henas
(ενας)
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| (Language: Greek) |
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| Short Description: |
henad, unit |
| Long Description: |
henad, unit; the term is taken by Iamblichus, Syrianus and Proclus from Plato’s Philebus, where it is used interchangeably with the term ‘monad’; since for every real being there is a unit, and for every unit a real being (Procl. Elements of Theology 136), the henads are pure unities, the sources of being’s identity, located between the pure One and the noetic One (or Being); more precisely, henad is the first principle (arche) and the measure ( metron) of being; the One is unparticipable, but the henads are participable, therefore they correlate with real beings; Proclus divides henads into transcendent or independent units and those that are immanent and belong to their participants and are irradiations of the first; in theurgy, henads constitute a set of theophanies, i.e. divinity in its many diffenent forms at all different levels of reality, therefore divine henad stands for the god-entity as a whole; the difference between the One and the participable henads (which may be compared with the Egyptian neteru), opens the theurgic way of adoration, worship and ascent; according to Proclus, ‘the most divine thing in us is the ‘one’ in us, which Socrates called the illumination of the soul ( Rep.540a7), just as he called truth itself light’ ( In Parm.VII.48); since like is apprehensible by like, the ‘one of the soul’ makes union with the ineffable One possible. |
| Example(s): |
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| Source(s): |
The Golden Chain: An Anthology of Platonic and Pythagorean Philosophy, by Dr. Algis Uždavinys |
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