Ένωσις

Enosis

Enosis refers to the movement of the Greek-Cypriot population to incorporate the island of Cyprus into Greece.Similar movements had previously developed in other regions with ethnic Greek majorities such as the Ionian Islands, Crete and the Dodecanese. These regions were eventually incorporated...

 the modern political movement to unify Greece and Cyprus.

Henosis is the word for "oneness," "union," or "unity" in classical Greek, and is spelled identically in modern Greek where "Enosis

Enosis

Enosis refers to the movement of the Greek-Cypriot population to incorporate the island of Cyprus into Greece.Similar movements had previously developed in other regions with ethnic Greek majorities such as the Ionian Islands, Crete and the Dodecanese. These regions were eventually incorporated...

" is particulary connected with the modern political "Unity" movement to unify Greece and Cyprus.

In Platonism

Platonism

Platonism is the philosophy of Plato or the name of other philosophical systems considered closely derived from it. In a narrower sense the term might indicate the doctrine of Platonic realism...

, and especially Neoplatonism

Neoplatonism

Neoplatonism , is the modern term for a school of religious and mystical philosophy that took shape in the 3rd century AD, based on the teachings of Plato and earlier Platonists, with its earliest contributor believed to be Plotinus, and his teacher Ammonius Saccas...

, the goal of Henosis "unity, oneness" is union with what is fundamental in reality: the One (Τὸ Ἕν), the Source or Monad.

The Neoplatonic concept has precedents in the Greek mystery religions as well as parallels in Oriental philosophies

Eastern philosophy

Eastern philosophy includes the various philosophies of Asia, including Chinese philosophy, Iranian philosophy, Japanese philosophy, Indian philosophy and Korean philosophy...

.
It is further developed in the Corpus Hermeticum, in Christian theology

Christian theology

- Divisions of Christian theology :There are many methods of categorizing different approaches to Christian theology. For a historical analysis, see the main article on the History of Christian theology.- Sub-disciplines :...

, soteriology

Soteriology

The branch of Christian theology that deals with salvation and redemption is called Soteriology. It is derived from the Greek sōtērion + English -logy....

 and mysticism

Mysticism

Mysticism is the knowledge of, and especially the personal experience of, states of consciousness, i.e. levels of being, beyond normal human perception, including experience and even communion with a supreme being.-Classical origins:...

 and is an important factor in the historical development of monotheism

Monotheism

Monotheism is the belief in the existence of one and only one god. Monotheism is characteristic of the Baha'i Faith, Christianity, Druzism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Samaritanism, Sikhism and Zoroastrianism.While they profess the existence of only one deity, monotheistic religions may still...

 during Late Antiquity

Late Antiquity

Late Antiquity is a periodization used by historians to describe the time of transition from Classical Antiquity to the Middle Ages, in both mainland Europe and the Mediterranean world. Precise boundaries for the period are a matter of debate, but noted historian of the period Peter Brown proposed...

.

Usage in Classical Texts and Lexicon definition

The term is relatively common in classical texts, and has the meaning of "union" or "unity".

Divine Work

To get closest to the Monad

Monad (Greek philosophy)

Monad , according to the Pythagoreans, was a term for Divinity or the first being, or the totality of all beings, Monad being the source or the One meaning without division....

, One, each individual must engage in divine work (theurgy

Theurgy

Theurgy describes the practice of rituals, sometimes seen as magical in nature, performed with the intention of invoking the action or evoking the presence of one or more gods, especially with the goal of uniting with the divine, achieving henosis, and perfecting oneself.- Definitions :*Proclus...

) according to Iamblichus of Chalcis

Iamblichus of Chalcis

Iamblichus, also known as Iamblichus Chalcidensis, was an Assyrian Neoplatonist philosopher who determined the direction taken by later Neoplatonic philosophy...

. This divine work can be defined as each individual dedicating their lives to making the created world and mankind's relationship to it, and one another, better. This is done by living a virtuous

Arete

Areté is the term meaning "virtue" or "excellence", from Greek ἈρετήArete may also be used:*as a given name of persons or things:**Queen Arete , a character in Homer's Odyssey.***197 Arete, an asteroid....

 life seeking after one's Magnum opus

Magnum opus (alchemy)

The Great Work is an alchemical term for the process of creating the philosopher's stone. It has been used to describe personal and spiritual transmutation in the Hermetic tradition, attached to laboratory processes and chemical color changes, used as a model for the individuation process, and as...

. Under the teachings of Iamblichus (see the Egyptian Mysteries

De Mysteriis Aegyptiorum

The Theurgia, or De Mysteriis Aegyptiorum , was attributed to Iamblichus Chalcidensis, a Neoplatonic philosopher who studied under Porphyry....

