Plotino - Tratado 28,33 (IV, 4, 33) — Há um acordo neste vivente. A analogia da dança

33. De la misma manera que la revolución del cielo no se da al azar, sino que es conducida por la razón del ser animado, así también es necesario que se dé una armonía entre los sujetos agentes y los pacientes e, igualmente, un cierto orden en la disposición de las partes. De tal modo que para cada actitud de la revolución del universo hay una determinada disposición de las cosas que dependen de ella. Es como si se tratase de una misma danza interpretada por múltiples danzantes, pues también en las danzas que nosotros presenciamos cada movimiento del coro está sincronizado con otros cambios extraños a él, como por ejemplo el sonido de las flautas y las voces de los cantores, o cualesquiera otros instrumentos que con el coro tienen relación; pero, ¿a qué hablar ya de cosas tan evidentes? No podría decirse lo mismo, sin embargo, del papel individual de cada danzante, que debe adaptarse necesariamente a cada una de las figuras del coro: así, formará un todo con la danza y sus miembros se plegarán a ella, y mientras unos tendrán que flexionar, otros, por el contrario, quedarán libres; esto es, unos trabajarán fatigosamente y otros se tomaran un respiro a tenor de la diferencia de cada figura. La voluntad del danzante está realmente dominada por otra cosa y su cuerpo sufre con el paso de la danza, a la que, sin embargo, obedece por entero y de manera sincrónica. De modo que un hombre con experiencia de la danza podría anticiparnos cómo a tal esquema se corresponde una elevación de un miembro, o una inflexión de otro, o a un encubrimiento de uno, la humillación o abatimiento de otro. Ninguna otra elección cabe realizar al danzante, el cual, al incorporar a la danza todo su cuerpo, ha de dar necesariamente una determinada posición a las partes que colaboran en ella. A los movimientos del danzante hemos de comparar precisamente los que tienen lugar en el cielo, porque las cosas del cielo producen o anuncian todas las demás cosas, y mejor aún, el mundo entero, que vive con su vida universal, pone en movimiento las partes más importantes y las hace transformarse de continuo, hasta tal punto que las relaciones de estas partes entre sí y la que mantienen con el todo traen consigo las consiguientes modificaciones, como ocurre en el movimiento del animal. Y así, un estado determinado de cosas se corresponde con una determinada situación, posición y figura. No, ciertamente, porque en ello influyan los seres que forman la figura, sino por la actividad misma del agente que se la da, el cual no actúa sobre algo diferente a sí mismo, sino que es ya él mismo todas las cosas que existen. Trátese en un caso de las figuras, o en otro de las modificaciones que necesariamente las acompañan, siempre podrá decirse que se dan en el animal universal, dotado de un determinado movimiento. Su constitución y su composición son por naturaleza lo que son, mientras las pasiones y las acciones que hace recaer sobre sí mismo han de atribuirse a la necesidad.

XXXIII. Comme le mouvement circulaire du monde n’a rien de fortuit, qu’il est produit conformément à la Raison (109) de ce grand animal, il devait y avoir en lui accord entre ce qui pâtit et ce qui agit; il devait aussi y avoir un ordre qui coordonnât les choses les unes avec les autres, de telle sorte qu’à chacune des phases du mouvement circulaire du monde correspondît telle ou telle disposition dans les êtres qui y sont soumis, comme s’ils formaient une seule danse dans un chœur varié (110). Pour nos danses, on explique facilement les choses qui concourent extérieurement à la danse, et qui varient pour chaque mouvement, comme les sons de la flûte, les chants et les autres circonstances qui s’y rattachent ; mais il n’est pas aussi aisé de concevoir les mouvements de celui qui danse en se conformant nécessairement à chaque figure, qui accompagne, qui prend les poses diverses indiquées par la musique, élève un membre, en abaisse un autre, fait mouvoir celui-ci et laisse reposer celui-là dans une attitude différente. Le danseur a sans doute les yeux fixés sur un autre but pendant que ses membres éprouvent des affections conformes à la danse, concourent à la produire, et en complètent l’ensemble. Aussi, l’homme instruit dans l’art de la danse pourra expliquer pourquoi, dans telle figure, tel membre est levé, tel autre courbé, celui-ci caché, celui-là abaissé, non que le danseur délibère sur ces différentes attitudes, mais parce que, dans le mouvement général de son corps, il regarde telle posture comme nécessaire à tel membre pour remplir son rôle dans la danse. C’est de la même manière que les astres produisent certains faits et en annoncent d’autres, que le monde entier réalise sa vie universelle en faisant mouvoir les grandes parties qu’il renferme, en en changeant sans cesse les figures, de telle sorte que les diverses positions des parties, leurs relations entre elles déterminent le reste, et que les choses se passent comme dans un mouvement exécuté par un seul animal. Ainsi, tel état est produit par telles attitudes, telles positions, telles figures, tel autre état par telle autre espèce de figures, etc. Par suite, les auteurs de ce qui arrive ne semblent pas être ceux qui reçoivent les figures, mais celui qui donne les figures,. et celui qui donne les figures ne fait pas une chose en s’occupant d’une autre, parce qu’il n’agit pas sur quelque chose de différent de lui-même : il est lui-même toutes les choses qui sont faites ; il est ici les figures [formées par le mouvement universel], là les passions qui en résultent dans l’animal mû de cette manière, composé et constitué ainsi par la nature, actif et passif tout à la fois par l’effet de lois nécessaires.

