Synthesis:Neoplatonism

As its name suggests, neoplatonism is connected with the philosopher Plato. Key figures include Plotinus (c. 204/5 – 270 CE), whose major work is called the Enneads, Proclus. Neoplatonist ideas and practices run through the whole history of european civilization, having influenced early christian writers like Saint Augustine and ascetics like pseudo-Dionysius the Aeropagite and Evagrius Ponticus, who in turn had a profound on western and eastern medieval christian mystics, such as John Climacus, Maximus the Confessor, Symeon the New Theologian, Gregory Palamas, Saint Bonaventure, Meister Eckhart, and then on Renaissance intellectuals like Marsilio Ficino whose magnus opus Theologica Platonica attempted a formal synthesis of neoplatonism and christianity, as well as later mystics like John of the Cross or Terésa of Ávila. Because Islamic philosophers and mystics largely drew from similar sources, neoplatonic writings and views have also shaped the history of Islam. As such the legacy of this historical current is of enormous cultural import that is still relevant today.

Henosis and the three-stage model

Henosis

In the Enneads, Plotinus proposes a model describing the different phases of "mystical ascent", an itinerary culminating in what he calls union with god. It is called Henosis, which is the Greek word for "union" — literally becoming (-osis) one (hen). Mazur (2021), as quoted in the Wikipedia article on the topic, delineates the following stages:

• Phase 1, Catharsis: self-purification (aphairesis) from any contamination with multiplicity (of any thought, knowledge, or mental activity); "removing" Being itself (Enneads III.8.10)
• Phase 2, Mystical self-reversion: "The intellect ... must ‘withdraw backwards’ and surrender itself to what lies behind it" (Enneads III.8.9)
• Phase 3, Autophany: luminous vision of one's own self
• Phase 3.2, Self-unification: to "become one from many" (Enneads VI.9.3)
• Phase 4, Annihilation: discussed in the Enneads VI.9
• Phase 5, Union with the One
• Phase 5.2, Desubjectification
• Passages in the Enneads describing the different stages of mystical union with the One can be found in I.6, IV.8, VI.9, III.8, V.3, V.5, V.8, and VI.7-8.

Overall, this itinerary follows a three-phase structure which may originate in Plato's Allegory of the cave, and which can found in the mystical writings of a striking number of christian mystics.

The three-stage model

These three phases are:

• Purification
• Illumination
• Union

Practitioners of Hesychasm (which comes from the greek word meaning "silence"), the core practice of Orthodox contemplatives, use this specific model to describe the stages of practice. The Greek names for these stages are

• Katharsis (κάθαρσις) or purification,
• Theoria (θεωρία) or illumination, and
• Theosis (θέωσις) or deification (or union with God).

The experiences of hesychasts are preserved in a collection of texts called the Philokalia (φιλοκαλία) which translates to "love" (φιλία, philia) "of the beautiful" (κάλλος, kallos), just like philosophy means love of wisdom.

Similarly, Saint John of the Cross, arguably one of the most well-know Catholic mystics, also fits his own conception of the path within this structure.

Connection with other traditions

Parallels of this threefold structure seem to be present in other mystical traditions, including Sufism (Ibn Arabi), Hindu Vedanta and Tantra, Buddhist Mahayana and Vajrayana, Jewish Kabbalah, and even Daoist mysticism. For instance, scholars have researched and found similarities between this progression and the buddhist jhānas. It is interesting to note that in terms of etymology, the word theoria used by orthodox hesychasts, shares the same indo-european root as the word jhāna, from which c'han and zen also derive.

Further descriptions by Plotinus:

"Our thought cannot grasp the One as long as any other image remains active in the soul. To this end, you must set free your soul from all outward things and turn wholly within yourself, with no more leaning to what lies outside, and lay your mind bare of ideal forms, as before of the objects of sense, and forget even yourself, and so come within sight of that One. (VI.9.7) "If he remembers who he became when he merged with the One, he will bear its image in himself. He was himself one, with no diversity in himself or his outward relations; for no movement was in him, no passion, no desire for another, once the ascent was accomplished. Nor indeed was there any reason or thought, nor, if we dare say it, any trace of himself." (VI.9.11)

The issue here in terms of phenomenology is that this is rather general and could be construed to refer to very different types of experiences of various depth, subtlety, rarity, degrees of permanence, and more, depending on the degree of literality and radicality we assign to the words used by Plotinus.

Is this referring to a "non-experience", something similar to what buddhism calls nirodha — cessation of consciousness — in which no subject or object of perception is to be found, and in fact, no experience at all arises? The description of a complete absence of any manifest qualities would invite us to incline towards this interpretation. According to a recent monograph, "one must accept that Plotinus basically considered the union as a complete absorption of the soul into the Supreme Entity", which could fit well with this perspective, especially considering that Mazur underlines that the end-stage following Union is actually "de-subjectivisation", which is similar to what Buddhist models of "cessation" describe as well.

However, Plotinus could also referring to a state of deep concentration where usual perceptions and sensations have mostly stopped, but some form of experience, albeit potentially subtle, remains — such as the various buddhist absorptions, which are all different one from the other. For instance, in Buddhism, the seventh jhāna is called the realm of nothingness, and those who have experienced it report that the sole remaining object of perception within the field of consciousness is a sense of "there being nothing", which is itself a thing, albeit quite subtle. This is similar to descriptions of lucid dreamless sleep. Other states of absorption may also qualify, as could forms of temporary "ego-death" such as can be experienced through e.g. high doses of psilocybin mushrooms, or "non-duality"? It could even be seen as describing a much more mundane and common type of experience such as the suspension of usual everyday consciousness of "mind wandering" or "attentional drift" that is busy with daily thoughts, and managing to attain a certain degree of presence that is free from past and future thoughts about oneself. Another possible interpretation here, is a permanent form of ego-death such as are reported by mystics from several religions, that happens all the while there remain normal sensory appearances within the individual's experience.

Regardless of the definitive answer, the similarities between the three-stage model and path descriptions from other traditions, whether historically connected or not, is striking.

Resources

• Ficino, M. (2001). Platonic theology. Harvard University Press.
• John of the Cross. (1991). The collected works of Saint John of the Cross (Rev. ed). ICS Publications.
• Mazur, A. J. (2021). The Platonizing Sethian background of Plotinus’s mysticism (D. M. Burns, K. Corrigan, I. Miroshnikov, T. Rasimus, & J. D. Turner, Eds.; Rev. ed). Brill.
• Plato. (1997). Complete works. Hackett Pub.
• Plotinus. (2018). The Enneads (L. P. Gerson, Ed.; G. R. Boys-Stones, Trans.). Cambridge University Press.