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Plotinus' Mystical Teaching of Henosis: an In- Terpretation in the Light Of Plotinus’ Mystical Teaching of Henosis: An In- terpretation in the Light of the Metaphysics of the One Dissertation zur Erlangung des Doktorgrades am Institut für Christliche Philosophie der Katholisch-Theologischen Fakultät der Leopold-Franzens-Universität Innsbruck Eingereicht von: bei: Pao-Shen Ho Prof. Dr. Edmund Runggaldier S.J. Innsbruck 2014 1 Abstract Plotinis is known as both a philosopher and a mystic, and it is crucial to explain his mysticism of henosis in the light of his metaphysics of the One. In this dissertation I investigate Plotinus’ mysticism on this approach, while emphasizing that the Enneads is a text of mystical teaching which mediates the reality of henosis by giving spiruitual guidance. Thus, my investigation is orientated by two questions: First, what are the methods of Plotinus’ mystical teaching? Second, how do these methods relate to henosis as their desired goal? I explain these questions in the light of Plotinus’ metaphysics, according to which the One is both transcendent and immanent such that man cannot and need not know It. The conclusions reached are as follows: The meth- ods taught by Plotinus are the practices of philosophy and negative theology, which aim at knowing intelligible beings and the transcendent One. However, these practices do not help man to attain henosis, but remind him that his failure to attain henosis pertains to his natural condition in which he is united with the One. Plotinus’ mystical teaching aims not at transforming man’s finite nature, but at changing man’s precon- ceptions concerning henosis. i Content Acknowledgment ..................................................................................................... vi Notes on Reference and Translations ................................................................... vii Abbreviations ....................................................................................................... viii Introduction .............................................................................................................. 1 Section 1 The Historical Reception of Plotinus’ Thought ............................ 1 1.1 The Extent of Plotinus’ Influence ................................................... 1 1.2 The Role of Proclus in the Reception of Neoplatonism ................. 5 Section 2 The Scholarly Approaches to Mysticism ...................................... 6 2.1 The Theological Approach to Mysticism ........................................ 8 2.2 The Psychological and Comparative Approach to Mysticism ........ 9 2.3 The Philosophical Approach to Mysticism ................................... 14 2.4 Reflections on the Approaches to the Study of Mysticism ........... 18 Section 3 Subject, Method and Structure of the Present Study .................. 20 Chapter 1 Plotinus’ Metaphysics of the One .................................................. 30 Section 1 The Standard Account ................................................................. 30 Section 2 The Radical Transcendence of the One ...................................... 35 2.1 “The One” as Oneness .................................................................. 35 2.2 “The One” as Simplicity ............................................................... 37 ii 2.3 “The One” as the Illocutionary Self-Denial whereby one Denies that one Says Something about the One ...................................................... 43 Section 3 The Radical Immanence of the One............................................ 47 Chapter Summary ............................................................................................ 59 Chapter 2 The Practice of Philosophy ............................................................ 61 Section 1 Different Desires and the Desire for Knowledge ........................ 61 1.1 Toward an Interpretation of the Diversity of Desire ..................... 62 1.2 The Hierarchy Account of the Relation among Desires ............... 63 1.3 The Reflexive Account of the Relation among Desires .............. 66 1.4 Contentment and Contemplation .................................................. 69 1.5 Section Summary .......................................................................... 76 Section 2 The Constitutive Role of Desire for Knowledge in the Practice of Philosophy............................................................................................................ 77 2.1 The Origin of Philosophical Inquiry ............................................. 78 2.2 The Object of Philosophical Inquiry ............................................. 81 2.3 The Method of Philosophical Inquiry ........................................... 84 2.4 The End of Philosophical Inquiry ................................................. 86 2.5 Section Summary .......................................................................... 93 Chapter Summary ............................................................................................ 94 Chapter 3 The Practice of Negative Theology ................................................ 95 Section 1 Dionysius’ Negative Theology of Unknowing ........................... 96 Section 2 Plotinus’ Negative Theology according to VI.7.36 ................... 101 iii 2.1 VI.7.36.3-5: Introduction ............................................................ 102 2.2 VI.7.36.5-8: the Indirect Study ................................................... 103 2.3 VI.7.36.8-15: the Direct Vision ................................................... 106 2.4 VI.7.36.15-21: the Abandonment of Contemplation .................. 109 2.5 Section Summary ........................................................................ 111 Section 3 Plotinus’ Negative Theology of Abandonment ......................... 112 Section 3.1 The Doctrine of Two Intellects in VI.7.35.19-33 ........... 112 Section 3.2 An Explanation of the “Dissolution” of the Intellect in VI.7.41.12-14 ............................................................................................. 117 Section 3.3 The Transition from the “Dissolution” of the Intellect to Henosis: V.3.17 .......................................................................................... 118 Chapter Summary .......................................................................................... 127 Chapter 4 The Relation between Negative Theology and Henosis ............. 129 Section 1 The One’s Mystical Presence .................................................... 132 1.1 The Metaphysical Presence of the One ....................................... 132 1.2 The One’s Mystical Presence in Man’s Innate Desire ................ 136 1.3 The Coherence between Metaphysical and Mystical Presence .. 144 Section 2 The Role of Negative Theology ................................................ 144 2.1 The Consistency between the One’s Presence in Man and Man’s Fall from the One ....................................................................................... 145 2.2 The Consistency between the One’s Presence in Man and the Role of Negative Theology ................................................................................ 148 2.3 Section Summary ........................................................................ 151 iv Section 3 Plotinus on the Mystical Vision ................................................ 155 3.1 The Mystical Vision in I.6.8.21-27 ............................................. 156 3.2 The Visual Illustration of Henosis in VI.9.8.13-22 ..................... 163 3.3 An Interpretation of the Circle-Illustration ................................. 168 Concluding Remarks ........................................................................................... 173 References ............................................................................................................. 177 v Acknowledgment I would like to thank my supervisor, Prof. Dr. Edmund Runggaldier, for his generosity, tolerance and inspirations. I would also like to show gratitude to Prof. Dr. Tran Van Doan of National Taiwan University, who encouraged me to pursue the doctoral study and kindly introduced me to Prof. Runggaldier. A special thank goes to Collegium Canisianum and P. Friedrich Prassl for their hospitality and accommodation. Last not least, I am also grateful to my parents and wife for their love and support. Without these people this dissertation would not be possible. vi Notes on Reference and Translations In this dissertation references of Plotinus’ Enneads are to Plotini Opera, vol. 1-3, ed. Paul Henry and Hans-Rudolf Schwyzer, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1964-1982. I.2.3 means Ennead I, treatise 2, chapter 3; I.2.3-4 means Ennead I, treatise 2, chapter 3 and 4, and I.2.3.4-5 means Ennead I, treatise 2, chapter 3, line 4-5. Translations are taken from Plotinus, vol.1-7, tr. A. H. Armstrong, Cambridge University Press, Lon- don, 1966–1988. In Armstrong’s translation the One (τὸ ἕν) is sometimes referred to by He and sometimes by it, while the soul (ψυχή) consistently by it. For the sake of clarity, I shall use It to refer to the One, and she to the soul. The brackets in my quota- tions of Armstrong’s translations are all his, while all the italics, bracketed or not, are mine. vii Abbreviations Works of Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite CH The Celestial Hierarchy DN The Divine Names EH The Ecclesiastical Hierarchy MT The Mystical Theology All references are to Corpus Dionysiacum, ed. B. R. Suchla, G. Heil and A. M. Ritter, Walter De Gruyter, Berlin and New York, 1990-1991;
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