escribed as neo-Platonic by his philosophical descendants, and he himself would certain have attributed much of his philosophy to the master Plato. However, there also appears to be some elements of his writing which imply further study beneath the religious leaders of the East where he served in his youth. Plotinus' understanding of the universal One are eerily like what one may now read about Buddhism in China or Japan. This One is a source of endless emanation, with all energy and being flowing outward from it. Plotinus describes this as similar to the unfolding of a seed, in which the plant moves from a single all-encompassing source to develop its stem and bud and leaves and thousand petals, while remaining always rooted in its source. As the One is infinite, all things which are possible will come into being within it. The plentitude of the One is such that its creation cannot stop until such time as it has created all that can conceivably be, even that which is far removed from its original forms and designs. Plotinus suggests that the Intellect is among the first fruits of the One, but that the world of physical matter is among its last and most incomplete and corrupted. In as much as the physical is the farthest removed from the One, it is worse than the One. This means that if a man were to incline himself towards the physical instead of towards the transcendent intellectual/spiritual self, then this inclination would be mistaken -- it would, in Plotinus' words, be called Evil. (He would add, if such a thing could exist..., for as will be discussed later, Plotinus is rather skeptical about Evil's independent life) So Plotinus may be found saying that inasmuch as matter is a mere shadow in relationship with the form of the divine, and a mere layer of existence which is the least among many co-existing levels of life, that matter and the physical is the "the very essence of Evil."

In short -- all that exists springs from the One source, and all that exists is intrinsically Good because the One is intrinsically Good, and matter is less Good in as much as it is farther removed from the One, and may even be functionally Evil where it is substituted for its betters. The question that arises from this conclusion on Good and Evil must, as with all such moralities, come to this at last: how then shall we live? Plotinus argues that because the physical is mere reflection of the spiritual, one ought above all to pursue the things of the spirit. He advised moderation in all physical pleasures: moderation in food and drink and sexual experience, modesty in dress and lifestyle, and a focus on the development of the mind rather than on the development of the body. As a man Plotinus was infamous for avoiding the public baths and their licentious sexual displays, and of abstaining from eating meat. He suggested that one must purify not on

Some common words found in the essay are:
China Japan, Non-Good Evil, Evil Evil, Amidst Plotinus, True Evil, , Forms Ideals, East Evil, IS-ness Plotinus, plotinus argues, essence evil, self search, one's mind, physical matter, answer evil, evil merely, intellect soul, matter shadow, life plotinus, matter mere shadow,
Approximate Word count = 1931
Approximate Pages = 8 (250 words per page double spaced)