Neoplatonic world process":
*First, there existed the "One", and "the origin of things is a contemplation" of this "One";
*The Second "is certainly an activity ... a secondary phase ... life streaming from life ... energy running through the universe";
*The Third is some kind of Intelligence, concerning which he wrote: "Activity is prior to Intellection ... and self-knowledge."

Plotinus likened the three to the center, the radii, and the circumference of a circle,