But were the oldest Neoplatonists really acquainted with the speculations of Philo, or Justin, or Valentinus, or Basilides? Did they know the Oriental religions, Judaism and Christianity in par ticular? And, if so, did they really derive anything from these sources? To these questions we cannot give definite answers. Since Neo platonism originated in Alexandria, where Oriental modes of wor ship were accessible to every one, and since the Jewish philosophy had also taken its place in the literary circles of Alexandria, we may safely assume that even the earliest of the Neoplatonists possessed an acquaintance with Judaism and Christianity. But if we search Plotinus for evidence of any actual influence of Jewish and Christian philosophy, we shall search in vain. We have to come down to Iamblichus and his school before we find complete correspondence with the Christian Gnosticism of the 2nd century; that is to say, it is only in the 4th century that Greek philosophy in its proper development reaches the stage at which certain Greek philosophers who had embraced Christianity had arrived in the 2nd century. The influence of Christianity—whether Gnostic or Catholic—on Neoplatonism was at no time very considerable, although individual Neoplatonists, after Amelius, used Christian texts as oracles, and put on record their admiration for Christ.
Since the soul in its longings reaches forth beyond all sensible things, beyond the world of ideas even, it follows that the highest being must be something supra-rational. The system thus em braces three heads—(T) the primeval Being, (2) the ideal world and the soul, (3) the phenomenal world.
The primeval Being is, as opposed to the many, the One; as opposed to the finite, the Infinite, the unlimited. It is the source of all life, and therefore absolute causality and the only real exist ence. It is, moreover, the Good, in so far as all finite things have their purpose in it, and ought to flow back to it. But one cannot attach moral attributes to the original Being itself, because these would imply limitation. It has no attributes of any kind; it is being without magnitude, without life, without thought ; in strict propriety, indeed, we ought not to speak of it as existing; it is "above existence," "above goodness." It is also active force without a substratum ; as active force the primeval Being is per petually producing something else, without alteration, or motion, or diminution of itself. This production is not a physical proc ess, but an emission of force; and, since the product has real ex istence only in virtue of the original existence working in it, Neo platonism may be described as a species of dynamic pantheism.
Directly or indirectly, everything is brought forth by the "One." The original Being first of all throws out the nous, which is a perfect image of the One and the archetype of all existing things.
It is at once being and thought, ideal world and idea. As image, the nous corresponds perfectly to the One, but as derived it is entirely different. What Plotinus understands by the nous is the highest sphere accessible to the human mind, and, along with that, pure thought itself.
The image and product of the motionless nous is the soul, which, according to Plotinus is, like the nous, immaterial. Its relation to the nous is the same as that of the nous to the One. It stands between the nous and the phenomenal world, is permeated and illuminated by the former, but is also in contact with the latter.
The nous is indivisible; the soul may preserve its unity and remain in the nous, but at the same time it has the power of uniting with the corporeal world and thus being disintegrated. It therefore occupies an intermediate position. As a single soul (world-soul) it belongs in essence and destination to the intelligible world; but it also embraces innumerable individual souls; and these can either submit to be ruled by the 11011S, or turn aside to the sensual and lose themselves in the finite.
The human souls which have descended into corporeality are those which have allowed themselves to be ensnared by sensuality and overpowered by lust. They now seek to cut themselves loose from their true being; and, striving after independence, they assume a false existence. They must turn back from this; and, since they have not lost their freedom, a conversion is still possible.
Here, then, we enter upon the practical philosophy. Along the same road by which it descended the soul must retrace its steps back to the supreme Good. It must first of all return to itself. This is accomplished by the practice of virtue, which aims at likeness to God, and leads up to God. In the ethics of Plotinus all the older schemes of virtue are taken over and arranged in a graduated series. The lowest stage is that of the civil virtues, then follow the purifying, and last of all the divine virtues. The civil virtues merely adorn the life, without elevating the soul. That is the office of the purifying virtues, by which the soul is freed from sensuality and led back to itself, and thence to the nous. By means of ascetic observances the man becomes once more a spiritual and enduring being, free from all sin. But there is still a higher attainment ; it is not enough to be sinless, one must become "God." This is reached through contemplation of the primeval Being, the One—in other words, through an ecstatic approach, the soul may see God, the fountain of life, the source of being, the origin of all good, the root of the soul. In that moment it enjoys the highest indescribable bliss; it is as it were swallowed up of divinity, bathed in the light of eternity. Porphyry tells us that on four occasions during the six years of their inter course Plotinus attained to this ecstatic union with God.