The soul in its nature loves God and longs to be at one with Him in the noble love of a daughter for a noble father; but coming to human birth and lured by the courtships of this sphere, she takes up with another love, a mortal, leaves her father and falls.
Interpretation
The soul inherently seeks a connection with the divine but can become distracted by earthly desires.
In this quote, Plotinus explores the idea that the soul's true essence is to love and connect with the divine, likening this relationship to that of a loving daughter and her noble father. However, he points out that upon entering the physical realm, the soul may become enchanted by worldly attractions and mortal relationships, leading it away from its true source, resulting in a fall from grace.
In practice
This quote could be used in a spiritual discussion to illustrate the tension between divine aspiration and earthly distractions.
Beauty addresses itself chiefly to sight, but there is a beauty for the hearing too, as in certain combinations so words and in all kinds of music; for melodies and cadences are beautiful; and minds that lift themselves above the realm of sense to a higher order are aware of beauty in the conduct of life, in actions, in character, in the pursuits of the intellect; and there is the beauty of the virtues.
Knowledge, if it does not determine action, is dead to us.
The stars are like letters that inscribe themselves at every moment in the sky. Everything in the world is full of signs. All events are coordinated. All things depend on each other. Everything breathes together.
I am striving to give back the Divine in myself to the Divine in the All.
All things are filled full of signs, and it is a wise man who can learn about one thing from another.
The Soul of each one of us is sent, that the universe may be complete.
It was then that she realized that the yellow butterflies preceded the appearances of Mauricio Babilonia.
It was not until after the coming of Christ that time and humans could breathe freely. It was not until after him that people began to live toward the future. Humans do not die in a ditch like a dog-but at home in history, while the work toward the conquest of death is in full swing; they die sharing in this work.
If we are to survive, our loyalties must be broadened further, to include the whole human community, the entire planet Earth.
This truth within thy mind rehearse, That in a boundless universe Is boundless better, boundless worse.
How can we keep the government we create from becoming a Frankenstein that will destroy the very freedom we establish it to protect? Freedom is a rare and delicate plant.
Of the three official objects of our prison system: vengeance, deterrence, and reformation of the criminal, only one is achieved; and that is the one which is nakedly abominable.
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