Editing Demiurge (section)

====Henology====
The first and highest aspect of God is described by Plato as the One (Τὸ Ἕν, 'To Hen'), the source, or the [[Monad (philosophy)|Monad]].<ref>{{Cite book|title=Dionysius the Areopagite and the Neoplatonist Tradition: Despoiling the Hellenes|last1=Wear|first1=Sarah|last2=Dillon|first2=John|publisher=Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.|year=2013|isbn=9780754603856|location=Burlington, VT|pages=15}}</ref> This is the God above the Demiurge, and manifests through the actions of the Demiurge. The Monad [[Emanationism|emanated]] the demiurge or ''[[Nous]]'' (consciousness) from its "indeterminate" vitality due to the monad being so abundant that it overflowed back onto itself, causing self-reflection.<ref>{{cite book|title=Neoplatonism and Gnosticism|year=1992|editor1-first=Richard T.|editor1-last=Wallis|editor2-first=Jay|editor2-last=Bregman|others=[[International Society for Neoplatonic Studies]]|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WSbrLPup7wYC&q=Anti-Gnostic+Polemic+Francisco+Garcia+Bazan+translated+from+Spanish+by+Winifred+T.+Slater+Nous+as+a+%22Second+God%22+According+to+Plotinus+In+Enneads&pg=PA55 |isbn=978-0-7914-1337-1 |publisher=SUNY Press}}</ref> This self-reflection of the indeterminate vitality was referred to by Plotinus as the "Demiurge" or creator. The second principle is organization in its reflection of the [[Sentience|nonsentient]] force or ''[[Potentiality and actuality|dynamis]]'', also called the one or the Monad. The dyad is ''energeia'' emanated by the one that is then the work, process or activity called ''nous'', Demiurge, mind, consciousness that organizes the indeterminate vitality into the experience called the material world, universe, cosmos. [[Plotinus]] also elucidates the equation of matter with nothing or non-being in ''[[The Enneads]]''<ref>"Matter is therefore a non-existent"; Plotinus, ''Ennead'' 2, Tractate 4 Section 16.</ref> which more correctly is to express the concept of [[idealism]] or that there is not anything or anywhere outside of the "mind" or ''nous'' (cf. [[pantheism]]).

Plotinus' form of [[Platonic idealism]] is to treat the Demiurge, ''nous'', as the contemplative faculty (''ergon'') within man which orders the force (''dynamis'') into conscious reality.<ref>[[Schopenhauer]] wrote of this Neoplatonist philosopher: "With Plotinus there even appears, probably for the first time in [[Western philosophy]], idealism that had long been current in the East even at that time, for it taught (Enneads, iii, lib. vii, c.10) that the soul has made the world by stepping from eternity into time, with the explanation: 'For there is for this universe no other place than the soul or mind' (''neque est alter hujus universi locus quam anima''), indeed the ideality of time is expressed in the words: 'We should not accept time outside the soul or mind' (''oportet autem nequaquam extra animam tempus accipere'')." (Parerga and Paralipomena, Volume I, "Fragments for the History of Philosophy", §&nbsp;7) Similarly, Professor Ludwig Noiré wrote: "For the first time in Western philosophy we find idealism proper in Plotinus (Enneads, iii, 7, 10), where he says, 'The only space or place of the world is the soul', and 'Time must not be assumed to exist outside the soul'." [5] It is worth noting, however, that like Plato but unlike Schopenhauer and other modern philosophers, Plotinus does not worry about whether or how we can get beyond our ideas in order to know external objects.</ref> In this, he claimed to reveal Plato's true meaning: a doctrine he learned from Platonic tradition that did not appear outside the academy or in Plato's text. This tradition of creator God as ''nous'' (the manifestation of consciousness), can be validated in the works of pre-Plotinus philosophers such as [[Numenius of Apamea|Numenius]], as well as a connection between Hebrew and Platonic cosmology (see also [[Philo]]).<ref>[[Numenius of Apamea]] was reported to have asked, "What else is Plato than Moses speaking Greek?" Fr. 8 Des Places.</ref>

The Demiurge of Neoplatonism is the ''Nous'' (mind of God), and is one of the three ordering principles:
* ''[[Arche]]'' (Gr. 'beginning') – the source of all things,
* ''[[Logos]]'' (Gr. 'reason/cause') – the underlying order that is hidden beneath appearances,
* ''[[:wikt:harmonia|Harmonia]]'' (Gr. 'harmony') – numerical [[ratios]] in [[mathematics]].

Before Numenius of Apamea and Plotinus' ''[[Enneads]]'', no Platonic works ontologically clarified the Demiurge from the [[allegory]] in Plato's ''Timaeus''. The idea of Demiurge was, however, addressed before Plotinus in the works of Christian writer [[Justin Martyr]] who built his understanding of the Demiurge on the works of Numenius.<ref>{{cite journal | doi=10.2307/3166060 | jstor=3166060 | title=Justin Martyr and the Restoration of Philosophy | last1=Droge | first1=Arthur J. | journal=Church History | year=1987 | volume=56 | issue=3 | pages=303–319 | s2cid=162623811 }}</ref>