/lit/ - Literature

Plato:

>The third type of ppossession and madness is possession by the Muses. When this seizes upon a gentle and virgin soul [of a poet] it rouses it to inspired expression in lyric and other sorts of poetry, and it glorifies countless deeds of the heroes of old for the instruction of posterity. But if a man comes to the door quite untouched by the madness of the Muses, believing that technique alone will make him a good poet, he and his sane compositions never reach perfection. They are instead utterly eclipsed by the performances of the inspired madman.

You have to understand that throughout all time artists have relied upon spirits for their inspiration. This is as true of ancient poets as it is of the modern rock n roll musician or pop artist.

Genius is being possessed by a spirit (holy or otherwise). It's not having a high IQ. Having an IQ can get you to works that reach a kind of formalistic perfection but never to works that are artistically great. This actually goes for philosophy and science too. You will be surprised how many philosophers and scientists had mystical experiences associated with their big breakthroughs.

pro-tip: it's not worth getting yourself possessed by evil spirits in order to become a genius. The genius isn't really yours, it's that of the demon possessing you.

What Philosophers should I read after the Presocratics and Plato?

Is there a canon in philosophy? I'm planning on dedicating the entirety of next year to try and catch up. What works should I read so that I am not philosophically illiterate? Any lists, introductory works, flowcharts you have are welcome.

>>5726582
A spectre is haunting the long hallways of the pedagogical institutions and the velour fourth-order simulacrum of the 4chan message board -- the spectre of shitposting.

>being well-read
>having anything to do with books
>not about having read your soul well

plib

>
If men learn this, it will implant forgetfulness in their souls; they will cease to exercise memory because they rely on that which is written, calling things to remembrance no longer from within themselves, but by means of external marks. What you have discovered is a recipe not for memory, but for reminder. And it is no true wisdom that you offer your disciples, but only its semblance, for by telling them of many things without teaching them you will make them seem to know much, while for the most part they know nothing, and as men filled, not with wisdom, but with the conceit of wisdom, they will be a burden to their fellows.
- Plato on writing

Plato's Dialogues are best understood as a form of ritual or incantation or prayer. They are spiritual in nature and their aim is to produce an effect on the reader's soul. They are not treatises on logic, or politics, or ethics, like the works of Aristotle, though questions of various disciplines are raised incidentally during the dialogue. However, as I have said, all these philosophical/theoretical discussions are incidental to the dialogue, not essential to it. The point of every dialogue is to reduce a person's mind to a state of quiet aporia (a psychological state where one was realises that he knows nothing), then, in that state of absence where the entire world disappears and the mind is a blank state, Plato inevitably has Socrates introduce his own theory. The mind in its blankness due to the aporia brought about by the dialogue, is now able perceive with great clearness a given theory, and so the mind enters into a state of theoria (contemplation, gazing) where it seems as though the only thing that exists is the Idea, the Form. The purpose of this entire ritual is to get a man to realize fully that (a) he has a soul/mind, and (b) that his soul/mind is above his body, and (c) that the mind is constantly being assaulted by petty, base, and sensual ideas and that the only way to be rid of them is to reduce one's mind to a state of aporia or of emptiness.
All of the ideas and remarks that appear in Plato's work are merely tools for bringing about this mysterious initiation into the reality of one's having a soul. In Aristotle the ideas and theories are the object of the treatise, but in Plato's works (though there are exceptions like the Laws) there is only one Idea that is being revealed in many different ways.

can anyone suggest some good philosophy essay's and free lectures . i've finished beyond good and evil, the great courses metaphysics, Bertrand Russell's A history of western philosophy and am familiar with most general outlines of works from kant,hume, ect. i want to get more in depth can /lit/ help?

Because only a morally purified soul can contemplate THE FORMS.

>2014
>not being a Platonist / neo-Platonist

enjoy your cave plebs

To me it appears that this book is a mix of autobiography, novella and political literature. Is there a way to ignore all the non political content of the book?