Movement, Stillness, and the Soul

In the Phaedrus, Plato tells us: 

All soul is immortal, for that which is ever in motion is immortal. But that which while imparting motion is itself moved by something else can cease to be in motion, and therefore can cease to live; it is only that which moves itself that never intermits its motion, inasmuch as it cannot abandon its own nature; moreover this self-mover is the source and first principle of motion for all other things that are moved. 
 

Now, compare with the Fourteenth Proposition of Proclus's Elements of Theology: 

 

Every being is either immovable or moved. And if moved, it is either moved by itself, or by another: and if it is moved by itself it is self-motive, but if by another it is alter-motive. Every nature, therefore, is either immovable, self-motive, or alter-motive.

For it is necessary, since there are alter-motive natures, that there also should be that which is immov­able, and the self-motive nature, which is a medium be­tween them. For if every alter-motive thing is moved because it is moved by another, motions will be either in a circle, or they will proceed to infinity. But neither will they be in a circle, nor proceed ad infinitum, since all beings are limited by the Principle of things, and that which moves is better than that which is moved. Hence there will be something immovable, which first moves. But if this be so, it is necessary that the self-motive exist. For if all things should stop, what will that be which is first moved? It cannot be the immovable, for this is not naturally adapted to be moved; nor the alter-motive, [14] for that is moved by another. It remains, there­fore, that the self-motive nature is that which is primari­ly moved. It is this, too, which unites alter-motive na­tures to that which is immovable, being in a certain re­spect a medium, moving and at the same time being moved: for of these, the immovable moves only, but the alter-motive is moved only. Every thing, therefore, is either immovable, or self-motive, or alter-motive.

 

Corollary.— From the premises, therefore, it is evident, that of things which are moved, the self-motive nature is the first; but that of things which move other things the immovable is the first.

From this, we can derive the following doctrines:

1. All  thought can be classed under movement, both becuase it is the form of movement appropriate to the Astral level of being, and because it is (usually) tied to physical movement in the human brain. 

2. The ordinary course of thought is almost entirely automatic. Our thoughts are being moved, but we are not the cause. Though alive, we bear a resemblance to that which is dead or soulless, because soulless matter is always moved. Plato goes on to tell us: "Any body that has an external source of motion is soulless, but a body deriving its motion from a source within itself is animate or ensouled." Habitual, addictive, unchosen behvaior is seen as being caused by ghosts in the Chinese tradition, and people who give themselves over to such behavior become ghosts themselves. This is no mere metaphor. In modern America we refer to such people as "zombies," and too often we are all zombies. 

 

3. Insofar as we gain control over the movement of our thoughts, we become self-motive, and take a step closer to the Divine. We cease to be dead and become alive. 

This is what is meant by the following passages from the Barddas: 

 

Question. In what place is Annwn?

 

Answer. Where there is the least possible of animation and life, and the greatest of death, without other condition.

...

 

Q. What wert thou before thou didst become a man in the circle of Abred?

 

A. I was in Annwn the least possible that was capable of life, and the nearest possible to absolute death, and I came in every form, and through every form capable of a body and life, to the state of man along the circle of Abred, where my condition was severe and grievous during the age of ages, ever since I was parted in Annwn from the dead, by the gift of God, and His great generosity, and His unlimited and endless love.

 

4. Prior to the self-motive is the immovable: That which, while imparting movement to others, remains entirely still in itself. This is what is meant by Intellect or Divine Mind. It is only from this place of stillness that we can truly choose, because only that which is in stillness can choose either to move or not to move. 

It follows that our Great Pilgrimage is from Annwn, which is almost altogether alter-motive; through the circles of Abred, in which we attain to the self-motive; and to Gwynvyd, at which stillness becomes possible. We must then either divide Gwynvyd and say that its lower part is self-motive, its higher part immovable, or else we must say that it is the Self-Motive and, at its height, the Immovable, but that the Ultimate Immovable is beyond Gwynvyd. How can that be? The extremity of Gwynvyd borders Ceugant, and here is the closest to stillness and immovability that may be attained, but as all creatures have their origin and their being in the One, which is God, all creaturely stillness is surpassed by the eternal divine stillness. And so: 

Ultimate Stillness is found only in the One, in Ceugant beyond all Gwynvyd. 

Ultimate Death is found only in the Cythraul darkness below all Annwn. 

It is better to be able to function on multiple levels of existence than one only. Therefore, our journey is not merely to enter into the final stillness, but to become able to move from stillness to self-motion, from self-motion to alter-motion, according as we choose. But we can only choose rightly if we are united to God. 

This has further implications for the work of meditation. It seems to me that ordinary thinking is nearly always alter-motive. The work of discursive meditation is the work of becoming self-motive. The final work is to become immovable. But the immovable which never moves more closely resembles the Dead than the Living. The goal, rather, is to become immovable and yet able to impart motion. The immovable cannot be influenced; the self-motive is able to act. But the alter-motive too has its uses: the work of "creating good habits" is precisely the work of putting the power of alter-mobility to good use.