Plotinus Ennead Ii.9: Against The Gnostics

How was the universe created, and what is our place within it? These are the questions at the heart of Against the Gnostics. For the Gnostics, the universe came into being as a result of the soul's fall from intelligible reality - it is the evil outcome of a botched creation. Plotinus challenges this, and insists that the soul's creation of the world is the necessary consequence of its contemplation of the ideal forms.