When the Form of the Good, Finding the Eye of the Soul
When we look outside of that on which we depend we ignore our unity; looking outward we see many faces; look inward and all is the one head. If man could but be turned about by his own motion or by the happy pull of Athene—he would see at once God and himself and the All.
—The Enneads VI.9.7, translated by Stephen MacKenna
Both Plotinus and Proclus consistently described the Eye of the Soul as the purified, divine faculty within the human being that allows direct perception of truth, gods, and the Forms. It is not simply a metaphor for intellect, but Nous awakened through philosophical and theurgical disciplines. When properly cultivated, this eye does not reason or discern, it simply perceives what is divine. It can also perceive things below the World of Forms that the bodily senses cannot do.
An example of this is having an unexpected dream of an unusual event and later that event occurs. This is not uncommon and is an example of the Eye of the Soul activating sporadically. Everyone has this capability, and the Platonic philosophers sought to gain some degree of control of it.
The Inner Sculptor: Plotinus’s Metaphor for Soul Purification
“Let every soul recall the truth that there is a divine eye in us which is more piercing than any bodily eye. This eye, however, is dimmed by other activities, and when it is purified by the love of wisdom and by abstention from the senses, it sees brilliantly.”
—Enneads I.6.8
Plotinus likens the development of the mind and soul to sculpting a statue within. The Demiurge was frequently compared to a sculptor and the cosmos as his sculpture. When we consider this metaphor deeper, there are many parallels to imitating gods or the practice of theurgy. Creating visual art, whether a painting or sculpture, requires the artist to painstakingly plan their creation down to the smallest detail.
All the mental faculties are engaged: visualization, memory, measuring proportion and symmetry, symbolism. Above all else it is the manipulation of light and shape which is the basis of an image, no matter what the medium.
In Enneads I.6.9, he elaborates:
“Withdraw into yourself and look. And if you do not find yourself beautiful yet, act as does the creator of a statue… he cuts away here, smooths there… until he has made it beautiful. So you must cut away all that is excessive, straighten all that is crooked… and never stop chiseling your statue until the divine glory of virtue shines forth and you see temperance enthroned in its purest light.”
This inner statue has parallels to the astral body or light body which is used in many occult practices to induce an out of body experience. Plotinus encourages his readers to turn their attention inward and recognize the influences of the physical body. At first, the material world exerts near-total control over the self and holds down the soul. These influences are recognized, and the philosopher can become more aware of their own soul in increments.
The Sunlike Eye: Gaining the Vision of the Divine
By cutting away the attachments to matter that weighs down the soul and corrupts the imaginal faculties, the soul is free to experience its true nature. The mind’s intense focus on the world of matter is an incredibly deep-rooted instinct that develops in all human beings early in life.
It is necessary for survival but works to our detriment when the irrational physical appetites and emotions block out the soul, effectively imprisoning it. This is the rationale for ascetic practices and self-denial.
In Enneads V.5.1, Plotinus alludes to the Allegory of the Cave.
The soul must be accustomed to seeing, and then the light will shine forth. For the eye could not look upon the sun were it not sunlike.
Plotinus is saying that using this faculty is something that is gained through practice and familiarization. In doing so, it perceives the divine because it is of the same nature. Proclus expanded on this metaphor in his Platonic Theology and Commentaries, again using the Allegory of the Cave as the foundation.
The eye of the soul must be opened to the divine light; for this eye, when turned away from the divine, sees only shadows and images.
—Platonic Theology I.5
The ordinary experience of physical life is a total and rigid focus on the world of matter, the “shadows and images” that Proclus speaks of. It is strongly reinforced by modern society and education. It is an experience of enslavement to the appetites, physical sensations, pleasure seeking, alienation, emotions and fear above all. It is an experience of emptiness that nothing can fill. Various pleasures are sought to relieve it, but nothing ever satisfies because this is the nature of the world of matter.
Emotions as Chains: The Puppet of the Cave
This is evident in the epidemic of neurosis and mental illnesses in developed countries. Where even the most disadvantaged people have access to conveniences and comforts that were unthinkable until recently. Most people are not inclined to self-reflect or look within to understand why their mind works the way it does and why nothing ever satisfies them. All the philosophers and sages throughout history knew this and were adamant that the only source of peace was within.
Emotions are perhaps the most difficult matter to chip away from the divine statue within that Plotinus spoke of. Plato states in no uncertain terms that human beings trapped in the cave are puppets and the strings controlling them are their emotions, pulled by the unseen world. They cannot discern the darkness of the prison that dulls their vision, and the strings remain invisible without the ability to see light. This was a foundation of the Stoic school philosophy which grew highly influential in the Roman era.
