In a recent blog comment, someone mentioned the struggles that come about from a desire for social approval and feedback, and I admitted that I do check blog stats and that I do feel pleased when I come to know that something I've done are meaningful to someone else. This "instinct to check for approval" … Continue reading The Love of Ambition and Reputation
Tag: platonism
The Seasons and the Gods
One 🤯 moment in Proclus' Republic essays — specifically in the one on the speech of the Muses, essay 13 — is when Proclus describes the correspondences between different Gods and seasons. We are now in summer, meaning that we are in a season of Ares. Winter is for Kronos, spring for Zeus, and autumn … Continue reading The Seasons and the Gods
Gods, Theurgy, Philosophical Schools, and Community
There is a lot of weirdness in contemplation. After I pray to Apollon in the mornings, I simply breathe. If everything inside can be calmed (not halted, but calmed), it is possible to rest in an inner place, where light seems to stream and where I know there is something true waiting to be coaxed … Continue reading Gods, Theurgy, Philosophical Schools, and Community
Verse and Matter
In 2022, one goal I set was to read more poetry. After November 2021, while processing many challenging emotions, I found some amazing poems that put things into perspective and that made me feel connected to humanity in a way that was difficult given the stress I was under and how difficult I found it … Continue reading Verse and Matter
A Beautiful Snippet from the LAWS
The Gods are on our side — as also are the guardian spirits — and we in turn are the property of the Gods and guardian spirits. What is fatal for us is injustice, and arrogance allied to folly; our salvation is justice, and self-control allied to wisdom, and these are to be found dwelling … Continue reading A Beautiful Snippet from the LAWS
Offering Cosmos Flower incense to Aphrodite and Eros
This morning, I opened new incense blend called Cosmos Flower and lit it for Aphrodite and Eros. I didn't have a lot of time, so instead of reading Aphrodite's Orphic Hymn, I read one of the ones written by Proclus. But Goddess — for you are far-hearingno matter where you are, whether you embrace the … Continue reading Offering Cosmos Flower incense to Aphrodite and Eros
Seira, transformative experiences, and spiritual materialism
Several years ago, while reading Platonic works, I found myself wondering how I and another devotee of Apollon could have such divergent perspectives and how, both of us presumably having had some kind of experience at the root of that, such a divergence was possible. Later, and as a related question, I started encountering ambiguities … Continue reading Seira, transformative experiences, and spiritual materialism
Proclus, On the Timaeus of Plato, Book 5, 324.5-24
This very topic should be investigated from the very beginning, asking why it is that the soul comes down into bodies. It is because it wants to imitate the providential care of the Gods, and it enters into generation on this account, abandoning contemplation. For, given that divine perfection is of two kinds, the one … Continue reading Proclus, On the Timaeus of Plato, Book 5, 324.5-24
More Binds than Separates
we are not so different when they break you apart I will be here to collect each piece not to soothe your naked heart but to give closure to now-ashen limbs recollecting the time I sang for you and your tears fell like overripe grapes from their twisting, tangled vines I wrote these verses while … Continue reading More Binds than Separates
KALLISTI 