THE STARS’ MOTIONS COMPARED TO A PREARRANGED DANCE.

33. As the circular movement of the world has nothing fortuitous, inasmuch as it is produced conformably to the reason of this great animal, a perfect symphonic (co-operation) between what "acts" and what "reacts" must exist within it; and there must also have been an order which would co-ordinate things one with another, so that at each of the phases of the circular movement of the world there might be a correspondence between the various beings subject to it, as if, in a varied choric ballet the dancers formed a single figure. As to our own modern dances, it is easy to explain the eternal things which contribute thereto, and which differ for every motion, like the sounds of the flute, the songs, and the other circumstances which are thereto related. It is not however as easy to conceive the motions of a person who conforms himself strictly to each figure, who accompanies, who raises one limb, or lowers another, who moves this limb, or holds the other limb motionless in a different attitude. The dancer’s eyes are doubtless fixed on some further aim while his limbs are still responding to the motions inspired by the music, by co-operating in expressing them, and in completing them symmetrically. Likewise, a man learned in the art of dancing could explain the reason that, in such a figure, such a limb is raised, such a limb is bent, while others are hidden or lowered; not indeed that the dancer deliberates about these different attitudes, but because in the general movement of his body he considers such a posture suitable to such a limb to fulfil its proper part in the dance. Likewise do the stars produce certain facts, and announce other ones. The entire world realizes its universal life by causing the motion of the greater parts it comprises, by ceaselessly changing the figures, so that the different positions of the parts, and their mutual relations may determine the rest, and that things may occur as in a movement executed by a single moving living organism. Thus such a state is produced by such an attitude, such positions, such figures; while some other state is produced by some other kind of figures, and so forth. Consequently, the real authors of what is occurring do not seem to be those who carry out the figures, but He who commands them; and He who plans the figures does not do one thing while busying Himself with another, because He is not acting on something different from Himself; He himself is all the things that are done; He here is the figures (formed by the universal movement), He himself there is the resultant passions in the animal so moved and constituted by nature, simultaneously "active" and "passive" as the result of necessary laws.

33. The Circuit does not go by chance but under the Reason-Principle of the living whole; therefore there must be a harmony between cause and caused; there must be some order ranging things to each other’s purpose, or in due relation to each other: every several configuration within the Circuit must be accompanied by a change in the position and condition of things subordinate to it, which thus by their varied rhythmic movement make up one total dance-play.

In our dance-plays there are outside elements contributing to the total effect - fluting, singing, and other linked accessories - and each of these changes in each new movement: there is no need to dwell on these; their significance is obvious. But besides this there is the fact that the limbs of the dancer cannot possibly keep the same positions in every figure; they adapt themselves to the plan, bending as it dictates, one lowered, another raised, one active, another resting as the set pattern changes. The dancer’s mind is on his own purpose; his limbs are submissive to the dance-movement which they accomplish to the end, so that the connoisseur can explain that this or that figure is the motive for the lifting, bending, concealment, effacing, of the various members of the body; and in all this the executant does not choose the particular motions for their own sake; the whole play of the entire person dictates the necessary position to each limb and member as it serves to the plan.

Now this is the mode in which the heavenly beings [the diviner members of the All] must be held to be causes wherever they have any action, and, when. they do not act, to indicate.

Or, a better statement: the entire kosmos puts its entire life into act, moving its major members with its own action and unceasingly setting them in new positions; by the relations thus established, of these members to each other and to the whole, and by the different figures they make together, the minor members in turn are brought under the system as in the movements of some one living being, so that they vary according to the relations, positions, configurations: the beings thus co-ordinated are not the causes; the cause is the coordinating All; at the same time it is not to be thought of as seeking to do one thing and actually doing another, for there is nothing external to it since it is the cause by actually being all: on the one side the configurations, on the other the inevitable effects of those configurations upon a living being moving as a unit and, again, upon a living being [an All] thus by its nature conjoined and concomitant and, of necessity, at once subject and object to its own activities.