Over the past few years, I have been reading, and I have been reading quickly — with only one illness-imposed break last February when I had Influenza B and had such a rough time that I was wondering if I should check myself into the hospital because I couldn't breathe. (A coworker got the same … Continue reading The Perils of Reading Platonists, Like, Nonstop
Tag: yoga
Praying to a God, Religious Identity, and Boundaries
Today, I finished reading Olympiodorus’ Gorgias commentary. One of the most striking things about the footnotes and the conversation in general is his attempt to sanitize Hellenic theology and Platonism in a way that is palatable to students on whom he relies for his livelihood in a culture that was now hostile to pagan teachers. While … Continue reading Praying to a God, Religious Identity, and Boundaries
Some Quotations from Olympiodorus’ Commentary on Plato’s PHAEDO
In January, I read eight books, among them Olympiodorus' Commentary on Plato's Phaedo. It comes from notes taken during his lectures, so as with any lecture notes, mileage may vary based on the likely-Christian student's (or students') accuracy and attentiveness. Here are a few notes. (As a reminder, I have a commonplace book tag with … Continue reading Some Quotations from Olympiodorus’ Commentary on Plato’s PHAEDO
A Miscellany of Quotations — Olympiodorus, Aristotle, Bryant, Proclus
In late December, I found out that we have Olympiodorus' writings about Plato and the Alcibiades in ebook format while I was juggling tasks at work. Because I compulsively do full text searches for Apollôn every time I encounter a Platonic philosopher (or, like, just happen to open up to the part of a text … Continue reading A Miscellany of Quotations — Olympiodorus, Aristotle, Bryant, Proclus
A Miscellany of Quotations — Bryant & Damascius
From The Yoga Sūtras of Patañjali Years ago, when I started reading the 600-page commentary (900 ebook pages; the page numbers below are ebook ones) on the Yoga Sūtras by Edwin F. Bryant, I wanted to have a better grounding in the philosophy behind the asana I practiced multiple times a week so I would … Continue reading A Miscellany of Quotations — Bryant & Damascius
A Miscellany of Quotations — Majercik, Bryant, Damascius
First, for several days, I have had a brainworm from the Chaldean Oracles fragments. (This isn't getting a header because it's a single quotation at the beginning.) It's the phrase sober up from Fragment 15, trans. Ruth Majercik: And you do not know that every god is good. O, drudges, sober up … However, my … Continue reading A Miscellany of Quotations — Majercik, Bryant, Damascius
Enthrallment
In asana, breath moves through my chest, a bellows igniting a bright fire to course through my body. The Yoga Sutras refined my understanding of this. Vikalpaḥ is the imagination of metaphor, sleek, and it is here where the fire inside of me blooms. Asana prepares the body through movement to turn inward and touch … Continue reading Enthrallment
KALLISTI 