), one goes through a series of theurgy

Theurgy

Theurgy describes the practice of rituals, sometimes seen as magical in nature, performed with the intention of invoking the action or evoking the presence of one or more gods, especially with the goal of uniting with the divine, achieving henosis, and perfecting oneself.- Definitions :*Proclus...

 or ritual

Ritual

A ritual is a set of actions, performed mainly for their symbolic value. It may be prescribed by a religion or by the traditions of a community. The term usually excludes actions which are arbitrarily chosen by the performers....

s that unites the initiate to the Monad. These rituals mimic the ordering of the chaos of the Universe into the material world or cosmos

Cosmos

In the general sense, a cosmos is an orderly or harmonious system. It originates from the Greek term κόσμος , meaning "order" or "ornament" and is antithetical to the concept of chaos. Today, the word is generally used as a synonym of the word Universe . The word cosmos originates from the same root...

. They also mimic the actions of the demiurge

Demiurge

The demiurge is a concept from the Platonic, Neopythagorean, Middle Platonic, and Neoplatonic schools of philosophy for an artisan-like figure responsible for the fashioning and maintenance of the physical universe. The term was subsequently adopted by the Gnostics...

 as the creator of the material world.

The cosmos and order

Each individual as a microcosm

Macrocosm and microcosm

Macrocosm and microcosm is an ancient Greek Neo-Platonic schema of seeing the same patterns reproduced in all levels of the cosmos, from the largest scale all the way down to the smallest scale...

 reflects the gradual ordering of the universe referred to as the macrocosm

Macrocosm and microcosm

Macrocosm and microcosm is an ancient Greek Neo-Platonic schema of seeing the same patterns reproduced in all levels of the cosmos, from the largest scale all the way down to the smallest scale...

. In mimicking the demiurge (divine mind

Nous

Nous , also called intellect or intelligence, is a philosophical term for the faculty of the human mind which is described in classical philosophy as necessary for understanding what is true or real, very close in meaning to intuition...

), one unites with The One or Monad. Thus the process of unification, of "The Being", and "The One", is called Henosis. The culmination of Henosis is deification. Deification here making each man a God by completely unifying the concept of an external creator with themselves as creators, builders, craftmen of their own lives (ones' life as their greatest work their Magnum opus

Great Work

The term Great Work is a term used in Hermeticism and in certain occult traditions and religions such as Thelema.-In Hermeticism:...

), understanding the interpendence between the macro and microcosmical as the source of their activities. The divine unity here is a linear modalistic emanation i.e. Monad, Dyad, Triad and etc.

Fate and Destiny

As is specified in the writings of Plotinus

Plotinus

Plotinus was a major philosopher of the ancient world. In his system of theory there are the three principles: the One, the Intellect, and the Soul. His teacher was Ammonius Saccas and he is of the Platonic tradition...

 on Henology

Henology

Henology is the philosophical account or discourse on "The One" that appears most notably in the philosophy of Plotinus. Reiner Schürmann describes it as a "metaphysics of radical transcendence" that extends beyond being and intellection...

, the highest stage of deification is tabula rasa

Tabula rasa

Tabula rasa is the epistemological theory that individuals are born without built-in mental content and that their knowledge comes from experience and perception. Generally proponents of the tabula rasa thesis favour the "nurture" side of the nature versus nurture debate, when it comes to aspects...

, or a blank state where the individual may grasp or merge with The Source (or The One, this process being henosis or unity). This absolute simplicity means that the nous or the person is then dissolved, completely absorbed back into the monad. Here within the Enneads

Enneads

The Six Enneads, sometimes abbreviated to The Enneads or Enneads , is the collection of writings of Plotinus, edited and compiled by his student Porphyry . Plotinus was a student of Ammonius Saccas and they were founders of Neoplatonism...

 of Plotinus the monad can be referred to as the Good above the demiurge. The monad or dunamis

Dunamis

In philosophy, Potentiality and Actuality are principles of a dichotomy which Aristotle used throughout his philosophical works to analyze motion, causality, ethics, and physiology in his Physics, Metaphysics, Ethics and De Anima .The concept of potentiality, in this context, generally refers to...

 (force) is of one singular expression (the will or the one is the good) all is contained in the Monad and the Monad is all (pantheism

Pantheism

Pantheism is the view that the Universe and God are identical. Pantheists thus do not believe in a personal, anthropomorphic or creator god. The word derives from the Greek meaning "all" and the Greek meaning "God". As such, Pantheism denotes the idea that "God" is best seen as a process of...

). All division is reconciled in the one, the final stage before reaching singularity, called duality (dyad), is completely reconciled in the Monad, Source or One (see monism

Monism

Monism is any philosophical view which holds that there is unity in a given field of inquiry. Accordingly, some philosophers may hold that the universe is one rather than dualistic or pluralistic...

