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<v Speaker 1>You see, something's going to happen. What's going to happen?

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<v Speaker 2>What? Welcome to the Occult Rejects. In today's episode, we

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<v Speaker 2>reach four and a half turns of the cosmic spiral,

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<v Speaker 2>back past Renaissance Hermeticists, past Augustine's Confession, passed the last

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<v Speaker 2>fires of pagan Rome, and we land in the Candle

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<v Speaker 2>Light Salon, where an Egyptian born philosopher named Plotinus speaks

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<v Speaker 2>of an invisible fountain that overflows into everything that breathes.

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<v Speaker 2>Why give him a show on the Occult Rejects podcast,

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<v Speaker 2>because that very architecture of modern occultism, emanation ascent, the

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<v Speaker 2>purification of perception, was mordered to get by this one

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<v Speaker 2>man's vision of.

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<v Speaker 1>The one and its living rays.

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<v Speaker 2>Plotinus is the hinge between classical mystery schools and every

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<v Speaker 2>later map of hidden worlds. He duels with gnostics over

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<v Speaker 2>whether matter is a curse or a mirror. He out

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<v Speaker 2>argues fatalistic astrologers by insisting the stars are signs, not chains.

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<v Speaker 2>He describes mystical union in language that echoes through Kabbala,

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<v Speaker 2>Sufiism and Rosicrucian ritual alike. Even his optics never did

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<v Speaker 2>I eye see the sun unless it had first become

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<v Speaker 2>sun like. Has fueled centuries about chemical imagery about turning

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<v Speaker 2>lead in sight to gold. So in this episode, we're

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<v Speaker 2>not just talking about a dusty neoplatonist retracing the inner

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<v Speaker 2>workings of Western Esotericism will follow Plotinus from Alexander's lecture

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<v Speaker 2>holes to Rome's plague stricken streets, watching build a metaphysical

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<v Speaker 2>ladder from matter to mind the One and test whether

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<v Speaker 2>his promise that every soul can slip the body's dim

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<v Speaker 2>whole way and step into unbroken light still holds weight

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<v Speaker 2>from magicians, mystics, and everyday seekers in twenty twenty five.

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<v Speaker 2>So it sharpened our nriy light that flame and get

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<v Speaker 2>right into it. Life is the flight of the alone

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<v Speaker 2>to the alone. The year is two seventy CE, and

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<v Speaker 2>the Roman Empire is coming apart. At every scene. Emperors

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<v Speaker 2>fall with the seasons, Plague drains the streets, and soldiers

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<v Speaker 2>borrow loyalty for silver. Yet amid the collapsing institutions a

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<v Speaker 2>quiet figure on an estate, and Campania turns his falling

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<v Speaker 2>eyes inward and speaks of something far older and steadier

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<v Speaker 2>than Rome, a reality he calls the One a well

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<v Speaker 2>spring of light from which every soul has spilled, into

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<v Speaker 2>which every soul can return. Today we retrace Plotonus's extraordinary

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<v Speaker 2>passage from an obscure Egyptian birthplace, through the electual holes

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<v Speaker 2>of Alexandria, across a failed Persian campaign, and into the

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<v Speaker 2>chambers of Rome, where senators, mystics, and widows gathered to

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<v Speaker 2>watch a man who witnesses swear slipped across the frontier

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<v Speaker 2>of consciousness itself. Plutonus believed that the cosmos is an

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<v Speaker 2>unbroken hymn, the one singing itself out into mind, soul,

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<v Speaker 2>and manner, so that every star, every breath, every heartbeat

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<v Speaker 2>is a syllable of that single continuous word. Against the

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<v Speaker 2>despair of his error, he argued that the world is

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<v Speaker 2>not in error to escape, but the best the possible

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<v Speaker 2>image of its own hidden source. In this episode, we

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<v Speaker 2>will follow the logic of his fountain like emanations, debate

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<v Speaker 2>his gentle war with gnostics and the astrologers, and listened

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<v Speaker 2>for the moment when philosophy slides into mysticism, when the

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<v Speaker 2>thinker himself becomes alone with the alone. Wisdom is but

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<v Speaker 2>the act of the intellectual principle, which drawn from the

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<v Speaker 2>lower places and leading the soul to the above. Plotinus

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<v Speaker 2>was born around two to four to two to five CE,

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<v Speaker 2>during the reign of Roman Emperor Septimius Severus and Roman

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<v Speaker 2>controlled Egypt. Later writers give his birthplace as leco Alecopolis.

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<v Speaker 1>In Egypt, if I'm even saying that right.

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<v Speaker 2>But Platinus himself was notably silent about his family and origins.

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<v Speaker 2>In fact, according to his student Porphyry, if I'm even

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<v Speaker 2>saying that right, Plotinus never disclosed his ancestry, parentage, or birthplace,

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<v Speaker 2>reflecting a sense of shame at being in the body

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<v Speaker 2>and a philosophy that valued the spiritual over the material.

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<v Speaker 2>This leaves historians uncertain about his ethnic background. Some speculate

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<v Speaker 2>he was Hellenized, Egyptian, or Greek, but all that is

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<v Speaker 2>reasonably certain is that Greek was his native language and.

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<v Speaker 1>Who received a Greek education.

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<v Speaker 2>Plotinus showed little interest in his genealogy or homeland, focusing

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<v Speaker 2>instead on intellectual and spiritual pursuits. The world into which

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<v Speaker 2>Plotinus was born was one of great cultural and religious unrest.

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<v Speaker 1>Egypt in the.

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<v Speaker 2>Third century was a diverse province of the Roman Empire,

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<v Speaker 2>where indigenous Egyptian traditions mingled with Hellenistic Greek culture and

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<v Speaker 2>the universalizing reach of Rome. Plotinus grew up as the

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<v Speaker 2>classical Greco Roman world was nearing the end of its

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<v Speaker 2>Pax Romana and entering into a period of crisis. The

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<v Speaker 2>Empire was sliding towards the third century Crisis, a turbulent

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<v Speaker 2>era of frequent wars and political upheavals and economic difficulties.

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<v Speaker 2>Despite these challenges, cities like Alexandria, where Platinus would later study,

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<v Speaker 2>remained vibrant centers of learning. Alexandria, in particular was a

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<v Speaker 2>metropolis filled with philosophers, scholars of various schools, mystics, and

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<v Speaker 2>the early stirrings of Christian theology. This was the intellectual

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<v Speaker 2>setting that would shape Platinus's formative years. Again, little is

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<v Speaker 2>known of Platinus's childhood, but is clear that he was

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<v Speaker 2>drawn to philosophy relatively late in youth. By his own account,

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<v Speaker 2>as reported by Porphyry, it was not until about age

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<v Speaker 2>twenty seven or twenty eight that Platinus felt an impulse

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<v Speaker 2>to study philosophy. He traveled to Alexandria, the intellectual capital

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<v Speaker 2>of Roman Egypt, in search of a teacher. Alexandria at

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<v Speaker 2>this time had various philosophical instructors Stoics, Aristolians, and Platonists,

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<v Speaker 2>but Platinus found their teachings unsatisfying. After listening to the

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<v Speaker 2>prominent lectures of the city, he grew disheartened, feeling they

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<v Speaker 2>did not reveal the.

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<v Speaker 1>Deeper truths he sought.

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<v Speaker 2>But everything changed when an acquaintance recommended he attend the

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<v Speaker 2>lectures of his self taught Platonic philosopher named Ammonius Sacus.

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<v Speaker 2>Poultonus went to hear Ammonius, and upon the first lecture,

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<v Speaker 2>he was overcome with excitement, reportedly exclaiming to his friend,

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<v Speaker 2>this is the man I was looking for. At least

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<v Speaker 2>Plutonis had found a philosophical mentor who resonated with his ideas.

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<v Speaker 2>He became Ammonius's devoted pupil. For the next eleven years.

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<v Speaker 2>Under his guidance, Platinus made rapid progress in philosophy. Ammonius

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<v Speaker 2>is a somewhat mysterious figure in philosophy.

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<v Speaker 1>He left no.

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<v Speaker 2>Writings and is known mainly through his famous students. He

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<v Speaker 2>is credited with a revival of Platonic thought and Alexandria,

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<v Speaker 2>and is sometimes considered a precursor to Neoplatonism. What is

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<v Speaker 2>clear is that his teachings profoundly shaped Platinus. It was

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<v Speaker 2>common in antiquity for a student to join a philosophical school,

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<v Speaker 2>almost like entering a spiritual community, often for many years.

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<v Speaker 2>Plutinus indeed stayed with him for eleven years, embracing a

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<v Speaker 2>lifelong quest for truth and liberation of the spirit. During

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<v Speaker 2>these Alexandrian years, Plautinus also absorbed the wide range of

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<v Speaker 2>earlier Greek philosophy. Besides Ammonius's Platonic doctrines, he studied Aristotle,

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<v Speaker 2>the Presocratics, Middle Platonists such as Numinius of Epimea, and

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<v Speaker 2>Stoic and Neo Pythagorean ideas. This broad background would later

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<v Speaker 2>enable Platinus to synthesize ideas from multiple traditions. His contemporaries

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<v Speaker 2>in Alexandria likely included scholars of many types. Indeed, one

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<v Speaker 2>tradition holds that Origin, the great Christian theologian of Alexandria,

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<v Speaker 2>and another student named Herrenius, studied with Ammonia at the

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<v Speaker 2>same time as Plotinus. According to Porphyry, the three students Plotinus,

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<v Speaker 2>Origin and Herrenius agreed to keep Ammonius's teaching secret, but

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<v Speaker 2>that pact was later broken by others when they began

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<v Speaker 2>publishing doctrines that may have stemmed from Ammonius. Plotinus, however,

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<v Speaker 2>kept faith and did not divulge Emonius's specific teachings in

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<v Speaker 2>writing a testament to his loyalty and perhaps to the

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<v Speaker 2>oral esoteric nature of Ammonius's school. Therefore, we must descend

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<v Speaker 2>again toward the good the desire of every soul. After

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<v Speaker 2>eleven years in Alexandria, Plotinus developed an ambition to explore

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<v Speaker 2>Eastern wisdom firsthand. He had heard of the feigned stages

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<v Speaker 2>of Persia and India, and wished, as porphyry rites to

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<v Speaker 2>learn directly from the philosophy practiced among the Persians in

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<v Speaker 2>that which is held in esteem among the people of India.

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<v Speaker 2>Two forty two CE, an opportune moment arrived. The young

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<v Speaker 2>Roman emperor Jiarden the third launched a military expedition against

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<v Speaker 2>the Persian Empire. Seeing a chance to travel east under

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<v Speaker 2>imperial auspices, Plotinus joined the expedition at age thirty eight.

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<v Speaker 2>We do not know in what capacity he traveled, perhaps

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<v Speaker 2>a kind of intellectual attached to the campaign, but it

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<v Speaker 2>was unusual for a philosopher to accompany a Roman army.

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<v Speaker 2>Some later interpreters special and speculate Poltanis may have had

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<v Speaker 2>aristocratic connections that enabled him to attach himself to the

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<v Speaker 2>emperor's entourage. In any case, his goal was clear to

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<v Speaker 2>reach the heart of Persian and Indian thought. The world

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<v Speaker 2>beyond Rome's eastern frontier beckoned with ancient wisdom traditions. However,

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<v Speaker 2>Plotinus's eastern journey went awry almost as soon as it began.

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<v Speaker 2>Emperor Gordian's campaign ended in a disaster in early two

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<v Speaker 2>forty four CE. Gordian third was killed and murdered by

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<v Speaker 2>his own troops in Mesopotamia during the Persian War. The

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<v Speaker 2>Roman army fell into disarray, and Plotinus subtly found himself

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<v Speaker 2>stranded deep and hostile territory. He barely escaped his life,

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<v Speaker 2>making his way to north of Antioch and Syria with difficulty.

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<v Speaker 2>After the armies collapsed, his dream of meeting Persian or

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<v Speaker 2>Indian philosophers was cut short. He never reached India, nor

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<v Speaker 2>did he directly encounter the famed Persian sages. It is

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<v Speaker 2>worth noting that Platinus's interest in Eastern philosophies was not

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<v Speaker 2>unusual for a man of his time. Hellenistic thinkers had

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<v Speaker 2>long been intrigued by Indian gymnosophists from saying that correct

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<v Speaker 2>Persian magi and Egyptian priests, while Plotinus did not to

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<v Speaker 2>learn from Eastern masters in person. Later scholars have observed

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<v Speaker 2>some striking parallels between Platinus's ideas and Indian philosophy. These

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<v Speaker 2>similarities have spurred debate over whether Platinus was influenced by

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<v Speaker 2>Indian thought or arrived at a similar conclusion independently. In

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<v Speaker 2>the mid twentieth century, historian Emil Breheer argued that certain

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<v Speaker 2>elements of Platinus's philosophy, such as the infinite nature of

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<v Speaker 2>the one, were alien to prior Greek thought and might

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<v Speaker 2>reflect Indian influence. However, this view was convincingly refuted by

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<v Speaker 2>the scholar A. H. Armstrong in nineteen thirty six. Armstrong

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<v Speaker 2>demonstrated that Platinus's ideas can be explained as a natural

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<v Speaker 2>development of Greek Platonic traditions without needing to posit directly

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<v Speaker 2>borrowing from India. Today, most scholars argue that while Platinus

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<v Speaker 2>was curious about Eastern wisdom, there is no concrete evidence

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<v Speaker 2>of direction influence. The resemblances likely arise from convergent philosophical

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<v Speaker 2>insight rather than any secret contact. In Armstrong's words, Plotinus's

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<v Speaker 2>own thought shows some striking similarities to Indian philosophy, but

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<v Speaker 2>he never actually made contact with Eastern sages. The resemblances

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<v Speaker 2>were more likely in natural development of the Greek tradition

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<v Speaker 2>that he inherited. This debate illustrates how Plotinus sits at

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<v Speaker 2>a crossroads of cultures rooted in Hellenic philosophy, yet with

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<v Speaker 2>interesting comparisons with broader mystical traditions. After the failed expedition,

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<v Speaker 2>Platinus regrouped at Antioch. In two forty four CE, at

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<v Speaker 2>age forty, he traveled to Rome, then the Empire's capital,

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<v Speaker 2>and decided to settle there. The choice of Rome was

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<v Speaker 2>somewhat unusual for a philosopher. Many preferred Athens or Alexandria,

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<v Speaker 2>but Rome offered Platinus a fresh start and a new audience.

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<v Speaker 2>He arrived during the reign of Emperor Philip the Arab,

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<v Speaker 2>the time when the Empire was turbulent externally, but Roman

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<v Speaker 2>high society still nurtured literary and philosophical establishments. Plutonus would

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<v Speaker 2>spend the next quarter century in Rome, teaching, writing, and

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<v Speaker 2>becoming the center of an influential intellectual circle. Which draw

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<v Speaker 2>into yourself, and look, if you do not find yourself beautiful,

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<v Speaker 2>yet never cease chiseling your statue until there shall shine

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<v Speaker 2>out on you the god like splendor of virtue. When

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<v Speaker 2>Platinus came to Rome in two forty four CE, the

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<v Speaker 2>city and empire were in flux. The mid third century

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<v Speaker 2>saw a rapid succession of emperor's wars on the frontiers,

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<v Speaker 2>economic strife.

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<v Speaker 1>And even plague.

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<v Speaker 2>Yet amid this chaos, Plutonus created a haven of philosophy.

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<v Speaker 2>He quickly attracted students and patrons, gaining a reputation as

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<v Speaker 2>a charismatic teacher. By all accounts, Plutinus's personal demeanor and

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<v Speaker 2>ethics were exemplary, which helped him win him respect in

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<v Speaker 2>elite Roman circles. He lived a simple and disciplined life. Reportedly,

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<v Speaker 2>he abstained from indulgence and fine foods, avoided bants in

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<v Speaker 2>favor of simple daily massages, and even refused to sit

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<v Speaker 2>for a portrait because he disdained the bodily image. In

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<v Speaker 2>one famous incident, his friend Emilius had to smuggle an

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<v Speaker 2>artist into Platinus's lecture to sketch his likeness from observation.

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<v Speaker 2>Since Plutinus would not pose, the resulting portrait, done without

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<v Speaker 2>the philosopher's knowledge, was the only one of him. Plultinus's

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<v Speaker 2>aesthetic attitude and distrust of the body were aligned with

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<v Speaker 2>Platonist's thought that the material world is a poor shadow

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<v Speaker 2>of higher reality. He seemed, as Porphyry said, ashamed of

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<v Speaker 2>being in a body. Despite his private lifestyle, Platinus was

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<v Speaker 2>deeply engaged in society Through his teaching in Rome. He

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<v Speaker 2>formed a circle of students and friends that included some

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<v Speaker 2>of the city's intellectual and political elite. Amongst his closest

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<v Speaker 2>disciples were Porphyry of Tire, who would become his biographer.

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<v Speaker 2>We had Emilius Gentilanius from Tuscany, who reportedly wrote down

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<v Speaker 2>many of Platinus's discussions, the senator Kastrakis Firmis, and eustci

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<v Speaker 2>Us Eustacius of Alexandria, a physician who attended Platinus till

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<v Speaker 2>his death. Other notable associates include Zethos, an Arab aristocrat

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<v Speaker 2>who left Platinus property and Campania, Zodicus, a literary critic

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<v Speaker 2>and poet. They have Politus, a doctor from Sethopolis, and

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<v Speaker 2>Serapian of Alexandria. Remarkably, women were also counted among Platinus's students,

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<v Speaker 2>which was somewhat exceptional for the era. A wealthy Roman woman, Gemena,

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<v Speaker 2>hosted Platinus in her house for years, and her daughter,

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<v Speaker 2>also named Gemena, studied with him, as did a woman

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<v Speaker 2>named Amphilia, the wife of the philosopher Amblicus' brother. This

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<v Speaker 2>diverse group indicates Platinus's broad appeal. He was able to

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<v Speaker 2>inspire senators, scholars, and women of high status with his philosophy.

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<v Speaker 2>Platinus's daily activity revolved around informal lectures and discussions, where

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<v Speaker 2>his biographer Porphyry calls conferences or meetings. He did not

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<v Speaker 2>establish a formal school with institutional structure like Plato's academy,

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<v Speaker 2>but rather as salon light gathering of eager learners. According

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<v Speaker 2>to Pophary, Platinus's teaching style was conversational and unforced. His

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<v Speaker 2>lectures had the air of conversation, and he welcomed questions

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<v Speaker 2>and objections during sessions. He might have passages from earlier philosophers.

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<v Speaker 2>Read aloud Atticus, Numinus, Aristotle's work, historic writings, etc. As

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<v Speaker 2>a springboard for discussion, But he was no mere commentator.

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<v Speaker 2>Porphyry emphasizes that Platinus followed his own path rather than tradition,

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<v Speaker 2>using Ammonius's method of inquiry, but thinking for himself. Observers

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<v Speaker 2>noted that when Platinus spoke intently, his intellect visibly illuminated

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<v Speaker 2>his face. He radiated, sometimes even sweating slightly from the

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<v Speaker 2>fervor of thought. He was always gracious, yet formidable in debate.

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<v Speaker 2>Porphyry relates how for three days he prepped Plutinus with

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<v Speaker 2>questions about how soul connects to body, and Platinus patiently

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00:19:08.599 --> 00:19:12.480
<v Speaker 2>answered until even an impatient visitor had to concede the

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<v Speaker 2>value of resolving those difficulties before moving on. For how

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<v Speaker 2>two fifty four CE, a decade after settling in Rome,

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<v Speaker 2>Platinus began to write essays to capture the fruits of

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<v Speaker 2>these philosophical discussions. Initially, he had written nothing, preferring oral teachings,

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<v Speaker 2>but as his circle grew and new questions arose, Plutinus

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<v Speaker 2>started composing treaties as reminders for those in the circle.

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<v Speaker 2>These writings were often prompted by debates or problems posed

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<v Speaker 2>during the meetings. Porphyry notes that Platinus's treaties echo the

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<v Speaker 2>manner of analysis from his classroom, and that their purpose

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<v Speaker 2>was to record the insights reached in discussion. Plotinus, however,

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<v Speaker 2>was not a polished writer. He wrote rapidly in a

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<v Speaker 2>single draft, with little concern for stylistic niceties or even

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<v Speaker 2>correct spelling. His handwriting was reportably terrible, and he frequently

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<v Speaker 2>omitted words, separations, and punctuations. Because of his poor eyesight,

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<v Speaker 2>he did not revise his manuscripts much. He also disliked

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<v Speaker 2>revisiting or editing his work. Thus many treaties remained somewhat rough.

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<v Speaker 2>This placed a heavy burden on his students, especially Porphyry,

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<v Speaker 2>to later edit and arrange the writings into a coherent collection.

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<v Speaker 2>In Rome, Platinus became more than just a private teacher.

