Million Book Collection - The Fishers of Men Ministries

2/2 THE FORMATION OF CHRISTENDOMthat from which it is originated, that is, not merelyreceives its condition in its origin, but only subsists independence on it, is borne and supported by it. Thepower which goes forth from the First One diffusesitself into every being, without, however, dividing itselffrom its origin. The First One is therefore presento each being with its whole undivided infinite power:it is one life which issuing from it pervades all andconfers on each its proper being. Plotinus expressesthis by a metaphor. The whole is enlightened by thebeams of the Primal Being. This is the Sun, whichours forth the universe, as a circle of light, around :the Centre, which rules by its power the whole circumferenceof existence. Thus everything is essentiallyrelated to the First One in its being and activity : hasin it the end of its operation : the centre about whicht t/ Now so far as the First One reveals itself in theDerived, the Derived stands to it in a relation of identity,partakes of it: but so far as this revelation isonly appearance in another, the representation of thesupreme cause in its effects, the two stand negativelyto each other. The Original can only communicateitself imperfectly to the Derived. In proportion asthe chain of beings O is removed from its origin « its com-pleteness diminishes. Plotinus dwells on both thesesides of his doctrine. The One is present to everythingwhich is, as penetrating it with its power. Allis an imitation, or more accurately, a shadowed ormirrored image of the First: that is, is not merelysimilar, but produced as a copy by the continuouseffect of the Primal Being. To Be comes to a beingonly so far as it is one, and the completeness of its1 teller, v. 447.