Return to the One (18 page)

For anyone who feels affection for anything at all shows kindness to all that is akin to the object of his affection, and to the children of the father he loves. But every soul is a child of That Father.
[II-9-16]

Providence Is Pervasive

I
N THE GRAND DESIGN
of the cosmos, from the One comes many. Yet unity is evident at every level of emanation because the One is overall, even when disguised by multiplicity

Unity is present in the realm of spirit, for the immaterial forms are inseparable from spirit’s very being. Unity is present in the realm of soul, for the Soul of the All contemplates these transcendent forms and weaves them seamlessly into matter, forming the continuous space and time of the physical universe. So even though earthly life may often seem mixed up and unmanaged, Plotinus assures us that actually everything and everyone is being guided by an all-pervasive providence.

For those higher principles are not separated from these here but the better illuminate the worse, and this is perfect providence.
[III-3-4]

Providence, then, is a connection between the higher and the lower, between spirit and matter, heaven and earth, God and man. Providence binds together the manyness of materiality into a wholeness that is the best possible reflection of the absolute unity of the One.

Signs of providence are evident everywhere: in the tightly organized laws of nature, in the ecological interdependence of species, in the connectedness we feel with kith and kin, in the mystical experience of contact with a higher power, and many other places within and without ourselves.

But Plotinus indicates that while providence is pervasive it is not dictatorial. Souls still possess a certain power of independent choice or free will. This is why providence is necessary. If everything happened in accord with the perfect unitary intelligence of spirit there would be no need for providence.

Providence binds together what has been separated from divinity. A mother doesn’t need to do anything special to provide for her baby while it is still connected to her in her womb. Only after the baby is born and becomes a separate person is her providential care—feeding, bathing, diapering, protecting—needed.

Providence must not be such that it makes nothings out of us. If Providence alone were all there were, it would no longer be Providence, for upon whom would it exert providential action?
[III-2-9]
¹

Providence doesn’t determine our fates but it does assure that we are fated to experience the rational consequences of whatever we determine to do as beings separate from spirit and the One. In the womb a baby is automatically nourished. But as every parent knows, feeding an infant can be a chancy affair. Sometimes the child refuses to eat the food that is offered. Then hunger pangs make her cry in her crib. Such is providence. Those who eat are satiated, just as Plotinus tells us that those who are good enjoy well-being.

But it
[providence]
says that those who have become good shall have a good life, now, and laid up for them hereafter as well, and the wicked the opposite.
[III-2-9]

Providence is inseparable from
logos,
which R.T. Wallis says “normally denotes the ‘ground-plan’ or ‘formative principle’ from which lower realities evolve and which subsequently governs their development.”
²
Plotinus explains that the rational forming principle is not so much a cause as a “knowing.” That is, the providential power of
logos
knows how the various parts of creation fit together and what must happen when one part affects another. Providence thus is a universal principle that unfailingly connects causes and effects in a harmonious order.

When the same things come together, the same circumstances arise, then it is altogether appropriate that the same results should follow. Soul takes over or foresees these antecedent conditions and taking account of them accomplishes what follows and links up the chain of consequences, bringing antecedents and consequents into complete connection.
[II-3-16]

All this talk of antecedents and consequents sounds rather abstract, but the workings of providence are as immediately present as your next thought or action. Are you free to think or do whatever you like? “No,” I believe Plotinus would say. At least, whatever free will we have isn’t free for long.

For providence assures that whenever we do something, that cause (or antecedent) is connected with an effect (or consequence). Thus a freely-willed action necessarily causes a non-freely-willed effect. Further, this effect might be of quite a different order than the cause. Mental causes can have physical effects, and physical causes can have mental effects. The causes and effects also can be far removed in space and time from each other.

For example, if I throw a rock from behind some bushes and hit someone on the head, escaping unnoticed, one would think that the only effect of my action would be a painful bump on the other person’s cranium. I could keep on hitting people with rocks with impunity so long as I was never caught. However, since Plotinus teaches that providence is rooted in the all-pervasive realm of the Soul of the All, there is no place to hide from the long arm of this universal law.

It is fitting to attribute the punishments which fall with justice on the wicked to the [universal] order in that it directs the world according to what is right.
[IV-3-16]

This is why free will cannot remain free. Even if I was free to throw those rocks, I am not free to escape the just consequences of my actions. Plotinus expresses the eminently scientific notion that the overarching principle of cause and effect applies to the living and non-living alike. We humans are not exempt from providence just because we can think to ourselves, “I am free.” Even that seemingly insignificant thought, says Plotinus, is within the province of providence. That is, it seems that I am not even free to decide whether I’m free.

For one must not think that some things are contained in the order, while others are let loose for the operation of free will.
[IV-3-16]

Now, many people consider free will to be a central (or even essential) aspect of being human. “If we are not free,” they say, “then what differentiates us from animals?” Plotinus probably would answer in this fashion: “The wise soul does not seek freedom of action but freedom from action. Presently you act in order to attain something that you believe will bring well-being. But when you come to possess the ultimate Good, there will be no further desire, and hence no action to be willed.”

