Plotinus, a Greek philosopher, spoke a lot about the One

My previous post was about the current guru of Radha Soami Satsang Beas referring to oneness, rather than duality, as being a characteristic of God. So much so, the guru, Gurinder Singh Dhillon, says that you can't get to God through meditation if you think that God is there and I am here.

Osho Robbins, who messaged me about Dhillon's remarks, viewed this as being in accord with the teachings of Advaita, an Indian philosophical system centered on the notion of not-two, the meaning of Advaita. Which does indeed sound a lot like One.

However, I believe that Dhillon's discussion of divine oneness is closer to the teachings of Plotinus, a 3rd  century Greek mystic philosopher, than to Advaita. I can claim this with some confidence, because I wrote a book about Plotinus's teachings, Return to the One.

When I wrote the book, I was still an active member of Radha Soami Satsang Beas (RSSB). It was Dhillon, the RSSB guru, who suggested several names of Western mystics that I could write about on behalf of RSSB. Plotinus was one of those names, obviously the one I chose. I have no idea if Dhillon has read my book, but I had several discussions with him about the book.

Now, before sharing some quotations from Return to the One pertaining to the nature of the One, I want to be clear about this: I have no idea if what Plotinus says about the One (or what Dhillon says about oneness) is objectively true. Meaning, part of the nature of reality. This is different from a subjective sense of oneness -- which almost everyone has from time to time.

Here's what I said about the One on the first page of the Introduction to Return to the One.  The Enneads is Plotinus's collection of writings, which were edited by one of his students, Porphyry.

A central message of the Enneads is that what each of us truly longs for, even if we don't consciously realize it, is to return to the One -- which may be thought of as "God," if this more familiar term for ultimate reality is stripped of its personal or theistic connotations.

The One, for Plotinus, is unequivocally and indisputably one. It is the root of everything in existence, for the One is both the source of being and the ground of being (even though, as we will learn, it also is beyond being). So at a deep, mystical level you are the One, I am the One, this book you are holding is the One, and everything else outside and inside of us is the One.

Why is it, then, that the world appears to be constituted of so many distinct entities? I certainly seem to be separate from you, and you from me. Each of us feels closer to some objects, people, and concepts than to other objects, people, and concepts, but always there remains a gap between one's self and all that is other than one's self.

It is natural to try to bridge this gap because humans have an innate longing for intimacy and union, not isolation and separation. Indeed every urge -- such as to worship, to act rightly, to love, to create, to know -- flows from a primal drive for fulfillment. We want to make whole what has been broken, to find what has been lost, to do what demands to be done, to return from where we have come.

It isn't easy to summarize the means by which Plotinus said it is possible to return to the One, in part because Plotinus was a notoriously difficult-to-understand author. But I attempted to encapsulate his teachings in this regard in a final substantive chapter, Vision is Veracity. Again, I'm struck by how similar Dhillon and Plotinus seem to be. But like I said, this doesn't mean they are objectively correct.

Consciousness is its own confirmation. I may be misled about how real something is within my consciousness, since it is possible to see and hear things that exist only within my own mind. But consciousness itself must be accepted as a given, the bedrock on which stands all else I am and do.

This allows Plotinus to move beyond what the Greek Skeptics considered an impassible barrier to knowing absolute truth: the seeming fact, as Richard Tarnas puts it, "that any conflict between two apparent truths could be settled only by appeal to some criterion; yet that criterion could itself only be justified by appeal to some further criterion, which would thereby require an infinite regress of such criteria, none foundational. 'Nothing is certain, not even that,' said Arcesilaus."

In contrast, Plotinus teaches that the One serves as the immutable foundation of reality. Everything in existence emanates from the One and the human soul is able to return to the One, sharing in a universal consciousness of what is true and eternal. 

This is accomplished not by perceiving the One as something separate from ourselves, for then, as the Skeptics argued, we would indeed need some means of determining whether the object within consciousness was real or unreal, and then need some means of determining the reality of that means, and on and on and on it would go, endlessly seeking validation of the highest truth but never finding it.

Rather, Plotinus says that when the soul is purified its seeing is identical to what is seen. To disbelieve in the sight of God at that point would be to disbelieve in our very seeing, consciousness itself, an impossibility. 

...Plotinus tells us that the means by which we now know the creation must become the end we seek. Like a snake that swallows its own tail, the sage turns his attention back upon the consciousness that usually attends to outer things and thoughts. Uniting within himself the knower and the known, the One is revealed as the ground of the sage's own self. We've seen this quotation before but it is well worth repeating.

We must believe that we have seen him when, suddenly, the soul is filled with light, for this light comes from him and is identical with him... This is the real goal for the soul: to touch and to behold this light itself, by means of itself. She does not wish to see it by some means of some other light; what she wants to see is that light by means of which she is able to see.

...Presently each of us lives in a realm of duality. There is an individual and there are entities other than that individual. It is extremely difficult to break out of this manner of being, even to merely envision the possibility of existing as simultaneously one with ourselves and one with the cosmos. Thus Plotinus warns us not to assume that spirituality can be confined within the bounds of what is familiar.

