/lit/ - Literature

How does Intellect originate? Undoubtedly Intellect derives its being from the One: the One neither is too jealous to procreate, nor loses anything by what it gives away. But beyond that Plotinus’ text suggests two rather different accounts. In some places he says that Intellect emanates from the One in the way that sweet odours are given off by perfume,
or that light emanates from the sun. This will remind Christian readers of the Nicene Creed’s proclamation that the Son of God is light from light. But elsewhere Plotinus speaks of Intellect as ‘daring to apostatize from the One’. This makes Intellect seem less like the Word of the Christian Trinity, and more like Milton’s Lucifer.