Marcus Aurelius is remembered as one of Rome’s greatest emperors as well as a great Stoic philosopher. He credited his success as an emperor to his devotion to philosophy. His written work Meditations is unique because it is his private journals. He used writing to self-reflect and help balance his commitment to Stoic virtues with his responsibilities as emperor and the endless temptations to abandon his principles. Meditations is one of the most beloved works of the ancient world because of its uncensored honesty and many find it to be relatable and practical no matter what their station in life.
Symbols & Images – Tools to Awaken the Soul
The greatest blessings come by way of madness, provided it is given by divine gift… there are four kinds of divine madness: prophetic, initiated, poetic, and erotic. The prophetic kind comes from Apollo.
— Phaedrus 244a–b, trans. Hackforth, Loeb Classical Library
Imagination and Chaos: The Struggle for Inner Control
The human psyche is arguably the final frontier of exploration. More is known today of outer space than the inner space we all have. The inner space is responsible for all the technological achievements used to support the idea that we are at the peak of civilization. Every invention only came about because it was conceptualized in the mind of its inventor, most of whom received their ideas in unexpected bursts of insight.
The human psyche is also a fragile thing and when its habits are disrupted, it can react painfully in the form of uncontrolled emotions or even psychosis. Plato was keenly aware of this, and likened states of divine inspiration to madness. But there is also a risk of it becoming harmful. The popular saying is that there is a fine line between genius and madness is not entirely unfounded. Even the word genius has its origins in this, meaning “guardian spirit” in Latin.
Symbols in Plotinus: Contemplative Recollection of Forms
The self-discipline and self-awareness required of philosophers helped ensure that these states of inspiration did not lead to harm, and the study of cosmology provided a common frame of reference like a map. Exploring the depths of the psyche without a map is little different than wandering into an unfamiliar forest. Symbols can serve as trail markers in difficult terrain.
Plotinus, although emphasizing ritual much less than Iamblichus and Proclus, treats symbols and inner vision primarily in terms of the soul’s recollection of the divine Forms. The use of symbols in his system is more contemplative. The soul can “see” divine realities not with the eyes but by an inward turning toward the intelligible realm. His statue is a metaphysical construct. He describes introspective vision as a form of theurgy: the soul sculpts itself in the image of the divine.
For Plotinus, symbols are reflections of the Forms in matter, as all material things are shadows or reflections of higher realities. The philosopher must move from these images back to the original Forms through contemplation. Thus, symbolic understanding is essential to ascent, but it happens inwardly.
Iamblichus and the Synthēmata: Objective Divine Presence
Iamblichus is more explicit and enthusiastic about the use of symbols (synthēmata) in theurgical rituals. In On the Mysteries, he emphasizes that these divine symbols are not just reminders of the gods but carry the presence of the divine in themselves. They are objective links between the divine and the human soul.
It is not the soul that acts through them, but the divine powers who are present in the symbols themselves. The symbols possess a divine chain (seira) linking them to their celestial archetypes.
— paraphrased from De Mysteriis, II.11
Though ritual is external, the purpose is internal transformation. The synthēmata imprint the soul with divine order and helps to awaken dormant parts of the soul. Iamblichus agrees with Plotinus that divine images, when used properly, align the soul to its true origins. This is echoed in Hermetic teachings. In the Asclepius dialogue, Hermes ardently defends the use of ensouled statues to approach the divine.
Iamblichus explicitly critiques Plotinus and Porphyry for relying purely on intellect and interior ascent, saying this misses the power of divine symbols which work non-discursively—beyond reason, through divine presence. Iamblichus also addressed ideas about astrological talismans prevalent at the time.
The objects themselves were of matter, and if the person who crafted them did not properly connect them with the divinities they represented, then they were no more useful than any other physical object. He emphasized that it was an enormous error to think that its power came from the star, material or the image made with it. The image’s power came from the transcendent Form that all of it imitated. Iamblichus fully agreed with Plotinus that the stars were visible images of the Forms.
Proclus synthesized both approaches: he agrees with Iamblichus on the objective, sacred power of symbols, but he also discusses how they shape the spirit of the theurgist.
“All divine symbols (sunthēmata) lead the soul upwards to the divine orders, not by nature but by the participation and presence of the gods.”
— In Cratylum, 19
For Proclus, meditative visualization (sometimes in dreams or waking trance) of sacred images, chants, deep contemplation and numbers can awaken the soul to its divine origin. Deep contemplation on divinely inspired texts were also a means to elevate the soul. Hermias, a contemporary of Proclus, wrote an excellent commentary on Phaedrus that examines the ability of the spoken and written word to affect the soul.
