Neoplatonism seeks this in the ecstatic intuition of the ineffable One.
Neoplatonism owes its form to Plato, but its underlying motive is the widespread feeling of self-despair and the longing for divine illumination characteristic of the age in which it appears.
The " rhapsodic theogony " in particular exercised great influence on Neoplatonism.
The systematic theosophy of Plotinus and his successors does not belong to the present article, except so far as it is the presupposition of their mysticism; but, inasmuch as the mysticism of the medieval Church is directly derived from Neoplatonism through the speculations of the pseudo-Dionysius, Neoplatonic mysticism fills an important section in any historical review of the subject.
Neoplatonism appears in the first half of the 3rd century, and has its greatest representative in Plotinus.