Changes

Although the personal realization of such an impersonal intelligence superior to our ego, to our personal will, that guides our evolution through unconscious compensation, is one of the greatest joys of the inner life, it is much more than the psychological equivalent of the Copernican Revolution. Merely replacing the Earth by the visible, localized Sun as the center of our universe does not adequately symbolize the invisible, nonlocalized unconscious guiding consciousness toward individuation. The metaphor of the invisible mass that pervades the entire universe and guides its evolution is a better image for the soul's dynamic compensations guiding our evolution. Despite its improvement over the Copernican shift from the Earth to the Sun, it too has a significant shortcoming. The difficulty springs from the image of a pervasive invisible matter, which misleadingly implies that this intelligence, the self or soul, is spread out uniformly in space. Despite our materialistic tendencies, the soul is not in space or time. As we will see in the next section, big-bang cosmology provides a much more apt metaphor than the Copernican view. In modern cosmology the pervasive invisible matter generates a curvature to the spacetime geometry of the universe that provides a powerful metaphor for soul. Perhaps using it we can better understand the relation between the invisible, nonlocalized soul and our finite centers of consciousness that go through the individuation process.

Although the personal realization of such an impersonal intelligence superior to our ego, to our personal will, that guides our evolution through unconscious compensation, is one of the greatest joys of the inner life, it is much more than the psychological equivalent of the Copernican Revolution. Merely replacing the Earth by the visible, localized Sun as the center of our universe does not adequately symbolize the invisible, nonlocalized unconscious guiding consciousness toward individuation. The metaphor of the invisible mass that pervades the entire universe and guides its evolution is a better image for the soul's dynamic compensations guiding our evolution. Despite its improvement over the Copernican shift from the Earth to the Sun, it too has a significant shortcoming. The difficulty springs from the image of a pervasive invisible matter, which misleadingly implies that this intelligence, the self or soul, is spread out uniformly in space. Despite our materialistic tendencies, the soul is not in space or time. As we will see in the next section, big-bang cosmology provides a much more apt metaphor than the Copernican view. In modern cosmology the pervasive invisible matter generates a curvature to the spacetime geometry of the universe that provides a powerful metaphor for soul. Perhaps using it we can better understand the relation between the invisible, nonlocalized soul and our finite centers of consciousness that go through the individuation process.

==Cosmological Expansion and the Double Nature of Soul==

===Cosmological Expansion and the Double Nature of Soul===

Figure 1: Hubble found that every cosmic

Figure 1: Hubble found that every cosmic

To amplify this double nature of soul, let me turn to MacKenna's translation of Plotinus, which James Hillman tells us "has been for near to forty years the most instructive and inspiring single volume in my library. It is a source of the deepest ideas the mind can think; it is also a bible of beauty."[8] After summarizing some aspects of the Plotinian view of soul, I will discuss how this connects to the Jungian notion of self.

To amplify this double nature of soul, let me turn to MacKenna's translation of Plotinus, which James Hillman tells us "has been for near to forty years the most instructive and inspiring single volume in my library. It is a source of the deepest ideas the mind can think; it is also a bible of beauty."[8] After summarizing some aspects of the Plotinian view of soul, I will discuss how this connects to the Jungian notion of self.

==Plotinus on the Essence of Soul==

===Plotinus on the Essence of Soul===

Although much of the greatest Neoplatonist's writings concern soul, none is more central to his vision then Ennead 4, tractates 1 and 2, entitled "On the Essence of the Soul (I and II)". In both parts I and II he draws inspiration from the famous section in Plato's Timaeus that discusses the double nature of soul. For Plotinus, the soul's undivided or unified nature derives from having its origin in the Supreme, in the Intellectual-Principle or realm of Authentic Essence. There all principles are fully united and eternally unvaried. Yet soul even at its summit has a nature lending itself to divided existence, to multiplicity and change. For Plotinus the essence of soul consists in always having both of these contrary natures at every level. In IV.1.1 Plotinus[9] says:

Although much of the greatest Neoplatonist's writings concern soul, none is more central to his vision then Ennead 4, tractates 1 and 2, entitled "On the Essence of the Soul (I and II)". In both parts I and II he draws inspiration from the famous section in Plato's Timaeus that discusses the double nature of soul. For Plotinus, the soul's undivided or unified nature derives from having its origin in the Supreme, in the Intellectual-Principle or realm of Authentic Essence. There all principles are fully united and eternally unvaried. Yet soul even at its summit has a nature lending itself to divided existence, to multiplicity and change. For Plotinus the essence of soul consists in always having both of these contrary natures at every level. In IV.1.1 Plotinus[9] says:

The divisible aspect of soul is relatively easy to appreciate. In neurosis our soul is so painfully divided that many of us seek relief in some movement toward wholeness. On the other hand, the indivisible aspect of soul, by its very nature, is more difficult to appreciate, since we can only "know" it by becoming it, by uniting with it. In this kind of knowing we can no longer proceed by image, but by becoming it in the silence. But whether we embrace the fecundity of images springing from the imagination's boundless creativity or tread the via negativa we are always within the cosmos of soul.

