Each unit soul has an inviolable sanctity, in the sense that it is an image of God. But that it can be individuated and determined and fulfill a certain potentialwhich is in the Mind of God, I think is a concept which is extraordinarily beautiful. . . .  (class, 1/6/84)

Here you could almost think of what Hegel referred to as the “concrete universal”: each individual soul insofar that it is itself, and also that which it has become or is becoming all the time. (class, 1/6/84)

Soul has a paradoxical dual nature. On the one hand, we speak about the transcendent aspect of Soul as abiding in serene tranquillity, an undifferentiated consciousness. On the other hand, we say this consciousness has the power to project from itself a unit of life, or a stream of life which can be included in the world circuit and experience the World-Idea. . . . class 3/9/84

…Later on we hope to explain  how this formless and infinite consciousness gets contracted and starts on a journey of self-realization.  For now…We may refer to this contracted consciousness as impersonal or witnessing consciousness, associated with the planetary mind from which it receives the image of the World-Idea..

This unit of life is continuous and consequently can be referred to as a karmic continuity. So, in order to know something about the Nous, the World-Idea, this transcendent being which is our I AM sends its offspring into the World-Idea, to evolve along with it. . . . We must think of this power in the sense of a continuous stream of life, a germinal intelligence or a germ of life from itself to that part of itself which is going to traverse all the kingdoms of nature. . . . Soul projects from itself a unit or a stream of life which reaches all the way down to earth, starts out as an amoeba and goes through all the various kingdoms of nature. . . . When it reaches the human level, that means it’s entered the reasoning phase. . . .  3/9/84

In order for this transcendent being that our soul is, to have experience of the world, it emanates part of itself into that world. We call that part the ego. And it goes through all the kingdoms of nature. But in doing so, it is discovering and finding out something about the World-Idea. . . . This unit of life is continuous and consequently can be referred to as a karmic continuity. . ..  3/9/84

…That traversing through the realms of nature develops and unfolds that individual consciousness, brings it out more and more. In other words, the very experience of the world forces the consciousness of an individual to evolve, the faculties to get developed. . . . The richness, variety, and incomprehensibility of the World-Idea will satisfy individuals at every level. There’s a deepening, an inwardization, a widening, a comprehension of the World-Idea. . . .  3/9/84

Now these two together, on the one hand, the soul as transcendent, on the other hand the emanant from that transcendent soul, these two together Plotinus refers to as the “We.”  [ “These two together, the transcendent Overself and that emanant from the Overself, which we’re now calling that individual ego, these two together is the “We.”] 3/9/84

Isn’t it paradoxical and almost uroboric when we conceive of this? On the one hand, the Nous is within the soul and we are speaking of the soul as this transcendent being. On the other hand, this transcendent being has to emanate a part of itself, get involved in the World-Idea, penetrate into the depths of the World-Idea, so that it can develop prajna consciousness, penetrate into the void intelligence of the Nous, and come to a self-recognition within itself. . . .  3/9/84