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<v Speaker 2>He was respected in wider society and even at the

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00:20:41.759 --> 00:20:48.680
<v Speaker 2>empirical court. The Emperor Gallianis and his wife Selenina held

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00:20:48.680 --> 00:20:53.039
<v Speaker 2>Plotinus in esteem, calling him philosopher and honoring him with

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00:20:53.119 --> 00:20:58.480
<v Speaker 2>their presence. By this imperial favor, Ploltanus once attempted a

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<v Speaker 2>grand practical project he petitioned to rebuild a ruined city

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<v Speaker 2>in Campagna as a utopian community for philosophers. This abandoned settlement,

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<v Speaker 2>which Plutonus referred to as the City of Philosophers, was

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<v Speaker 2>to be refounded and governed according to the laws outlined

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<v Speaker 2>in Plato's Laws. Plultanus requested that the emperor designate the

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<v Speaker 2>territory for the community, which he proposed to name Platonopolis.

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<v Speaker 2>He and his associates would live there, embodying Plato's ideal

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<v Speaker 2>society under wise philosophical rule. Galianis and Salonina were initially

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<v Speaker 2>receptive and would have granted the request, Porphyry says without

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<v Speaker 2>more Ado, but interference at court, jealousy, or political obstacles

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00:21:45.119 --> 00:21:49.960
<v Speaker 2>ruined the plan. Thus the dream of Platonopolis died, showing

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<v Speaker 2>the limits of even an esteemed philosopher's influence and a

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00:21:53.079 --> 00:21:58.279
<v Speaker 2>volatile imperial system. Within Platinus's household in Rome lived a

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00:21:58.319 --> 00:22:01.359
<v Speaker 2>noble widow named Chione and her cho which led to

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00:22:01.400 --> 00:22:06.359
<v Speaker 2>anecdotes of Platinus's almost uncanny insight. When Chione's valuable necklace

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00:22:06.400 --> 00:22:09.559
<v Speaker 2>was stolen by his servant, Platinus gathered all the servants

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00:22:09.640 --> 00:22:13.759
<v Speaker 2>scrutinized them closely and pointed out one man, declaring, this

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00:22:13.839 --> 00:22:18.039
<v Speaker 2>man is the thief. Under pressure, the man eventually confessed

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<v Speaker 2>and returned the necklace. On another occasion, Platinus accurately foretold

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00:22:23.559 --> 00:22:27.519
<v Speaker 2>futures of she own's children, for example, predicting that a

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<v Speaker 2>boy named Polman would be amorous and short lived, which

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00:22:32.039 --> 00:22:36.920
<v Speaker 2>proved true. These stories circulated as evidence of the philosopher's

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00:22:36.960 --> 00:22:41.519
<v Speaker 2>almost extraordinary intuition, or perhaps the favor of his personal

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00:22:41.599 --> 00:22:48.599
<v Speaker 2>daemon or guardian spirit. Indeed, one famous incident involved Platinus's

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00:22:48.680 --> 00:22:53.200
<v Speaker 2>guardian spirit. A certain Egyptian priest visiting Rome offered to

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<v Speaker 2>invoke Platinus's protective damon to visible appearance. Intrigued, Platinus agreed.

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00:23:00.200 --> 00:23:02.799
<v Speaker 2>The ritual was performed in the Temple of Isis, which

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00:23:02.880 --> 00:23:05.480
<v Speaker 2>was chosen by the priest as a spiritually pure location

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<v Speaker 2>in Rome. When the priest conjured the spirit, a divine

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00:23:09.519 --> 00:23:14.240
<v Speaker 2>being appeared, not a lowly spirit or demon, but a god.

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00:23:14.400 --> 00:23:18.759
<v Speaker 2>The Egyptian was astonished and exclaimed that Platinus's Agatho's daon

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00:23:19.160 --> 00:23:24.119
<v Speaker 2>was of the higher divine order. Unfortunately, the manifestation abruptly

306
00:23:24.200 --> 00:23:28.359
<v Speaker 2>ended when the priest's assistance, foolishly strangled the sacrificial birds,

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00:23:28.960 --> 00:23:33.160
<v Speaker 2>either at a jealousy or panic, disrupting the rite. Nonetheless,

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00:23:33.279 --> 00:23:36.599
<v Speaker 2>this result implied that Platinus's soul was under the guidance

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00:23:36.640 --> 00:23:40.440
<v Speaker 2>of a higher divinity and not a mere intermediary spirit.

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<v Speaker 2>Porphyry remarks that this revelation inspired Platinus to write a

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<v Speaker 2>treatise on our Tutelary Spirit, analyzing the nature of different

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00:23:51.000 --> 00:23:54.279
<v Speaker 2>guardian spirits and why they differ in rank for different individuals.

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<v Speaker 2>It also goes along with Platinus's own lofty self conception.

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<v Speaker 2>When his student Emilius invited him to participate in certain

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00:24:03.720 --> 00:24:09.200
<v Speaker 2>religious observances of the moon, Platinus refused, reportedly saying it

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<v Speaker 2>is for those beings to come to me, not for

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00:24:11.960 --> 00:24:15.319
<v Speaker 2>me to go to them. In other words, he felt

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00:24:15.319 --> 00:24:18.119
<v Speaker 2>the higher power should seek the philosopher, rather than the

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00:24:18.119 --> 00:24:23.319
<v Speaker 2>philosophers seeking them. This remarkable statement, which even his followers

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00:24:23.319 --> 00:24:27.559
<v Speaker 2>found mystifying, underscores Platinus's confident sense.

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<v Speaker 1>Of communion with the divine realm.

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<v Speaker 2>During these Roman years, Platinus's reputation spread beyond his immediate circle.

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<v Speaker 2>He corresponded with renowned thinkers such as Cassius Longinus, a

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00:24:41.200 --> 00:24:46.359
<v Speaker 2>scholar in Athens who admired Platinus's writings. Longanis wrote letters

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<v Speaker 2>praising Platinus as a man worthy of the highest veneration

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00:24:51.480 --> 00:24:55.559
<v Speaker 2>and eagerly sought copies of all his treaties, though lamenting

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<v Speaker 2>the poor state of some manuscripts and begging Porphyries for

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00:24:58.359 --> 00:25:04.720
<v Speaker 2>corrected copies. There were also detractors. Some jealous philosophers in

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00:25:04.799 --> 00:25:09.240
<v Speaker 2>Greece accused Platinus of merely plagiarizing the ideas of Numinius.

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<v Speaker 2>One of Platinus's devoted students, Emilius, answered discharge in a

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<v Speaker 2>tract titled the Difference between the Doctrines of Platinus and Numinius,

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<v Speaker 2>arguing point by point that Plutinus's system was original and

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<v Speaker 2>not an uncredited copy. This debate over originality shows that

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00:25:32.039 --> 00:25:35.920
<v Speaker 2>Platinus's teachings were making enough waves to prompt comparisons with

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00:25:36.079 --> 00:25:42.400
<v Speaker 2>established philosophers. Plutinus himself was above the fray. His focus

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00:25:42.519 --> 00:25:45.799
<v Speaker 2>was on articulating truth as he saw it, rather than

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00:25:45.839 --> 00:25:50.720
<v Speaker 2>claiming personal innovation. In fact, he saw his work as

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00:25:50.759 --> 00:25:54.680
<v Speaker 2>deeply rooted in the Platonic tradition, and if anything, he

339
00:25:54.799 --> 00:25:58.759
<v Speaker 2>viewed himself as reviving and clarifying Plato's insights rather than

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00:25:58.799 --> 00:26:06.880
<v Speaker 2>inventing a whole doctrine. Even Porphyry, upon first hearing Platinus's lecture,

341
00:26:07.440 --> 00:26:11.359
<v Speaker 2>struggled to grasp some doctrines, he wrote a paper arguing

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00:26:11.400 --> 00:26:17.119
<v Speaker 2>against Platinus's position. Instead of taking offense, Platinus had Porphyry's

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00:26:17.160 --> 00:26:21.400
<v Speaker 2>critique read aloud by Emilius, and, after hearing it, simply

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00:26:21.440 --> 00:26:27.079
<v Speaker 2>smiled and gently said, Porphyry doesn't understand our position. He

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00:26:27.200 --> 00:26:30.160
<v Speaker 2>tasked Emilius to respond in writing, which led to an

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00:26:30.160 --> 00:26:34.759
<v Speaker 2>exchange of essays between porphy and Emilius. Only on Porphyri's

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00:26:34.839 --> 00:26:39.720
<v Speaker 2>third rebuttal that he finally, with difficulty, grasped the doctrine

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00:26:40.240 --> 00:26:45.680
<v Speaker 2>and convert to Platinus's viewpoint. Porphyry then composed a public

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00:26:45.759 --> 00:26:51.400
<v Speaker 2>recantation of his earlier objections, winning Platinus's approval. Now, this

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00:26:51.440 --> 00:26:56.559
<v Speaker 2>situation shows Platinus's patient and non dogmatic approach. He allowed

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00:26:56.599 --> 00:27:00.279
<v Speaker 2>debate to unfold and guided his student to understanding, rather

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00:27:00.359 --> 00:27:07.200
<v Speaker 2>than demanding blind acceptance. It also exemplifies how rigorous dialect

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00:27:07.519 --> 00:27:10.640
<v Speaker 2>was integral to his school's life, much as it had

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00:27:10.680 --> 00:27:20.000
<v Speaker 2>been in Plato's academy. Seek Nothing possessing nothing, lacking nothing,

355
00:27:20.920 --> 00:27:25.640
<v Speaker 2>the one is perfect. Its exuberance has produced the new.

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00:27:29.519 --> 00:27:33.079
<v Speaker 2>By the late two hundred and sixties, Platinus's health was declining.

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<v Speaker 1>In two sixty.

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<v Speaker 2>Eight, his disciple Porphyri, who suffered a bout of depression

359
00:27:37.680 --> 00:27:41.440
<v Speaker 2>and suicidal thoughts, was advised by Platinus to leave.

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<v Speaker 1>Rome for a change of scenery.

361
00:27:44.400 --> 00:27:49.279
<v Speaker 2>Porphyri departed for Sicily, and during Porphyri's absence, Platinus's own

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00:27:49.279 --> 00:27:54.480
<v Speaker 2>condition worsened. He developed symptoms such as horseness, vision problems,

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00:27:54.519 --> 00:27:58.759
<v Speaker 2>and possibly skin ulcers. Porphyry suggested it might have been

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00:27:58.839 --> 00:28:03.960
<v Speaker 2>diphtheria or some things similar. As his health failed, Platinus

365
00:28:04.000 --> 00:28:07.640
<v Speaker 2>withdrew from bustling Rome to the more peaceful countryside of

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<v Speaker 2>Campania in southern Italy. He retired to an estate at

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<v Speaker 2>Mintone that had belonged to his deceased friend Zethos, where

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00:28:15.920 --> 00:28:20.160
<v Speaker 2>another friend, Castresius helped provide.

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00:28:19.720 --> 00:28:20.440
<v Speaker 1>For his needs.

370
00:28:21.960 --> 00:28:26.480
<v Speaker 2>Only his student Eustacius the physician, remained by his side

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<v Speaker 2>in those final days. Platinus died in Campania and laid

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<v Speaker 2>two hundred and seventy at the age of sixty six.

373
00:28:34.480 --> 00:28:38.759
<v Speaker 2>Porphyry reports a mystical and serene end. As Platinus was

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<v Speaker 2>on his deathbed, a snake, symbol of the soul in

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00:28:42.200 --> 00:28:45.160
<v Speaker 2>many traditions, crawled from beneath his bed and.

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00:28:45.119 --> 00:28:46.960
<v Speaker 1>Slipped out through the hole in the wall.

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<v Speaker 2>At the very moment Platinus passed away, it was as

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00:28:51.319 --> 00:28:54.240
<v Speaker 2>if his soul had departed the body in that guise.

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<v Speaker 2>His last words, as recorded, encapsuling his life's goal, try

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<v Speaker 2>to raise the divine in yourselves to the divine in all.

381
00:29:09.160 --> 00:29:12.519
<v Speaker 2>By this, Plutinus meant that one should elevate the divine

382
00:29:12.559 --> 00:29:15.640
<v Speaker 2>spark within one soul back to union with the ultimate

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00:29:15.680 --> 00:29:19.839
<v Speaker 2>divine reality of the universe. He fitting final words from

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00:29:19.839 --> 00:29:22.960
<v Speaker 2>a philosopher who had always taught the assent of the soul.

385
00:29:24.759 --> 00:29:27.960
<v Speaker 2>Platinus died during the reign of Emperor Claudius the Second,

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00:29:28.240 --> 00:29:30.640
<v Speaker 2>and Porphyry calculates his birth to have been in the

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00:29:30.720 --> 00:29:34.680
<v Speaker 2>thirteenth year of Septimius Severus, based on the age of

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00:29:34.720 --> 00:29:39.480
<v Speaker 2>sixty six at death. Importantly, Plautinus had never revealed his

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00:29:39.559 --> 00:29:43.319
<v Speaker 2>exact birthday. He disliked the idea of people celebrating it

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00:29:43.359 --> 00:29:47.839
<v Speaker 2>with sacrifices or feast, consistent with his avoidance of personal glorification.

391
00:29:49.200 --> 00:29:53.680
<v Speaker 2>Yet Interestingly, he himself honored the birthdays of his heroes

392
00:29:53.720 --> 00:29:57.640
<v Speaker 2>Plato and Socrates each year, offering the traditional sacrifices and

393
00:29:57.680 --> 00:30:00.640
<v Speaker 2>hosting a banquet where every member of the circle would

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00:30:00.640 --> 00:30:05.200
<v Speaker 2>give an address in honor of the occasion. This tradition

395
00:30:05.279 --> 00:30:10.400
<v Speaker 2>shows Platinus's deep reverence for his philosophical predecessors, and continuing

396
00:30:10.440 --> 00:30:15.680
<v Speaker 2>that of his school with the Platonic heritage. After Platinus's death,

397
00:30:15.839 --> 00:30:19.319
<v Speaker 2>his literary legacy was left in disarray. He had written

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00:30:19.359 --> 00:30:22.519
<v Speaker 2>a large number of treaties approximately fifty four essays over

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00:30:22.559 --> 00:30:25.119
<v Speaker 2>the last fifteen to sixteen years of his life, but

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00:30:25.200 --> 00:30:29.480
<v Speaker 2>they were unfinished in terms of editing an organization. The

401
00:30:29.519 --> 00:30:33.119
<v Speaker 2>task of preserving and organizing this Corpus fell to Porphyry,

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00:30:33.519 --> 00:30:36.680
<v Speaker 2>who devoted himself to publishing his master's works.

403
00:30:37.720 --> 00:30:39.240
<v Speaker 1>As we shall see.

404
00:30:39.279 --> 00:30:43.000
<v Speaker 2>Porphyry arranged them into the famous collection called the Indeads,

405
00:30:43.480 --> 00:30:49.119
<v Speaker 2>which has spread Platinus's thought to later ages. Before getting

406
00:30:49.119 --> 00:30:52.599
<v Speaker 2>into Platinus's philosophy, one final note on his character and

407
00:30:52.680 --> 00:30:56.599
<v Speaker 2>personal impact. By all accounts, Platinus was not only a

408
00:30:56.640 --> 00:30:59.359
<v Speaker 2>profound thinker, but was also said to have the highest

409
00:30:59.480 --> 00:31:03.920
<v Speaker 2>moral state, and his personal and social life. He even

410
00:31:03.960 --> 00:31:06.279
<v Speaker 2>took in the children of friends who died, caring for

411
00:31:06.319 --> 00:31:10.000
<v Speaker 2>their upbringing and education as a guardian. Many in his

412
00:31:10.039 --> 00:31:13.400
<v Speaker 2>circle were deeply attached to him, not just for his intellect,

413
00:31:13.200 --> 00:31:18.200
<v Speaker 2>but for his benevolence. He lived out the principles he taught,

414
00:31:18.519 --> 00:31:23.039
<v Speaker 2>striving for virtue and self transcendence. This unity of life

415
00:31:23.079 --> 00:31:26.720
<v Speaker 2>and philosophy made him a compelling figure, one who inspired

416
00:31:26.759 --> 00:31:31.240
<v Speaker 2>hero worship in Porphyries's words. As we turn to his ideas,

417
00:31:31.279 --> 00:31:34.480
<v Speaker 2>it's helpful to remember that Platinus's doctrine was not just

418
00:31:34.640 --> 00:31:38.960
<v Speaker 2>abstract metaphysics was a guide to the ultimate liberation of

419
00:31:39.000 --> 00:31:46.559
<v Speaker 2>the spirit. As Armstrong puts it, which Platinus himself earnestly sought.

420
00:31:47.400 --> 00:31:50.680
<v Speaker 2>The One is all things, and no one of them.

421
00:31:51.200 --> 00:31:55.799
<v Speaker 2>The source of all things is not all things. Now

422
00:31:55.839 --> 00:32:00.359
<v Speaker 2>we will get into the writings Porphyries Iniads. The body

423
00:32:00.359 --> 00:32:03.279
<v Speaker 2>of Platinus's work is preserved in the collection known as

424
00:32:03.319 --> 00:32:08.160
<v Speaker 2>the Ineads, compiled by Porphyry. The word ineads means group

425
00:32:08.240 --> 00:32:12.000
<v Speaker 2>of nine. Porphyriy divided the treaties into six books of

426
00:32:12.119 --> 00:32:15.880
<v Speaker 2>nine treaties each six by nine equals fifty four treaties.

427
00:32:16.759 --> 00:32:21.400
<v Speaker 2>This arrangement was somewhat artificial. Porphyri ordered the works thematically

428
00:32:21.680 --> 00:32:26.839
<v Speaker 2>rather than chronologically. Indiad one contains ethical topics, and he

429
00:32:26.880 --> 00:32:30.720
<v Speaker 2>adds two to three cover cosmology and sensible world. And

430
00:32:30.759 --> 00:32:33.960
<v Speaker 2>he had four focuses on the soul, the fifth one

431
00:32:33.960 --> 00:32:37.720
<v Speaker 2>on intellect, and the sixth on the most abstract metaphysics,

432
00:32:37.920 --> 00:32:42.680
<v Speaker 2>including the one. Porphyry's aim was to lead the reader

433
00:32:42.759 --> 00:32:46.519
<v Speaker 2>from accessible topics to the most profound. However, he admits

434
00:32:46.559 --> 00:32:50.039
<v Speaker 2>the sequence is imperfect, and the later editors have sometimes

435
00:32:50.079 --> 00:32:53.720
<v Speaker 2>preferred to read the treaties and the chronocological order of composition.

436
00:32:54.640 --> 00:32:58.640
<v Speaker 2>Portfyrriy fortunately preserved a chronicological list of the order in

437
00:32:58.680 --> 00:33:02.440
<v Speaker 2>which Platinus actually wrote the treaties in and that is

438
00:33:02.480 --> 00:33:07.359
<v Speaker 2>included in his Life of Plotinus. Ploutinus's style in these

439
00:33:07.480 --> 00:33:10.680
<v Speaker 2>essays is concise, dense, and not always polished.

440
00:33:11.680 --> 00:33:12.960
<v Speaker 1>He often revisits the.

441
00:33:12.920 --> 00:33:16.480
<v Speaker 2>Same problems and multiple treaties each time from a new angle,

442
00:33:16.839 --> 00:33:21.920
<v Speaker 2>rather than presenting a single systematic treaties. This makes his

443
00:33:22.000 --> 00:33:27.519
<v Speaker 2>writings challenging but rich, more lavish of ideas than of words,

444
00:33:27.720 --> 00:33:33.119
<v Speaker 2>As Porphyry says, modern readers sometimes find the ineads difficult,

445
00:33:33.319 --> 00:33:36.799
<v Speaker 2>but they reward careful study with deep insights into reality

446
00:33:36.880 --> 00:33:42.200
<v Speaker 2>and the soul. Some notable treaties among the indeads include

447
00:33:42.240 --> 00:33:44.839
<v Speaker 2>on Beauty, which discusses the nature of beauty and the

448
00:33:44.880 --> 00:33:48.680
<v Speaker 2>ascent from physical beauty to beauty itself. This was Platinus's

449
00:33:48.680 --> 00:33:52.640
<v Speaker 2>first work. We have on Virtue and on Happiness, which

450
00:33:52.680 --> 00:33:56.079
<v Speaker 2>examine the nature of virtue and true happiness. We have

451
00:33:56.200 --> 00:33:59.759
<v Speaker 2>on Providence and on Fate, tackling whether the universe is

452
00:33:59.880 --> 00:34:03.920
<v Speaker 2>or order and what role stars and fate play. We

453
00:34:04.039 --> 00:34:09.079
<v Speaker 2>have against the Agnostics, attract refuting certain Gnostic religious doctrines.

454
00:34:09.480 --> 00:34:10.840
<v Speaker 1>We will come back to this later.

