself capable of movement in such a way that it can affect matter at this level. Although Mind should exist in various forms, from the primordial flux of the primal universe to the exquisite beauty of ensouled life, at the stellar level of the ONE it is as Plotinus explained: undifferentiated, unknowable, and indescribable.
While Christians like to characterize their God as omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient, I tend to think that the ONE is not terribly concerned about the details going on here from our point of view. Like a gardener cultivating his crops, or a biochemist tinkering with genes, the purpose is being fulfilled according to the original design. But we should not let ourselves feel ignored or un-noticed by such a great power, as occult science assures us that great beings, having previously traveled the road we now find ourselves on, continually assist in the evolution of the human Spirit.
It is easier to think of ourselves as the end product of a creative process that began four and a half billion years ago, and that the Creator is now realizing Itself through us at both the physical and mental level. It would not be consistent with Plotinus to think that the ONE is aware of our every thought and action, or participates in discursive thought, since that only becomes possible at the level of the second hypostasis, the Intelligible Realm. Conscious thought is fully realized as life takes form in higher beings within the third hypostasis, the World Soul. As to the question of how the ONE came to possess the IDEA of Creation in the first place, we must assume the IDEA was preexistent in a manner that perpetuated the birth of certain stars, probably through a form of life and mind similar to that found on the Earth.
We can only generalize about these things, and infer what the case might be given a few simple premises. I have attempted to understand a process that explains our limited reality in terms of great philosophers of history, and the work of modern day scientists. I have not been able to bring myself to accept on blind faith a chimerical tale of Adam and Eve upon which is based one of the great religions of the Western world. Nor can I accept that God's ways are inscrutable and beyond comprehension; and last of all, that there is no creative agency at work here or in the vast universe.
Copyright © 1991 by JohnK Hammelton