I've gotten out of the habit of posting things on the commonplace book tag, mostly because — just after embarking on my read through Book 2 of Proclus' Timaeus commentary — I realized that the text was rapidly becoming so interconnected that posting things without people knowing the context could do more harm than good. … Continue reading A Quotation of Interest from Proclus’ Timaeus Commentary
Tag: platonism
Minimalism in Plato’s Phaedo
This week, I reread Plato's Phaedo for the first time since embarking on reading the Late Platonists. It was an entirely different reading experience from before to the point that I may have excitedly messaged my partner in an enormous paragraph or several about how delightful it was, and at one point, I got up … Continue reading Minimalism in Plato’s Phaedo
Playing with Prosody
Yesterday night, I started reading Alfred Corn's The Poem's Heartbeat: A Manual of Prosody because I want to better my understanding of it. Similar to how I sleepwalked through grammar classes in school and relied on intuition until I learned how to conlang, most poetry I write finds its form via intuition, not crafting, with … Continue reading Playing with Prosody
A Miscellany of Quotations — Proclus Discusses Prayer in Book II of the Timaeus Commentary
On Friday night, I hit the second large chunk of text (299.21-303.23) of Proclus' Timaeus commentary that deals with the theological meat that I really enjoy reading. This morning, while scrubbing dirty things in the kitchen, cleaning the shower with an Exciting New Eco-Friendly Scrub that Actually Works As Advertised (lol adulthood), and so on, … Continue reading A Miscellany of Quotations — Proclus Discusses Prayer in Book II of the Timaeus Commentary
Contemplating Aristonoos’ Compositions for Apollon and Hestia
For the past three days, I have been pondering a few lines from Aristonoos' paian to Apollon, written in a Delphic context, as translated by Furley and Bremer in Greek Hymns: Volume 1 – The Texts in Translation. (I put it in the Thargelia ritual.) The translators say that "Delphi awarded Aristonoos and his descendants … Continue reading Contemplating Aristonoos’ Compositions for Apollon and Hestia
Learning Plans and a Few Recommended Readings
I have been a self-directed learner for a long time. The way I pushed myself through school was via convincing myself that everything would eventually be relevant to my creative writing. In 2019, after listening to the grades episode of The Happiness Lab podcast, I processed a lot of feelings (anger, regret, sorrow) about my … Continue reading Learning Plans and a Few Recommended Readings
A Miscellany of Quotations — More from Proclus’ v.1 commentary on the Timaeus
In June, I finished reading Volume 1 of Proclus’ commentary on Plato’s Timaeus. My copy (the translation by Tarrant) is now filled with marginal notes and heavily underlined, some of the notes in all caps, others paragraphs that spilled over the seams of the margin to end in the whitespace at the bottom or top … Continue reading A Miscellany of Quotations — More from Proclus’ v.1 commentary on the Timaeus
Four Drops of Bay Oil
four drops of bay oil three together, the fourth alonecircling as they twistedsmaller circle inspirallinguntil they pressed together in contactlike prayer hummingwithin the mindlight descending victorious When I prayed this morning, the drops of bay oil I gave to Apollon caught the light, three grouped together, the fourth alone. I watched the smaller bit inspiral … Continue reading Four Drops of Bay Oil
Divided Things, People, a Quotation …
Surely, we have to notice the reason why humans pursue gold and silver, and what they are thinking of in conceiving this unbounded desire. Clearly [they do so] out of the will to attend to their own needs from whatever source, and out of the desire to provide themselves with what contributes to their pleasure. … Continue reading Divided Things, People, a Quotation …
KALLISTI 