According to Hermias words are images of the Forms and some sacred texts were a method akin to the meditative practice of guided visualization. Everything we can sense is an image of the Forms and some imitate them more strongly than others. Images are not merely a representation but a part of a ladder, the Great Chain of Being.
In Theologia Platonica, Proclus says:
The symbolic activity (sunthēmatikos bios) imitates the divine modes of intellection and unites the soul with the gods.
Even though these accomplished philosophers didn’t fully agree on minor points, they made it clear that imagination is a divine faculty. But what is imagination? It can’t be quantified or measured and is a subjective experience unique to each person. And what makes one person’s vision valid while another is deemed a superstitious flight of fancy?
It is easily apparent to anyone that extrasensory abilities are fickle. Many ordinary people have had real experiences of it, from something as simple as thinking of someone who they hadn’t thought of or spoken to in years immediately before that very person calls them or as dramatic as an intense dream of a plane crash the night before a scheduled flight that is so terrifying that the person refuses to board the aircraft, which then crashes exactly as the dream showed. Many accomplished seers and psychics have made highly specific predictions with astounding accuracy, but just as often, they make predictions that don’t materialize in any way.
Even more prevalent are people who believe they are gifted psychically and speak of what amounts to ordinary daydreams to credulous people. Willful charlatans are sadly widespread, which materialists and debunkers never fail to draw the most attention to. Successfully healing the sick and injured through spiritual means in cases that are deemed hopeless is another phenomenon that happens often but it too is unpredictable.
Despite all this, there have been far too many cases of genuine ESP to deny that it exists at all. When it did occur, what made it successful and why can’t it be easily repeated on command? The answer, according to the Platonic tradition, is that Nous is intuition and knowledge in its purest form. When it can function uninhibited, astounding human abilities are enabled.
The root cause of these challenges—the inability to distinguish true insight from mental noise—is the deceptive nature of the lower, appetitive soul, which produces illusory images called phantasmata. (For a complete philosophical diagnosis of why divination fails, read our dedicated article Why All Psychic Experiences Are Inherently Unreliable.
This seems straightforward and simple on the surface, but in practice it is far more difficult and was a constant struggle for even the most accomplished philosophers.
Intuition – The Soul’s True Source of Higher Wisdom
The greatest talisman, then, against all such difficulties is this: to know the principle of divination, to know that it is activated neither by bodies nor by bodily conditions, neither by a natural object nor by natural powers, neither by human disposition nor its related habits. It is not even set in motion by a skill acquired from without, one concerned exclusively with some aspect of human existence. Rather, all of its supreme power belongs to the gods and is bestowed by the gods. Divination is accomplished by divine acts and signs, and consists of divine visions and scientific insights.
— De Mysteriis III.2, Clarke, Dillon, and Hershbell trans., p. 119
Divination Beyond Bodily Conditions
Regarding divination of all kinds, Iamblichus emphasized that the materials and technical knowledge are not the true source of knowledge gained from it. Interpreting the flight of birds and examining the entrails of sacrificed animals were revered by many people of the time as time-honored traditions.
Divination using only human faculties, like numerology or prophetic dreams were regarded as superior by many philosophers. This offended many people who could not explain why animal sacrifices were necessary and cherished their traditions just for tradition’s sake.
Iamblichus understood and defended both sides of this divide. He repeatedly emphasized the bigger picture: divination is a conduit for the gods to communicate to and through the diviner. Focusing exclusively on the small details can defeat the purpose, which is to understand the links between everything.
Iamblichus makes it clear that it comes not through reasoning, but through a faculty beyond it, which would today be categorized as high levels of intuition. This is the level of mind and soul that Socrates had reached.
Nous: Knowledge Superior to Discursive Reasoning
The truest knowledge of the gods is not attained by means of discursive reasoning… but by means of a faculty superior to reason.
— De Mysteriis I.3, trans. Clarke, Dillon, and Hershbell, p. 33
Intuition is a modern word derived from the Latin intueri which means contemplating. It is mostly used to describe a simple hunch or “gut feeling” which most everyone has had at some point in life, but at its core means a pure source of knowledge.
Intuition is the pure, formless fuel that gives form to the thoughts that prove to be profound and beyond ordinary capabilities.
The human imagination is a whirlwind of chatter, feelings and disjointed images, as evidenced by ordinary dreams. People who try meditation quickly realize that their imagination is seemingly impossible to control. In fact, the more the person attempts to force their imagination to be quiet and still, the more fiercely it resists.
