"But since we hold that happiness is for human beings too, we must consider what this perfect life is. The matter may be stated this:
"It has been shown elsewhere that man when he commands not merely the life of sensation but also of Reason and Authentic Intellection, has realized the perfect life.
"But are we to picture this kind of life as something foreign imported into his nature?
"No: there exists no single human being that does not either potentially or effectively possess this thing which we hold to constitute happiness .
"But are we to think of man as including this form of life, the perfect , after the manner of a partial constituent of his entire nature ?
"We say, rather, that while in some men it is present as a mere portion of their total being--in those, namely, that have it potentially--there is, too, the man already in possession of true felicity , who is this perfection realized , who has passed over into actual identification with it. All else is now mere clothing about the man, not to be called part of him since it lies about him unsought , not his because not appropriated to himself by an act of will.
"To the man in this state what is the Good?
"He himself by what he has and is.
"And the author and principle of what he is and holds is the Supreme, which within itself is the Good but manifests Itself within the human being after this other mode.
"The sign that this state has been achieved is that the man seeks nothing else.
"What indeed could he be seeking? Certainly none of the less worthy things; and the Best he carries always within him.
"He that has such a life as this has all he needs in life."
P. 34-35, "Happiness," PLOTINUS :THE ENNEADS (1991)
Friday, September 9, 2016
"happiness" THE ENNEADS
"But since we hold that happiness is for human beings too, we must consider what this perfect life is. The matter may be stated this:
"It has been shown elsewhere that man when he commands not merely the life of sensation but also of Reason and Authentic Intellection, has realized the perfect life.
"But are we to picture this kind of life as something foreign imported into his nature?
"No: there exists no single human being that does not either potentially or effectively possess this thing which we hold to constitute happiness .
"But are we to think of man as including this form of life, the perfect , after the manner of a partial constituent of his entire nature ?
"We say, rather, that while in some men it is present as a mere portion of their total being--in those, namely, that have it potentially--there is, too, the man already in possession of true felicity , who is this perfection realized , who has passed over into actual identification with it. All else is now mere clothing about the man, not to be called part of him since it lies about him unsought , not his because not appropriated to himself by an act of will.
"To the man in this state what is the Good?
"He himself by what he has and is.
"And the author and principle of what he is and holds is the Supreme, which within itself is the Good but manifests Itself within the human being after this other mode.
"The sign that this state has been achieved is that the man seeks nothing else.
"What indeed could he be seeking? Certainly none of the less worthy things; and the Best he carries always within him.
"He that has such a life as this has all he needs in life."
P. 34-35, "Happiness," PLOTINUS :THE ENNEADS (1991)