455
00:34:12.000 --> 00:34:15.639
<v Speaker 2>On the immortality of the soul and on the dissent

456
00:34:15.760 --> 00:34:19.239
<v Speaker 2>of the Soul, dealing with the soul's relationship to the

457
00:34:19.239 --> 00:34:24.159
<v Speaker 2>body and its journey. We have on Intelligible Beauty, concerning

458
00:34:24.199 --> 00:34:28.960
<v Speaker 2>the beauty of the forums, and on the intellectual principle

459
00:34:29.239 --> 00:34:33.639
<v Speaker 2>or Nose. And on the Good or the One, his

460
00:34:33.800 --> 00:34:38.559
<v Speaker 2>final and capstone treaties exploring the nature of the ultimate reality,

461
00:34:38.760 --> 00:34:42.920
<v Speaker 2>the One. These are just a few examples. The fifty

462
00:34:42.920 --> 00:34:48.719
<v Speaker 2>four treaties cover a vast range of topics metaphysics, ethics, psychology, cosmology,

463
00:34:48.719 --> 00:34:53.199
<v Speaker 2>and even specific scientific questions of the day, such as vision, time,

464
00:34:53.360 --> 00:34:57.280
<v Speaker 2>and the Nature of matter. Plotinus wrote in Greek, but

465
00:34:57.400 --> 00:35:02.239
<v Speaker 2>his works reached later ages through various translations. Porphyry's editorial

466
00:35:02.239 --> 00:35:06.199
<v Speaker 2>effort ensued the Indiads survived and circulated in late Roman world.

467
00:35:07.320 --> 00:35:11.519
<v Speaker 2>Centuries later, in the Renaissance of Marsilia, Ficino famously translated

468
00:35:11.519 --> 00:35:15.880
<v Speaker 2>Plotinus into Latin, making the Indiads available to Western scholars

469
00:35:15.920 --> 00:35:19.760
<v Speaker 2>for the first time in full. Ficino considered this labour

470
00:35:19.880 --> 00:35:23.199
<v Speaker 2>second only to his translation of Plato, and saw Plutinus

471
00:35:23.239 --> 00:35:28.760
<v Speaker 2>as a key to reviving Platonism. In modern times, there

472
00:35:28.800 --> 00:35:33.159
<v Speaker 2>have been several English translations. The most poetic and influential

473
00:35:33.280 --> 00:35:38.199
<v Speaker 2>older translation is by Stephen McKenna, which, through somewhat data

474
00:35:38.280 --> 00:35:42.320
<v Speaker 2>in language, conveys the rhythm and fervor of Platinus prose.

475
00:35:43.800 --> 00:35:48.039
<v Speaker 2>A more literal and scholarly translation was produced by A. H.

476
00:35:48.239 --> 00:35:52.239
<v Speaker 2>Armstrong in the nineteen sixties to nineteen eighties, which became

477
00:35:52.280 --> 00:35:57.199
<v Speaker 2>the standard academic version for decades. Most recently, scholars like

478
00:35:57.320 --> 00:36:02.400
<v Speaker 2>Lloyd P. Gerson have offered new translationations and interpretations, sometimes

479
00:36:02.519 --> 00:36:07.719
<v Speaker 2>challenging earlier views on Platinus. For instance, Gerson offers a

480
00:36:07.920 --> 00:36:12.360
<v Speaker 2>slightly different take on Platinus's attitude towards gnosticism. As we'll

481
00:36:12.360 --> 00:36:17.079
<v Speaker 2>note later, it can be illuminating to compare different translations.

482
00:36:17.519 --> 00:36:22.519
<v Speaker 2>For example, McKenna renders Platinus's final speech as give back

483
00:36:22.599 --> 00:36:26.920
<v Speaker 2>the divine in yourselves to the Divine and all, whereas

484
00:36:26.920 --> 00:36:30.480
<v Speaker 2>a more modern phrasing is bring back the God and

485
00:36:30.519 --> 00:36:34.239
<v Speaker 2>yourselves to the God and all. Both capture the essence

486
00:36:34.239 --> 00:36:40.039
<v Speaker 2>of Platinus's mystical philosophy, each in their own tone. Now,

487
00:36:40.440 --> 00:36:43.000
<v Speaker 2>with an understanding of his life and writings, let us

488
00:36:43.039 --> 00:36:47.880
<v Speaker 2>explore Platinus's philosophical system, often regarded as the culmination of

489
00:36:48.000 --> 00:36:51.480
<v Speaker 2>Greek Platonic thought and the foundation of what later is

490
00:36:51.519 --> 00:36:56.679
<v Speaker 2>called Neoplatonism. We will examine his key ideas in the one,

491
00:36:57.360 --> 00:37:00.480
<v Speaker 2>the emanation of reality from the one, nature of the

492
00:37:00.559 --> 00:37:05.519
<v Speaker 2>true human and happiness, Platinus's critiques of narcissism and astrology,

493
00:37:06.119 --> 00:37:12.599
<v Speaker 2>the practice of hinnosis, and his relationship to Plato's philosophy. Throughout,

494
00:37:12.679 --> 00:37:16.760
<v Speaker 2>we will highlight scholarly interpretations, debates, and even uncertainties to

495
00:37:16.800 --> 00:37:20.000
<v Speaker 2>give a full picture of Platinus's thought and what is

496
00:37:20.039 --> 00:37:25.519
<v Speaker 2>available to us and how it is perceived. One principle

497
00:37:26.320 --> 00:37:31.599
<v Speaker 2>must make the universe, a single living creature, one from all,

498
00:37:34.280 --> 00:37:39.880
<v Speaker 2>the one, supreme principle of reality. At the core of

499
00:37:39.920 --> 00:37:44.639
<v Speaker 2>Platinus's philosophy stands the One, the ultimate principle, that is,

500
00:37:44.679 --> 00:37:49.280
<v Speaker 2>the first principle of everything. The One, also referred to

501
00:37:49.480 --> 00:37:55.480
<v Speaker 2>as the Good in Platonic terms, is absolutely transcendent and indescribable.

502
00:37:56.559 --> 00:38:00.480
<v Speaker 2>Plutinus insists that the One is beyond all categories of

503
00:38:00.519 --> 00:38:04.639
<v Speaker 2>being and non being. It cannot be any existing thing,

504
00:38:05.360 --> 00:38:08.639
<v Speaker 2>nor even the total of all things, but is prior

505
00:38:08.760 --> 00:38:14.159
<v Speaker 2>to all existence. In other words, transcends all particular beings

506
00:38:14.159 --> 00:38:18.840
<v Speaker 2>and even the concept of being itself. This echoes Plato's

507
00:38:18.880 --> 00:38:22.119
<v Speaker 2>idea of the form of the good, which is beyond

508
00:38:22.199 --> 00:38:27.119
<v Speaker 2>being in dignity and power. Plutinus firmly identifies the One

509
00:38:27.280 --> 00:38:29.559
<v Speaker 2>with the good and also with the source of all

510
00:38:29.599 --> 00:38:34.079
<v Speaker 2>beauty in any had six. He argues that the Good

511
00:38:34.280 --> 00:38:37.880
<v Speaker 2>is the ultimate simplicity and perfection which every soul seeks.

512
00:38:39.840 --> 00:38:43.480
<v Speaker 2>Why must there be such a one? Platinus arrives at

513
00:38:43.480 --> 00:38:46.719
<v Speaker 2>the One by pushing the question of cause and explanation to.

514
00:38:46.679 --> 00:38:47.559
<v Speaker 1>The highest level.

515
00:38:48.760 --> 00:38:51.360
<v Speaker 2>If we look at the world, everything has a source

516
00:38:51.360 --> 00:38:55.320
<v Speaker 2>of principle. The chain of causation or dependency cannot go

517
00:38:55.400 --> 00:38:59.519
<v Speaker 2>on to infinity without grounding. There must be a first

518
00:38:59.599 --> 00:39:05.480
<v Speaker 2>cause that itself depends on nothing prior. For Platinus, this

519
00:39:05.599 --> 00:39:10.639
<v Speaker 2>first cause must be absolute, simple, and unified. If it

520
00:39:10.679 --> 00:39:13.800
<v Speaker 2>were complex or one of many, we could seek a

521
00:39:13.840 --> 00:39:19.320
<v Speaker 2>more fundamental explanation. Thus it must be the one, this

522
00:39:19.440 --> 00:39:24.719
<v Speaker 2>single ultimate reality. He also reasons that the highest principle

523
00:39:24.800 --> 00:39:30.880
<v Speaker 2>must contain no division or multiplicity, since any multiplicity implies limitation.

524
00:39:32.159 --> 00:39:36.079
<v Speaker 2>The One is so unitary that our normal thinking cannot

525
00:39:36.119 --> 00:39:40.719
<v Speaker 2>grasp it, because all thought involves distinguishing subject.

526
00:39:40.400 --> 00:39:42.000
<v Speaker 1>And object, a duality.

527
00:39:43.519 --> 00:39:46.719
<v Speaker 2>Even the divine intellect is dual in the sense that

528
00:39:46.760 --> 00:39:50.760
<v Speaker 2>it contemplates itself, and thus has a kind of eternal distinction.

529
00:39:52.320 --> 00:39:57.239
<v Speaker 2>The One, however, is beyond even self awareness or any action.

530
00:39:58.480 --> 00:40:02.679
<v Speaker 2>Platinus denies sel and its self awareness or any other

531
00:40:02.800 --> 00:40:06.920
<v Speaker 2>action to the One. It simply is in a manner

532
00:40:07.079 --> 00:40:13.239
<v Speaker 2>beyond being. Plutinus often resorts to negations to describe the One,

533
00:40:13.360 --> 00:40:17.239
<v Speaker 2>a method akin to what later theology calls apathetic or

534
00:40:17.320 --> 00:40:21.320
<v Speaker 2>negative theology. We cannot say what the One is in

535
00:40:21.400 --> 00:40:25.440
<v Speaker 2>positive terms, because every predicate would limit or define it.

536
00:40:25.920 --> 00:40:30.559
<v Speaker 2>Whereas one is different from everything that derives from it.

537
00:40:32.360 --> 00:40:36.199
<v Speaker 2>So we approach it by saying what it is not?

538
00:40:36.199 --> 00:40:39.800
<v Speaker 2>Not a thing, not qualified, not limited, not many, not

539
00:40:39.920 --> 00:40:45.800
<v Speaker 2>even truly a being. It is utterly uncompounded, the absolute one.

540
00:40:46.639 --> 00:40:51.320
<v Speaker 2>It transcends even the duality of knower and known, So

541
00:40:51.360 --> 00:40:53.880
<v Speaker 2>it is not a mind thinking that would be a

542
00:40:53.960 --> 00:40:59.679
<v Speaker 2>nose or lower level. This extreme transcendence leads to a paradox,

543
00:41:00.800 --> 00:41:03.280
<v Speaker 2>How can such a one produce or relate to the

544
00:41:03.320 --> 00:41:07.679
<v Speaker 2>world at all? Plotonus wrestles with this, since he also

545
00:41:07.880 --> 00:41:11.320
<v Speaker 2>holds that the One is the cause of everything that exists.

546
00:41:13.599 --> 00:41:17.760
<v Speaker 2>He resolves this by introducing the idea of emanation or outflow.

547
00:41:19.079 --> 00:41:23.440
<v Speaker 2>The One is the productive power of all things, an

548
00:41:23.480 --> 00:41:28.840
<v Speaker 2>infinite creative force. Although the One itself is perfectly full

549
00:41:28.960 --> 00:41:36.719
<v Speaker 2>and lacking nothing, its superabundant perfection overflows. Plutonus uses analogies

550
00:41:36.960 --> 00:41:40.360
<v Speaker 2>like the sun radiating light. The sun does not lose

551
00:41:40.400 --> 00:41:46.199
<v Speaker 2>anything by shining, yet light streams forth from it continuously. Similarly,

552
00:41:46.800 --> 00:41:49.920
<v Speaker 2>the One, by its very nature as the limitless good,

553
00:41:50.400 --> 00:41:56.280
<v Speaker 2>expresses or pours out a universe without diminishing itself. This

554
00:41:56.360 --> 00:41:59.639
<v Speaker 2>process is not a deliberate act or a change in

555
00:41:59.679 --> 00:42:03.880
<v Speaker 2>the one. It happens eternally and by necessity of the

556
00:42:03.920 --> 00:42:11.480
<v Speaker 2>one's creativity. In Platinus's descriptive language, the one overflowed and

557
00:42:11.559 --> 00:42:16.760
<v Speaker 2>its superabundance produce an other. This other that the first

558
00:42:16.760 --> 00:42:23.719
<v Speaker 2>emanates is nose or divine intellect. The second principle, emanation

559
00:42:24.280 --> 00:42:27.639
<v Speaker 2>is thus the metaphysical scheme by which multiple levels of

560
00:42:27.679 --> 00:42:32.760
<v Speaker 2>reality produce from the transcendent source, while the source remains unchained.

561
00:42:33.920 --> 00:42:37.599
<v Speaker 2>Platinus emphasizes that the One is not diminished or changed

562
00:42:37.599 --> 00:42:41.360
<v Speaker 2>by producing the universe, just as a mirror's reflection doesn't

563
00:42:41.360 --> 00:42:46.199
<v Speaker 2>alter the object reflected. Platinus's world emerges from the One,

564
00:42:47.199 --> 00:42:52.320
<v Speaker 2>yet the One remains above it untouched. He even explicitly

565
00:42:52.440 --> 00:42:56.280
<v Speaker 2>contrasts emanation to creation, which he knew as a notion.

566
00:42:56.159 --> 00:42:57.000
<v Speaker 1>Held by Christians.

567
00:42:57.880 --> 00:43:01.199
<v Speaker 2>The one's relationship to the universe is like the sun's

568
00:43:01.280 --> 00:43:05.320
<v Speaker 2>light or a fountain's flowing water, not a craftsman's making

569
00:43:05.400 --> 00:43:11.159
<v Speaker 2>something from external materials. Now, let's talk about the emanation

570
00:43:11.320 --> 00:43:19.079
<v Speaker 2>hierarchy that Platinus describes, often called the three hypostases. The

571
00:43:19.119 --> 00:43:24.079
<v Speaker 2>one the good as the absolute transcendent origin of all

572
00:43:24.800 --> 00:43:26.159
<v Speaker 2>beyond being in thought.

573
00:43:26.480 --> 00:43:30.639
<v Speaker 1>The ultimate cause. And then we have the nose.

574
00:43:31.159 --> 00:43:35.960
<v Speaker 2>The divine intellectal mind the first emanation from the one.

575
00:43:36.119 --> 00:43:39.280
<v Speaker 2>It is the realm of true being in thought. It

576
00:43:39.360 --> 00:43:43.519
<v Speaker 2>contains all the forms or ideas, like Plato's forms as

577
00:43:43.559 --> 00:43:49.400
<v Speaker 2>the thoughts of the divine mind. Platinus identifies this metaphorically

578
00:43:49.800 --> 00:43:53.559
<v Speaker 2>with the demiurge from Plato's to mais and with the

579
00:43:53.599 --> 00:43:58.599
<v Speaker 2>divine logos. It is the first will towards the good.

580
00:43:59.360 --> 00:44:03.480
<v Speaker 2>It is a union, but multiple, unlike the one it

581
00:44:03.519 --> 00:44:07.639
<v Speaker 2>can be described. It is an intellect that knows itself

582
00:44:07.840 --> 00:44:14.239
<v Speaker 2>in the plurality of forms, so it has structure. Plutinus

583
00:44:14.239 --> 00:44:18.639
<v Speaker 2>calls it a one many or a multiple unity. Being

584
00:44:18.719 --> 00:44:23.119
<v Speaker 2>the second principle. It is absolutely dependent on the one,

585
00:44:23.280 --> 00:44:31.039
<v Speaker 2>yet is its self divine and eternal. The soul world

586
00:44:31.199 --> 00:44:37.000
<v Speaker 2>soul and souls from nose emanates soul first is the

587
00:44:37.039 --> 00:44:41.000
<v Speaker 2>world soul, which Platinus often subdivides into an upper and

588
00:44:41.079 --> 00:44:45.400
<v Speaker 2>lower aspect. The upper part of the soul remains closely

589
00:44:45.440 --> 00:44:49.239
<v Speaker 2>connected to nose in the intelligible realm, while the lower

590
00:44:49.280 --> 00:44:54.079
<v Speaker 2>part immerses itself in shaping the material world. This lower

591
00:44:54.159 --> 00:44:59.639
<v Speaker 2>soul is akin to nature. The world soul produces individual souls,

592
00:45:00.039 --> 00:45:04.360
<v Speaker 2>including human souls. Soul, in Platinus, is the level that

593
00:45:04.440 --> 00:45:08.559
<v Speaker 2>interfaces with time and matter. It animates the cosmos and

594
00:45:08.639 --> 00:45:13.519
<v Speaker 2>all living things. Yet soul is still double, one foot

595
00:45:13.639 --> 00:45:17.239
<v Speaker 2>in eternity through its higher aspect and one in time

596
00:45:17.679 --> 00:45:19.960
<v Speaker 2>through its governance of the material world.

597
00:45:20.960 --> 00:45:22.320
<v Speaker 1>And then we have matter.

598
00:45:23.199 --> 00:45:26.760
<v Speaker 2>At the lowest end of emanation is the material realm,

599
00:45:27.159 --> 00:45:30.280
<v Speaker 2>which in Platinus's view is the furthest removed from the

600
00:45:30.320 --> 00:45:36.239
<v Speaker 2>One's perfection. Matter itself, when considered apart from form, is

601
00:45:36.280 --> 00:45:41.320
<v Speaker 2>almost non being. It is indefinite and lacks quality. Platinus

602
00:45:41.360 --> 00:45:45.760
<v Speaker 2>even calls matter almost evil insofar as its deprivation of

603
00:45:45.880 --> 00:45:51.679
<v Speaker 2>form and good. However, since everything ultimately originates from the One,

604
00:45:52.519 --> 00:45:57.519
<v Speaker 2>even matter indirectly derives from the divine source. Thus the

605
00:45:57.679 --> 00:46:00.880
<v Speaker 2>entire cosmos is a radiation of the One power through

606
00:46:00.920 --> 00:46:06.480
<v Speaker 2>nose and soul. Platinus stresses that the material world, despite

607
00:46:06.519 --> 00:46:11.920
<v Speaker 2>its imperfection, is ultimately of divine nature because it comes

608
00:46:11.960 --> 00:46:16.360
<v Speaker 2>from the One via nose and soul, it is the

609
00:46:16.400 --> 00:46:20.719
<v Speaker 2>best possible image of the higher reality, not a demonic mistake.

610
00:46:21.679 --> 00:46:24.679
<v Speaker 2>This reality can be visualized as a hierarchy or great

611
00:46:24.760 --> 00:46:28.320
<v Speaker 2>chain of being, the one at the top emanating nose

612
00:46:28.519 --> 00:46:33.920
<v Speaker 2>which begets soul, which produces the sensible world. Importantly, the

613
00:46:34.000 --> 00:46:38.480
<v Speaker 2>emanation is continuous and timeless. It's not that at a moment,

614
00:46:38.519 --> 00:46:42.559
<v Speaker 2>the one decided to emit nos. Rather, the one always

615
00:46:42.639 --> 00:46:48.079
<v Speaker 2>emanates nose. Nose always emanates soul like an eternal fountain

616
00:46:48.119 --> 00:46:52.400
<v Speaker 2>of reality, and the lower always looks back to the higher.