Anyone who has tried to concentrate and focus on an important task has experienced the ceaseless struggle to stop their mind from daydreaming, focusing on unpleasant memories and fears, and doing everything it can to revolt against their conscious will.
Months or years later, if the practice is maintained, it becomes apparent that our imagination has a will of its own. Some have likened the imagination to a wild horse and the practice of meditation as an attempt to tame and bridle it. The symbolism of a horse was used by Plato, and its deeper meanings will be explored shortly.
Returning to imagination and its chaotic nature, how is it that some thoughts can suddenly become so different that it captures a person’s full attention and prove to be beyond their normal reasoning capabilities?
This is not limited to spiritual experiences and ESP and includes sudden abnormal bursts of creativity and insight, which often feels like it is coming from outside the self or a foreign source. Many world-changing discoveries that are simply attributed to a genius intellect came about in this way.
The answer is that the higher faculty of intuition successfully penetrated the veil of imagination and brought the thought processes together. This flash of insight, as many people describe it, is a tiny spark emerging from the Logos, located in the head, that connected the lower two parts in a moment of harmony. The unstructured morass that is perceived when our attention is focused inward is a mixture of the emotions and desires from the lower two parts of the soul in the heart (Thymos) and belly (epithymetikon).
The goal of the philosophers was to develop and purify their mental faculties so that the source of intuition, the World of Forms, could be consciously accessed. The Forms exist in a state that can be described as pure intuition that transcends all perception. When the three parts of the soul work together and the Forms are perceived, the soul can experience its original and natural state near the divine.
The God Within: Direct, Intuitive Awareness
Iamblichus emphasized the importance of this in all theurgical work and it extended to ritual and divination. He insisted that union with the gods occurs “not through knowing (mathematikos)” but through “ineffable powers” received from the gods themselves (De Mysteriis I.4). This mirrors Plotinus, who writes:
The soul then does not deliberate or take counsel; the god is present, and the god says it… The god knows without deliberation; so too does the soul, when it is inspired and possessed by the god.
— Enneads IV.3.11
The philosopher in bodily form was not considered to be a god in the literal sense, but the soul was. Like attracts like, and because the soul was formed by the divine, its natural state was to perceive its point of origin. When the other two faculties of the psyche were properly developed, which gives the experience of existing in the world of matter, they too could receive impressions of the divine.
If all the mental faculties were highly developed and the lower appetitive part of the soul heavily suppressed, it could be an experience of being “possessed” by a divine force. Plotinus identified this kind of knowledge as arising from the god within.
It is the god within who knows… the god in the soul, or rather the god who gave the soul. When he shines on it, then it knows what he knows…
— Enneads V.3.3
This is direct, intuitive awareness, a pure knowing that transcends logical steps. In fact, the soul doesn’t perceive anything it didn’t already know. Because the soul is a fragment of the divine, and the divine encompasses all, when the soul finally perceives outside of the confines of the physical body it is simply remembering itself.
There is divination, because the soul is of divine origin; in purity it remembers.
— Enneads IV.3.14
Divination and Ritual – Tools for Elevating the Soul
Fire and Sympathetic Links: Imitating the Divine
Intuitive knowledge is intimately tied to divination and the visionary experiences that formed theurgical practices. In the ancient world fire was deeply sacred and a crucial part of practically all ritual work.
The divine spark in the human soul was of the nature of fire, given to humanity by the Titan god Prometheus. The Persian priests of Zoroaster’s religion, the Magi, maintained a fire within every temple, never allowed to extinguish. The flame served as a physical symbol and reflection of the creator.
Temples in Mesopotamia observed a similar rite, and had an important role in the Chaldean Oracles, which describes the creator or Intellect as a being of pure transcendent fire. In the ancient view of the cosmos, the highest sphere of the heavens is a world of this ethereal fire, the same substance which emanates from the stars.
Visionary experiences were often induced by fixating on a ritual flame, in the way that trances induced by staring into the reflective surface of water or a mirror until an altered state of consciousness occurs. Fire itself has a natural likeness to the intellect, illuminating and making visible what was concealed by shadows.
Highly intelligent people are called bright or brilliant, showing the deep-rooted connection in common language. Simply put, a flame imitates the divine perfectly and using it as the focal point of a ritual establishes sympathetic links at all levels. Iamblichus uses it as an example of a perfect union between the Eye of the Soul and the eyes of the body. Both perceive the flame in unison until the divine emanates in both.
