Single Idea 21827

[catalogued under 15. Nature of Minds / B. Features of Minds / 2. Unconscious Mind]

Full Idea

The Soul maintains its unfailing movement; for not all that passes in the soul is, by that fact, perceptible; we know just as much as impinges on the faculty of the sense.

Gist of Idea

The movement of Soul is continuous, but we are only aware of the parts of it that are sensed

Source

Plotinus (The Enneads [c.245], 5.1.12)

Book Reference

Plotinus: 'The Enneads', ed/tr. Mackenna,Stephen [Penguin 1991], p.360


A Reaction

This is a straightforward argument in favour of an unconscious aspect to the mind - and a rather good argument too. No one thinks that our minds ever stop working, even in sleep.