The divisible aspect of soul is relatively easy to appreciate. In neurosis our soul is so painfully divided that many of us seek relief in some movement toward wholeness. On the other hand, the indivisible aspect of soul, by its very nature, is more difficult to appreciate, since we can only "know" it by becoming it, by uniting with it. In this kind of knowing we can no longer proceed by image, but by becoming it in the silence. But whether we embrace the fecundity of images springing from the imagination's boundless creativity or tread the via negativa we are always within the cosmos of soul.

==Soul's Double Nature and Polytheism/Monotheism==

===Soul's Double Nature and Polytheism/Monotheism===

In 1971, in this journal, James Hillman ignited an animated discussion with his article "Psychology: Monotheistic or Polytheistic?"[10] Since then he and many others have carried the fruitful discussion forward to the point that it is now the subject of a very recent Ph.D dissertation[11] that comprehensively reviews the issue. I'll not survey this extensive work here. Instead, I suggest that the vision of soul at the roots of our culture-the Platonic and Neoplatonic view-encourages us to embrace fully both monotheism and polytheism. Since at every level the Plotinian soul is inherently and simultaneously an indivisible unity and a divisible plurality, our tendency toward both monotheism and polytheism is built into the foundation of our being.

In 1971, in this journal, James Hillman ignited an animated discussion with his article "Psychology: Monotheistic or Polytheistic?"[10] Since then he and many others have carried the fruitful discussion forward to the point that it is now the subject of a very recent Ph.D dissertation[11] that comprehensively reviews the issue. I'll not survey this extensive work here. Instead, I suggest that the vision of soul at the roots of our culture-the Platonic and Neoplatonic view-encourages us to embrace fully both monotheism and polytheism. Since at every level the Plotinian soul is inherently and simultaneously an indivisible unity and a divisible plurality, our tendency toward both monotheism and polytheism is built into the foundation of our being.

     In Thee, is my help and my strength, O Bhavani![14]

     In Thee, is my help and my strength, O Bhavani![14]

==Conclusion==

===Conclusion===

Besides polytheism and monotheism being built into the foundation of our being, many other consequences follow from this double nature of soul. I'll conclude by just mentioning one that particularly troubles me.

Besides polytheism and monotheism being built into the foundation of our being, many other consequences follow from this double nature of soul. I'll conclude by just mentioning one that particularly troubles me.

I thank Thomas McFarlane of Palo Alto, CA for his thoughtful and encouraging comments on an earlier draft of this paper. His own attempts to connect science with the spiritual life are an inspiration to me. I also wish to thank my friends at Wisdom's Goldenrod Center for Philosophic Studies. Over the years they have helped me understand everything from the profundities of depth psychology to the sublime mysterious of Plotinian thought. I am particularly indebted to Jonathan Bach and Richard Goldman for commenting upon an earlier draft of this paper. I especially thank my friend, the Jungian analyst Dr. Marvin Spiegelman, for his encouragement and help in understanding the subtleties of soul. My spouse, Elaine, intellectual companion, lover, and best friend deserves special thanks for her reading and re-reading of this manuscript and her helpful comments and encouragement throughout. My deepest debt is to Anthony Damiani, the late founder of Wisdom's Goldenrod. He lit a fire in our souls and fed it with a wide range of inspired teachings from the East and West and, most of all, taught by example the necessity of obtaining some personal realization of the truths of these great traditions and concretely expressing them in the outer world.

I thank Thomas McFarlane of Palo Alto, CA for his thoughtful and encouraging comments on an earlier draft of this paper. His own attempts to connect science with the spiritual life are an inspiration to me. I also wish to thank my friends at Wisdom's Goldenrod Center for Philosophic Studies. Over the years they have helped me understand everything from the profundities of depth psychology to the sublime mysterious of Plotinian thought. I am particularly indebted to Jonathan Bach and Richard Goldman for commenting upon an earlier draft of this paper. I especially thank my friend, the Jungian analyst Dr. Marvin Spiegelman, for his encouragement and help in understanding the subtleties of soul. My spouse, Elaine, intellectual companion, lover, and best friend deserves special thanks for her reading and re-reading of this manuscript and her helpful comments and encouragement throughout. My deepest debt is to Anthony Damiani, the late founder of Wisdom's Goldenrod. He lit a fire in our souls and fed it with a wide range of inspired teachings from the East and West and, most of all, taught by example the necessity of obtaining some personal realization of the truths of these great traditions and concretely expressing them in the outer world.

1. G. Jung, CW 9,1 § 267.

1. G. Jung, CW 9,1 § 267.

15. Dante Alighieri, Divine Comedy, trans. Allen Mandelbaum (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1982).

15. Dante Alighieri, Divine Comedy, trans. Allen Mandelbaum (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1982).

http://www.lightlink.com/vic/cosmo.html

[http://www.lightlink.com/vic/cosmo.html]

[[Category: General Reference]]

[[Category: General Reference]]

[[Category: Cosmology]]

[[Category: Cosmology]]