The Enneads

...to be of such a kind and in that which it occurs. Regarding the present matters, it is clear that the soul is the principle original: "ἀρχή" (archē) — meaning the starting point, source, or ruling principle. of many things, and it is defined by these many attributes. Some of these belong to all living beings, while others belong only to some of them. Community and sense-perception, therefore, are things that belong to them—qualities which are characteristically shared by all.

12 For as many things as exist, they all possess these same traits. It is clear that for each of them, some things are unique to the soul, while others belong to the soul and the body together. For example, things belonging to the soul alone are memory, hope, and desire; while common to both are waking and sleep. For all these things belong to the same [subject], though we must ask how they do so, and how some are powers original: "δυνάμενα" — referring to potential capacities of the soul. while others belong to that same nature so as to either exist by themselves or to be accidents of the soul.

Concerning this, where many things happen to participate; of the remaining things, some concern the bodies, because the soul gives something to the body from the "bodily participation." For each of the living beings is either the whole or some single part. Just as the body is not the whole—just as it is not merely the blood—we see in it the primary affections of each body, but these are only parts within it. The soul gives the whole to most of them.

And those things which come from them, each one. But primarily, there is the soul, while sense-perception is that which occurs through the body. For insofar as it is the body itself, it would be entirely soulless. Soulless: From "apsychos," meaning lacking a "psyche" or animating principle; essentially a corpse or mere matter. It is an affection original: "πάθος" (pathos) — something the subject undergoes or suffers. or something occurring in time from which it exists. Since the living being possesses "forms," the body produced—as has been said—is soulless.

Regarding that which produces it: the organs of sense-perception have been constructed for this purpose. But having sense-perception, which is the most sovereign aspect according to the nature of the living being, is itself the cause of each. Therefore, as many things as belong to the soul, and these things concerning the living being—the "common entity"—it is reasonable to say that they have their principle from the soul itself.

13 For how could there be a principle for these, either through opinion or how, again, according to the soul itself regarding evils? For just as there are evils, so there is the "impoverished soul"; The "impoverished soul" is a Platonic metaphor for a soul that has turned away from the fullness of Being and toward the lack or "poverty" of matter. time is under it. For there are many wanderings, so that there is no anger, nor desire, nor other evils.

14 But if they are causes of evils occurring—whether through a certain imagination or even a sort of intellectual conception—this will be a cause for the soul and for all things even before sense-perception, and it shall exist from eternity.