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the six enneads-第119章

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 all leading far from any corporeal quality that could enter the body and soul of a living thing from the elements: and it is equally impossible that the will of the stars; a doom from the All; any deliberation among them; should be held responsible for the fate of each and all of their inferiors。 It is not to be thought that such beings engage themselves in human affairs in the sense of making men thieves; slave…dealers; burglars; temple…strippers; or debased effeminates practising and lending themselves to disgusting actions: that is not merely unlike gods; it is unlike mediocre men; it is; perhaps; beneath the level of any existing being where there is not the least personal advantage to be gained。     32。 If we can trace neither to material agencies 'blind elements' nor to any deliberate intention the influences from without which reach to us and to the other forms of life and to the terrestrial in general; what cause satisfactory to reason remains?     The secret is: firstly; that this All is one universally comprehensive living being; encircling all the living beings within it; and having a soul; one soul; which extends to all its members in the degree of participant membership held by each; secondly; that every separate thing is an integral part of this All by belonging to the total material fabric… unrestrictedly a part by bodily membership; while; in so far as it has also some participation in the All。 Soul; it possesses in that degree spiritual membership as well; perfect where participation is in the All…Soul alone; partial where there is also a union with a lower soul。     But; with all this gradation; each several thing is affected by all else in virtue of the common participation in the All; and to the degree of its own participation。     This One…All; therefore; is a sympathetic total and stands as one living being; the far is near; it happens as in one animal with its separate parts: talon; horn; finger; and any other member are not continuous and yet are effectively near; intermediate parts feel nothing; but at a distant point the local experience is known。 Correspondent things not side by side but separated by others placed between; the sharing of experience by dint of like condition… this is enough to ensure that the action of any distant member be transmitted to its distant fellow。 Where all is a living thing summing to a unity there is nothing so remote in point of place as not to be near by virtue of a nature which makes of the one living being a sympathetic organism。     Where there is similarity between a thing affected and the thing affecting it; the affection is not alien; where the affecting cause is dissimilar the affection is alien and unpleasant。     Such hurtful action of member upon member within one living being need not seem surprising: within ourselves; in our own activities; one constituent can be harmed by another; bile and animal spirit seem to press and goad other members of the human total: in the vegetal realm one part hurts another by sucking the moisture from it。 And in the All there is something analogous to bile and animal spirit; as to other such constituents。 For visibly it is not merely one living organism; it is also a manifold。 In virtue of the unity the individual is preserved by the All: in virtue of the multiplicity of things having various contacts; difference often brings about mutual hurt; one thing; seeking its own need; is detrimental to another; what is at once related and different is seized as food; each thing; following its own natural path; wrenches from something else what is serviceable to itself; and destroys or checks in its own interest whatever is becoming a menace to it: each; occupied with its peculiar function; assists no doubt anything able to profit by that; but harms or destroys what is too weak to withstand the onslaught of its action; like fire withering things round it or greater animals in their march thrusting aside or trampling under foot the smaller。     The rise of all these forms of being and their modification; whether to their loss or gain; all goes to the fulfillment of the natural unhindered life of that one living being: for it was not possible for the single thing to be as if it stood alone; the final purpose could not serve to that only end; intent upon the partial: the concern must be for the whole to which each item is member: things are different both from each other and in their own stages; therefore cannot be complete in one unchanging form of life; nor could anything remain utterly without modification if the All is to be durable; for the permanence of an All demands varying forms。     33。 The Circuit does not go by chance but under the Reason…Principle of the living whole; therefore there must be a harmony between cause and caused; there must be some order ranging things to each other's purpose; or in due relation to each other: every several configuration within the Circuit must be accompanied by a change in the position and condition of things subordinate to it; which thus by their varied rhythmic movement make up one total dance…play。     In our dance…plays there are outside elements contributing to the total effect… fluting; singing; and other linked accessories… and each of these changes in each new movement: there is no need to dwell on these; their significance is obvious。 But besides this there is the fact that the limbs of the dancer cannot possibly keep the same positions in every figure; they adapt themselves to the plan; bending as it dictates; one lowered; another raised; one active; another resting as the set pattern changes。 The dancer's mind is on his own purpose; his limbs are submissive to the dance…movement which they accomplish to the end; so that the connoisseur can explain that this or that figure is the motive for the lifting; bending; concealment; effacing; of the various members of the body; and in all this the executant does not choose the particular motions for their own sake; the whole play of the entire person dictates the necessary position to each limb and member as it serves to the plan。     Now this is the mode in which the heavenly beings 'the diviner members of the All' must be held to be causes wherever they have any action; and; when。 they do not act; to indicate。     Or; a better statement: the entire kosmos puts its entire life into act; moving its major members with its own action and unceasingly setting them in new positions; by the relations thus established; of these members to each other and to the whole; and by the different figures they make together; the minor members in turn are brought under the system as in the movements of some one living being; so that they vary according to the relations; positions; configurations: the beings thus co…ordinated are not the causes; the cause is the coordinating All; at the same time it is not to be thought of as seeking to do one thing and actually doing another; for there is nothing external to it since it is the cause by actually being all: on the one side the configurations; on the other the inevitable effects of those configurations upon a living being moving as a unit and; again; upon a living being 'an All' thus by its nature conjoined and conco
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