Echo of Thought

"As speech is the echo of the thought in the Soul, so thought in the Soul is an echo from elsewhere: that is to say, as the uttered thought is an image of the soul-thought, so the soul-thought images a thought above itself and is the interpreter of the higher sphere"

- Plotinus (Ennead II, 2) (emphasis mine)

All mental thought is derivative, having not its source within itself but from above (or from deeper within).

The Act of speaking is a bringing forth of thought from an individual's soul. When a soul speaks, it instantaneously creates an imperfect image of its thought. Once the image is created, whether temporally in verbal discussion or in a more lasting state such as the written word, it can be viewed by other souls which then may find attraction or repulsion to it, just as one would with a putative piece of art. In a manner of speaking, all spoken words are art - they are images of the soul's internal state for "out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks."

However, the thought of the soul from whence comes speech is itself an Act of interpretation of thought from beyond itself. Thus, the individual mind that thought it was being clever and original was actually nothing but a receptor of an echo from beyond and its very thinking processes were an Act of interpreting the thoughts from beyond.

Our minds are receptors - receptors in the same way that a radio is a receptor to transmitters. There are many channels, and these channels are on different wavelengths and of different mindsets. We choose the channels, we do not choose the thoughts. We find affinity with a station, but we do not determine what is playing on the radio.

The further removed we are from the Source of the echo, the more attentuation and the more the static, thus we may err greviously in our interpretation. Thought from the higher sphere cannot be understand well by soul in the lower sphere (if understood at all), for "my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways ... For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts" (Isaiah 55:8)

Yet we are responsible for creating proper images of the echoes from beyond, not graven images of cold stone but images of beauty, love, grace, and truth.