In other words, when the soul returns to the unity of the One it has no separate will, free or otherwise. And there can be no actions when there is only One, for an action requires an independent actor and something separate to be acted upon. True, we are not yet enjoying union with the One, existing as we do in the realm of separateness. But even while here on Earth we should recognize and respect the interwovenness of all things. The mystic philosopher, says Plotinus, knows that in truth he lives as a part of the whole, not just as a part.

So then living things are all conformed to the complete pattern of the All, both the ones in heaven and the rest which have been made parts in the whole, and no part, even if it is a great one, has power to bring about a complete change in the patterns or the things which happen according to the patterns.
[II-3-13]

Isn’t it interesting that miracles are, by nature, so rare and miraculous? Well-documented miracles are few and far between (skeptics would say non-existent). Even purported miracles are so much an exception to the general run of worldly predictability that they receive widespread and avid attention in both holy books and impious tabloids. If great souls have lived on Earth, and I believe they have, then why hasn’t a miracle been performed that is so grand, so out-of-the-ordinary so impossible to disregard, that believers and unbelievers alike are left awestruck at this display of other-worldly power?

For example, adding another full-sized moon to the night sky would be the sort of thing that would grab everyone’s attention. Emblazoning a message on the newly-created celestial body—“Believe!”—would be a nice additional touch.

Some may consider these thoughts blasphemous, but it isn’t irreligious to point out the supremacy of providence. As Plotinus noted above, even “the ones in heaven” are “conformed to the complete pattern of the All.” No soul has the power to bring about much of a change in the pattern of creation, for the whole necessarily prevails over the parts. And if a partial soul returns to the One, then it is barely qualifiable as a part, having almost completely united with the whole. At that point, where is there any capacity, or desire, to act contrary to providence?

From Plotinus’s perspective, even something we would call miraculous is a result of the eminently lawful interconnectedness of the cosmos. J.M. Rist says, “It is because of the ‘sympathy’ of the various parts of the cosmos that both prayers can be answered and magic effective…. Prayer, like magic, is a quasi-scientific means of harnessing certain powers in the cosmos to the service of man. These powers are predictable and can be understood by ‘scientific’ laws.”
³

Providence, says Plotinus, is akin to a general who commands not only his own troops but the enemy as well. How is it possible to battle against such a commander? Your resistance is under his control.

The universe is ordered by the generalship of providence…. But if it was possible for him
[the general]
to command the enemy force as well, if he was truly “the great leader” to whom all things are subject, what would be unordered, what would not be fitted into his plan?
[III-3-2]

Self-willed actions seemingly would be part of the enemy force Plotinus speaks of above, for if I could truly choose to do whatever I wanted whenever I wanted to do it, I’d be outside the command of providence. And this indeed is how many people consider themselves: independent, bound to obey no one unless they want to, free to blaze their own path through life.

However, what if our choices spring from a source, providence, beyond our awareness? Then there would be no difference between what I choose, and what providence has in store for me.

Suppose you say “I have power to choose this or that”? But the things that you will choose are included in the universal order.
[III-3-3]

In other words, choice too is covered by the all-encompassing span of providence, or destiny. We may believe that we are able to wield our own itty-bitty looms of thought and action that are separate from the grand weaving of the Soul of the All, but Plotinus teaches that we are mistaken. What we weave in our lives is part of an overall design. The threads of our thinking and our doing are interwoven with the fabric of the entire cosmos. Pull here and something moves there because all is connected by providence.

Good and evil are both integral aspects of this universe, just as white and black threads each contribute to the design of a fabric. Evil, says Plotinus, isn’t produced by providence. Rather, providence includes evil.

Now the universal rational principle includes both good and evil things; evil things are parts of it too. It is not that the universal rational principle produces them but that it is the universal principle with them included.
[III-3-1]

Since presently we have only a partial vision of reality, we are not able to see how things seemingly at odds actually are complementary aspects of a broader unity. Good cannot exist without evil just as light would be invisible if it could not stand out against a darker background (“light is transparent to light,” we read earlier). Similarly, we are aware of the bits and pieces of pleasure and pain that come our way but are ignorant of the universal law of providence, cause and effect, which controls the flow of our well-being.

“What goes around, comes around,” is a popular saying in the United States. This is a pithy, but entirely accurate, synopsis of Plotinus’s teachings about providence. What we give to others we will eventually get. What we take from others will one day be taken from us.

Plotinus recognizes that everyone is seeking the well-being that only union with the One can provide. As we spoke of earlier, most of us necessarily must be content with substitutes: the world’s myriad mental and physical pleasures that promise but fail to provide true happiness. Our longing for the Good is transmuted into desires for lesser goods we try to acquire by means fair and foul.

Notwithstanding our underlying (and usually unconscious) spiritual motivation, providence assures that we must pay the price for the harm we do to others.

The cause of the wrongs men do to one another might be their effort towards the Good…. But the wrongdoers pay the penalty, being corrupted in their souls by their works of wickedness, and are set in a lower place.
[III-2-4]

Providence doesn’t need to use miraculous means to enforce divine justice, because the sympathy, or interconnectedness, of the cosmos assures that the fitting consequence for every action is right at hand. Plotinus’s teachings about providence are far removed from earlier Greek conceptions of the gods personally intervening in human affairs. In the
Enneads,
providence appears as a universal natural law (quite similar to the principle of karma in Eastern thought) that operates automatically, not by fiat.