The Enneads: Abridged Edition (Penguin Classics)

I had heard of Plotinus' "Enneads" for years and always thought they'd be too obtuse to understand. This seemed to be the opinion of references to it. But, I finally ordered the book, which came in good condition. I was pulled through the reading but had to do it in stages. The world explored by Plotinus is glorious, multilayered and has none of the limiting of "modernity." There are wide open spaces in his exploration of the nature of matter for it is a simple, very basic question only a child would ask. His answers to his sefl-put questions are valuable in that the answers restore a sense of the innate majesty of the universe.

What an amazing book......as I am not a scholar per say this is a book I have read slowly and carefully and will probably take many years to grasp and fathom the thinking of such an amazing mind…but I am enjoying the treads of his thinking so far……. if you want to read Plotinus don’t expect it to be a cracking good read…..it isn’t…. it is a book for those who want deep philosophy and theology.

Plotinus' interpretation of Plato was very influential on Christian theologians, including Augustine. He was indirectly influenced by Philo of Alexandria, the Hellenist Jewish philosopher. This edition includes Porphyry's Life of Plotinus.

The source book for much of the ancient Greek interpretation of the Egyptian mysteries. Schwaller de Lubitz must have been very familiar with this work and the Hermetica as he analyzed the mystic architecture of the Temple at Luxor.

Plotinus was the greatest Platonist philosopher of the ancient Platonist school and also arguably the greatest thinker between the decline of ancient Greek Philosophy (and the schools of Plato, Aristotle, the Stoics and the Epicureans) and St Augustine.Plotinus though unfortunately has until fairly recently been neglected by mainstream philosophy, primarily because of the hostility of contemporary 'scientific' thought to the phenomenon known as mysticism.Mysticism is a complex term and not really suited to the study of what once might have been called 'mystical', i.e. transcending the ordinary, discursive rational modes of understanding. Maybe new terms need to be found.Unfortunately Plotinus and his great works of speculative thought have been characterised as 'mystical' and Plotinus himself has been called a 'mystic.' There is no doubt a careful reading of Plotinus's writings contain movingly beautiful descriptions of what might be called 'mystical' experience, as scholars have noted. But the difference with Plotinus is he tries to establish his system, as all great philosophers do, on appeal to reason and argument. This is clearest in his polemics against the ancient 'Gnostics', religious sects that claimed insight into reality based on secret rituals and visionary experiences, akin perhaps to Theosophy in the 19th and early 20th centuries.Any reader of Plotinus will quickly see Plotinus has little time for such nonsense, or at least he considers it unimportant to using your brain to work things out.The Enneads are actually a series of lecture notes or seminar papers delivered by Plotinus to a small school of Neo-Platonic philosophers, arranged and edited by his student Porphyry. Unfortunately Porphyry arranged the Enneads according to Platonic numerology resulting in a confusing and unsystematic arrangement of Plotinus's ideas.The Penguin translation is very dated (based on McKenna) and also abridged, and certainly not as good as Armstrong's much better Loeb translation. This edition is relatively affordable but the cumbersome terminology and stiff translation given by McKenna mask the beauty of Plotinus's prose. Despite these problems this edition is relatively accessible and the introductory essays are very helpful. This book remains a good place to start for students of Plotinus.

Excellent read!

The Enneads (the Nines) is/are the greatest surviving work of spiritual philosophy of late antiquity.Here we have expounded Plotinus' interpretation of the perennial philosophy. We are shown that the material world has a spiritual origin, for all of creation emanates down from the divine Source, through the various levels of manifestation, to our own world. Moreover, we are shown that mankind's ultimate goal is to turn away from the distractions of this lower material creation and seek union with this divine Source (God, the One, the Good.)While Plotinus critised the Gnostic sects of his day, it is obvious that his own idea of intuitive intellectual knowlege, where subject and object unite in perfect understanding, is pure gnosis. The main disagreement seems to have been on the nature of the material world: The Gnostics held it to be inherently evil, while Plotinus saw it as simply lower and inferior, yet basically good.This Penguin edition has a large and informative introductory section. It includes an excellent biography of Stephen Mackenna, the translator, who gave his life and health to this work. There is also a good brief historical sketch of late historical times to help the reader to understand the period in which Plotinus wrote. Plus, the brief, condensed, well-structured, outline of Plotinus' system of Philosophy is invaluable in getting an initial grip on the concepts that are expanded upon in the main work. Finally, Porphyry's brief contemporary biographical sketch of Plotinus is included.There is great wisdom in this book for those who can penetrate the traditional intuitive mindset. This only to be expected since Plotinus studied the perennial philosophy at the great library of Alexandria for over a decade. There is also the fact that Plotinus admitted to three episodes of enlightenment, epiphany, or cosmic consciousness in his life. Like all true masters, he was more of a receiver of timeless divine truths than an originator of anything new and contrived.