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Spiritual Exercise in Plotinus: The Deictic Method

The purpose of the article is to reconstruct a type of spiritual exercise that can be found in Plotinus’ Enneads and which I propose to call the “deictic method.” It differs from a more recognized type of exercise, namely, ascent, because it is based on the nonhierarchical view of reality that can be found in some of Plotinus’ treatises. The framework of the exercise is Plotinus’ belief that the One is already present in the human soul and its consciousness, but remains unnoticed. The deictic exercise, analyzed on the basis of two texts: Enn. 6.5.12 and Enn. 5.5.7–10, is designed to show to the disciple the One as a part of normal, everyday consciousness, which is the ground of everything that exists and makes it knowable.