/lit/ - Literature

It is officially the 9th of January in some parts of the world so the read along starts today. Reminder that we're going in the tradition ordering of Porphyry and reading one tractate per day starting with "What is the Living Being and What is Man?". Feel free to read the "Life of Plotinus" which is a nice overview of Plotinus as a person by Porphyry.

At the end of every Ennead there will be a day for break and discussion of the topics covered, the first of which will be on the 18th.

You can read and download MacKennas translation of the Enneads here:
https://archive.org/details/plotinustheennea033190mbp/page/n25/mode/2up

It is recommended to go with either MacKenna, Gerson or Armstrong (Which is the Loeb Classic Library set)

Good luck everyone and please contribute your thoughts after you read each tractate.

Starts in 1 week. 1 treatise per day with a 1 day break between each Ennead for catch up / discussion. Read along as we go through the most important western philosophical work ever written

I.1 - "What is the Living Being and What is Man?" 9/1
I.2 - "On Virtue" 10/1
I.3 - "On Dialectic [The Upward Way]." 11/1
I.4 - "On True Happiness (Well Being)" 12/1
I.5 - "On Whether Happiness (Well Being) Increases with Time." 13/1
I.6 - "On Beauty" 14/1
I.7 - "On the Primal Good and Secondary Forms of Good [Otherwise, 'On Happiness']" 15/1
I.8 - "On the Nature and Source of Evil" 16/1
I.9 - "On Dismissal" 17/1

18/1 - Break / Discussion

II.1 - "On Heaven" 19/1
II.2 - "On the Movement of Heaven" 20/1
II.3 - "Whether the Stars are Causes" 21/1
II.4 - "On Matter" 22/1
II.5 - "On Potentiality and Actuality" 23/1
II.6 - "On Quality or on Substance" 24/1
II.7 - "On Complete Transfusion" 25/1
II.8 - "On Sight or on how Distant Objects Appear Small" 26/1
II.9 - "Against Those That Affirm The Creator of the Kosmos and The Kosmos Itself to be Evil" [generally quoted as "Against the Gnostics"] 27/1

28/1 - Break / Discussion

III.1 - "On Fate"
III.2 - "On Providence (1)."
III.3 - "On Providence (2)."
III.4 - "On our Allotted Guardian Spirit"
III.5 - "On Love"
III.6 - "On the Impassivity of the Unembodied"
III.7 - "On Eternity and Time"
III.8 - "On Nature, Contemplation and the One"
III.9 - "Detached Considerations"

7/2 - Break / Discussion

IV.1 - "On the Essence of the Soul (1)"
IV.2 - "On the Essence of the Soul (2)"
IV.3 - "On Problems of the Soul (1)"
IV.4 - "On Problems of the Soul (2)"
IV.5 - "On Problems of the Soul (3)” [Also known as, "On Sight"].
IV.6 - "On Sense-Perception and Memory"
IV.7 - "On the Immortality of the Soul"
IV.8 - "On the Soul's Descent into Body"
IV.9 - "Are All Souls One"

17/2 - Break / Discussion

V.1 - "On the Three Primary Hypostases"
V.2 - "On the Origin and Order of the Beings following after the First"
V.3 - "On the Knowing Hypostases and That Which is Beyond"
V.4 - "How That Which is After the First comes from the First, and on the One."
V.5 - "That the Intellectual Beings are not Outside the Intellect, and on the Good"
V.6 - "On the Fact that That Which is Beyond Being Does not Think, and on What is the Primary and the Secondary Thinking Principle"
V.7 - "On whether There are Ideas of Particular Beings"
V.8 - "On the Intellectual Beauty"
V.9 - "On Intellect, the Forms, and Being"

26/2 - Break / Discussion

VI.1 - "On the Kinds of Being (1)"
VI.2 - "On the Kinds of Being (2)"
VI.3 - "On the Kinds of Being (3)"
VI.4 - "On the Presence of Being, One and the Same, Everywhere as a Whole (1)"
VI.5 - "On the Presence of Being, One and the Same, Everywhere as a Whole (2)"
VI.6 - "On Numbers"
VI.7 - "How the Multiplicity of Forms Came Into Being: and on the Good"
VI.8 - "On Free Will and the Will of the One"
VI.9 - "On the Good, or the One"

7/3 - Final Discussion

>>20508144
>Anyway, do you have any evidence for this god, then?
Yes. Read pic related.

>The Enneads - Plotinus
>Elements of Theology - Proclus
>The Theology of Arithmetic - Iamblichus
>The Works of Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite
>Plotinus - Lloyd Gerson
>Theophany - Eric Perl
>Living Theurgy - Jeffery Kupperman
>Theurgy and the Soul - Gregory Shaw
>Neoplatonism & Christianity - Dominic O'Meara
>Return to the One - Brian Hines

Why are so many westerners ignorant of the philosophical work that forms the basis of their civilization? Everyone knows Plato and Aristotle but the percentage of people who recognize Plotinus and the school of Neoplatonism that has defined western thought for over 1,500 years is in the single digits. Why? It is the greatest fusion of mysticism with rational logic ever devised and western men are turning to fucking Buddhism for connection to the spiritual, a philosophy that denies the vitality of man in favor of pure nihilism.

All Philosophy is but a footnote to Plotinus

What are some books that have radically changed your worldview?

>>18485181
>Proof?

>>18266027
Yes, but they're slightly worse than Lloyd Gersons translation that came out in 2019

Oh? You've read the Enneads? Explain the difference between the three primary hypostases right now

You have read the most important philosophical work in the history of western civilization, right?

You are now aware there are people browsing this board who haven't read the Enneads

>>16771540
Enneads by Plotinus and the Elements of Theology by Proclus. I've never met a person who has done a deep dive into Neoplatonism and wants to retain their materialistic, atheistic beliefs.

>>15269062
>Anti-realist philosophy
Disgusting.

What am I in for?