617
00:46:53.000 --> 00:46:57.760
<v Speaker 2>Soul contemplates nose and yearns for Nos, in turn looks

618
00:46:57.840 --> 00:47:02.000
<v Speaker 2>to the one as its source of unity. The concept

619
00:47:02.079 --> 00:47:06.119
<v Speaker 2>of emanation distinguishes neoplatonism, a term modern scholar used for

620
00:47:06.159 --> 00:47:11.320
<v Speaker 2>Platinus's school from earlier platonism. It was Platinus's way of

621
00:47:11.360 --> 00:47:15.400
<v Speaker 2>explaining how a transcendent, unitary principle could give rise to

622
00:47:15.480 --> 00:47:22.280
<v Speaker 2>a diverse temporal world without compromising its transcendence. It uses

623
00:47:22.320 --> 00:47:26.159
<v Speaker 2>many analogies the sun in its rays. The sun doesn't

624
00:47:26.159 --> 00:47:29.920
<v Speaker 2>lose light by shining, or an overflowing cup or a

625
00:47:30.000 --> 00:47:35.800
<v Speaker 2>mirror's reflection. Another metaphor is life pouring out. Just as

626
00:47:35.800 --> 00:47:39.119
<v Speaker 2>a plant overflowing with life may put out new shoots,

627
00:47:39.599 --> 00:47:46.480
<v Speaker 2>the one's perfection overflows into nose. One crucial point, emanation

628
00:47:46.639 --> 00:47:51.199
<v Speaker 2>is not a wilful creation, but a necessary overflowing. The

629
00:47:51.280 --> 00:47:54.679
<v Speaker 2>one doesn't think or decide those would be actions, and

630
00:47:54.800 --> 00:48:00.960
<v Speaker 2>actions implies lack or change, which cannot apply to the One. Instead,

631
00:48:01.280 --> 00:48:04.679
<v Speaker 2>given that the One is what it is, reality flows

632
00:48:04.719 --> 00:48:08.760
<v Speaker 2>from it. Platinus says that the One is so powerful

633
00:48:08.800 --> 00:48:12.559
<v Speaker 2>that it cannot help but generate an outflow. It would

634
00:48:12.599 --> 00:48:17.360
<v Speaker 2>be impossible for it not to express itself as some

635
00:48:17.480 --> 00:48:21.360
<v Speaker 2>kind of outflow, since not emanating would imply a limitation

636
00:48:21.480 --> 00:48:26.400
<v Speaker 2>of power. Yet this outflow is eternal and simultaneous with

637
00:48:26.480 --> 00:48:30.280
<v Speaker 2>the One. Platinus compares it to the way a bright

638
00:48:30.360 --> 00:48:36.679
<v Speaker 2>object cannot avoid emitting light. The One remains unchained and

639
00:48:36.800 --> 00:48:40.119
<v Speaker 2>unaffected by emanating. It is like the source of a

640
00:48:40.159 --> 00:48:42.880
<v Speaker 2>spring that is not depleted by the stream that flows

641
00:48:42.920 --> 00:48:46.760
<v Speaker 2>from it. As the Eneads put it, the One is

642
00:48:46.800 --> 00:48:51.000
<v Speaker 2>in no way affected or diminished by these emanations, just

643
00:48:51.119 --> 00:48:55.079
<v Speaker 2>as the Christian God, Platinus adds, is in no way

644
00:48:55.119 --> 00:48:59.559
<v Speaker 2>augmented or diminished by the act of creation. Platinus was

645
00:48:59.599 --> 00:49:03.159
<v Speaker 2>aware of Christian claims and subtly positioned his view as

646
00:49:03.199 --> 00:49:08.880
<v Speaker 2>an alternative understanding of how the divine relates to the world. Finally,

647
00:49:09.239 --> 00:49:13.320
<v Speaker 2>Platinus's One is not an impersonal abstraction. It is also

648
00:49:13.440 --> 00:49:16.440
<v Speaker 2>associated with the idea of the good and is the

649
00:49:16.559 --> 00:49:22.599
<v Speaker 2>ultimate object of love and desire. Platinus frequently uses religious

650
00:49:22.719 --> 00:49:26.639
<v Speaker 2>and superlative language when referring to the One. It is

651
00:49:26.760 --> 00:49:30.920
<v Speaker 2>the Father of all, the transcending God above all gods.

652
00:49:31.880 --> 00:49:36.480
<v Speaker 2>He even calls it God, though not a personal mantotheistic sense,

653
00:49:36.800 --> 00:49:40.440
<v Speaker 2>but as the being beyond God. Heead it is the

654
00:49:40.599 --> 00:49:45.079
<v Speaker 2>unity and the Good, merging Plato's form of the good

655
00:49:45.239 --> 00:49:49.119
<v Speaker 2>with the concept of the One. In ethical terms, all

656
00:49:49.199 --> 00:49:52.679
<v Speaker 2>beings desire the good, so all desire to return to

657
00:49:52.760 --> 00:49:58.639
<v Speaker 2>the One. This gives Platinus's metaphysics profoundly spiritual and moral dimension.

658
00:50:00.000 --> 00:50:03.440
<v Speaker 2>Actual reality is such that everything emanates from the One

659
00:50:03.559 --> 00:50:06.679
<v Speaker 2>and seeks to return to the One. We shall see

660
00:50:06.719 --> 00:50:10.039
<v Speaker 2>this clearly in Platinus's conception of the human soul and

661
00:50:10.079 --> 00:50:17.239
<v Speaker 2>its quest for happiness. All things are striving after contemplation,

662
00:50:18.360 --> 00:50:22.559
<v Speaker 2>looking to vision as their one end, each attaining it

663
00:50:22.800 --> 00:50:24.599
<v Speaker 2>in the measure possible.

664
00:50:24.440 --> 00:50:27.280
<v Speaker 1>To their kind.

665
00:50:28.079 --> 00:50:31.920
<v Speaker 2>Now let's get into the second and third hypostasis, intellect

666
00:50:32.079 --> 00:50:35.599
<v Speaker 2>and soul, since understanding these is key to Platinus's view

667
00:50:35.599 --> 00:50:38.599
<v Speaker 2>on the world, the self, and even topics like astrology

668
00:50:38.760 --> 00:50:44.559
<v Speaker 2>and fate divine intellect. This is the immediate emanation of

669
00:50:44.599 --> 00:50:48.639
<v Speaker 2>the one. At the moment of emanation, the second principle

670
00:50:48.679 --> 00:50:53.480
<v Speaker 2>turns back towards its source and contemplation. In Platinus's narrative,

671
00:50:54.320 --> 00:50:58.440
<v Speaker 2>the first hyposthesis, beyond the one arises as an intermediate

672
00:50:58.519 --> 00:51:03.280
<v Speaker 2>reality that, then, in seeing the one, becomes ordered as

673
00:51:03.400 --> 00:51:08.960
<v Speaker 2>intellect and thought. Nos is the realm of real being.

674
00:51:09.800 --> 00:51:13.039
<v Speaker 2>It is Plato's world of forms, but instead of forms

675
00:51:13.079 --> 00:51:18.320
<v Speaker 2>existing independently, Platinus unifies them in one all encompassing mind.

676
00:51:19.480 --> 00:51:23.039
<v Speaker 2>Nos contains all the archetypal ideas, and at the same

677
00:51:23.119 --> 00:51:27.760
<v Speaker 2>time is those ideas, and it is the mind thinking them.

678
00:51:28.079 --> 00:51:32.280
<v Speaker 2>It is a living, dynamic intellect, often described as a

679
00:51:32.320 --> 00:51:38.079
<v Speaker 2>living organism of truth. Platinus says Nos has a dual aspect,

680
00:51:38.440 --> 00:51:42.519
<v Speaker 2>the thinker and the thought subject an object, but in

681
00:51:42.559 --> 00:51:48.719
<v Speaker 2>Nos these are one. Nos is self thinking thought an idea,

682
00:51:48.920 --> 00:51:54.719
<v Speaker 2>foreshadowing Aristotle's description of the divine mind. Because it has

683
00:51:54.880 --> 00:52:00.639
<v Speaker 2>multiplicity the many ideas, Nos is less unitary than the one,

684
00:52:00.760 --> 00:52:05.440
<v Speaker 2>but still a timeless, changeless reality where every idea is

685
00:52:05.480 --> 00:52:09.840
<v Speaker 2>eternally present. Nos is absolutely good and perfect. In a

686
00:52:09.880 --> 00:52:14.199
<v Speaker 2>derivative sense, it's the image of the one's perfection. It's

687
00:52:14.239 --> 00:52:18.119
<v Speaker 2>often referred to as the demiurge by Platinus because intellect

688
00:52:18.280 --> 00:52:23.360
<v Speaker 2>is what directly structures the cosmos via the forms. Platinus

689
00:52:23.400 --> 00:52:27.639
<v Speaker 2>even calls Nos the second God, subordinate to the One,

690
00:52:27.760 --> 00:52:33.800
<v Speaker 2>the prime God, but itself divine. Importantly, the One is

691
00:52:33.880 --> 00:52:37.880
<v Speaker 2>present to Nos as its object of desire and unity.

692
00:52:38.559 --> 00:52:42.199
<v Speaker 2>Nos is always gazing at the One in love and wonder,

693
00:52:42.920 --> 00:52:48.440
<v Speaker 2>drawing its sustenance from the One's light. This contemplated vision

694
00:52:48.920 --> 00:52:53.719
<v Speaker 2>of the One becomes the content of Nos. In this way,

695
00:52:54.079 --> 00:52:58.880
<v Speaker 2>Platinus sees the One as beyond even self intellection, and

696
00:52:59.000 --> 00:53:03.079
<v Speaker 2>Nos is the level where self awareness and definition begin.

697
00:53:04.800 --> 00:53:08.119
<v Speaker 2>Then we have the soul of the psyche, proceeding from

698
00:53:08.159 --> 00:53:11.320
<v Speaker 2>Nose is the principle of the soul. The world's soul

699
00:53:11.519 --> 00:53:14.159
<v Speaker 2>is the aspect of reality that bridges the intelligible in

700
00:53:14.199 --> 00:53:18.920
<v Speaker 2>the material. It contemplates nose, but it also projects an

701
00:53:18.960 --> 00:53:23.679
<v Speaker 2>image of itself onto matter, thus crafting the physical cosmos.

702
00:53:25.360 --> 00:53:29.559
<v Speaker 2>Platinus describes soul as having a higher part, often called

703
00:53:29.679 --> 00:53:33.599
<v Speaker 2>the upper soul or heavenly aphrodite in some allegories, that

704
00:53:33.880 --> 00:53:38.400
<v Speaker 2>remains an eternal contemplation of intellect in a lower part

705
00:53:39.039 --> 00:53:43.199
<v Speaker 2>the nature that gives life to the world. The world's

706
00:53:43.239 --> 00:53:48.400
<v Speaker 2>soul creates time. Since intellect is eternal, soul introduces temporal

707
00:53:48.480 --> 00:53:54.320
<v Speaker 2>succession when it moves. All individual souls, such as human souls,

708
00:53:54.679 --> 00:53:59.159
<v Speaker 2>are outpourings or droplets of the world's soul. Each human

709
00:53:59.199 --> 00:54:02.119
<v Speaker 2>soul retains means a connection to the world's soul and

710
00:54:02.239 --> 00:54:08.119
<v Speaker 2>ultimately to Nos. Platinus famlessly asserted that even while a

711
00:54:08.239 --> 00:54:12.960
<v Speaker 2>soul is embody, its highest part remains unfallen in the

712
00:54:13.000 --> 00:54:17.639
<v Speaker 2>intelligible realm, a sort of apex of the soul that

713
00:54:17.800 --> 00:54:22.719
<v Speaker 2>never leaves Nos. This is why we can, through introspection

714
00:54:23.119 --> 00:54:27.639
<v Speaker 2>and spiritual effort, reascend to the intelligible world. Part of

715
00:54:27.719 --> 00:54:32.400
<v Speaker 2>us is always there. The soul level is also where

716
00:54:32.480 --> 00:54:38.199
<v Speaker 2>multiplicity increases and individuality emerges. Souls descend into bodies, which

717
00:54:38.239 --> 00:54:43.599
<v Speaker 2>introduces diversity and separation. However, all souls collectively are one

718
00:54:43.719 --> 00:54:47.920
<v Speaker 2>soul in a higher sense. The material world, with all

719
00:54:47.960 --> 00:54:51.800
<v Speaker 2>its changing phenomena, is the shadow or the last echo.

720
00:54:51.599 --> 00:54:52.599
<v Speaker 1>Of this procession.

721
00:54:54.079 --> 00:54:58.400
<v Speaker 2>Platinus describes matter, the physical element, as neither good nor

722
00:54:58.480 --> 00:55:01.239
<v Speaker 2>evil in itself, but a is far removed from the

723
00:55:01.280 --> 00:55:05.480
<v Speaker 2>one's light as possible. It's like the darkest periphery of reality,

724
00:55:05.880 --> 00:55:09.760
<v Speaker 2>where form and being are faint. Yet, since the One's

725
00:55:09.840 --> 00:55:13.599
<v Speaker 2>light filters even down here, the cosmos as a whole

726
00:55:13.760 --> 00:55:17.920
<v Speaker 2>is good and beautiful, and Platinus's view the most perfect

727
00:55:18.079 --> 00:55:22.639
<v Speaker 2>possible image of the intelligible world. This is a critical

728
00:55:22.679 --> 00:55:27.320
<v Speaker 2>stance that differentiates Platinus from certain gnostics, who saw the

729
00:55:27.360 --> 00:55:29.079
<v Speaker 2>material world as evil or a.

730
00:55:29.039 --> 00:55:31.159
<v Speaker 1>Mistake, and we will discuss this later.

731
00:55:32.519 --> 00:55:36.800
<v Speaker 2>Platinus instead insists on the goodness of the world because

732
00:55:36.800 --> 00:55:41.920
<v Speaker 2>it originates ultimately from the good or the One. The

733
00:55:41.960 --> 00:55:46.719
<v Speaker 2>one radiates intellect. Intellect contains all the ideal realities and

734
00:55:46.800 --> 00:55:50.960
<v Speaker 2>thinks them. Soul arises from intellect, and through soul, the

735
00:55:51.000 --> 00:55:55.239
<v Speaker 2>structure and life of the cosmos come into being. At

736
00:55:55.280 --> 00:55:59.239
<v Speaker 2>each stage, the lower level images and reflects the level

737
00:55:59.239 --> 00:56:02.679
<v Speaker 2>above it in a diminished way. Think of a bright

738
00:56:02.760 --> 00:56:06.880
<v Speaker 2>light the one casting a series of reflections. The first

739
00:56:06.920 --> 00:56:10.440
<v Speaker 2>mirror image knows is a brilliant but slightly less intense,

740
00:56:11.239 --> 00:56:14.679
<v Speaker 2>The next reflection, soul, is dimmer, and finally the last

741
00:56:14.840 --> 00:56:20.800
<v Speaker 2>matter is a very faint glimmer. Despite the diminishing, each

742
00:56:20.920 --> 00:56:24.039
<v Speaker 2>lower level depends on the continuous presence.

743
00:56:23.639 --> 00:56:24.239
<v Speaker 1>Of the higher.

744
00:56:25.239 --> 00:56:29.280
<v Speaker 2>If the one withdrew, everything would vanish, just as turning

745
00:56:29.320 --> 00:56:33.719
<v Speaker 2>off the sun would end all reflections. Thus, the cosmos

746
00:56:33.840 --> 00:56:37.840
<v Speaker 2>is like a great emanational chain or an outflowing hierarchy,

747
00:56:38.440 --> 00:56:42.480
<v Speaker 2>often termed by later thinkers as the great chain of being.

748
00:56:44.559 --> 00:56:48.119
<v Speaker 2>Now onto the true human and the pursuit of happiness.

749
00:56:50.079 --> 00:56:53.639
<v Speaker 2>Platinus's ethics and psychology are rooted in the idea that

750
00:56:53.679 --> 00:56:56.360
<v Speaker 2>the true self of a human is not their body

751
00:56:56.440 --> 00:57:00.159
<v Speaker 2>or even their empirical personality, but the higher soul that

752
00:57:00.239 --> 00:57:04.880
<v Speaker 2>is akin to nose. According to Platinus, the true human

753
00:57:05.000 --> 00:57:09.239
<v Speaker 2>is an incorporal, contemplative capacity of the soul, superior to

754
00:57:09.320 --> 00:57:13.840
<v Speaker 2>all things corporal. What makes you truly you is not

755
00:57:13.920 --> 00:57:16.960
<v Speaker 2>your flesh and blood organism, but your soul's rational and

756
00:57:17.000 --> 00:57:21.320
<v Speaker 2>spiritual part. The body is a temporary instrument or vessel.

757
00:57:21.880 --> 00:57:25.480
<v Speaker 2>He even argues that man is not the coupling of

758
00:57:25.559 --> 00:57:29.320
<v Speaker 2>soul and body. A person is essentially the soul, and

759
00:57:29.360 --> 00:57:33.320
<v Speaker 2>in particular the intellectual aspect of the soul, which can

760
00:57:33.400 --> 00:57:37.679
<v Speaker 2>exist apart from the body. This leads to conception of

761
00:57:37.719 --> 00:57:42.920
<v Speaker 2>happiness quite different from common views. For Platinus, authentic happiness

762
00:57:42.960 --> 00:57:47.480
<v Speaker 2>does not depend on external, worldly conditions, because the real

763
00:57:47.559 --> 00:57:51.400
<v Speaker 2>person is the soul, especially the intellective soul, and not

764
00:57:51.559 --> 00:57:59.639
<v Speaker 2>the parishal body. Worldly fortune does not control true human happiness. Wealth, health,

765
00:58:00.079 --> 00:58:04.360
<v Speaker 2>social status, even physical pain or pleasure. None of these

766
00:58:04.400 --> 00:58:09.039
<v Speaker 2>truly determined happiness or misery for the true self. As

767
00:58:09.079 --> 00:58:13.599
<v Speaker 2>he boldly states, there exists no single human being that

768
00:58:13.639 --> 00:58:17.960
<v Speaker 2>does not either potentially or effectively possess this thing we

769
00:58:18.079 --> 00:58:23.599
<v Speaker 2>hold to constitute happiness. So what actually constitutes happiness For Platinus,

770
00:58:24.559 --> 00:58:28.079
<v Speaker 2>happiness is the soul's alignment with its highest divine aspect,

771
00:58:28.480 --> 00:58:31.480
<v Speaker 2>the state of identification with the best in the universe.

772
00:58:32.400 --> 00:58:36.000
<v Speaker 2>In practice, this means a life of virtue and above all,

773
00:58:36.159 --> 00:58:41.559
<v Speaker 2>contemplation of truth. Platinus is here in line with the

774
00:58:41.559 --> 00:58:45.719
<v Speaker 2>Platonic and Aristolian notion that the contemplative life is the

775
00:58:45.800 --> 00:58:51.079
<v Speaker 2>supremely happy life, but here he radicalizes it. Even if

776
00:58:51.119 --> 00:58:54.599
<v Speaker 2>a sage is tortured or in an extreme physical duress,

777
00:58:55.280 --> 00:58:58.199
<v Speaker 2>the sages in his self can remain happy by clinging

778
00:58:58.239 --> 00:59:03.039
<v Speaker 2>to the intelligible world, he imagines, even scenarios like a

779
00:59:03.119 --> 00:59:07.159
<v Speaker 2>wise person under torture. Although the body suffers, the sage

780
00:59:07.199 --> 00:59:11.719
<v Speaker 2>can mentally detach, knowing that which is being tortured is

781
00:59:11.800 --> 00:59:16.360
<v Speaker 2>merely a body, not the true self. This sounds extreme,

782
00:59:16.920 --> 00:59:20.880
<v Speaker 2>but it gets to the point. Real happiness is metaphysical,

783
00:59:21.559 --> 00:59:26.880
<v Speaker 2>not subject to bodily harm. Platinus articulated these ideas and

784
00:59:27.000 --> 00:59:32.000
<v Speaker 2>treaties like on True Happiness. There he argues that happiness

785
00:59:32.119 --> 00:59:35.679
<v Speaker 2>is attainable by every person, not in the sense that

786
00:59:35.760 --> 00:59:39.480
<v Speaker 2>everyone is happy, but that nothing external can prevent one

787
00:59:39.519 --> 00:59:43.039
<v Speaker 2>from achieving it, since it depends only on one's self.

788
00:59:44.760 --> 00:59:48.320
<v Speaker 2>The essence of happiness is living in accordance with one's

789
00:59:48.400 --> 00:59:52.480
<v Speaker 2>highest nature, which means living in the activity of reason

790
00:59:52.559 --> 00:59:56.800
<v Speaker 2>and virtue. The perfect life, he writes, is one where

791
00:59:56.880 --> 01:00:02.159
<v Speaker 2>a man commands reason and contemplation. The happy person will

792
01:00:02.199 --> 01:00:05.880
<v Speaker 2>be self sufficient in a profound way, not that they

793
01:00:05.920 --> 01:00:08.960
<v Speaker 2>don't need food to shelter, but that their well being

794
01:00:09.119 --> 01:00:13.559
<v Speaker 2>isn't hostage to those things. Unlike the Stoics who emphasize

795
01:00:13.559 --> 01:00:17.280
<v Speaker 2>in during hardship with fortitude, Plutonus goes further to say,

796
01:00:17.320 --> 01:00:20.280
<v Speaker 2>the inner bliss of union with the good is such

797
01:00:20.320 --> 01:00:24.639
<v Speaker 2>that even sleep or unconsciousness cannot truly interrupt it, because

798
01:00:24.679 --> 01:00:29.960
<v Speaker 2>the soul at its apex is outside time. He answers

799
01:00:30.000 --> 01:00:33.760
<v Speaker 2>stoic critics who ask how one can be happy if

800
01:00:33.800 --> 01:00:38.679
<v Speaker 2>one falls asleep or is not senseless. Platinus replies that

801
01:00:38.719 --> 01:00:42.119
<v Speaker 2>the soul does not sleep. Its highest part is ever

802
01:00:42.199 --> 01:00:47.679
<v Speaker 2>active beyond the temporal realm. Plutonian happiness is the state

803
01:00:47.760 --> 01:00:50.960
<v Speaker 2>of the soul's unity with intellect and ultimately with the One.