). As the one, source or substance of all things the monad is all encompassing. As infinite and indeterminate all is reconciled in the dunamis or one. It is the demiurge or second emanation that is the nous in Plotinus. It is the demiurge (creator, action, energy) or nous that "perceives" and therefore causes the force (potential or One) to manifest as energy, or the dyad called the material world. Nous as being, being and perception (intellect) manifest what is called soul (World Soul

Gaia hypothesis

The Gaia hypothesis, also known as Gaia theory or Gaia principle, proposes that all organisms and their inorganic surroundings on Earth are closely integrated to form a single and self-regulating complex system, maintaining the conditions for life on the planet.The scientific investigation of the...

).

Modalism

Henosis for Plotinus was defined in his works as a reversing of the ontological process of consciousness via meditation

Meditation

Meditation is any form of a family of practices in which practitioners train their minds or self-induce a mode of consciousness to realize some benefit....

 (in the Western mind to uncontemplate

Contemplation

The word contemplation comes from the Latin word contemplatio. Its root is also that of the Latin word templum, a piece of ground consecrated for the taking of auspices, or a building for worship, derived either from Proto-Indo-European base *tem- "to cut", and so a "place reserved or cut out" or...

) toward no thought (Nous

Nous

Nous , also called intellect or intelligence, is a philosophical term for the faculty of the human mind which is described in classical philosophy as necessary for understanding what is true or real, very close in meaning to intuition...

 or demiurge

Demiurge

The demiurge is a concept from the Platonic, Neopythagorean, Middle Platonic, and Neoplatonic schools of philosophy for an artisan-like figure responsible for the fashioning and maintenance of the physical universe. The term was subsequently adopted by the Gnostics...

) and no division (dyad

Dyad (symbol)

The Dyad is a title used by the Pythagoreans for the number two, representing the principle of "twoness" or "otherness".Numenius said that Pythagoras gave the name of Monad to God, and the name of Dyad to matter...

) within the individual (being). Plotinus words his teachings to reconcile not only Plato with Aristotle but also various World religions that he had personal contact with during his various travels. Plotinus' works have an ascetic character in that they reject matter as an illusion (non-existent). Matter was strictly treated as immanent, with matter as essential to its being, having no true or transcendential

Transcendence (philosophy)

In philosophy, the adjective transcendental and the noun transcendence convey the basic ground concept from the word's literal meaning , of climbing or going beyond, albeit with varying connotations in its different historical and cultural stages...

 character or essence, substance or ousia. This approach is called philosophical Idealism

Idealism

In philosophy, idealism is the family of views which assert that reality, or reality as we can know it, is fundamentally mental, mentally constructed, or otherwise immaterial. Epistemologically, idealism manifests as a skepticism about the possibility of knowing any mind-independent thing...

.

Divine unity by return

In Neoplatonic henology

Henology

Henology is the philosophical account or discourse on "The One" that appears most notably in the philosophy of Plotinus. Reiner Schürmann describes it as a "metaphysics of radical transcendence" that extends beyond being and intellection...

 the individual is absorbed back into the primordial substance which is the substance (ousia

Ousia

Ousia is the Ancient Greek noun formed on the feminine present participle of ; it is analogous to the English participle being, and the modern philosophy adjectival ontic...

) of all things, the uncaused cause. At the point of unity individuals become energy

Energy

In physics, energy is an indirectly observed quantity. It is often understood as the ability a physical system has to do work on other physical systems...

, and are then further reduced to force, potential

Dunamis

In philosophy, Potentiality and Actuality are principles of a dichotomy which Aristotle used throughout his philosophical works to analyze motion, causality, ethics, and physiology in his Physics, Metaphysics, Ethics and De Anima .The concept of potentiality, in this context, generally refers to...

 (once they are stripped of their person, nous

Nous

Nous , also called intellect or intelligence, is a philosophical term for the faculty of the human mind which is described in classical philosophy as necessary for understanding what is true or real, very close in meaning to intuition...

); the energy of individuals is then returned to the infinite non-sentient

Sentience

Sentience is the ability to feel, perceive or be conscious, or to have subjective experiences. Eighteenth century philosophers used the concept to distinguish the ability to think from the ability to feel . In modern western philosophy, sentience is the ability to have sensations or experiences...

 force—the Source or One—and reamalgamated back into the Universe. The process then starts again and brings another part of the universe into line with the Monad

Monad (Greek philosophy)

Monad , according to the Pythagoreans, was a term for Divinity or the first being, or the totality of all beings, Monad being the source or the One meaning without division....