To be spiritual isn't a matter of moving this way or that along the customary dimensions of everyday life: time and space. We can't know God by becoming as small and insignificant as an atom or by becoming as large and momentous as the universe. Spirit and the One do not lie in a particular direction, nor is divinity realized by having more or less of anything possessed now.

Returning to the One means embracing mystery, cultivating another way of seeing, leaving aside visions and becoming sight.

...There, in the higher reaches of the spiritual world, the light that dazzles the soul doesn't illuminate anything, for manyness has not yet emanated from oneness. Here, we see things that are separate from the light that makes seeing possible. But when all separateness and multiplicity have been eliminated from the soul, what remains is awareness of the conscious power that produces separateness and multiplicity, spirit, the creative energy of the One.

...Becoming the One is the only way of knowing the One.

Comments

[Ron E.]

From Brian’s book; - “A central message of the Enneads is that what each of us truly longs for, even if we don't consciously realize it, is to return to the One -- which may be thought of as "God,"

It does seem that we posit the idea of One as being something to attain, something we’ve lost and therefore resort to seeking out teachers and teachings that can help us ‘return to one’. Whereas the reality is probably more to do with the fact that we are not separate in the first place. We are formed from the same stuff as the rest of life, the rest of the universe and are subject to the same laws.

As Brian’s quote declares: - “...Presently each of us lives in a realm of duality. There is an individual and there are entities other than that individual. It is extremely difficult to break out of this manner of being, even to merely envision the possibility of existing as simultaneously one with ourselves and one with the cosmos.”

Yes, it is extremely difficult to envision, for to envision something is to imagine or conceive it – which means to think about it. And, as great a tool thinking is in order to plan and process information, it is totally incapable and ultimately misleading to apply thinking to solving metaphysical is-sues – which of course are themselves merely derived from thought. To confuse the issue further, we may have had certain inexplicable experiences (all quite natural) and apply thought in an attempt to understand them to often arrive at some other-worldly explanation.

Our connection to everything is palpable, but the insecure self-structures we have built consistently divorce us from this recognition insisting that we are special and different from the rest of the world around us - this process (to use the Buddhist term) is the cause of suffering

[sant64]

Conceptual indigestion is the root of Dual/Non-Dual issue. Or at least, I suspect it is for many of us.

What I mean: Dualistic theistic religion requires the capacity to believe a Divine Person has created and is running the universe. Some people have no problem accepting this dualistic concept and its attendant moving parts, such as the Divine Person sending his Son or Last Prophet, coming to earth Himself as Krsna, or infusing his Being into a Saint as proxy. The more conceptual moving parts in a theology, the more faith it requires. Lack of sufficient faith results in irresolvable mental conflict.

The irresolvable mental conflict of Dualistic religion motivated the Buddha as much as old age, sickness, and death. Hence the Buddha's criticism of the Brahmins:

https://suttacentral.net/dn13/en/sujato?lang=en&layout=plain&reference=none&notes=asterisk&highlight=false&script=latin

There's another side to this topic. If the non-dual approach is in all ways superior to dualism, then why didn't it replace popular interest in dualistic religions? Even in Buddhist nations, there's a lot of praying that goes on in the temples.

Why is it far more satisfying to read about Ramana Maharshi than to live like Ramana Maharshi?

[umami]

The One, also known as Tao...

"The Tao that can be told is not the eternal Tao.
The name that can be named is not the eternal name.
The nameless is the beginning of heaven and Earth.
The named is the mother of the ten thousand things.
Ever desireless, one can see the mystery.
Ever desiring, one sees the manifestations.
These two spring from the same source but differ in name; this appears as darkness.
Darkness within darkness.
The gate to all mystery."

Et cetera, et cetera.

[Osho Robbibs]

"I have no idea if what Plotinus says about the One (or what Dhillon says about oneness) is objectively true. Meaning, part of the nature of reality. This is different from a subjective sense of oneness -- which almost everyone has from time to time."
- Brian Hines

A sense of Oneness is not the thing. That is a subjective experience.

The first starting point is:
What is REAL? The japji calls it Sach and defines it as the Eternal.
"was in thr beginning, will be in the end"

There is no possibility of an "entity" such as a personal God being real.
Anything individual is necessarily within the boundary of time. That means it had a beginning and will have an end.

Eternal does not exist in time or space. Hence there cannot be a God who has a shape, a form and a mind. All those require space and time.

The only possible God necessarily has no shape, no personality and no mind.
in our world, that is called "non-existent"

So God, ONE, is necessarily non-existent.

it cannot be seen or experienced. if someone says "I have seen God" he is lying or deluded because God cannot be seen.

i

[RS]

Semantic quibbling, Mr. Robbins.

[Spence Tepper]

How can the One exist and be real when we are all here in so many forms?

1) The beginning of all pholosophy is Wonder."
Plato

That is also the middle and end of all philosophy. If we do not love what we see, then we have not touched that state of wonder.

2) When two beings love each other through and through, with an unalloyed love, an uncompromised love, an unselfish love, they are, in all that matters, indistinguishable.

The answer is to Oneness is Love. Love without conditions, love that is entirely inclusive. Unbounded and unmeasurable. And Wonder is the gateway drug to that.'

