Neo-Platonism
Neo-Platonism, systematized by Plotinus in the Enneads, holds that all reality emanates hierarchically from a single, ineffable principle — the One — downward through Nous (divine intellect) and Soul to the material world. Matter is the lowest emanation, barely real; the path of wisdom is the Soul's return (epistrophe) to the One through contemplation. Time, in the famous phrase of Plotinus, is "the moving image of eternity."
I. Time
| Extent | Both |
| Ontological Status | Emergent |
| Grain | Continuous |
| Freedom | Non-Deterministic |
| Traversability | Linear |
| Dimensionality | One |
| Direction | Uni-directional |
Time is emergent — it is "the moving image of eternity" (Plotinus, adapting Plato's Timaeus). Time arises at the level of Soul's activity; it does not exist at the higher levels of Nous or the One. Its extent is both finite (the temporal cosmos has structure) and infinite (emanation from the One is eternal). Time is continuous, linear, and uni-directional as experienced, but the Soul can ascend to the timeless eternity of Nous through contemplation.
II. Space
| Extent | Finite |
| Ontological Status | Emergent |
| Curvature | Flat |
| Dimensionality | Three |
| Locality | Non-local |
Space is emergent and finite — it exists at the material level as the stage of the Soul's embodied activity. Space is flat and three-dimensional in the material realm. It is non-local in the sense that higher levels of reality (Nous, the One) are spaceless and omnipresent; the Soul's ascent transcends spatial limitation.
III. Matter
| Extent | Finite |
| Ontological Status | Emergent |
| Conservation | Conserved |
| Dimensionality | Three |
| Locality | Local |
Matter is emergent, finite, and the lowest emanation from the One — it is barely real, the furthest remove from the source of being. Matter is conserved at the physical level because the emanative process sustains it continuously. It is local: material things are spatially bounded, the most limited and least real level of the emanative hierarchy.
IV. Observer
| Time Instance | Multiple |
| Space Instance | Multiple |
| Extent of Knowledge | Total |
| Retainment of Knowledge | Total |
| Physicality | Disembodied |
| Agency | Active |
| Number | Singular |
V. Energy
Energy is emergent and infinite — the creative power (dynamis) of the One is inexhaustible. It flows downward through emanation, diminishing at each level. Conservation is variable: at the higher levels, creative energy is unlimited; at the material level, it is finite and constrained. Dispersibility is irreversible in the downward direction of emanation, though the Soul can reverse the flow through contemplative return (epistrophe).
VI. Information
Information emanates from the divine Nous (Intellect) — higher levels of reality contain more integrated, unified information, while the material world contains fragmented, diminished informational content. Information is emergent in the lower levels but primordial in the Nous. It is conserved because the emanation from the One preserves all informational content at each level. It is continuous because the emanative process is a seamless, hierarchical continuum.