 (see Pantheism

Pantheism

Pantheism is the view that the Universe and God are identical. Pantheists thus do not believe in a personal, anthropomorphic or creator god. The word derives from the Greek meaning "all" and the Greek meaning "God". As such, Pantheism denotes the idea that "God" is best seen as a process of...

). Hence the demiurge or creator is treated as an intrinsic (immanence) concept. The creator as category as divine mind, is the mind, therefore not outside the mind and is a construct called consciousness (nous) and does not objectively exist (per se). As nous or consciousness is but energy, activity in force. The actualization of things in potential. Potential can be called space, time as indeterminate, infinite, never ending. The demiurge or nous is the first sentience, a reflective duality that in the process of perpetual recurrence

Ouroboros

The Ouroboros is an ancient symbol depicting a serpent or dragon eating its own tail. The name originates from within Greek language; οὐρά meaning "tail" and βόρος meaning "eating", thus "he who eats the tail"....

 is man, himself. The monad, source or one is force, potential or dunamis

Dunamis

In philosophy, Potentiality and Actuality are principles of a dichotomy which Aristotle used throughout his philosophical works to analyze motion, causality, ethics, and physiology in his Physics, Metaphysics, Ethics and De Anima .The concept of potentiality, in this context, generally refers to...

 it is the irrational or indeterminate vitality and is as irrational non-sentient. It is the substance of all things and that in its rich infinitiness reflected back on itself causing the demiurge, dyad, nous, as reflection or consciousness.

Within the works of Iamblichus, The One and reconciliation of division can be obtained through the process of theurgy

Theurgy

Theurgy describes the practice of rituals, sometimes seen as magical in nature, performed with the intention of invoking the action or evoking the presence of one or more gods, especially with the goal of uniting with the divine, achieving henosis, and perfecting oneself.- Definitions :*Proclus...

. By mimicking the demiurge, the individual is returned to the cosmos to implement the will of the divine mind. Iamblichus used the rituals of the mystery religions to perform rituals on the individual to unite their outer and inner person. Thus one without conflict internal or external is united (henosis) and is The One (hen).

Neoplatonism here taking the concept of primordial unity (henosis) as rational and deterministic emanating from indeterminism

Indeterminism

Indeterminism is the concept that events are not caused, or not caused deterministically by prior events. It is the opposite of determinism and related to chance...

 an uncaused cause. Since consciousness is an emanation and is not created or is an caused cause per se. Unity (henosis) is no longer strictly rationalization (reconciliation) of man with being and becoming (ontology

Ontology

Ontology is the philosophical study of the nature of being, existence or reality as such, as well as the basic categories of being and their relations...

) but in the works of Neoplatonism considered also, salvation (soteriology

Soteriology

The branch of Christian theology that deals with salvation and redemption is called Soteriology. It is derived from the Greek sōtērion + English -logy....

).

See also

Absolute (philosophy) Absolute (philosophy) The Absolute is the concept of an unconditional reality which transcends limited, conditional, everyday existence. It is sometimes used as an alternate term for "God" or "the Divine", especially, but by no means exclusively, by those who feel that the term "God" lends itself too easily to... Apotheosis Apotheosis Apotheosis is the glorification of a subject to divine level. The term has meanings in theology, where it refers to a belief, and in art, where it refers to a genre.In theology, the term apotheosis refers to the idea that an individual has been raised to godlike stature... Fana (Sufism) Form of the Good Monad (Greek philosophy) Monad (Greek philosophy) Monad , according to the Pythagoreans, was a term for Divinity or the first being, or the totality of all beings, Monad being the source or the One meaning without division....

Moksha Moksha Within Indian religions, moksha or mukti , literally "release" , is the liberation from samsara and the concomitant suffering involved in being subject to the cycle of repeated death and reincarnation or rebirth.-Origins:It is highly probable that the concept of moksha was first developed in... Monolatrism Monolatrism Monolatrism or monolatry is the recognition of the existence of many gods, but with the consistent worship of only one deity... Oneness (mysticism) The All The All The All is the Hermetic or panentheistic view of God, which is that everything that is, or at least that can be experienced, collectively makes up The All... Theosis Theosis In Christian theology, divinization, deification, making divine or theosis is the transforming effect of divine grace. This concept of salvation is historical and fundamental for Christian understanding that is prominent in the Eastern Orthodox Church and also in the Catholic Church, and is a...

External links

• http://www.theurgia.org - Site primarily devoted to the late antique hieratic praxis of Theurgy.
• http://www.theandros.com/iamblichus.html Theurgy, Iamblichus and henosis.
• http://www.goddess-athena.org/Encyclopedia/Friends/Iamblichus/index.htm
• On the Mysteries Online edition of Thomas Taylor's translation at theurgia.org
• http://www.esotericarchives.com/oracle/iambl_th.htm - Online copy of On the Egyptian Mysteries (not public domain).