Traces of all that exists in the universe, in the cosmos, are to be found in human beings, who are the "measure of all things" said the African-educated philosopher, and mathematician, Pythagoras.
These ideas were reinforced in my reading of 3rd Century African philosopher, Plotinus , who wrote:
"If man were all of one piece--I mean, if he were nothing more than a made thing, acting and acting upon according to a fixed nature --he could be no more subject to reproach and punishment than the mere animals. But as the scheme holds, man is singled out for condemnation when he does evil, and this with justice. For he is no mere thing made to rigid plan; his nature contains a Principle apart and free.
"This does not , however, stand outside of Providence or of the reason of the All; the Over-World cannot be cut off from the World of Sense. The higher shines down upon the lower, and this illumination is Providence in its higher aspect. The Reason-Principle has two phases, one which creates the things of process and another which links them with the higher beings: these higher beings constitute the over-providence on which depends the lower providence which is the secondary Reason-Principle inseparably united with its primal: the two--the Major and Minor Providence --acting together produce the universal woof, the one all-comprehensive Providence.
"Men possess, then, a distinctive Principle: but not all men turn to account all that is in their Nature; there are men that live by one Principle and men that live by another or, rather, by several others , the least noble. For all these Principles are ever present even when not acting upon the man--though we cannot think of them as lying idle; everything performs its function."
P.159-150, "Providence: Second Tractate," THE ENNEADS by Plotinus (1991)

Wednesday, March 28, 2018
UNIVERSAL TRACES
Traces of all that exists in the universe, in the cosmos, are to be found in human beings, who are the "measure of all things" said the African-educated philosopher, and mathematician, Pythagoras.
These ideas were reinforced in my reading of 3rd Century African philosopher, Plotinus , who wrote:
"If man were all of one piece--I mean, if he were nothing more than a made thing, acting and acting upon according to a fixed nature --he could be no more subject to reproach and punishment than the mere animals. But as the scheme holds, man is singled out for condemnation when he does evil, and this with justice. For he is no mere thing made to rigid plan; his nature contains a Principle apart and free.
"This does not , however, stand outside of Providence or of the reason of the All; the Over-World cannot be cut off from the World of Sense. The higher shines down upon the lower, and this illumination is Providence in its higher aspect. The Reason-Principle has two phases, one which creates the things of process and another which links them with the higher beings: these higher beings constitute the over-providence on which depends the lower providence which is the secondary Reason-Principle inseparably united with its primal: the two--the Major and Minor Providence --acting together produce the universal woof, the one all-comprehensive Providence.
"Men possess, then, a distinctive Principle: but not all men turn to account all that is in their Nature; there are men that live by one Principle and men that live by another or, rather, by several others , the least noble. For all these Principles are ever present even when not acting upon the man--though we cannot think of them as lying idle; everything performs its function."
P.159-150, "Providence: Second Tractate," THE ENNEADS by Plotinus (1991)