The Perfect Theophany: Immediate Divine Knowing
The sight that is in the fire is not phantasmic, nor is it a product of imagination (phantasma), nor is it conjectured through opinion, nor discovered through discursive reasoning, nor apprehended by a rational soul; rather, it is present from the gods and shines forth with divine light.
What is seen in the divine fire is not imagined or reasoned, but is known immediately through presence (parousia). And this is the distinguishing characteristic of the most perfect kind of theophany: that it is not mediated by any human faculty, but is the pure manifestation of divine being, in itself and of itself.
— De Mysteriis II.11, Clarke, Dillon, and Hershbell, p. 75
Iamblichus says that the most perfect kind of theophany, or divine revelation, is known immediately. This immediate and overwhelming knowing is a defining characteristic of intuition. He is fully aware of all the processes that the human mind performs and lists many: imagination, hallucination, opinion, theorization, and rationality. He even mentions the Logos or rational soul located in the head but is adamant that the divine presence is beyond this.
Iamblichus can only describe it as a sudden influx of knowing, perceived as a presence both inner and outer, that overwhelms the theurgist entirely. He implies that the physical flames are affected by this presence as well, and not as a byproduct of perception.
The presence of the god is not a symbolic gesture but an actual descent of divinity, apprehended by the body, mind and soul.
In Plotinus’s words,
In the pure, the god is native; and it is by the god native within that we know the divine.
— Enneads IV.3.14
Divination, then, is not purely a matter of calculation or technical knowledge but of aligning the soul with the divine order so that it can pierce through illusions and experience itself without the confines of matter. In doing so, matter is also able to participate and experience the divine which is ultimately its origins as well.
Union of Heaven and Earth: Iamblichus’s Theurgical Participation
Plotinus tended to eschew matter and believed that the highest part of the soul never descends into matter, advocating for a heavily contemplative approach and raising the soul up. Iamblichus believed that viewpoint and approach was incomplete and that the superior path was to bring spirit and matter together. In doing so, matter itself was able to experience its own divine nature in the same way that the theurgist did with all three of the soul’s faculties.
In Iamblichus’s view, theurgy allowed for direct participation in the workings of the gods. The gods descended to matter while the incarnated soul ascended to the gods in a union of heaven and earth, much like the presence of gods within temples where priests and worshippers could be together. He advocated for the use of cult statues, astrological talismans, symbols, and other traditional means for spiritual development.
His family lineage of Syrian priest-kings allowed Iamblichus extensive, first-hand experience of ancient Mesopotamian rites before he studied the meditative teachings of Plotinus. He had a deep appreciation for ancient wisdom and strongly advocated for their efficacy. In fact, Iamblichus was adamant that the rites from long before his time were the highest wisdom ever attained by human beings.
In his view they had much to offer for even the most accomplished philosophers, if they were properly understood and utilized. However, matter was not without its potential pitfalls waiting to confuse and lead the soul astray. One of these was the many ways that matter works to cloud the Eye of the Soul and deceive even the wisest theurgist.
Synthesis: The Soul’s Path of Contemplation vs. Theurgical Participation
The great divide between Plotinus and Iamblichus centered entirely on the soul’s relationship with matter. Plotinus, believing the highest part of the soul never fully descended, advocated for a purely contemplative ascent, focusing on the rigorous inner work of “sculpting a statue within” to avoid matter and raise the soul up. His method sought recollection of the divine Forms by turning inward toward the intelligible realm.
Iamblichus found this path incomplete. He championed theurgy, insisting that the superior practice was to “bring spirit and matter together”. Through the proper use of sacred rites and divine symbols (synthēmata), which carry the objective presence of the divine, the theurgist achieves a union of heaven and earth. This participation allows matter itself to “experience its own divine nature”.
The result of this divine alignment is the “most perfect kind of theophany”—an immediate and overwhelming knowing that transcends reason, imagination, and all human faculties. Such knowledge is received from the gods, not calculated by man.
Yet, even in the depths of theurgy, matter poses a peril. The material world, necessary for existence, simultaneously works “to cloud the Eye of the Soul and deceive even the wisest theurgist”. This pervasive challenge stems from the lower, appetitive soul, which generates illusory images called phantasmata.
This constant struggle against internal deception requires philosophical diagnosis. To read a complete philosophical analysis of why achieving consistent, reliable insight is so difficult, continue to the next article: Why All Psychic Experiences Are Inherently Unreliable.
To delve deeper into the Platonic model of internal order, exploring the Chariot of the Soul analogy and the cosmological framework necessary for true inner transformation, continue to the next part, The Eye of the Soul Part 3: Inner Astronomy and the Chariot of the Soul.