Plotinus: One, Intellect, Soul

This thread is just a little bit of a generalization of the Neoplotinism metaphysical system of Plotinus (Plotinus was an avid reader of Plato), meant for discussion purposes.

Starting with the lowest of the three stages the

Soul- this actually means the World-Soul or Universal Soul, not individual Soul. This Soul is the Reason-Principle of reality, which is engaged in movement, and is said to move the entire universe (much like the Christian's creator God).

Intellectual-Principle (Greek: Nous) - this is the mind or intellect, and the soul is created from this. While the Soul can be viewed as the totality of the universe, the Nous is defined as one and many, and contains the entire universe within itself. The intellectual principle emanates from the One

One - the highest state in Plotinus metaphysics, It is absolute, transcendent, beyond being and non being, and even self-knowing (the intellectual principle is technically the self-knower). The One is beyond definition, but is loosely defined as singular (hence the name, One), as well as being the Good that all things strive for. The One also is perfect, and as such emanates its perfection outward, much like fire emanates heat or snow emanates cold. The One emanates an image of itself, all while remaining unmoved, which is why it is called the Unmoved Mover.

So the system goes like this: One, which emanates the Intellect, which then emanates the Soul.

Everything is classified as a system of emanation or illumination, in which each stage of life is set and ordered based on its previous stage. So if you have the Soul, it emanates from the intellectual-principle, and the soul emanates outwards all life until it reaches essenceless matter. Matter is considered the last stage of life.

Scientifically, we view matter as consisting of quantum particles, but as history shows, science is always finding smaller and smaller particles. And now, scientists are theorizing if quantum theory can somehow explain to us M-theory, or the theory of everything. I've always been of the opinion that the quantum will somehow be linked to the cosmic, mainly through the fact that under the ancient philosophical systems, everything has the same essence (in a religious sense we can say that everything is of the nature of God). How could someone prove this through modern science? Well, technically I think it has already been proven through Philosophy, which until recently has been considered the mother of all sciences, but now is taking somewhat of a backseat, especially since Philosophy is no longer being taught in public schools (not a big surprise there). However, if the brain could be studied, especially under meditation, perhaps some type of brain wave machine could measure the different wave lengths of an individuals thoughts, and so distinguish between 'sense-perception' and higher states of meditation. Considering that science has very little to say regarding consciousness, with the exception of the quantum law which states that consciousness is required for reality to be observed, and that certain quantum particles appear to act differently while you are watching them (i.e. Schrodinger's cat is a partial example of this), I think it is high time that science turn the microscope upon itself and study the nature of consciousness. What is interesting is that most science involves the notion that the scientist has to be absent from the experiment, so in other words science is not concerned with the self. However, when it comes to consciousness, especially self-consciousness, the self must be studied and factored into. I think that people who meditate are already studying consciousness, and that the properties of consciousness has been known for thousands of years, but because modern science is so concerned with the material, and so opposed to religious definitions, or even Philosophical definitions in this 'modern' age, it seems to have forgotten what man has discovered thousands of years ago.