#088 – Enneada (Static)
(…)
#088 – Enneada (Panimating)
One, caught a glimpse in the corner of my eye.
Two, …
Three, …
Four, … can anybody tell me what … and why?
Five, …
Six, … is there even a prize, anything to be won?
Seven, …
Eight, …
Nine! Wish I lived long enough to grasp the meaning of One.
–
Quad Damage
Techniques: Chaotica, Pixelmator
Inspired today by Plotinus, and his Enneads, a remarkably clear neo-platonician look at the world, broadcasted to us from far back in IIIrd century Roma.
Interesting to see that in the early christian era, although not a christian himself, he established a strong and consistent intellectual framework, to support the idea of a unique divine being, the One.
“This All is universal power, of infinite extent and infinite in potency, a god so
great that all his parts are infinite. Name any place, and he is already there.”
A fine and gentle way to warm up the soul to the christian Easter spirit.
Plotinus in one line to me would be
“Withdraw into yourself, and look!”
A very blunt invitation to self-awareness. An elaborated version would be:
“Self-knowledge reveals to the soul that its natural motion is not, if uninterrupted, in a straight line, but circular, as around some inner object, about a center, the point to which it owes its origin.”
Interestingly enough, and in a somehow related manner, we observe today a revival of the enneagrams of personality, a model of the human psyche which is principally understood and taught as a typology of nine interconnected personality types.
Modern apologists of this singular psychological viewpoint, widely used in business management nowadays, traces it back to a christian monk and ascetic who lived in IVth century Alexandria, Evagrius Ponticus, a well known thinker, polished speaker, and gifted writer. It seems that Evagrius identified eight “deadly thoughts”, or sins, plus an overarching thought he called “love of self”, or pride, and corresponding ways to address and tame those. In this new age, sins have been turned into virtues to grow the self-assertive leaders the world needs. Whether or not that makes any sense …
I opened Chaotica this morning and mindlessly and repeatedly pressed the CMD+B keys until I got an inspiring pattern. And there came the 9 pointed star, triggering the chain of thoughts.
