Plotinos: Complete Works, v. 4 In Chronological Order,...

But what was the condition of the soul before her separation from the body by philosophy? Was she mingled with the body? If she were mingled with it, she must either have been formed282 by mixing;271 or she was spread all over the body; or she was283 a form interwoven with the body; or she was a form governing the body284 as a pilot governs the ship;285 or286 was partly mingled with, and partly separated from, the body. (In the latter case) I would call the independent part that which uses the body as a tool, while the mingled part is that which lowers itself to the classification or rank of instrument. Now philosophy raises the latter to the rank of the former; and the detached part turns her away, as far as our needs allow, from the body she uses, so that she may not always have to use the body.