804
01:00:52.440 --> 01:00:55.760
<v Speaker 2>It is a flight from this world's weighs and things.

805
01:00:56.079 --> 01:00:59.599
<v Speaker 2>As Platinus quotes Plato in a focus on the highest,

806
01:01:01.119 --> 01:01:04.280
<v Speaker 2>it is achieved by an interior life, turning away from

807
01:01:04.360 --> 01:01:10.599
<v Speaker 2>external attachments. In a memorable phrase, Platinus says, true happiness

808
01:01:10.719 --> 01:01:17.000
<v Speaker 2>is living inwardly, free from slavery to bodily desires. One

809
01:01:17.000 --> 01:01:21.239
<v Speaker 2>who attains this perfect life is characterized by calm, unshakable

810
01:01:21.320 --> 01:01:25.719
<v Speaker 2>contentment because they identify with the divine intellect rather than

811
01:01:25.800 --> 01:01:31.000
<v Speaker 2>the mortal part. This viewpoint was one of Platinus's great

812
01:01:31.039 --> 01:01:35.519
<v Speaker 2>contributions to Western thought. It's been claimed Platinus is among

813
01:01:35.559 --> 01:01:39.239
<v Speaker 2>the first to articulate clearly that happiness is an interstate

814
01:01:39.320 --> 01:01:45.159
<v Speaker 2>independent of fortune, found only in consciousness of the soul's activity.

815
01:01:45.559 --> 01:01:50.800
<v Speaker 2>This idea would echo down through Augustine, whose influenced Platinus

816
01:01:50.840 --> 01:01:54.320
<v Speaker 2>into later Christian conceptions of the soul's rest in God,

817
01:01:54.639 --> 01:01:58.239
<v Speaker 2>and even into modern ideas of psychological well being not

818
01:01:58.360 --> 01:02:03.639
<v Speaker 2>tied to externals. Now, how does one achieve this happy state?

819
01:02:04.119 --> 01:02:10.920
<v Speaker 2>Virtue is important. Platinus inherited from Plato the idea that virtues, temperance, courage, justice,

820
01:02:10.920 --> 01:02:14.760
<v Speaker 2>and wisdom purify the soul and oriented towards the good.

821
01:02:16.119 --> 01:02:19.920
<v Speaker 2>But he goes beyond ordinary virtue to speak of purification

822
01:02:20.239 --> 01:02:25.159
<v Speaker 2>and contemplative assent. The well known analogy is that the

823
01:02:25.239 --> 01:02:28.320
<v Speaker 2>soul must remember its true nature and shed what is

824
01:02:28.480 --> 01:02:31.280
<v Speaker 2>alien in anyad.

825
01:02:31.000 --> 01:02:32.320
<v Speaker 1>One on beauty.

826
01:02:32.679 --> 01:02:36.920
<v Speaker 2>He describes the process, You must set free your soul

827
01:02:37.079 --> 01:02:42.519
<v Speaker 2>from all outward things and turn wholly within yourself, lay

828
01:02:42.559 --> 01:02:45.719
<v Speaker 2>your mind bare of the images of sense and even

829
01:02:45.800 --> 01:02:51.320
<v Speaker 2>your own self, so as to see the one. In

830
01:02:51.360 --> 01:02:55.760
<v Speaker 2>other words, through practices of intellectual and spiritual focus, one

831
01:02:55.800 --> 01:03:00.599
<v Speaker 2>strips away the lower attachments. Platinus was not informedial mystic

832
01:03:00.719 --> 01:03:05.679
<v Speaker 2>with a step by step technique, but he advocates philosophical contemplation,

833
01:03:06.039 --> 01:03:09.719
<v Speaker 2>ethical living, and dialectical reasoning as to means to ascend.

834
01:03:11.320 --> 01:03:14.119
<v Speaker 2>When the soul succeeds in rising to the level of nose,

835
01:03:14.880 --> 01:03:19.599
<v Speaker 2>it experiences profound satisfaction. But Platinus hints at an even

836
01:03:19.639 --> 01:03:24.400
<v Speaker 2>greater fulfillment when the soul transcends nos and unites with

837
01:03:24.599 --> 01:03:28.840
<v Speaker 2>the One itself. That is the peak of happiness, which

838
01:03:28.880 --> 01:03:34.320
<v Speaker 2>is really beyond description. This brings us to henosis, the

839
01:03:34.400 --> 01:03:38.880
<v Speaker 2>mystical union, which is intimately tied to Platinus's idea of

840
01:03:38.920 --> 01:03:47.159
<v Speaker 2>the ultimate human goal. Henosis union with the One. Henosis

841
01:03:47.360 --> 01:03:50.400
<v Speaker 2>Greek for oneness or unity, is the term for mystical

842
01:03:50.519 --> 01:03:55.760
<v Speaker 2>union in Platinus's philosophy. Platinus's philosophy is also regarded not

843
01:03:55.920 --> 01:03:58.960
<v Speaker 2>just as abstract metaphysics, but as a mystical path aiming

844
01:03:58.960 --> 01:04:03.920
<v Speaker 2>for the soul's union with God or One. Henosis is

845
01:04:03.920 --> 01:04:07.320
<v Speaker 2>the culmination of that path, the moment when the individual's soul,

846
01:04:07.440 --> 01:04:10.880
<v Speaker 2>after sending through virtue and intellect, becomes one with the One,

847
01:04:11.679 --> 01:04:17.800
<v Speaker 2>achieving an ecstasy beyond being. Platinus doesn't provide a systematic

848
01:04:17.920 --> 01:04:21.559
<v Speaker 2>how to phrenosis, but he describes it in several places,

849
01:04:22.039 --> 01:04:25.599
<v Speaker 2>particularly in Inenead six on the Good or the One,

850
01:04:26.119 --> 01:04:32.119
<v Speaker 2>and in Porphary's biography. Porphyry famously reports that Platinus himself

851
01:04:32.360 --> 01:04:37.840
<v Speaker 2>attained henosis a handful of times. Platinus attained such a

852
01:04:38.000 --> 01:04:43.559
<v Speaker 2>union four times during the years I knew him, Porphyry writes,

853
01:04:43.960 --> 01:04:48.039
<v Speaker 2>this suggests that for Patinus, union with the One wasn't

854
01:04:48.079 --> 01:04:52.920
<v Speaker 2>merely theoretical. He claimed to have experienced it. These mystical

855
01:04:52.960 --> 01:04:58.760
<v Speaker 2>experiences likely inspired and confirmed his teachings. What is union like?

856
01:04:59.239 --> 01:05:03.559
<v Speaker 2>By definition? It defies ordinary language. In union, the soul

857
01:05:03.880 --> 01:05:09.719
<v Speaker 2>loses all differentiation, sear and scene become one. In a sense,

858
01:05:09.800 --> 01:05:12.719
<v Speaker 2>it's a passing away of consciousness as we know it.

859
01:05:13.800 --> 01:05:17.480
<v Speaker 2>Platinus describes it in negative terms. There is no perception,

860
01:05:18.000 --> 01:05:22.880
<v Speaker 2>no thought, no duality. Yet a supreme awareness, or rather

861
01:05:23.000 --> 01:05:27.440
<v Speaker 2>being remains, which is blissful and filled with the one's presence.

862
01:05:28.880 --> 01:05:34.000
<v Speaker 2>One becomes and Platinus's phrase alone with the alone, a

863
01:05:34.079 --> 01:05:38.400
<v Speaker 2>phrase later echoed by Sufi's and others in In He

864
01:05:38.480 --> 01:05:42.880
<v Speaker 2>Had Six, he tries to convey it. One approaches the one.

865
01:05:43.239 --> 01:05:46.119
<v Speaker 2>If he remembers who he became when he emerged with

866
01:05:46.199 --> 01:05:51.039
<v Speaker 2>the One, he will bear its image in himself. He

867
01:05:51.199 --> 01:05:55.960
<v Speaker 2>was one, with no diversity in self, no passion, no

868
01:05:56.079 --> 01:06:01.440
<v Speaker 2>desire for another. Once the assent was accomplished before the one,

869
01:06:01.800 --> 01:06:05.920
<v Speaker 2>the soul must drop even the intellectual forms. One must

870
01:06:05.920 --> 01:06:11.000
<v Speaker 2>forget even oneself. In that moment there is profound unity.

871
01:06:11.360 --> 01:06:17.480
<v Speaker 2>That is the ultimate goal of life. Henosis is a

872
01:06:17.519 --> 01:06:22.679
<v Speaker 2>transient experience in this life, as indicated, Platinus only occasionally

873
01:06:22.760 --> 01:06:25.960
<v Speaker 2>could reach it, and Porphyry implies he himself perhaps did not,

874
01:06:27.599 --> 01:06:31.320
<v Speaker 2>but it is the tellos for the end for which

875
01:06:31.400 --> 01:06:36.960
<v Speaker 2>our souls exist. To rejoin the source in death, Platinus

876
01:06:37.000 --> 01:06:40.679
<v Speaker 2>believe the purified soul would permanently dwell in the intelligible realm,

877
01:06:41.039 --> 01:06:43.440
<v Speaker 2>and perhaps even be in the presence of the one,

878
01:06:44.119 --> 01:06:48.400
<v Speaker 2>though strictly permanent union is tricky to speak of. Union

879
01:06:48.480 --> 01:06:52.760
<v Speaker 2>is beyond time, so it's not a duration. Platinus's language

880
01:06:52.760 --> 01:06:57.159
<v Speaker 2>about henosis often has a religious sentiment. He uses metaphors

881
01:06:57.159 --> 01:07:00.719
<v Speaker 2>of seeing the two are one with no into mediary,

882
01:07:01.320 --> 01:07:04.719
<v Speaker 2>no otherness. The soul touches or sees the light by

883
01:07:04.760 --> 01:07:09.000
<v Speaker 2>becoming identical with it. He also employs the language of

884
01:07:09.039 --> 01:07:14.639
<v Speaker 2>erotic love from Plato's symposion, the soul as lover yearning

885
01:07:14.719 --> 01:07:18.039
<v Speaker 2>to merge with the beloved one. This mystical aspect of

886
01:07:18.039 --> 01:07:23.880
<v Speaker 2>Platinus greatly influenced later mystical traditions. For example, Pseudodionysus, the

887
01:07:24.000 --> 01:07:28.000
<v Speaker 2>fifth century Christian mystic, took much from Platinus about negative

888
01:07:28.000 --> 01:07:32.480
<v Speaker 2>theology and union in Sufism and medieval Christian mysticism. We

889
01:07:32.559 --> 01:07:35.519
<v Speaker 2>similarly see talk of the soul's union with the Godhead,

890
01:07:35.639 --> 01:07:43.280
<v Speaker 2>often echoing Plutonian concepts. It's noteworthy that Platinus insisted henosis

891
01:07:43.320 --> 01:07:47.960
<v Speaker 2>cannot be achieved by mere intellect effort alone. One must

892
01:07:48.000 --> 01:07:51.840
<v Speaker 2>undergo a moral purification and a turning of the entire being.

893
01:07:53.119 --> 01:07:57.880
<v Speaker 2>There's almost an element of grace implied that one comes

894
01:07:58.039 --> 01:08:02.679
<v Speaker 2>when it wills, and in the AD five he says

895
01:08:02.840 --> 01:08:06.280
<v Speaker 2>one should close the eyes and awaken the vision of

896
01:08:06.320 --> 01:08:12.559
<v Speaker 2>the soul. Then suddenly you see the solitary one. Such

897
01:08:12.639 --> 01:08:17.640
<v Speaker 2>descriptions resonate with many later mystics to give a sense

898
01:08:17.680 --> 01:08:21.840
<v Speaker 2>of both the ancient and modern interpretations. Armstrong once described

899
01:08:21.880 --> 01:08:25.560
<v Speaker 2>Platinus's henosis as a most powerful protest on behalf of

900
01:08:25.600 --> 01:08:32.640
<v Speaker 2>Hellenic philosophy against an Unhellenic heresy. Armstrong was emphasizing Platinus's

901
01:08:32.640 --> 01:08:37.960
<v Speaker 2>context of arguing against gnostics, meaning that Platinus's mysticism was

902
01:08:38.000 --> 01:08:41.239
<v Speaker 2>still rational in a way, a fulfillment of Greek philosophy,

903
01:08:42.319 --> 01:08:47.199
<v Speaker 2>but others seeing a henosis a kinship with Eastern mysticism.

904
01:08:47.399 --> 01:08:52.560
<v Speaker 2>Modern scholar Lloyd Gerson cautions that Platinus isn't endorsing irrational mysticism,

905
01:08:52.600 --> 01:08:57.199
<v Speaker 2>but rather showing the limit of rational discourse. Reason leads

906
01:08:57.279 --> 01:09:01.199
<v Speaker 2>one to precipice of the one, but to actually unite

907
01:09:01.359 --> 01:09:08.319
<v Speaker 2>requires transcending discursive foot This interplay of philosophy and mysticism,

908
01:09:08.319 --> 01:09:12.560
<v Speaker 2>and Platinus is often debated. Widely accepted is that he

909
01:09:12.680 --> 01:09:16.439
<v Speaker 2>saw no hardline between them. The philosophic pursuit of truth,

910
01:09:16.560 --> 01:09:20.640
<v Speaker 2>if done rigorously and with moral purification, naturally culminates in

911
01:09:20.680 --> 01:09:24.720
<v Speaker 2>a mystical union. There is no contradiction. For Plotinus, the

912
01:09:24.800 --> 01:09:29.560
<v Speaker 2>highest philosophy is a mystical act. Hinosis is the fulfillment

913
01:09:29.600 --> 01:09:33.560
<v Speaker 2>of the emanation cycle. In reverse, all reality flowed out

914
01:09:33.600 --> 01:09:36.159
<v Speaker 2>from the one, and in the soul's ascent and union,

915
01:09:36.600 --> 01:09:41.079
<v Speaker 2>reality flows back into the One. Platinus's final words at

916
01:09:41.119 --> 01:09:44.359
<v Speaker 2>death to give back the divine in myself to the

917
01:09:44.399 --> 01:09:49.840
<v Speaker 2>divine in all, beautifully encapsulates that goal. It implies that

918
01:09:49.880 --> 01:09:52.640
<v Speaker 2>within each of us is a spark of the divine,

919
01:09:53.079 --> 01:09:55.960
<v Speaker 2>and the life's purpose is to return that spark to

920
01:09:56.039 --> 01:10:04.560
<v Speaker 2>its cosmic source. And next Plautinus and the Gnostics. During

921
01:10:04.560 --> 01:10:08.520
<v Speaker 2>Platinus's time in Rome, Gnostic sects were active and attracted

922
01:10:08.560 --> 01:10:12.439
<v Speaker 2>followers with their elaborate cosmologies and promise of spiritual salvation.

923
01:10:13.439 --> 01:10:17.000
<v Speaker 2>Platinus took issue with these Gnostic teachings, seeing them as

924
01:10:17.039 --> 01:10:22.199
<v Speaker 2>distortions of Platonism and dangerous deviations. In fact, Platinus is

925
01:10:22.239 --> 01:10:25.520
<v Speaker 2>our earliest philosophical critic of the movement that now modern

926
01:10:25.560 --> 01:10:31.039
<v Speaker 2>scholars call gnosticism. He devoted an entire treaties to refuting

927
01:10:31.119 --> 01:10:37.119
<v Speaker 2>their ideas. Porphyry titled this treatise against the Gnostics, and

928
01:10:37.159 --> 01:10:40.239
<v Speaker 2>it provides an interesting view into the intellectual debate of

929
01:10:40.279 --> 01:10:41.119
<v Speaker 2>the third century.

930
01:10:42.520 --> 01:10:42.880
<v Speaker 1>First.

931
01:10:43.039 --> 01:10:47.359
<v Speaker 2>Who were these gnostics, Platinus argued against. There were likely

932
01:10:47.439 --> 01:10:50.600
<v Speaker 2>members of sex that combined some elements of Christianity or

933
01:10:50.680 --> 01:10:56.159
<v Speaker 2>Jewish mysticism with a radically dualistic cosmology. They taught that

934
01:10:56.199 --> 01:10:59.399
<v Speaker 2>the material world was flawed creation of a lower deity

935
01:10:59.800 --> 01:11:02.720
<v Speaker 2>or called the demiurge, and that above this was a

936
01:11:02.760 --> 01:11:07.399
<v Speaker 2>remote supreme God. Human souls, according to gnostics, were sparks

937
01:11:07.439 --> 01:11:11.039
<v Speaker 2>of divinity trapped in the evil material world, and only

938
01:11:11.119 --> 01:11:16.159
<v Speaker 2>secret knowledge gnosis could free them. Texts with names like

939
01:11:16.239 --> 01:11:20.560
<v Speaker 2>Xastrianis and Alogenes contained the mystical revelations and were circulating

940
01:11:20.640 --> 01:11:25.399
<v Speaker 2>among these groups Porphyry even names individuals like the school

941
01:11:25.439 --> 01:11:29.479
<v Speaker 2>of Adelphius and Equilinus, which had many followers in the

942
01:11:29.640 --> 01:11:36.760
<v Speaker 2>revered apocryphal writings attributed to the Zoraestazostrianis and Nicotheus. These

943
01:11:36.920 --> 01:11:40.439
<v Speaker 2>are clearly references to Gnostic scriptures that we now know

944
01:11:40.600 --> 01:11:46.279
<v Speaker 2>from discoveries like the Nagamadi Library, so Platinus was directly

945
01:11:46.359 --> 01:11:51.159
<v Speaker 2>engaging with real Gnostic teachers in his circle. Porphyry said

946
01:11:51.399 --> 01:11:55.439
<v Speaker 2>many Christians of this period, among them sectarians who had

947
01:11:55.479 --> 01:12:00.359
<v Speaker 2>abandoned the old philosophy, fell into these doctrines that some

948
01:12:00.399 --> 01:12:06.279
<v Speaker 2>of Platinus's own acquaintances were swayed. Platinus responded by frequently

949
01:12:06.319 --> 01:12:10.239
<v Speaker 2>criticizing the Gnostics and his lectures, and eventually writing his

950
01:12:10.359 --> 01:12:15.479
<v Speaker 2>treaties to systematically dismantle their ideas. His key points against

951
01:12:15.479 --> 01:12:20.720
<v Speaker 2>snosticism include rejection of contempt for the material world. The

952
01:12:20.720 --> 01:12:24.760
<v Speaker 2>Gnostics taught that the material cosmos is utterly evil, a

953
01:12:24.840 --> 01:12:29.560
<v Speaker 2>prison for the soul. Platinus found this blasphemous and irrational.

954
01:12:30.199 --> 01:12:33.399
<v Speaker 2>As a Platonist, he also viewed the sensible world as

955
01:12:33.439 --> 01:12:37.560
<v Speaker 2>inferior to the intelligible, but he maintained it as an

956
01:12:37.600 --> 01:12:42.600
<v Speaker 2>image of the higher reality and fundamentally good. He argues

957
01:12:42.640 --> 01:12:47.680
<v Speaker 2>that if one properly understands emanation, one must respect this

958
01:12:47.840 --> 01:12:54.039
<v Speaker 2>sensible world as the best possible imitation of the intelligible world. Gnostics,

959
01:12:54.119 --> 01:12:59.119
<v Speaker 2>by contrast, despise and revile the material universe and its maker,

960
01:13:00.000 --> 01:13:04.680
<v Speaker 2>which Platinus saw as intolerable blasphemy. He calls the Gnostic

961
01:13:04.720 --> 01:13:08.159
<v Speaker 2>view of the world blasphemous to Plato, because Plato taught

962
01:13:08.199 --> 01:13:12.319
<v Speaker 2>the world's creator was good. For Platinus, the cosmos is

963
01:13:12.359 --> 01:13:16.079
<v Speaker 2>a living in sold organism, governed by the world's soul

964
01:13:16.319 --> 01:13:20.720
<v Speaker 2>and illuminated by noos. It is not the botched work

965
01:13:21.000 --> 01:13:25.680
<v Speaker 2>of a feign deity. He also critiqued the Gnostic cosmogony.

