On Knowing That
On knowing That, everything is known; the seeker will have seen the ultimate Truth of all existence. But it is not “seen” as something separate from himself; rather he knows It as “I.” He knows, “I am the One existence; all this is myself”:
In this state of absorbed contemplation, there is no longer any question of holding an object in view; the vision is such that seeing and seen are one; object and act of vision have become identical.
… There, our Self-seeing is a communion with the Self restored to purity. No doubt we should not speak of “seeing,” but, instead of [speaking of] “seen” and “seer,” speak boldly of a simple unity.
For in this seeing we neither see, nor distinguish, nor are there, two. The man is changed, no longer himself nor belonging to himself; he is merged with the Supreme, sunken into It, one with It; it is only in separation that duality exists.
This is why the vision baffles telling; for how could a man bring back tidings of the Supreme as something separate from himself when he has seen It as one with himself?
… Without that vision, the soul is unillumined; but illumined thereby, it has attained what it sought. And this is the true Goal set before the soul: to receive that light, to see the Supreme by the Supreme; … for That by which the illumination comes is That which is to be seen just as we do not see the Sun by any other light than its own.
How is this to be accomplished? Let all else go!
by Plotinus — Enneads
