Editing Plotinus (section)

===Henosis===
{{main|Henosis}}

Henosis is the word for mystical "oneness", "union", or "unity" in classical Greek. In [[Platonism]], and especially [[neoplatonism]], the goal of henosis is union with what is fundamental in reality: the One ([[wikt:εἷς|τὸ Ἕν]]), the Source, or [[Monism|Monad]].<ref>Stamatellos, Giannis. ''Plotinus and the Presocratics: A Philosophical Study of Presocratic Influences in Plotinus' Enneads''. SUNY Series in Ancient Greek Philosophy. SUNY Press, 2007, p. 37 {{ISBN|0791470628}}</ref>

As is specified in the writings of Plotinus on [[henology]], one can reach a state of [[tabula rasa]], blank state where the individual may grasp or merge with The One.{{refn|group=note|Plotinus: <br/>* "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. (6.9.7)<br/>* "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 though, nor, if we dare say it, any trace of himself." (6.9.11)}} This absolute simplicity means that the nous or the person is then dissolved, completely absorbed back into the Monad. Here within the ''Enneads'' of Plotinus the Monad can be referred to as the Good above the demiurge.<ref name="books.google.com">''[[Neoplatonism and Gnosticism]]'' by Richard T. Wallis, Jay Bregman, [[International Society for Neoplatonic Studies]], p. 55</ref><ref name="WallisBregman1992">{{cite book|author1=Richard T. Wallis|author2=Jay Bregman|title=Neoplatonism and Gnosticism|chapter=Pleroma and Noetic Cosmos: A Comparative Study|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WSbrLPup7wYC&pg=PA99|date=1992|publisher=SUNY Press|isbn=978-0-7914-1337-1|pages=99}}</ref> The Monad or [[dunamis]] (force) is of one singular expression (the will or the one which is the good); all is contained in the Monad and the Monad is all ([[pantheism]]). All division is reconciled in the one; the final stage before reaching singularity, called duality (dyad), is completely reconciled in the Monad, Source or One (see [[monism]]). As the one source or substance of all things, the Monad is all encompassing. As infinite and indeterminate all is reconciled in the dunamis or one. It is the demiurge or second emanation that is the nous in Plotinus. It is the demiurge (creator, action, energy) or nous that "perceives" and therefore causes the force (potential or One) to manifest as energy, or the [[Dyad (Greek philosophy)|dyad]] called the material world. Nous as being; being and perception (intellect) manifest what is called soul ([[Gaia hypothesis|World Soul]]).<ref name="books.google.com"/>

Henosis for Plotinus was defined in his works as a reversing of the ontological process of consciousness via [[meditation]] (in the Western mind to un[[Contemplation|contemplate]]) toward no thought ([[Nous]] or [[demiurge]]) and no division ([[Dyad (symbol)|dyad]]) within the individual (being). Plotinus words his teachings to reconcile not only Plato with [[Aristotle]] but also various World religions that he had personal contact with during his various travels. Plotinus' works have an [[ascetic]] character in that they reject matter as an illusion (non-existent). Matter was strictly treated as [[immanent]], with matter as essential to its being, having no true or [[transcendence (philosophy)|transcendential]] character or essence, substance or ousia (οὐσία). This approach is called philosophical [[Idealism]].<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," § 7)</ref>