11. Intelligence, therefore, becomes manifold when it wishes to
think the Principle superior to it. By wishing to grasp Him in his
simplicity, it abandons this simplicity, because it continues to
receive within itself this differentiated and multiplied nature. It
was not yet Intelligence when it issued from Unity; it found itself
in the state of sight when not yet actualized. When emanating from
Unity, it contained already what made it manifold. It vaguely aspired
to an object other than itself, while simultaneously containing a
representation of this object. It thus contained something that it
made manifold; for it contained a sort of impress produced by the
contemplation (of the One); otherwise it would not receive the One
within itself. Thus Intelligence, on being born of Unity, became
manifold, and as it possessed knowledge, it contemplated itself. It
then became actualized sight. Intelligence is really intelligence
only when it possesses its object, and when it possesses it as
intelligence. Formerly, it was only an aspiration, only an indistinct
vision. On applying itself to the One, and grasping the One, it becomes
intelligence. Now its receptivity to Unity is continuous, and it is
continuously intelligence, "being," thought, from the very moment it
begins to think. Before that, it is not yet thought, since it does not
possess the intelligible, and is not yet Intelligence, since it does
not think.