[777]

Dear 777,

Yes love and bhakti are very powerful in of themselves. Some things, however, are so personal (or so particular to one individual and not necessarily of import to others) that it is difficult to discuss them on an open forum. I remember when Professor Juergensmeyer was interviewing Charan Singh in his office at the Dera in the summer of 1978 and he asked Charan if he had contact with Sawan Singh's spirit.... Charan replied that some things are too intimate for such discussion. I didn't think Charan was blowing Mark off, but rather that it was so deep to Charan that it would be nearly impossible to discuss publicly without trivializing it. Anyone who knows me knows what I feel about Charan.

Posted by: David Lane | September 08, 2015 at 09:18 PM

[um]

@ Spence T.

What has happened?
This the first time that I do not understand what you write.

[Osho Robbins]

"How can the One exist and be real when we are all here in so many forms?"
-Spence Tepper

Hi Spence, hope you are keeping well.

Very few people even understand what ONENESS actually means.
After understanding, comes the realization.

even understanding is rare.

Oneness and duality co-exist. The Oneness is real (never ends)
whereas the many (maya) is changing and that means unreal.

unreal means - it ends

[Leela]

At the lowest level we feel completely separate from all else. This is known as Hell.

As we rise in consciousness we see that we are fragmented, then connected and ultimately we begin to realize that we are all one. In our Oneness we are at peace. In our Oneness we are God.

[Leela]

Guilt separates us. Grace unites us.

[Trez]

Gurinder Singh Dhillon says alot lot but its all garbage and should be binned

He goes on about all the other religions in the world but why, he isn't a religion as he says, so is he putting them all down or showing the world he's going on about nothings.

There's no truth to anything he has ever said sitting on that mountain up there on stage acting all Godly as others sit way down there at his feet.

High and mighty egotisticaly big headed as a know it all who contradictes everything in life he himself say.

Lives off others land and money and acts like an God sent man

He's not even a Man

Who earns a honest living and pays his own way through life has he? Ever? Never
Same goes for his family too

Ridiculing the sangat who can't see anything and can't hear anything beyond his lies.

Gurinder is no God not even a God man
He's a Con man who has lived a lie of a life and still does.

Don't believe this Baba who has no proof or facts about what he says on stage and off

Gurinders Shameless act is over and so is he

[Spence Tepper]

Hi Um
You asked
"What has happened?
This the first time that I do not understand what you write."

Yes. Something happened.
I saw Baba Ji in Petaluma.
For some reason I can't begin to explain, that I don't understand I burst into tears and could not stop crying.

He walked around and glimpsed at me and I burst into tears again and cried like a baby, and could not take my eyes off him.

It was disturbing. It was amazing.

Yes, something happened. Something happened. I'm not the same.

To even try to explain is just being dishonest. Something happened. I honestly do not understand. Yes I've changed. But I don't understand. I'm so grateful. But for what? Yes it was disturbing. Yes something happened.

[Kranvir]

Gurinder Singh dhillon thinks he is the oneness and that everything revolves around him. His visit to the Pope and kissing his hand along with his son and jasdeep show how he's trying hard to manipulate himself as the new top dog of the planet. Not forgetting his frantic efforts in hanging out with cult leaders of India and the celebrities and Bollywood stars. Why doesn't he just merge into his rssb brother , ram Raheem, so he can become one with the inmates and crooks.

[Spence Tepper]

Hi Um
You asked
"@ Spence T.

What has happened?
This the first time that I do not understand what you write."

Yes something has happened. Nothing escapes you apparently.

I saw Baba ji in Petaluma. I burst into tears when I saw him and could not stop crying for quite a long time. Like a baby. The entire creation smiled and sat upon the stage. The entire creation walked among the Satsangis pouring everything he had into them.

It was wonderful and also disturbing. When you witness something so immense you are left with the fact that you saw from one point only, but it was every point. Every word I could write would be an injustice to it.

These things change us, that is a fact. but I can't say how. How could I understand, as an ignorant student?

Yes something happened. But it may take years for me to digesr it.

[umami]

https://youtu.be/_wMU54gg3Sc?si=y_ifTYAw8NUFJQln

[Mary Xmas]

I thought satsangis always believed in Oneness as the ultimate reality. Duality only “exists” in the mind.

[Mary Xmas]

I love the spirit of Christmas so much it’s ridiculous. I guess that makes sense considering I was born in America in a place that often gets a white Christmas. It’s just such a happy time.

In the spirit of Oneness and Kwanzaa and Chrismukkah this year, here’s a treat https://youtu.be/NALZk5W72GY?si=BrVDPkHnKfwW65SM. I hope all of you here enjoy a very special holiday with family and friends. ❤️

[Mary Xmas]

I know that Christmas isn’t actually the day that Jesus was born. According to biblical scholars Jesus was most likely born in October (a Libra of corse!) but it’s a time when the whole world reflects upon the past year and the year to come. We are truly One in that when someone else is hurting you feel their pain and when someone else is rejoicing you feel their joy.

Egos aside, it’s a magical, marvelous, miraculous time.

[Mary Xmas]

*We truly are ONE.