966
01:13:26.760 --> 01:13:30.760
<v Speaker 2>Gnostic myths often involve a complex cosmogeny where a divine

967
01:13:30.800 --> 01:13:35.119
<v Speaker 2>realm of AONs degenerates, sometimes through a mistake by an

968
01:13:35.159 --> 01:13:39.159
<v Speaker 2>Aon like Sophia, a wisdom, resulting in the creation of

969
01:13:39.199 --> 01:13:44.119
<v Speaker 2>the material world. Platinus attacked these myths as senseless jargon

970
01:13:44.359 --> 01:13:49.880
<v Speaker 2>and arbitrary storytelling. He was a philosopher used to rigorous reasoning,

971
01:13:50.720 --> 01:13:55.079
<v Speaker 2>so the Gnostic pension for baroque myth offended him. He

972
01:13:55.159 --> 01:13:58.840
<v Speaker 2>accuses them of plagiarizing Plato's ideas and corrupting them without

973
01:13:58.960 --> 01:14:04.039
<v Speaker 2>landish inventions. For example, he refutes the Gnostic notion of

974
01:14:04.079 --> 01:14:07.920
<v Speaker 2>a new Earth or a distinct principle caused wisdom outside

975
01:14:07.960 --> 01:14:11.840
<v Speaker 2>the intelligible realm. He also targets the Gnostic idea of

976
01:14:11.880 --> 01:14:15.560
<v Speaker 2>the soul's full Gnostics often said the soul fell from

977
01:14:15.600 --> 01:14:20.560
<v Speaker 2>the pleroma of fullness and got entangled in matter. Plotinus,

978
01:14:20.600 --> 01:14:24.119
<v Speaker 2>while using the metaphor of dissent, insists the universe was

979
01:14:24.159 --> 01:14:28.319
<v Speaker 2>not created in time by a foll It's an eternal procession,

980
01:14:28.399 --> 01:14:31.640
<v Speaker 2>and thus the world has always existed and always will.

981
01:14:32.680 --> 01:14:37.159
<v Speaker 2>There was moral and spiritual critique. Platinus also observed the

982
01:14:37.159 --> 01:14:40.640
<v Speaker 2>behavior and attitude of these gnostics and found it objectionable.

983
01:14:41.600 --> 01:14:44.720
<v Speaker 2>He says they are arrogant and elitists, claiming to be

984
01:14:44.800 --> 01:14:47.199
<v Speaker 2>the only ones with divine spark and looking down on

985
01:14:47.239 --> 01:14:51.159
<v Speaker 2>even the heavenly bodies and gods. One of his arguments,

986
01:14:51.439 --> 01:14:54.399
<v Speaker 2>if they despised the world so much, why do they

987
01:14:54.439 --> 01:14:58.640
<v Speaker 2>indulge in its pleasures when it suits them. In Porphyry's life,

988
01:14:58.680 --> 01:15:01.479
<v Speaker 2>he notes that Platinus and and his pupils spent much

989
01:15:01.520 --> 01:15:06.159
<v Speaker 2>time in anti gnostic controversy, clearly viewing nascissism as an

990
01:15:06.199 --> 01:15:12.239
<v Speaker 2>extremely dangerous heresy. Armstrong summarizes that to Platinus, the teaching

991
01:15:12.319 --> 01:15:17.680
<v Speaker 2>of the Gnostics seems untraditional, irrational, and immoral. They despise

992
01:15:17.760 --> 01:15:22.319
<v Speaker 2>the ancient Platonic teaching and claim a new revelation. This

993
01:15:22.479 --> 01:15:26.960
<v Speaker 2>conservative stance of Platinus defending Hellenic tradition against novel sex

994
01:15:27.199 --> 01:15:33.720
<v Speaker 2>is notable. He was also against Gnostic misotheism. Some Gnostics

995
01:15:33.720 --> 01:15:37.279
<v Speaker 2>portrayed the Creator as ignorant, a malevolent. Platinus found it

996
01:15:37.319 --> 01:15:41.079
<v Speaker 2>absurd and impious that one would refuse to acknowledge the

997
01:15:41.159 --> 01:15:45.680
<v Speaker 2>hierarchy of created gods and spirits like the star's world, soul,

998
01:15:45.720 --> 01:15:50.439
<v Speaker 2>and et cetera, and instead say only they, the Gnostics,

999
01:15:51.079 --> 01:15:54.720
<v Speaker 2>are the children of the true God. He ridiculed their

1000
01:15:54.800 --> 01:15:57.880
<v Speaker 2>ridiculous arrogance in claiming to be above the cosmic order.

1001
01:15:58.760 --> 01:16:01.680
<v Speaker 2>He also calls out the absurdities of the Gnostic myth

1002
01:16:01.800 --> 01:16:05.840
<v Speaker 2>of the Fall of Sophia and their magical beliefs. To

1003
01:16:05.960 --> 01:16:10.840
<v Speaker 2>systematically counter these points, Plultonuses against the Gnostics go through

1004
01:16:10.880 --> 01:16:17.920
<v Speaker 2>a structured rebuttal. Porphary's notes in Armstrong's introduction outline it roughly. First,

1005
01:16:17.920 --> 01:16:21.760
<v Speaker 2>an exposition of true Platonic doctrine to show its completeness,

1006
01:16:22.319 --> 01:16:25.479
<v Speaker 2>then arguments for the eternity of the universe against Gnostic

1007
01:16:25.479 --> 01:16:31.159
<v Speaker 2>creation and time. Then specific refutations. The Gnostic idea of

1008
01:16:31.199 --> 01:16:34.159
<v Speaker 2>a flawed world made by a fallen soul is wrong.

1009
01:16:35.279 --> 01:16:40.079
<v Speaker 2>The world soul is good. The Gnostics misuse Platonic terms

1010
01:16:40.119 --> 01:16:44.800
<v Speaker 2>and have incoherent cosmologies. The universe is good and governed

1011
01:16:44.800 --> 01:16:48.960
<v Speaker 2>by a providence, not by evil. The gnostics contempt for

1012
01:16:49.039 --> 01:16:53.119
<v Speaker 2>stars and planets is wrong. These are in sole beings

1013
01:16:53.159 --> 01:16:56.359
<v Speaker 2>and part of the divine order, and their claim to

1014
01:16:56.520 --> 01:16:59.960
<v Speaker 2>secret magic or being above other souls leads to in war.

1015
01:17:01.960 --> 01:17:07.800
<v Speaker 2>Platinus vehement opposition reveals a lot about his own philosophy too.

1016
01:17:08.039 --> 01:17:12.479
<v Speaker 2>It emphasizes his cosmic optimism, the idea that the universe

1017
01:17:12.640 --> 01:17:15.319
<v Speaker 2>is as good as it can be given its place

1018
01:17:15.560 --> 01:17:19.800
<v Speaker 2>in the hierarchy. It also underscores his commitment to Greek

1019
01:17:19.880 --> 01:17:26.119
<v Speaker 2>rationality and continuity. He saw the Gnostics as interlopers twisting Plato,

1020
01:17:26.560 --> 01:17:30.880
<v Speaker 2>whereas he considered himself the faithful transmitter of Plato's insights.

1021
01:17:32.079 --> 01:17:35.359
<v Speaker 2>Platinus even says he is not coining a new doctrine,

1022
01:17:35.439 --> 01:17:41.840
<v Speaker 2>but clarifying tradition. This stance likely helped shape Neoplatinum's identity

1023
01:17:42.039 --> 01:17:47.800
<v Speaker 2>in contrast to Gnostic or Christian thought. Interestingly, modern scholarship

1024
01:17:47.840 --> 01:17:52.119
<v Speaker 2>has nuanced this picture for a long time. Armstrong's view

1025
01:17:52.319 --> 01:17:56.039
<v Speaker 2>from the nineteen fifties to sixties that Platinus was extremely

1026
01:17:56.079 --> 01:18:01.119
<v Speaker 2>hostile to Gnostics was standard. Armstrong portrayed the Treaties as

1027
01:18:01.159 --> 01:18:05.680
<v Speaker 2>a most powerful protest on behalf of Hellenic philosophy against

1028
01:18:05.680 --> 01:18:11.439
<v Speaker 2>the Unhellenic heresy. However, more recently, scholars like Lloyd P.

1029
01:18:11.600 --> 01:18:15.600
<v Speaker 2>Gerson have suggested that Platinus might not be as vitriolic

1030
01:18:15.720 --> 01:18:19.840
<v Speaker 2>as one's thought. Gerson notes that Platinus had friends in

1031
01:18:19.880 --> 01:18:23.039
<v Speaker 2>his circle who were inclined to Gnostic ideas, and that

1032
01:18:23.079 --> 01:18:28.399
<v Speaker 2>Platinus aimed to correct them philosophically without entirely condemning them personally.

1033
01:18:29.680 --> 01:18:33.840
<v Speaker 2>Platinus's tone in the Treaties, while firm, is still a

1034
01:18:33.880 --> 01:18:39.600
<v Speaker 2>philosophical argument, not mere polemic. He invites the Gnostics to

1035
01:18:39.800 --> 01:18:43.600
<v Speaker 2>tell Us in what respects they intend to disagree with Plato.

1036
01:18:44.560 --> 01:18:47.359
<v Speaker 2>These views should be set out in a considerate and

1037
01:18:47.399 --> 01:18:52.119
<v Speaker 2>philosophical manner. This shows he was willing to debate specifics

1038
01:18:52.199 --> 01:18:57.199
<v Speaker 2>and not just denounce Gerson emphasizes that Platinus shared a

1039
01:18:57.239 --> 01:19:00.840
<v Speaker 2>critical attitude towards the material world, as inn Platonists would,

1040
01:19:01.520 --> 01:19:04.600
<v Speaker 2>but he diverged from the Gnostics in that he loved

1041
01:19:04.720 --> 01:19:09.479
<v Speaker 2>the world as an image of the divine. Basically, Plutinus

1042
01:19:09.520 --> 01:19:13.039
<v Speaker 2>wanted to reform what he saw as the gnostics misunderstandings

1043
01:19:13.079 --> 01:19:19.840
<v Speaker 2>of Platonism. Plutinus's confrontation with narcissism was a defining intellectual

1044
01:19:19.880 --> 01:19:23.640
<v Speaker 2>battle of his career and reinforced his own doctrines the

1045
01:19:23.640 --> 01:19:26.720
<v Speaker 2>eternity of the universe, the goodness of the world's soul

1046
01:19:26.800 --> 01:19:31.159
<v Speaker 2>and the stars, the insistence on clear philosophical reasoning over

1047
01:19:31.279 --> 01:19:35.720
<v Speaker 2>wild myth, and the view of salvation through philosophical purification

1048
01:19:35.880 --> 01:19:40.000
<v Speaker 2>and contemplation rather than through belonging to an elect with

1049
01:19:40.159 --> 01:19:47.359
<v Speaker 2>secret knowledge. His efforts left a legacy. Later Neoplatonists also

1050
01:19:47.439 --> 01:19:52.199
<v Speaker 2>took anti Gnostic stances, and Church fathers like Augustine found

1051
01:19:52.239 --> 01:19:56.439
<v Speaker 2>in Platinus a more rational spirituality that influenced them away

1052
01:19:56.479 --> 01:20:01.159
<v Speaker 2>from Gnostic dualism. Thus, Plutinus can be seen as having

1053
01:20:01.279 --> 01:20:06.600
<v Speaker 2>saved Platonism from being eclipsed by Gnostic theosophy, reasserting a

1054
01:20:06.680 --> 01:20:10.239
<v Speaker 2>worldview where even the far flung corners of the cosmos

1055
01:20:10.319 --> 01:20:14.520
<v Speaker 2>are under the care of the good. And now we

1056
01:20:14.560 --> 01:20:17.560
<v Speaker 2>will talk a little bit about Platinus's thoughts on astrology

1057
01:20:17.720 --> 01:20:22.840
<v Speaker 2>and fate. In the third century astrology, the belief that

1058
01:20:22.880 --> 01:20:28.920
<v Speaker 2>the stars and planets influence human destinies was highly popular. Platinus, however,

1059
01:20:29.640 --> 01:20:32.840
<v Speaker 2>was rary of any doctrine that undermined the rational order

1060
01:20:33.239 --> 01:20:37.479
<v Speaker 2>or human moral responsibility. In a late essay titled Are

1061
01:20:37.479 --> 01:20:42.439
<v Speaker 2>the Stars Causes? Platinus addresses the notion of casual astrology

1062
01:20:42.560 --> 01:20:48.199
<v Speaker 2>head on. Platinus's stance can be summarized as the stars

1063
01:20:48.239 --> 01:20:52.199
<v Speaker 2>may be signs and indicators, but not causes of our fate.

1064
01:20:53.560 --> 01:20:57.840
<v Speaker 2>He reasons that attributing direct causal power over human affairs

1065
01:20:57.880 --> 01:21:01.000
<v Speaker 2>to the position of the stars and planets would introduce

1066
01:21:01.039 --> 01:21:05.479
<v Speaker 2>an irrational, mechanistic fate into the cosmos that conflicts with

1067
01:21:05.560 --> 01:21:08.439
<v Speaker 2>the providence of the divine and with our free will.

1068
01:21:10.239 --> 01:21:14.600
<v Speaker 2>He asks, if a specific stars configuration dooms someone's to

1069
01:21:14.800 --> 01:21:18.319
<v Speaker 2>vice or misery, where is the justice or reason in

1070
01:21:18.439 --> 01:21:23.000
<v Speaker 2>that it would make the universe irrational and morally incoherent?

1071
01:21:24.359 --> 01:21:30.520
<v Speaker 2>In Are the Stars Causes? Platinus argues several points the

1072
01:21:30.560 --> 01:21:33.319
<v Speaker 2>cosmos is a living being with the soul that orders

1073
01:21:33.359 --> 01:21:38.640
<v Speaker 2>everything providentially. The heavenly bodies, stars and planets themselves are

1074
01:21:38.680 --> 01:21:43.560
<v Speaker 2>in sould beings, splendid, eternal, and part of the divine order.

1075
01:21:44.960 --> 01:21:48.119
<v Speaker 2>They move in their courses not to micromanage our lives,

1076
01:21:48.119 --> 01:21:50.159
<v Speaker 2>but as a part of the harmony of the oil.

1077
01:21:52.760 --> 01:21:56.199
<v Speaker 2>If astrologists say the stars cause events or personal traits,

1078
01:21:56.680 --> 01:22:01.119
<v Speaker 2>this implies a weird scenario. Either the stars are deliberately

1079
01:22:01.199 --> 01:22:05.239
<v Speaker 2>manipulating us, which would make them malicious or petty, unthinkable

1080
01:22:05.279 --> 01:22:08.800
<v Speaker 2>for divine beings, or the matter of the stars somehow

1081
01:22:08.840 --> 01:22:12.560
<v Speaker 2>emanates forces that override our reason, which would mean matter

1082
01:22:12.680 --> 01:22:19.319
<v Speaker 2>is controlling spirit, also absurd. In platinus hierarchy, Platinus concedes

1083
01:22:19.880 --> 01:22:23.640
<v Speaker 2>that the correlation between celestial cycles and earthly events is

1084
01:22:23.680 --> 01:22:29.079
<v Speaker 2>not imaginary patterns exist, but he interprets this as synchronicity

1085
01:22:29.159 --> 01:22:32.960
<v Speaker 2>within a unified organism, not as one causing the other.

1086
01:22:34.159 --> 01:22:36.079
<v Speaker 1>In other words, the stars.

1087
01:22:35.720 --> 01:22:38.920
<v Speaker 2>May indicate future trends because all parts of the cosmos

1088
01:22:38.960 --> 01:22:42.239
<v Speaker 2>are interwoven and meaning, just as a person's flushed face

1089
01:22:42.279 --> 01:22:45.880
<v Speaker 2>may indicate a fever without causing it. He is willing

1090
01:22:45.920 --> 01:22:49.239
<v Speaker 2>to allow that astrologists can sometimes predict things by reading

1091
01:22:49.279 --> 01:22:52.760
<v Speaker 2>the letters in the sky, but he insists this does

1092
01:22:52.840 --> 01:22:56.680
<v Speaker 2>not mean the stars cause those things in a mechanistic sense.

1093
01:22:58.840 --> 01:23:02.880
<v Speaker 2>Platinus thus navigates a middle ground. He is not completely

1094
01:23:02.920 --> 01:23:06.640
<v Speaker 2>dismissing astrology, since he accepts a kind of cosmic symbolism

1095
01:23:06.800 --> 01:23:11.000
<v Speaker 2>or science concept the stars being divine lights could be

1096
01:23:11.079 --> 01:23:14.840
<v Speaker 2>viewed as part of communication of the universe's order, but

1097
01:23:14.920 --> 01:23:20.119
<v Speaker 2>he strongly rejects astrological determinism. The notion that our character

1098
01:23:20.239 --> 01:23:23.720
<v Speaker 2>of fate is locked in by stellar positions at our

1099
01:23:23.760 --> 01:23:27.199
<v Speaker 2>birth is incompatible with his view of the dignity of

1100
01:23:27.239 --> 01:23:32.760
<v Speaker 2>the soul and the goodness of providence. Platinus believes each

1101
01:23:32.840 --> 01:23:36.680
<v Speaker 2>soul has the freedom to turn inward and upward, regardless

1102
01:23:36.680 --> 01:23:40.800
<v Speaker 2>of material conditions. If one were to blame the stars

1103
01:23:40.800 --> 01:23:44.840
<v Speaker 2>for one's moral feelings of misfortunes, that would encourage passivity

1104
01:23:44.920 --> 01:23:51.079
<v Speaker 2>and fatalism, which Platinus cannot accept. In on fate, he

1105
01:23:51.159 --> 01:23:55.520
<v Speaker 2>also integrates this with the concept of universal reason of logos.

1106
01:23:55.560 --> 01:23:59.039
<v Speaker 2>Fate in the sense of an ordered sequence of causes

1107
01:23:59.159 --> 01:24:05.079
<v Speaker 2>exists but is subsumed under providence. There is a rational

1108
01:24:05.119 --> 01:24:09.119
<v Speaker 2>plan of providence that orders everything, and what people call

1109
01:24:09.199 --> 01:24:12.800
<v Speaker 2>fate is just the lower manifestation of that plan in

1110
01:24:12.840 --> 01:24:17.159
<v Speaker 2>the connected chain of natural causes. But this chain of

1111
01:24:17.239 --> 01:24:21.439
<v Speaker 2>natural causes, including stars influencing weather, and et cetera, does

1112
01:24:21.479 --> 01:24:27.880
<v Speaker 2>not absolutely determine the choice of rational souls. Souls, especially

1113
01:24:27.960 --> 01:24:31.479
<v Speaker 2>in the intellectual level, participate in the higher freedom of

1114
01:24:31.520 --> 01:24:36.479
<v Speaker 2>the divine. Thus, human freedom coexists with a meaningful cosmic

1115
01:24:36.600 --> 01:24:42.119
<v Speaker 2>order in Platinus's thought. Interestingly, this view of Platinus on

1116
01:24:42.159 --> 01:24:48.159
<v Speaker 2>astrology influenced later thinkers. Renaissance Platonists like Ficino, who was

1117
01:24:48.239 --> 01:24:51.640
<v Speaker 2>himself an astrologer of sorts, often echoed that the stars

1118
01:24:51.760 --> 01:24:56.319
<v Speaker 2>incline but do not compel the idea that astrology is

1119
01:24:56.359 --> 01:24:59.840
<v Speaker 2>about reading signs rather than submitting to causes. Ultimately, all

1120
01:25:00.199 --> 01:25:04.039
<v Speaker 2>astrology to be philosophically defended through the Renaissance and a

1121
01:25:04.039 --> 01:25:09.439
<v Speaker 2>Plutonian spirit. From the evidence, Plutinus was one of the

1122
01:25:09.479 --> 01:25:15.399
<v Speaker 2>first philosophers to articulate arguments against strict astrological determinism. This

1123
01:25:15.600 --> 01:25:18.520
<v Speaker 2>was significant because it helped preserve the notion of moral

1124
01:25:18.560 --> 01:25:23.119
<v Speaker 2>responsibility and the integrity of divine providence against the fatalistic

1125
01:25:23.199 --> 01:25:27.800
<v Speaker 2>view that was tempting in a tumultuous error. Given that

1126
01:25:27.840 --> 01:25:30.560
<v Speaker 2>many people in this crisis of the third century, sought

1127
01:25:30.600 --> 01:25:35.119
<v Speaker 2>solace in astrology. Platinus's message was, the stars are part

1128
01:25:35.279 --> 01:25:38.760
<v Speaker 2>of the chorus of the cosmos, not puppet masters of

1129
01:25:38.800 --> 01:25:43.840
<v Speaker 2>your soul. The proper attitude towards the stars for Platinus

1130
01:25:44.239 --> 01:25:47.920
<v Speaker 2>is reverence. They are divine and understanding of the universal

1131
01:25:47.960 --> 01:25:52.239
<v Speaker 2>sympathy that connects all things, but not seveale, fear or

1132
01:25:52.279 --> 01:26:00.000
<v Speaker 2>blind reliance. One antidote we saw earlier indirectly relates Platinus's enemy, Olympius,

1133
01:26:00.159 --> 01:26:04.800
<v Speaker 2>tried to use star spells in astrological magic against him,

1134
01:26:04.840 --> 01:26:08.840
<v Speaker 2>and reportedly the attempt backfired because of Platinus's powerful soul.

