Can anyone explain Plotinus' theory to me?

Question

I have read it several times but am not sure if I understand it.

Thanks for all your help

Or do I understand what the "One" is?

The "One" is not part of the human body but who all actions and thoughts come from?

Answer 1

You are right in finding Plotinus difficult; many would; and I have only an introductory understanding of his work, having read just one book of the "Enneads," his nine-part master-work. His master was Plato, to whose ideas he gave systematic shape after extending them in his own way. Plato's method was dialogue: Socrates questions and is questioned by others and the argument emerges through what is called dialectic. Plotinus is an expounder of mystical ideas. He lived in the third century, five centuries after Plato.
Here are some of the main ones but his thought embraces several aspects of the three main aspects of classical philosophy: the nature of the physical world; the methods of logic; ethics. The immaterial or non-material has an existence apart from the physical, apart from the physical world and the physical body. The highest form of the immaterial is the One, whom one could call God, but that is rather conventional. The Soul is separate from the body and vastly more important. And it is in the immaterial or transcendental world (the reality which transcends the physical) that the Soul realizes itself fully. All this means that we should engage in a lifelong quest to extricate our Soul from the body by which it is confined and from the physical world in which we live.
The One is the highest Reality. Deriving from it and lying below it is Mind (called "nous" in Greek), through whose efforts we can rise to the One. Below Mind lies Soul because, unlike Mind, it operates in the world of Time and Space, in which we can become trapped. The Soul can either rise to the Mind which is above it or sink to Nature, which lies below it. Matter constitutes the lowest level of Nature.
You can see therefore that Plotinus harbors a profound distrust of the physical world and the body. He neglected his own body badly because he did not value it. Thinkers and mystics influenced by Plotinus long for communication with the One, and can neglect everything else. Not surprisingly he had a strong influence on the more ascetic Christian thinkers and theologians. He is the father of neo-Platonism.

Answer 2

St. Augustine was highly influenced by Plotinus, a neoplatonist, but not long after his Augustine's writings, many of the copies of the works of Plotinus were destroyed by the Catholic Church.

There are some books with portions of the philosophy in them, but I feel tht the best avenue is to read critiques of Augustine and work backwards.

You will find yourself digging both into Philosophy and theology. As a matter of fact, you might find more data on him in theology books rather than philosophy books.

It would be good if you looked at the following site:

http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/plotinus/

wherein I found many references, plus references to his materials.

Answer 3

Plotinus was great. He thought knowledge was not enough and that we needed something else he called Ecstasy in order to achieve happiness. I like this theory.