Editing Higher Tiers Explanation (section)

=== Emanationism (Motion and Atemporality): ===
In Plotinus' emanationism, the concept of motion and atemporality is described through what he calls a "double act," which is viewed as a single, continuous movement but with two different descriptions. This dual description reflects how the same act can be understood in two ways: the internal act, which is complete and timeless, and the external act, which operates in relation to temporality and causality.

Plotinus aligns this duality with Aristotelian causation. The internal act is an absolute, self-contained activity, freed from the constraints of any external goal or telos. It does not require any further completion because it is always in a state of completeness. This activity is atemporal—outside time and instantaneously fulfilled without the need for any progression. In contrast, the external act engages in causality but remains linked to the timeless nature of the internal act.

Plotinus illustrates this point:

''"But if someone were to say that movement was an incomplete active actuality, nothing would prevent us from giving active actuality the priority and subordinating movement to it as a species as being incomplete, making its category active actuality, but adding the 'incomplete'... For certainly the man who is in motion has already moved, and the man who is cutting, cut already. And just as what is called active actuality does not need time, so neither does movement."'' (VI.1.16, 1–6,9,15–17)

Here, Plotinus emphasizes that even though external movement may seem incomplete, it is already a complete actuality in itself. He draws a distinction between external movement, which appears to be ongoing, and internal movement, which has already been fulfilled. The internal act—like walking or cutting—is already finished from the outset.

In essence, movement is defined as the transition from potentiality to actuality, with Plotinus emphasizing that the potentiality for an act (e.g., walking or sculpting) is not something to be completed over time, but rather, the act itself is the motion. Thus, he writes:

''"Let us grant that movement, to describe it sketchily, is the passage from potentiality to that which it is said to be the potentiality for... and when one progresses to a statue, its progress is movement, and when the other is engaged in walking, the walking itself is movement."'' (VI.3.22, 9–12)

In this view, even though movement involves a transition from potentiality to actuality, it remains grounded in the internal, timeless completeness of the act. The external manifestation is merely a reflection of the internal, absolute motion that is already fulfilled. This captures the way in which Plotinus' emanationism conceptualizes both motion and atemporality as intrinsic to the nature of the One and its emanations.

In any version of emanationism, based on Plotinus’ framework, certain core principles must be present to align with his metaphysical model:

==== I. The Internal Act is Self-Contained and Does Not Intend the External Act ====
The internal act, representing the One or the highest principle, is completely self-contained. It does not intentionally cause or direct itself toward an external effect. The One, in its perfect state, overflows naturally without any intention or necessity, and this overflow produces lower hypostases, like Intellect. This means the external act (emanation) is an inevitable consequence of the One’s self-sufficiency, not something actively pursued.

==== II. The External and Internal Acts Are Both Simultaneous and Atemporal ====
The internal and external acts are not separate events in time; they happen instantaneously and beyond time (atemporally). While the One remains unchanged, the external act, or emanation, occurs as a continuous reality, without progression in time. The external act exists at the same time as the internal one, and both are part of a singular movement, as Plotinus describes.
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