1135
01:26:10.119 --> 01:26:14.680
<v Speaker 2>Platinus feeling the attack and describing Olympius's limbed convulsions shows

1136
01:26:14.680 --> 01:26:17.479
<v Speaker 2>that he acknowledged some kind of occult effect, but ultimately

1137
01:26:17.600 --> 01:26:18.199
<v Speaker 2>virtue in.

1138
01:26:18.239 --> 01:26:20.520
<v Speaker 1>The power of the higher soul prevailed.

1139
01:26:22.600 --> 01:26:26.640
<v Speaker 2>This dramatizes his belief that no astrological curse can harm

1140
01:26:26.680 --> 01:26:32.039
<v Speaker 2>the philosopher. Rooted in intellect, Platinus viewed astrology through a

1141
01:26:32.079 --> 01:26:36.520
<v Speaker 2>philosophical lens. It's not outright nonsense, but its popular form

1142
01:26:36.600 --> 01:26:41.199
<v Speaker 2>is based on misunderstanding. Stars signify, but they do not

1143
01:26:41.239 --> 01:26:44.520
<v Speaker 2>compel the rational soul. Is meant to guide itself by

1144
01:26:44.520 --> 01:26:47.920
<v Speaker 2>the higher stars or the forms, not by the physical stars.

1145
01:26:49.880 --> 01:26:53.399
<v Speaker 2>And now we will talk about how Platinus saw himself

1146
01:26:53.640 --> 01:26:58.680
<v Speaker 2>as Plato's successor. Platinus considered himself not an innovator, but

1147
01:26:58.760 --> 01:27:02.479
<v Speaker 2>a faithful interpreter of Plato. In his seminars, he would

1148
01:27:02.520 --> 01:27:05.760
<v Speaker 2>frequently have Plato's dialogues read aloud, and he built on

1149
01:27:05.800 --> 01:27:10.319
<v Speaker 2>Platonic doctrine at every turn. However, later historians label him

1150
01:27:10.359 --> 01:27:14.039
<v Speaker 2>the founder of Neoplatonism because he did go beyond Plato

1151
01:27:14.119 --> 01:27:20.520
<v Speaker 2>in constructing a more systematic metaphysics of three hypostasies. Let's

1152
01:27:20.520 --> 01:27:24.279
<v Speaker 2>see how Platinus relates to Plato and other predecessors.

1153
01:27:25.439 --> 01:27:25.840
<v Speaker 1>Plato.

1154
01:27:26.479 --> 01:27:30.760
<v Speaker 2>Platinus virtually idolized Plato, referring him to often simply as

1155
01:27:30.840 --> 01:27:35.159
<v Speaker 2>the philosopher. On the birthdays of Plato and Socrates, Platinus

1156
01:27:35.199 --> 01:27:39.279
<v Speaker 2>celebrated with special honor. He believed that Plato's writings contain

1157
01:27:39.359 --> 01:27:44.439
<v Speaker 2>the truth in need of proper interpretation. Platinus's metaphysics of

1158
01:27:44.479 --> 01:27:47.319
<v Speaker 2>the one, intellect and soul can be seen as a

1159
01:27:47.359 --> 01:27:52.840
<v Speaker 2>grand elaboration of hints in Plato. For instance, Plato's Republic

1160
01:27:53.439 --> 01:27:58.119
<v Speaker 2>posits the form of the good beyond being, Platinus identifies

1161
01:27:58.159 --> 01:28:01.520
<v Speaker 2>that with the One and makes it the center. Plato's

1162
01:28:01.520 --> 01:28:06.000
<v Speaker 2>Timaeus describes a transcendent craftsman, the demiurge any world soul.

1163
01:28:07.079 --> 01:28:10.680
<v Speaker 2>Platinus's nose corresponds to the craftsmen of forms and his

1164
01:28:10.720 --> 01:28:15.800
<v Speaker 2>world souls directly from that tradition. Middle Platonists philosophers like

1165
01:28:15.920 --> 01:28:19.199
<v Speaker 2>Numinius had already spoken of a second deity or nose

1166
01:28:19.640 --> 01:28:23.279
<v Speaker 2>emanating from a supreme one or good, and Platinus built

1167
01:28:23.279 --> 01:28:27.079
<v Speaker 2>on those ideas. When some accuse him of borrowing from Numinius,

1168
01:28:27.279 --> 01:28:32.399
<v Speaker 2>Amilaus and Porphyry defended Platinus by showing differences, likely emphasizing

1169
01:28:32.399 --> 01:28:37.640
<v Speaker 2>how Platinus's One is absolutely transcendent. Numinius had two gods,

1170
01:28:37.880 --> 01:28:42.000
<v Speaker 2>with the second doing creation. Platinus says the highest itself

1171
01:28:42.039 --> 01:28:48.600
<v Speaker 2>involuntarily generates the second. Platinus saw himself as clarifying Plato,

1172
01:28:48.880 --> 01:28:52.520
<v Speaker 2>especially against misreadings by other sects like the Gnostics or

1173
01:28:52.720 --> 01:28:59.399
<v Speaker 2>perhaps Stoics. Notably, he avoided writing commentaries on Plato. Instead,

1174
01:28:59.399 --> 01:29:05.880
<v Speaker 2>he integrates Platonic doctrines into his own systematic treaties. When

1175
01:29:05.880 --> 01:29:10.119
<v Speaker 2>it comes to Aristotle, Platinus respected Aristotle's philosophy greatly and

1176
01:29:10.199 --> 01:29:16.119
<v Speaker 2>absorbed much of it Porphyry's Notes. Aristotle's metaphysics especially, is

1177
01:29:16.159 --> 01:29:21.119
<v Speaker 2>condensed in Platinus's writings almost entire, which is quite a statement.

1178
01:29:21.920 --> 01:29:26.880
<v Speaker 2>Plutinus indeed uses Aristolian terminology of act, potency, the categories,

1179
01:29:26.880 --> 01:29:32.880
<v Speaker 2>et cetera, but often subtly modifies them. For example, Aristotle's

1180
01:29:32.880 --> 01:29:37.199
<v Speaker 2>concept of the unmoved mover as purely actual intellect influenced

1181
01:29:37.199 --> 01:29:42.239
<v Speaker 2>Platinus's concept of notes, though Platinus places a one above that.

1182
01:29:43.600 --> 01:29:48.119
<v Speaker 2>Plutinus also adopts Aristotle's idea of the intellect knowing itself

1183
01:29:48.880 --> 01:29:54.239
<v Speaker 2>nose thinking itself directly into his system. However, he diverges

1184
01:29:54.319 --> 01:29:59.479
<v Speaker 2>by insisting that even the self thinking intellect must be transcended.

1185
01:30:00.439 --> 01:30:03.960
<v Speaker 2>He also critiques some Aristolian ideas, like the eternity of

1186
01:30:04.000 --> 01:30:08.000
<v Speaker 2>the world, in a different sense. Actually, Platinus agrees the

1187
01:30:08.000 --> 01:30:11.359
<v Speaker 2>world as eternal, but he has no use for Aristotle's

1188
01:30:11.399 --> 01:30:16.439
<v Speaker 2>denial of a transcending good beyond being. Aristotle's God is

1189
01:30:16.520 --> 01:30:22.119
<v Speaker 2>thought thinking itself, not a one beyond thought. When it

1190
01:30:22.119 --> 01:30:25.319
<v Speaker 2>comes to Middle Platonists and others, Platinus definitely drew on

1191
01:30:25.359 --> 01:30:30.159
<v Speaker 2>the work of previous Platonists like Numinius of Epima. Numinius

1192
01:30:30.239 --> 01:30:33.680
<v Speaker 2>had taught a supreme first God and a second demiurge,

1193
01:30:34.039 --> 01:30:38.439
<v Speaker 2>and that matter was pre existent and evil. Platinus's hierarchy

1194
01:30:38.800 --> 01:30:45.000
<v Speaker 2>one knows Soul can be seen as a refinement one

1195
01:30:45.239 --> 01:30:49.439
<v Speaker 2>equals Numinius's first God knows is the second god of

1196
01:30:49.479 --> 01:30:53.840
<v Speaker 2>the demiurge, and soul is the third principle. But Platinus

1197
01:30:53.840 --> 01:30:57.720
<v Speaker 2>refuted the idea of matter as a coeternal evil principle,

1198
01:30:58.840 --> 01:31:02.000
<v Speaker 2>instead seeing matter as a privation, which is more in

1199
01:31:02.039 --> 01:31:05.720
<v Speaker 2>line with Plato's to Meaeus with a demiurge imposes form

1200
01:31:05.800 --> 01:31:09.680
<v Speaker 2>on a pre existing chaos, but Platinus denies that chaos

1201
01:31:09.720 --> 01:31:15.880
<v Speaker 2>has real being. Wolfhary's letter addressing differences with Numinius suggested

1202
01:31:16.079 --> 01:31:23.399
<v Speaker 2>Platinus's originality. Presumably, Platinus emphasized the continuity of all things,

1203
01:31:23.960 --> 01:31:27.840
<v Speaker 2>no absolute dualism, and the indwelling presence of the higher

1204
01:31:28.039 --> 01:31:31.439
<v Speaker 2>in the lower. Even in matter, the one's presence is

1205
01:31:31.520 --> 01:31:35.319
<v Speaker 2>faintly there, whereas some earlier thinkers might have had a

1206
01:31:35.399 --> 01:31:41.640
<v Speaker 2>harsher dualism. Overall, Platinus synthesized six hundred plus years of

1207
01:31:41.640 --> 01:31:47.680
<v Speaker 2>Greek philosophy. He took parmenides concept of the one, Heraclitus's dynamics,

1208
01:31:48.119 --> 01:31:52.279
<v Speaker 2>Plato's dualism of intelligible verse sensible, and Aristotle's logic and

1209
01:31:52.319 --> 01:31:56.600
<v Speaker 2>psychology stoic ethics to some degree in Pythagorean and neo

1210
01:31:56.680 --> 01:32:03.119
<v Speaker 2>Pythagorean numerological themes. The result was something both traditional and new.

1211
01:32:04.399 --> 01:32:08.239
<v Speaker 2>Plutinus himself insisted it was the true interpretation of Plato.

1212
01:32:09.119 --> 01:32:13.960
<v Speaker 2>Later thinkers realized it was a new school, hence Neoplatonism.

1213
01:32:14.479 --> 01:32:18.000
<v Speaker 2>One debate and scholarship is whether Colum Platinus or Neoplatonist

1214
01:32:18.520 --> 01:32:20.720
<v Speaker 2>is fair or whether he's just a Platonist in the

1215
01:32:20.760 --> 01:32:25.920
<v Speaker 2>Platonic secession. The consensus is that Platinus's system is a

1216
01:32:25.960 --> 01:32:31.039
<v Speaker 2>distinct development. For example, Plato didn't clearly articulate the one

1217
01:32:31.239 --> 01:32:34.880
<v Speaker 2>as separate from the good or a triadic emanation structure.

1218
01:32:35.640 --> 01:32:40.760
<v Speaker 2>Those are Platinus's developments, influenced by centuries of intervening thought

1219
01:32:41.039 --> 01:32:46.159
<v Speaker 2>and perhaps non Greek ideas. Another debate how much did

1220
01:32:46.199 --> 01:32:53.039
<v Speaker 2>Platinus incorporate mystery religion or Eastern concepts some like Breaer earlier,

1221
01:32:53.279 --> 01:32:56.520
<v Speaker 2>though quite a bit leaning on maybe Indian input As

1222
01:32:56.560 --> 01:33:00.279
<v Speaker 2>mentioned are those like Armstrong showed good Greek pedigree for

1223
01:33:00.319 --> 01:33:05.079
<v Speaker 2>his ideas. What is widely accepted is that Platinus's store

1224
01:33:05.199 --> 01:33:08.079
<v Speaker 2>was original in form, even if claimed to be old

1225
01:33:08.199 --> 01:33:12.439
<v Speaker 2>in content. He did not invent theorems, but he did

1226
01:33:12.479 --> 01:33:17.439
<v Speaker 2>invent a new synthesis. In philosophy. He systematatized a form

1227
01:33:17.479 --> 01:33:22.199
<v Speaker 2>of heneological metaphysics that became the standard for later Platonism.

1228
01:33:22.680 --> 01:33:26.920
<v Speaker 2>Porphyry and the later Neoplatonists regarded Platinus as a second Plato,

1229
01:33:27.039 --> 01:33:30.520
<v Speaker 2>or at least as the authoritative guide to Plato's deepest meaning.

1230
01:33:32.359 --> 01:33:36.279
<v Speaker 2>To any extent, he invented something tangible, not the way

1231
01:33:36.279 --> 01:33:39.359
<v Speaker 2>an engineer would, but he did originate in philosophical writing

1232
01:33:39.399 --> 01:33:44.680
<v Speaker 2>that combined rigorous metaphysics with mystical insights so seamlessly this

1233
01:33:44.720 --> 01:33:52.680
<v Speaker 2>would heavily influence philosophical and religious thought for centuries. Platinus's

1234
01:33:52.680 --> 01:33:56.439
<v Speaker 2>impact rippled through late Antiquity and beyond, shaping the course

1235
01:33:56.439 --> 01:34:01.600
<v Speaker 2>of philosophy and theology and multiple cultures. Medially after Platinus's death,

1236
01:34:02.039 --> 01:34:07.680
<v Speaker 2>his school continued through Porphyry and other students. Porphary not

1237
01:34:07.720 --> 01:34:11.560
<v Speaker 2>only edited the Eneads, but also wrote introductions and commentaries.

1238
01:34:11.920 --> 01:34:17.640
<v Speaker 2>Another student Emilius to Platinus's teachings to Syria. A generation later,

1239
01:34:18.000 --> 01:34:22.479
<v Speaker 2>Amblicus built on Platinus, but introduced new elements like theogy

1240
01:34:22.680 --> 01:34:27.399
<v Speaker 2>ritual magic to Neoplatonism. While he differed on some points,

1241
01:34:27.880 --> 01:34:31.560
<v Speaker 2>he placed more intermediaries between the One and the world,

1242
01:34:32.079 --> 01:34:38.119
<v Speaker 2>but emphasized polytheistic cult practice. He still considered Platinus a master.

1243
01:34:40.760 --> 01:34:45.000
<v Speaker 2>By the fourth century, Neoplatonism became the dominant philosophy and

1244
01:34:45.079 --> 01:34:49.239
<v Speaker 2>the Greek speaking world. The Emperor Julian the Apostate, who

1245
01:34:49.239 --> 01:34:53.439
<v Speaker 2>attempted to revive pagan religion, was deeply influenced by Neoplatonism.

1246
01:34:55.039 --> 01:34:58.720
<v Speaker 2>Julian's own writings praised the Sun god in Platonian terms,

1247
01:34:58.760 --> 01:35:05.119
<v Speaker 2>and he studied under Iamblicus's student, Hypatia of Alexandria, the

1248
01:35:05.159 --> 01:35:09.520
<v Speaker 2>famous woman philosopher, also taught a form of Neoplatonism and

1249
01:35:09.680 --> 01:35:15.319
<v Speaker 2>was likely acquainted with Platinus's work. Platinus's idea about the One,

1250
01:35:15.560 --> 01:35:19.520
<v Speaker 2>the intellect, and soul provided a philosophical framework that pagan

1251
01:35:19.600 --> 01:35:24.279
<v Speaker 2>thinkers used to interpret their traditional gods. Allegorically, they might say,

1252
01:35:24.359 --> 01:35:30.479
<v Speaker 2>Zeus represents the One's power, Athena represents Noos, the last

1253
01:35:30.560 --> 01:35:35.479
<v Speaker 2>great Pagan philosophical school in Athens, where Proclus taught, was

1254
01:35:35.520 --> 01:35:41.800
<v Speaker 2>thoroughly Neoplatonic. Proclus wrote extensive commentaries and even systematic work

1255
01:35:42.079 --> 01:35:48.279
<v Speaker 2>elements of theology that owes much to Platinus's triatic structure. However,

1256
01:35:48.439 --> 01:35:52.800
<v Speaker 2>it wasn't only Pagan's. Christian thinkers in late Antiquity also

1257
01:35:52.840 --> 01:35:57.920
<v Speaker 2>fell Platinus's influence. Church fathers like Saint Augustine would count

1258
01:35:57.960 --> 01:36:01.439
<v Speaker 2>how reading the books of the Platonists Latin translations of

1259
01:36:01.479 --> 01:36:07.000
<v Speaker 2>Platinus and Porphyry by Marius Victorianus helped him conceive of

1260
01:36:07.039 --> 01:36:12.920
<v Speaker 2>God as a non material highest being. Augustine wrote, Platinus

1261
01:36:13.800 --> 01:36:18.840
<v Speaker 2>is the Plato of our times. He integrated many Platonian ideas,

1262
01:36:19.439 --> 01:36:22.079
<v Speaker 2>for example, the notion of God as the source of being,

1263
01:36:22.800 --> 01:36:26.439
<v Speaker 2>the hierarchy of being, and the idea of evil as

1264
01:36:26.479 --> 01:36:31.479
<v Speaker 2>privation into Christian doctrine, although he ultimately had to diverge

1265
01:36:31.520 --> 01:36:34.159
<v Speaker 2>on issues like the eternity of the world and the

1266
01:36:34.159 --> 01:36:39.720
<v Speaker 2>personal nature of God. A direct quote by Bertrand Russell

1267
01:36:40.199 --> 01:36:46.279
<v Speaker 2>encapsulates this blending. Christian theologians combined these points of view

1268
01:36:46.520 --> 01:36:50.920
<v Speaker 2>and embodied much of the philosophy of Platinus. Platinus is

1269
01:36:51.079 --> 01:36:54.960
<v Speaker 2>historically important as an influence in molding the Christianity of

1270
01:36:55.000 --> 01:37:01.159
<v Speaker 2>the Middle Ages. Perhaps the most striking case is Pseudodionysus,

1271
01:37:01.159 --> 01:37:07.079
<v Speaker 2>that Arabic game, an Eastern Christian mystical theologian. Dionysus borrowed

1272
01:37:07.079 --> 01:37:11.039
<v Speaker 2>heavily from Plutinus through Proclus, perhaps the concept of the

1273
01:37:11.079 --> 01:37:15.159
<v Speaker 2>soul's assent to God, the negative theology of saying God

1274
01:37:15.239 --> 01:37:19.920
<v Speaker 2>is beyond being, and a hierarchy of angels analogists to

1275
01:37:19.960 --> 01:37:25.880
<v Speaker 2>Platinus's hypostasis. He even uses the term one for God

1276
01:37:25.920 --> 01:37:31.079
<v Speaker 2>and describes divine emanations. He calls them processions and returns

1277
01:37:32.279 --> 01:37:36.199
<v Speaker 2>the Eastern Orthodox theological idea of divine energies. Verse essence

1278
01:37:36.520 --> 01:37:42.000
<v Speaker 2>arguably parallels Platinus's layers of the divine. Thus, Plutinus, via

1279
01:37:42.079 --> 01:37:48.319
<v Speaker 2>such Christian Neoplatonists influenced Medieval Christian mysticism and theology. Gnostic

1280
01:37:48.359 --> 01:37:53.359
<v Speaker 2>and Hermetic traditions also indirectly drew on Neoplatonism, although Platinus's

1281
01:37:53.399 --> 01:37:58.000
<v Speaker 2>Fourth the Gnostics ironically, later esoteric thought often merged Gnostic

1282
01:37:58.359 --> 01:38:04.720
<v Speaker 2>cosmologies with Neoplatonic structures. The Hermetic writings like Pio Mandres

1283
01:38:05.279 --> 01:38:09.520
<v Speaker 2>roughly contemporary with Platinus, share some concepts of supreme one

1284
01:38:09.640 --> 01:38:14.920
<v Speaker 2>or mine. Scholars debate cross influences, but certainly, by late Antiquity,

1285
01:38:15.039 --> 01:38:21.840
<v Speaker 2>a general neoplatonic flavor pervaded many spiritual writings in the

1286
01:38:21.960 --> 01:38:26.640
<v Speaker 2>Islamic world. Platinus's thought was transmitted somewhat covertly. In the

1287
01:38:26.760 --> 01:38:30.880
<v Speaker 2>ninth century. Arabic scholars in the Obbosid Caliphate compiled the

1288
01:38:30.920 --> 01:38:35.279
<v Speaker 2>work called the Theology of Aristotle, which was actually a

1289
01:38:35.399 --> 01:38:41.159
<v Speaker 2>paraphiies of Platinus's Indiads four through six misattributed to Aristotle.

1290
01:38:42.359 --> 01:38:47.479
<v Speaker 2>Through this and other translations, Plutonian ideas entered Islamic philosophy.

