A few weeks ago, Academia.edu sent me a notification to tell me that I hadn't ever read Edward Watts' "The Lycians Are Coming: The Career of Patricius, the Father of Proclus," a paper that speculated about Proclus' family and how it shaped his youth. Unbeknownst to Academia.edu, I had actually read that paper a few … Continue reading A Few Thoughts on Predecessors
Tag: proclus
Lunar Yin Yoga and Other Wind-Downs
At the beginning of September, I started to commit more to dialing myself down after work. One thing that I've done is to de-stress a few evenings each week with yin yoga. In the early-ish/mid-2010s, when I lived in my last apartment and was physically closer to a real yoga studio, one class that I … Continue reading Lunar Yin Yoga and Other Wind-Downs
A Measure of Beauty from Proclus’ Euclid commentary
There is left only the conclusion that soul draws her concepts both from herself and from Nous, that she is herself the company of the forms, which receive their constitution from the intelligible patterns but enter spontaneously upon the stage of being. The soul therefore was never a writing-tablet bare of inscriptions; she is a … Continue reading A Measure of Beauty from Proclus’ Euclid commentary
Proclus in Tim. Book II, 376-378
the world in all its goodnessmoving from moment to momentits former waters first a memorythen a calm oblivion of generationsin a thousand years perhapswe will be young enough to saywhat did we learn amidst the ruinsof ourselves and the broken monumentswhat did we learn when displacedfrom who we are, before fatigueset in, as our bones … Continue reading Proclus in Tim. Book II, 376-378
In Gratitude
On the first day of November, following a day of storms in both a literal and metaphorical sense, I was brought to wonder by a rainbow. It was a Wednesday, and I had to mind a passage from Proclus' Parmenides commentary that I had only just reread — "I am ready at your service, Parmenides,'' … Continue reading In Gratitude
Remember, Proclus’ Birthday Is On 8 February
Proclus was born in 412 CE on 8 February. We have his birth chart (amazingly), so he's one of the few ancient Platonists whom we can honor on a birthday. I am posting this a few days early so that anyone who might want to honor him has the heads up and can think about … Continue reading Remember, Proclus’ Birthday Is On 8 February
Matter Is Not Evil
From Proclus, On Evils, §31.5-14, trans. Opsomer and Steel, with images. If matter is evil, we must choose between two alternatives: either to make the Good the cause of evil or to posit two principles of beings. For, indeed, everything that exists in any way whatever must either be a principle of complete beings or … Continue reading Matter Is Not Evil
The Body and the Beehives
Yesterday, I finished reading a translation of Akka Mahadevi's vacanas for Shiva. Vacana seems to be a specific term for a free-verse form. I had never encountered writings from the Lingayat Shiva tradition, and it was very educational for me. It turns out that, for at least over a millennium, there has been resistance to … Continue reading The Body and the Beehives
Athene, Dancing
In the Philosophical History, Damascius writes that he saw an agalma of Aphrodite in armor and that the image struck him. I had a similar, much less intense experience recently when I came across this secular-function image of Athene, La Danse Triomphale, created in 1925 by Carlo Sarrabezolles. The plaque on the image's base reads, … Continue reading Athene, Dancing
KALLISTI 