Nous

Nous, usually translated “intellect” or “mind”, is the Greek word for the faculty that grasps truth directly, as opposed to reasoning step by step (dianoia). For Plato it is the highest part of the soul, akin to the Forms it beholds. Aristotle made a divine Intellect, thought thinking itself, the unmoved mover of the cosmos.

In Plotinus, Nous is the second of the three principles, proceeding from the One. It is the realm of the Forms, in which thinker and thought, being and knowing, are one; it is the highest level at which there is still any duality. The soul’s return passes through Nous before reaching the One, which is beyond intellect.

In Eastern Christian spirituality, nous names the highest faculty of the human person, the “eye of the soul” by which God is known, distinct from discursive reason. The hesychast tradition speaks of bringing the nous down into the heart in prayer.