The Greek word noeo is an interesting and important verb.
As discussed in the welcome to this blog, noeo (which means "to see") connotes a thinking and a pondering which results in a perceiving, and which produces an understanding (or a seeing) and ultimately knowledge. It has active and productive connotations.
However, not only does it connote seeing and understanding, but its etymological association with noumenon emphasises a particular type of seeing; or even more specifically - the seeing of a particular type of thing or object.
Noeo is a seeing of a noumenon, insofar as a noumenon is an object perceived by noeo. The word noumenon, means "an object perceived by the mind" (independent of the senses) or "an object of intellectual intuition".
Additionally and importantly, noeo is a passive present participle. A passive verb indicates that the subject is the recipient of the action and its present participle nature denotes an action which is ongoing. For example, asking is the present participle of ask. Consequently, noeo is an active ongoing seeing in which the seer is the receiver of that which is seen, namely a noumenon.
Importantly, noumenon contrasts with phenomenon which derives from the Greek word phainómenon which means "appearance" and whose root is phainesthai, the passive form of the verb phaínein or phaino which means "to show". Phenomena, the plural of phenomenon, are things or objects which are seen through the senses, as opposed to the mind.
This distinction between noumenon and phenomenon is most clearly expressed by the philosopher Kant who used the word noumenon to refer to the essence of the thing (the thing-in-itself) and the word phenomenon to refer to the way in which it appeared to us. Consequently, every phenomenon (produced effect or tangible appearance) has a noumenon (intelligent cause or intuitively accessible essence). Phenomena derive from noumena.
Consequently, the phenomena of everyday or the things we take as things and encounter all around us as the phenomenal world, are merely the appearances of things. The things themselves, the things-in-themselves, are noumena. Although we use our senses to perceive and apprehend the phenomenal world we must use intellectual intuition to perceive the noumenal world.
In this respect, the distinction between noumena and phenomena is analogous to the distinction between essence and form, between eidos and eidolon, and between archetype and archetypal image.
To quote Jung, 'the archetype would thus be, to borrow from Kant, the noumenon of the image which intuition perceives and, in perceiving creates' (Jung 1971a, p.400-401)
Reflecting this important distinction, the Apostle Paul, in his letter to the Romans says that 'since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly seen, being understood through what has been made' (Rom 1:20). This statement clearly asserts that what appears as what is made and seen, exhibits an essence that can be seen and understood, and the Greek word used here is noeo.
Consequently, noeo, is a seeing and an understanding that relates intimately to the essence of things, to the backdrop of the phenomenal world, and to the spiritual context of being human. It is also a seeing in which we, as human beings, are recipents not initiators. A seeing in which what is seen is seen in the manner of a receiving not a making, a glimpsing not a grasping. Noeo is a revealing, a bringing forth, a productive and creative act.
Sources:
Jung, C. G. 1971, Psychological Types, Bollingen Series, vol. 6, trans. Baynes, H. G., Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ.