No Comment, Quotation — September 6, 2008, 9:51 am
SIGN IN to access the Harper’s archive
ALERT: Usernames and passwords from the old Harpers.org will no longer work. To create a new password and add or verify your email address, please sign in to customer care and select Email/Password Information. (To learn about the change, please read our FAQ.)
Not a subscriber? Subscribe today!
Create a login here. Forgot password? Forgot email? More help here.
? ?? ????????? ??? ??? ???????? ??? ????????? ? ??? ??? ????? ?????? ??? ?????????, ??? ??? ?? ?? ??????? ????? ?????, ???? ?? ????????????? ?? ?? ???? ??? ?????? ?? ????? ??????, ???? ????? ????? ??, ?????? ?? ????? ????? ??? ???? ??? ?????? ?? ????????, ????? ?? ???? ??????????? ??? ??? ????? ??? ????? ??? ??? ????? ????????… ?? ??? ????? ??? ???? ???? ????? ? ????????? ?? ????? ???????, ???? ??? ??????, ??? ?????? ?????? ??? ????????? ???? ???? ???? ?? ???? ??????, ???? ??? ????? ????????.
???? ?? ???????? ? ?????? ?????????? ?????, ??? ?????? ???? ????? ???????????? ??? ??? ????, ??? ?? ??????????? ????? ????, ??? ? ????? ??? ??????????, ???? ? ??? ?????, ??? ??? ????? ???? ??? ?? ????? ?????. ???? ?? ?? ?? ?????, ??? ??? ? ????? ??? ?????, ???? ???? ??? ??? ?????? ?? ??? ?????? ?????????… ????? ?? ?? ?? ??? ???? ? ???????? ?????? ????? ??? ??????????, ?? ????????? ???? ?????? ????? ?????? ?????? ????? ?????? ????? ????? ?? ?????? ?????, ???? ????? ? ????? ????? ??? ?????????? ???? ??????, ???? ????. ??? ?? ??? ??????? ???????.
But how can a man of reason be affected by magic and drugs? His soul will resist the enchantment, and his reason will not be affected, nor will it alter his opinions; but it will affect whatever elements of the irrational All that dwell within him; still any love he acquires will lack passion, for true love arises only when one soul forms the bonds of affection for another… He is drawn not by magic but by the arts of nature, which bring illusion and cause him to see the ties that connect one thing to another—not in the sense of spatial reality, but through the magic which they impart.
Contemplation alone remains incapable of enchantment because no one who is self-actuated may be put under a spell; for he is One, and that which he contemplates is himself, and his reason is not deluded, but he makes what he ought and makes his own life and work. Still in the practical life there is no self-possession, and reason does not produce impulse, so that the irrational grows out of the premises derived from affection… This man alone is free from enchantment who when his other parts attempt to lead him says “none of these things are good which they declare to be so,” and instead is guided only by what he knows himself, not deluded or pursuing, but possessing it. In this way he avoids distraction.
–Plotinus (????????), Ennead (????????) bk iv, ch iv, secs 43-44 (ca. 260 CE) (transl. following A.H. Armstrong and E. Cassirer) in the Loeb Classical Library edition of the works of Plotinus, vol. iv, pp. 268-75.
More from Scott Horton:
No Comment — April 12, 2013, 11:11 am
A new report from Seton Hall University exposes government surveillance of attorney-client conversations
No Comment, Six Questions — March 18, 2013, 9:00 am
Rashid Khalidi on how the United States sustains the failure of the Israel-Palestine peace process
No Comment, Six Questions — February 4, 2013, 9:00 am
Alex Gibney on his documentary investigating the Roman Catholic Church’s handling of child sex-abuse cases
Lucas Mann on hope and change in a minor-league-baseball city
Minimum number of baboons forced to smoke crack in a 1989 study testing the efficacy of cigarettes as a drug delivery device:
A reduction in distrust toward atheists was documented among pious Canadians who are reminded of the Vancouver police.
A Missouri cinema apologized for hiring an actor dressed in body armor and carrying a fake rifle to appear at a screening of Iron Man 3.
“This is the heart of the magic factory, the place where medicine is infused with the miracles of science, and I’ve come to see how it’s done.”
