/lit/ - Literature

>>16001444
>>>THE NEOPLATONISTS WERE INNOVATORS!!!!

>“Now Zeus, the great commander in heaven, drives his winged chariot first in the procession, looking after everything and putting all things in order. Following him is an army of gods and spirits arranged in eleven 247 sections. Hestia is the only one who remains at the home of the gods; all the rest of the twelve are lined up in formation, each god in command of the unit to which he is assigned. Inside heaven are many wonderful places from which to look and many aisles which the blessed gods take up and back, each seeing to his own work, while anyone who is able and wishes to do so follows along, since jealousy has no place in the gods’ chorus. When they go to feast at the banquet they have a steep climb to the high b tier at the rim of heaven
>Listen then to a dream in return for a dream. In my dream, too, I thought I was listening to people saying that the primary elements, e as it were, of which we and everything else are composed, have no account. Each of them, in itself, can only be named; it is not possible to say anything else of it, either that it is or that it is not. That would mean that we were adding being or not-being to it; whereas we must not attach anything, if we are to speak of that thing itself alone.
>“The place beyond heaven—none of our earthly poets has ever sung or ever will sing its praises enough! Still, this is the way it is—risky as it may be, you see, I must attempt to speak the truth, especially since the truth is my subject. What is in this place is without color and without shape and without solidity, a being that really is what it is, the subject of all true knowledge, visible only to intelligence, the soul’s steersman. Now a god’s d mind is nourished by intelligence and pure knowledge, as is the mind of any soul that is concerned to take in what is appropriate to it, and so it is delighted at last to be seeing what is real and watching what is true, feeding on all this and feeling wonderful, until the circular motion brings it around to where it started. On the way around it has a view of Justice as it is; it has a view of Self-control; it has a view of Knowledge—not the knowledge that is close to change, that becomes different as it knows the different things which we consider real down here. No, it is the knowledge of what really is what it is. And when the soul has seen all the things that are as they are and feasted on them, it sinks back inside heaven and goes home.
>Therefore,you should also say that no only do the objects of knowledge owe their being known to the Good, but their being is also due to it, although the Good is not being, but superior to it in rank and power.
And Glaucon comically said: By Apollo, what a daemonic superiority

>>15362902
>>15363110
‘Ephemeral souls, this is the beginning of another cycle that will end in death. Your daemon or guardian spirit will not be assigned to you by lot; you will choose him. The one who has the first lot will be the first to choose a life to which he will then be bound by necessity. Virtue knows no master; each will possess it to a greater or less degree, depending on whether he values or disdains it. The responsibility lies with the one who makes the choice; the god has none.’

>>15024579
And do not regard it as an injury to be always in my service, since it is by my countenance and benefit that ou will become a human. You will live blessed in this world, and you will live gloriously by my guidance and protection. When you descend to Hades, that subterranean place where you will see me shining (as you see me now) in the darkness of Acheron, and reigning in the deep profundity of Styx, you will worship me as one who has been favorable to you. And if I perceive that you are obedient to my commandment, adhere to my religion, and merit my divine grace, then know that I will prolong your days above and beyond the time that the fates have appointed and the celestial planets ordained.

>>14936384
he is seeking fish booty
all men seek universal booty

>>14409923
>"every line of reasoning that says Plato was wrong about something or wasn't perfect must defacto be wrong"
Plato and Plotinus are of course also in perfect noncontradiction.

But I believe that I'm literally a ray of God? Of course I'll return to myself one day, might be in this life, or in ten lives. And so will you, unless you descend into matter totally.