The act of defining what shall be considered Good or Evil is a central part of many philosophies and religions. The subject is often approached with very little rationality and a great deal of rabid sentiment and heavy-handed authoritarianism, as sharp lines between Good and Evil are drawn in the metaphoric sand. It is no coincidence that in the East Good and Evil are shown divided sharply into the two sides of the ying-yang symbol, or that in the West these two have often been imagined as the manifestation of competing spiritual forces (of God and the Devil). Amidst all of this, Plotinus is a refreshing voice precisely because he does not attempt to delineate sharply between the Good and the ill, but rather takes a broad view of the inter-relationship of all things with the divine. To summarize quite brutally: Plotinus believes that the true Good is the universal One --infinite in time and space, unchanging, unthinking, and unmoving, yet manifesting foremost in the Intellect and in the soul and finally in the physical; the Evil is nothing more or less than the furthest remove of the Good (in this case that would be the physicality of matter) and the addiction of the soul to that removal.

             Plotinus" metaphysics have been described as neo-Platonic by his philosophical descendants, and he himself would certain have attributed much of his philosophy to the master Plato. However, there also appears to be some elements of his writing which imply further study beneath the religious leaders of the East where he served in his youth. Plotinus" understanding of the universal One are eerily like what one may now read about Buddhism in China or Japan. This One is a source of endless emanation, with all energy and being flowing outward from it. Plotinus describes this as similar to the unfolding of a seed, in which the plant moves from a single all-encompassing source to develop its stem and bud and leaves and thousand petals, while remaining always rooted in its source.