/lit/ - Literature

>>15769731

>>15016372

>>15017205
the most important pre-socratic for neoplatonism is Philolaus

>>14947144
it was a parody of gnosticism just as >>14947144
is a parody of them, Christians are just blind Gnostics. Luckily, for all souls, your evil god is not real.

Athenian
And now, as I think, we have argued quite sufficiently with him who loves to censure the gods for neglect.

Clinias
Yes.

Athenian
And it was by forcing him by our arguments to acknowledge [903b] that what he says is wrong. But still he needs also, as it seems to me, some words of counsel to act as a charm upon him.

Clinias
What kind of words, my good sir?

Athenian
Let us persuade the young man by our discourse that all things are ordered systematically by Him who cares for the World—all with a view to the preservation and excellence of the Whole, whereof also each part, so far as it can, does and suffers what is proper to it. To each of these parts, down to the smallest fraction, rulers of their action and passion are appointed to bring about fulfillment even to the uttermost [903c] fraction; whereof thy portion also, O perverse man, is one, and tends therefore always in its striving towards the All, tiny though it be. But thou failest to perceive that all partial generation is for the sake of the Whole, in order that for the life of the World-all blissful existence may be secured,—it not being generated for thy sake, but thou for its sake. For every physician and every trained craftsman works always for the sake of a Whole, and strives after what is best in general, and he produces a part for the sake of a whole, and not a whole for the sake of a part; [903d] but thou art vexed, because thou knowest not how what is best in thy case for the All turns out best for thyself also, in accordance with the power of your common origin. And inasmuch as soul, being conjoined now with one body, now with another, is always undergoing all kinds of changes either of itself or owing to another soul, there is left for the draughts-player no further task,—save only to shift the character that grows better to a superior place, and the worse to a worse, according to what best suits each of them, so that to each may be allotted its appropriate destiny. [903e]

Clinias
In what way do you mean?

Athenian
The way I am describing is, I believe, that in which supervision of all things is most easy for the gods. For if one were to shape all things, without a constant view to the Whole, by transforming them (as, for instance, fire into water), instead of merely converting one into many or many into one, then when things had shared in a first, or second, or even third generation, they would be countless in number in such a system of transformations; but as things are, the task before the Supervisor of the All is wondrous easy.

>>14395729
Yes, the gnostics were derivative, uninspired, more separatist than protestants, hodge podge soup of cherrypicked religious elements from all over—personality cults, each generation with their own disassociated "prophet".
Guess how you know when a new group/philosopher is wrong? Their thought can't be derived from myths and oracles predating them, you can't draw a golden chain of sages each building upon the work of their fathers. The true Tradition is an exegetically unfinished statue, through the ages inspiration has chipped away confusion; the great majority of mythologies of history praise the makers of the world, Gnostics damn him. You accuse him of placing you here, when your own soul willingly leaped down here.

Valentinus literally just made shit up just because he didn't become bishop; a megalomaniac.
And the other Gnostics were just metaphysically retarded (as shown by Plotinus), no understanding of ontology at all.

>>14257349
t. Seething Neoplatonist. Enjoy worshipping Yaldabaoth.

You cant do anything but attack Sethian boogeyman strawmen

>>14196131
o shit the Neoplatonists found our thread

(Psalm 82:6)
"I said, 'You are "gods"; you are all sons of the Most High.'

>inb4 this thread gets bombarded by seething Neoplatonists who were tricked into worshipping the Archons

>>14179490
>christard

Dunno why Plotinus is your pic.

>>13560540
Intuition precedes all, mysticism is the other side of the same coin as intuition. Which is why theology = ontology

>>13341526