Purity requirements are a very well attested part of popular religion. Many temple leges sacrae are documented by researchers like Sokolowski and Lupu from the whole pre-Christian and/or pre-Islamic Greek-speaking areas.
Looking for both primary texts and commentaries.
For someone highly familiar with Platonism, but not familiar with Neoplatonism beyond the Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy entry.
In Neoplatonist philosophy there are four levels in the celestial hierarchy: The One, the Hypercosmic Gods, the Demiurge and the Cosmic Gods.
I understand the One well enough. I know it is unexplainable and transcendent.
I understand that the Demiurge is the 'shaper' of the physical universe.
I understand that the Cosmic Gods are those of classical religion, such as Zeus, Hera, Poseidon etc.
But who are the Hypercosmic Gods? Does Plotinus or any other Neoplatonist every describe them or discuss them. If so, which works?
Hypatia (born c. 350–370; died 415 AD) was a Hellenistic Neoplatonist philosopher, astronomer, and mathematician, who lived in Alexandria, Egypt, then part of the Eastern Roman Empire. She was a prominent thinker of the Neoplatonic school in Alexandria, where she taught philosophy and astronomy. She is the first female mathematician whose life is reasonably well recorded. Hypatia was renowned in her own lifetime as a great teacher and a wise counselor. She is known to have written a commentary on Diophantus's thirteen-volume Arithmetica, which may survive in part, having been interpolated into Diophantus's original text, and another commentary on Apollonius of Perga's treatise on conic sections, which has not survived. Many modern scholars also believe that Hypatia may have edited the surviving text of Ptolemy's Almagest, based on the title of her father Theon's commentary on Book III of the Almagest.
Hypatia is known to have constructed astrolabes and hydrometers, but did not invent either of these, which were both in use long before she was born. Although she herself was a pagan, she was tolerant towards Christians and taught many Christian students, including Synesius, the future bishop of Ptolemais. Ancient sources record that Hypatia was widely beloved by pagans and Christians alike and that she established great influence with the political elite in Alexandria. Towards the end of her life, Hypatia advised Orestes, the Roman prefect of Alexandria, who was in the midst of a political feud with Cyril, the bishop of Alexandria. Rumors spread accusing her of preventing Orestes from reconciling with Cyril and, in March 415 AD, she was murdered by a mob of Christians led by a lectornamed Peter.
Hypatia's murder shocked the empire and transformed her into a "martyr for philosophy", leading future Neoplatonists such as Damascius to become increasingly fervent in their opposition to Christianity. - from here
Even if it is the furthest point from the One?
I learned about the God-fearers in Juan Cole's book about Muhammad as one of the possible identities for the Sabians of the Qu'ran. But I've also seen Neoplatonic pagan monotheists also suggested as being the Qu'ranic Sabians. I'm wondering whether the two groups overlapped or if they were even distinct in practical terms.
I am writting a list of important neoplatonists to read in the future. I already know the best known philosophers, however I feel some are still missing. Is there any significant and good less known neoplatonist that you guys recommend?
One of the cool features of CK3 is the presence of many small sects (especially the various schools of Gnosticism) which survived through the period. I think the world of After the End would have such beliefs too: flames of 'sacred knowledge' kept alive through the devotion of a small community.
While cults of the medieval period revered sources of wisdom such as Plato and Hermes Trismegistus, I feel there is a more modern example which could take this same role - french philosopher and psychoanalyst Gilles Deleuze.
His work is fairly influential (Thousand Plateaus gets all over the place) and it's so dense and incomprehensible I could imagine a monk or scholar who rediscovers it could become convinced it holds very deep meaning on the nature of the universe. Such a person could spread these ideas around, and a community could form around it in relative secrecy, ere they attract the ire of the church.
I think this could add a nice bit of flavor, would mirror the continuation of classical thought through these cults IRL, and would make for some fun gameplay of analyzing the 'forbidden wisdom' of critical theory and psychoanalysis. Making sacrifices to the Rhizomes and the Body Without Organs, combining drugs and psychoanalysis sessions into bizarre religious rituals, etc.
We do a lot of reading and discussion of Neoplatonic texts but I’m curious about how one turns Neoplatonism into an everyday practice. Are there any good writings on this?
I would consider myself a Neoplatonist of the school of Iamblichus the Emesene. Meaning that I personally adopt the ideals of substance Monism (i.e that all existent things are of one substance, in this case, a World-Soul or spiritual substance underpinning all Life), theurgy & mysticism (that the Universe in endowed with sacred characteristics and that magic[k]al practice intunes us with the divine spark in ourselves), and in beliefs related to the advancement of the human Soul through the planes until it connects with the gods and reaches Divinity, freeing it from ignorance & conferring enlightenment or samadhi.
Other prominent pagan Neoplatonists from Antiquity include Plotinos of Egypt, Porphyrios the Tyrian, Proklos the Diadokhos, and Ploutarkhos of Athens (Plotinus, Porphyry, Proclus and Plutarch). They drew from the School of Platon and Sokrates, but also from Aristoteles, Orphism, Zoroaster, Buddhism, Hinduism, and the Egyptian or Mesopotamian mystery schools.
Guys, are you pure Neoplatonists or are you simply hesychast (neoplatonized christian) or sufist (neoplatonized muslim)?
Additionally, if you are pure Neoplatonist then how do you practice it? I mean Iamblichus and Proclus put alot of stress on preserving paganism which is not really practiced nowadays. Furthermore, there are no books on neoplatonistic pratices comparing with hesychasm or sufism (the Ennads seem to be more philosophical text + contemplative text for people who are already practicing mysticism rather than how to pratice).
I am trying to join one that still really knows what they are talking about on a personally experiential level.