1291
01:38:48.920 --> 01:38:52.840
<v Speaker 2>Early Islamic neoplatonists like al Kindi and the Brethren of

1292
01:38:52.880 --> 01:39:00.000
<v Speaker 2>Purity took on such ideas. More significantly, Ismalli, She's theologians

1293
01:39:00.239 --> 01:39:05.720
<v Speaker 2>and Persian philosophers employed neoplatonic concepts. Figures like al Farabi

1294
01:39:05.920 --> 01:39:10.920
<v Speaker 2>and Avicenna were influenced indirectly by Platinus, often via the

1295
01:39:10.920 --> 01:39:16.079
<v Speaker 2>Theology of Aristotle. Avicena's scheme of emanation and intellect owes

1296
01:39:16.199 --> 01:39:21.720
<v Speaker 2>much to Neoplatonism. An esoteric is mainly tradition. As noted

1297
01:39:21.720 --> 01:39:27.079
<v Speaker 2>by historians, Neoplatonism was adopted by thinkers like Nasafi and

1298
01:39:27.359 --> 01:39:34.159
<v Speaker 2>Abu Yaquib al Sigistani, and later by Fatimid court philosopher

1299
01:39:34.640 --> 01:39:42.039
<v Speaker 2>Al Kremani. They recast Platinus's hyposthesis in an Islamic cosmology,

1300
01:39:42.119 --> 01:39:46.199
<v Speaker 2>equating the one with Alla's presence, Denose with the first intellect,

1301
01:39:46.680 --> 01:39:50.000
<v Speaker 2>maybe the first angel or the universal intellect, and Ferrabi's

1302
01:39:50.000 --> 01:39:53.560
<v Speaker 2>scheme and the world's soul with his second intellect or

1303
01:39:53.680 --> 01:40:01.800
<v Speaker 2>active intellect. This neoplatonic strain significantly influenced islam mysticism Sufism

1304
01:40:01.880 --> 01:40:07.239
<v Speaker 2>as well. For example, so who are Rudri and Mullasadra

1305
01:40:07.479 --> 01:40:12.319
<v Speaker 2>and Persian thought show strong neoplatonic colors. The influence on

1306
01:40:12.479 --> 01:40:16.880
<v Speaker 2>Islam is thus a story of assimilation and adaptation. By

1307
01:40:16.920 --> 01:40:22.000
<v Speaker 2>the eleventh century, Neoplatonism was adopted officially in places like

1308
01:40:22.079 --> 01:40:27.319
<v Speaker 2>Fatimid Egypt, and authors like Nassar Kushrour wrote works blending

1309
01:40:27.359 --> 01:40:35.079
<v Speaker 2>neoplatonic cosmology with Islamic theology. In Jewish thought, Platinus's influence

1310
01:40:35.159 --> 01:40:40.159
<v Speaker 2>came slightly later, but was profound. Early Medieval Jewish philosophers

1311
01:40:40.199 --> 01:40:45.960
<v Speaker 2>like Isaac Israeli or Solomon even Gabriel were essentially neoplatonists.

1312
01:40:46.600 --> 01:40:50.880
<v Speaker 2>Gabriel's Fons Vittai posits a hierarchy from God's will to

1313
01:40:51.000 --> 01:40:53.680
<v Speaker 2>universal matter, reminiscent of Platinis.

1314
01:40:54.279 --> 01:40:54.680
<v Speaker 1>Moses.

1315
01:40:54.800 --> 01:40:58.680
<v Speaker 2>Maimonides, though more Aristolian, was aware of neoplatonism and in

1316
01:40:58.720 --> 01:41:02.319
<v Speaker 2>negative theology, saying we can only say what God is

1317
01:41:02.359 --> 01:41:08.760
<v Speaker 2>not he echoes Pseudonionysus, who echoes Platinus. Also that Kabbalah

1318
01:41:08.880 --> 01:41:14.479
<v Speaker 2>has interesting parallels. The Kabbalistic sepherote emanations of God concept

1319
01:41:14.560 --> 01:41:17.520
<v Speaker 2>is sometimes thought to be influenced by, or at least

1320
01:41:17.520 --> 01:41:23.279
<v Speaker 2>analogous to, neoplatonic emanation. By the time we reached the

1321
01:41:23.279 --> 01:41:26.760
<v Speaker 2>Middle Ages in Christian Europe, much of Platinus's impact was

1322
01:41:26.800 --> 01:41:32.960
<v Speaker 2>indirect via Augustine and Pseudodionysus. The High Medieval scholastics like

1323
01:41:33.000 --> 01:41:36.840
<v Speaker 2>Aquinas engaged more with Aristotle, who had become more accessible,

1324
01:41:37.199 --> 01:41:40.239
<v Speaker 2>but even a Quinus, when discussing the hierarchy of being

1325
01:41:40.560 --> 01:41:45.840
<v Speaker 2>and the transcendence of God, occasionally uses neoplatonic language. For instance,

1326
01:41:46.159 --> 01:41:49.640
<v Speaker 2>Aquinas's doctrine that we know God better by what he

1327
01:41:49.760 --> 01:41:55.199
<v Speaker 2>is not owes something to negative theology tradition, the privative

1328
01:41:55.239 --> 01:41:58.680
<v Speaker 2>theory of evil that evil is not an independent substance

1329
01:41:58.720 --> 01:42:01.600
<v Speaker 2>but a lack of good is straight from Platinus in

1330
01:42:01.640 --> 01:42:08.079
<v Speaker 2>Augustine that became the standard Christian explanation of evil. The

1331
01:42:08.079 --> 01:42:12.319
<v Speaker 2>Renaissance saw a massive revival of Platonism and Neoplatonism, the

1332
01:42:12.520 --> 01:42:17.039
<v Speaker 2>Platinus at the center. In Florence fifteenth century, the Beidc

1333
01:42:17.239 --> 01:42:21.000
<v Speaker 2>Patriots led to the founding of the new Platonic Academy,

1334
01:42:21.640 --> 01:42:26.000
<v Speaker 2>led by Marsilio Ficino. Facino was commissioned by Cosimo di

1335
01:42:26.159 --> 01:42:31.439
<v Speaker 2>Medici to translate Greek philosophical works into Latin. By fourteen sixty,

1336
01:42:31.960 --> 01:42:36.920
<v Speaker 2>Ficino had Plato's complete works done. Then around fourteen eighty four,

1337
01:42:37.319 --> 01:42:41.560
<v Speaker 2>Ficcino completed the first ever Latin translation of Platinus's Eneads,

1338
01:42:42.079 --> 01:42:47.279
<v Speaker 2>published in fourteen ninety two. This was groundbreaking. The West

1339
01:42:47.399 --> 01:42:52.640
<v Speaker 2>previously had no direct access to Platinus's text. Medieval knowledge

1340
01:42:52.680 --> 01:42:57.520
<v Speaker 2>of Platinus was piecemeal through Augustine and others. With Fictino's translation,

1341
01:42:58.119 --> 01:43:03.600
<v Speaker 2>Renaissance scholars could read Platinus. Faccino himself was deeply influenced.

1342
01:43:04.199 --> 01:43:08.600
<v Speaker 2>He wrote commentaries on Platonis and incorporated Neoplatonic ideas into

1343
01:43:08.600 --> 01:43:14.039
<v Speaker 2>his own philosophy, which sought to reconcile Platonism with Christianity.

1344
01:43:14.439 --> 01:43:18.920
<v Speaker 2>Ficcino's major work, Platonic Theology, is filled with Platonian thought,

1345
01:43:19.760 --> 01:43:22.720
<v Speaker 2>the hierarchy of being, the immortality of the soul via

1346
01:43:22.720 --> 01:43:27.960
<v Speaker 2>its participation in divine unity, and in etctera. Ficcinian academy

1347
01:43:28.000 --> 01:43:34.000
<v Speaker 2>activities reconcile the philosophy of Plato directly with Christianity. Key

1348
01:43:34.039 --> 01:43:38.600
<v Speaker 2>Renaissance figures like Pico della Mirandolo or Neoplatonic and Outlook.

1349
01:43:39.239 --> 01:43:42.560
<v Speaker 2>Pico's famous oration on the dignity of man has echoes

1350
01:43:42.560 --> 01:43:47.600
<v Speaker 2>of Platinus's exultation of the soul's potential ascent to divine status.

1351
01:43:48.840 --> 01:43:52.479
<v Speaker 2>The concept of Platonic love in the Renaissance is quite Platonium.

1352
01:43:53.000 --> 01:43:56.399
<v Speaker 2>Even art and literature felt the influence. Themes of ascent

1353
01:43:56.479 --> 01:43:59.119
<v Speaker 2>to the one with the vision of divine beauty show

1354
01:43:59.199 --> 01:44:02.680
<v Speaker 2>up in poets like Edward Spencer or artists influenced by

1355
01:44:02.760 --> 01:44:08.960
<v Speaker 2>Neoplatonic ideas of beauty reflecting the divine. I would also

1356
01:44:09.079 --> 01:44:13.600
<v Speaker 2>like to mention that Renaissance thinkers often amalgamated Platinus with

1357
01:44:13.720 --> 01:44:21.000
<v Speaker 2>later Neoplatonists, Hermetic and cabalistic sources. It was an esoteric blend. Nevertheless,

1358
01:44:21.000 --> 01:44:25.760
<v Speaker 2>Platinus was highly esteemed as a sage. Some Renaissance scholars,

1359
01:44:26.119 --> 01:44:31.239
<v Speaker 2>breaking from scholastic Aristolianism, saw in Platinus a more spiritually

1360
01:44:31.319 --> 01:44:36.600
<v Speaker 2>satisfying philosophy. The Cambridge Platonists in seventeenth century England are

1361
01:44:36.600 --> 01:44:43.039
<v Speaker 2>an example of that legacy. In seventeenth century England, a

1362
01:44:43.079 --> 01:44:46.319
<v Speaker 2>group known as the Cambridge Platonists, including figures like Henry Moore,

1363
01:44:46.560 --> 01:44:51.479
<v Speaker 2>Ralph Cudworth and John Smith, drew explicitly on Neoplatonism, citing

1364
01:44:51.560 --> 01:44:56.000
<v Speaker 2>Platinus as inspiration. Platinus's ideas of the indwelling divine in

1365
01:44:56.039 --> 01:44:59.520
<v Speaker 2>the soul and the continuum of spirit and matter suited

1366
01:44:59.520 --> 01:45:04.399
<v Speaker 2>their attempt to reconcile religion with emerging science. For instance,

1367
01:45:04.560 --> 01:45:08.680
<v Speaker 2>Henry Moore wrote a commentary on aspects of Platinus. They

1368
01:45:08.800 --> 01:45:12.640
<v Speaker 2>championed Platonic love, the pre existence of the soul, and

1369
01:45:12.720 --> 01:45:17.479
<v Speaker 2>such concepts that have Plutonian flavor. They considered Platinus almost

1370
01:45:17.479 --> 01:45:23.960
<v Speaker 2>an honorary Christian in spirit. Besides academic philosophers, Platinus influenced

1371
01:45:24.000 --> 01:45:29.479
<v Speaker 2>English literature and thought more broadly. Samuel Taylor Coleridge, the poet,

1372
01:45:29.800 --> 01:45:33.920
<v Speaker 2>had strong Neoplatonic streaks. He read the Cambridge Platonists and

1373
01:45:34.000 --> 01:45:39.119
<v Speaker 2>German idealists, themselves influenced by Neoplatonism. Coleridge's idea of the

1374
01:45:39.159 --> 01:45:41.680
<v Speaker 2>one life in nature in the symbol of a return

1375
01:45:41.720 --> 01:45:46.520
<v Speaker 2>to unity resonates with Platinus. The famous lines in Wordsworth

1376
01:45:46.800 --> 01:45:50.760
<v Speaker 2>about the soul's trailing clouds of glory from God arguably

1377
01:45:50.880 --> 01:45:55.920
<v Speaker 2>an echo from Neoplatonic ideas of emanation and return. In

1378
01:45:55.960 --> 01:46:00.000
<v Speaker 2>the nineteenth century, Romantic and transcendental writers were drawn to neoplats.

1379
01:46:01.239 --> 01:46:06.920
<v Speaker 2>For example, the American transcendentalists read Platinus. Ralph Woldo Emerson

1380
01:46:07.079 --> 01:46:11.880
<v Speaker 2>explicitly mentions the influence of Neoplatonic ideas on him. Emerson's

1381
01:46:11.920 --> 01:46:15.239
<v Speaker 2>concept of the over soul is a fusion of Platinus's

1382
01:46:15.279 --> 01:46:21.279
<v Speaker 2>one and nose and Vedanta's brahmin Atman idea. Indeed, a

1383
01:46:21.279 --> 01:46:26.399
<v Speaker 2>study in nineteen sixty seven by Dale Ripe examined how Avata,

1384
01:46:26.720 --> 01:46:32.439
<v Speaker 2>Vendata and Neoplatonism jointly influenced Emerson, illustrating that by the

1385
01:46:32.520 --> 01:46:36.199
<v Speaker 2>nineteenth century, Platinus was part of the global conversation on

1386
01:46:36.279 --> 01:46:42.720
<v Speaker 2>mysticism and unity. William Blake, earlier, though idiosyncratic, had the

1387
01:46:42.800 --> 01:46:46.680
<v Speaker 2>idea if the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would

1388
01:46:46.720 --> 01:46:51.960
<v Speaker 2>appear to man as it is infinite, reminiscent of Platinus's

1389
01:46:52.000 --> 01:46:55.199
<v Speaker 2>notion that in mystical union we see the all as

1390
01:46:55.279 --> 01:47:00.359
<v Speaker 2>one infinite reality. The poet W. B. Yeats was notably

1391
01:47:00.399 --> 01:47:04.560
<v Speaker 2>influenced by Neoplatonism. Each cites Plautinus in his essays, and

1392
01:47:04.600 --> 01:47:08.039
<v Speaker 2>his system of thought uses a lot of neoplatonic imagery.

1393
01:47:09.159 --> 01:47:12.960
<v Speaker 2>Kathleen Rayne, a scholar and poet, was a known Platonist

1394
01:47:13.000 --> 01:47:15.880
<v Speaker 2>who wrote on Blake and others with the neoplatonic lens.

1395
01:47:16.479 --> 01:47:19.479
<v Speaker 2>She helped revive interest in the mystical aspect of Platonism

1396
01:47:19.560 --> 01:47:23.479
<v Speaker 2>in the twentieth century. I also want to mention the

1397
01:47:23.560 --> 01:47:29.039
<v Speaker 2>Victorian neoplatonist Thomas Taylor. Although earlier than these, Taylor was

1398
01:47:29.079 --> 01:47:32.319
<v Speaker 2>an English translator who in the eighteenth century rendered many

1399
01:47:32.319 --> 01:47:37.439
<v Speaker 2>Greek philosophical works into English, including Platinus. Taylor was a

1400
01:47:37.479 --> 01:47:42.199
<v Speaker 2>defote of pagan neoplatonism and influenced the Romantic generation. He

1401
01:47:42.279 --> 01:47:44.920
<v Speaker 2>kept Neoplatonism alive in English at a time it was

1402
01:47:45.039 --> 01:47:50.079
<v Speaker 2>little known. Through Taylor the theosophical movement. Modern Blavotsky in

1403
01:47:50.119 --> 01:47:54.600
<v Speaker 2>the late nineteenth century also came to appreciate Neoplatonism, connecting

1404
01:47:54.600 --> 01:47:59.439
<v Speaker 2>it with Eastern philosophies. As we noted, Platinus showed interest

1405
01:47:59.520 --> 01:48:04.439
<v Speaker 2>in Indiana in philosophy, but never got to meet Indian sages. However,

1406
01:48:05.199 --> 01:48:08.079
<v Speaker 2>modern scholars and spiritual thinkers have often commented on how

1407
01:48:08.159 --> 01:48:14.319
<v Speaker 2>Platinus's thought resembles Danta or other Indian traditions. To Upanishads,

1408
01:48:14.640 --> 01:48:17.560
<v Speaker 2>which teach that the individual's soul is one with the

1409
01:48:17.560 --> 01:48:22.000
<v Speaker 2>supreme reality when ignorance is dispelled, is conceptually akin to

1410
01:48:22.039 --> 01:48:24.680
<v Speaker 2>Platonian journey of the soul to union with the one.

1411
01:48:26.479 --> 01:48:28.880
<v Speaker 2>Both speak of the highest reality in terms of pure

1412
01:48:28.960 --> 01:48:32.920
<v Speaker 2>unity and consciousness. Both treat the material world as a

1413
01:48:32.920 --> 01:48:38.079
<v Speaker 2>lower derivative reality. In the twentieth century, scholars like JF.

1414
01:48:38.159 --> 01:48:43.039
<v Speaker 2>Stahal wrote about analogies between Adrita Vedanta and Neoplatonism. He

1415
01:48:43.119 --> 01:48:48.279
<v Speaker 2>and others have pointed out parallels. For example, so Rapali

1416
01:48:48.680 --> 01:48:54.800
<v Speaker 2>rad Hakrosnan, a prominent Indian philosopher, often cited Platinus alongside

1417
01:48:55.000 --> 01:49:02.119
<v Speaker 2>Shankara to illustrate monistic metaphysics, and Nanda Coomara Raswami, an

1418
01:49:02.159 --> 01:49:08.439
<v Speaker 2>early twentieth century scholar, explicitly compared Platinus's teachings to Eveda Vedanta,

1419
01:49:08.800 --> 01:49:13.920
<v Speaker 2>calling Platinus's work a superb elaboration of monism parallel to

1420
01:49:14.000 --> 01:49:18.119
<v Speaker 2>the Upanashads. They found common ground in ideas like the

1421
01:49:18.159 --> 01:49:21.680
<v Speaker 2>one without a second, the method of negation, and the

1422
01:49:21.680 --> 01:49:26.920
<v Speaker 2>practice of interiority and contemplation. One quote from an Indian

1423
01:49:26.960 --> 01:49:32.039
<v Speaker 2>perspective is scholar M. Vashu de Vichara said, though Platinus

1424
01:49:32.079 --> 01:49:35.720
<v Speaker 2>never managed to reach India, his method shows an affinity

1425
01:49:36.079 --> 01:49:39.199
<v Speaker 2>to the method of negation as taught in some Upanishads,

1426
01:49:39.600 --> 01:49:43.399
<v Speaker 2>and also to the practice of yoga. Indeed, the way

1427
01:49:43.439 --> 01:49:47.199
<v Speaker 2>Platinus recommends withdrawing the senses and focusing inward could be

1428
01:49:47.239 --> 01:49:52.239
<v Speaker 2>compared to raja yoga or meditation techniques in Hinduism. Some

1429
01:49:52.399 --> 01:49:54.920
<v Speaker 2>have even called Platinus this Sage of the West, in

1430
01:49:54.960 --> 01:49:59.000
<v Speaker 2>parallel to the Eastern sages. However, we must emphasize there's

1431
01:49:59.039 --> 01:50:03.880
<v Speaker 2>no evidence of the direct historical influence either way. Platinus

1432
01:50:03.960 --> 01:50:07.880
<v Speaker 2>likely didn't know Indian doctrines in detail, and India only

1433
01:50:07.960 --> 01:50:12.239
<v Speaker 2>learned of Platinis through colonial error scholarship, so the connection

1434
01:50:12.399 --> 01:50:16.600
<v Speaker 2>is more comparative and perhaps pointing to universal metaphysical tendencies.

1435
01:50:17.520 --> 01:50:21.520
<v Speaker 2>In modern times, certain new age or esoteric movements sometimes

1436
01:50:21.600 --> 01:50:25.640
<v Speaker 2>merge Platinus with Eastern thought. For example, the idea of

1437
01:50:25.680 --> 01:50:28.720
<v Speaker 2>the One surfaces in theosophy as a blend of Western

1438
01:50:28.800 --> 01:50:35.239
<v Speaker 2>and Eastern. Additionally, Sri a Robindo, a modern Indian sage,

1439
01:50:35.760 --> 01:50:40.600
<v Speaker 2>though more influenced by Vedanta, occasionally referenced Western mystics. He

1440
01:50:40.640 --> 01:50:45.119
<v Speaker 2>was aware of Neoplatonism through his education. In terms of

1441
01:50:45.159 --> 01:50:52.640
<v Speaker 2>influential one can say Platinus influenced Christian theology, Islamic philosophy, mysticism,

1442
01:50:52.680 --> 01:50:57.680
<v Speaker 2>and esoteric traditions. He cemented the philosophical underpinnings that bridged

1443
01:50:57.760 --> 01:51:03.359
<v Speaker 2>classical thought with emerging monotheism. Neoplatonism became the last great

1444
01:51:03.359 --> 01:51:06.880
<v Speaker 2>pagan philosophy and also a vehicle that translated Pagan thought

1445
01:51:06.960 --> 01:51:11.800
<v Speaker 2>into terms compatible with Christianity. He also offered a point

1446
01:51:11.880 --> 01:51:16.199
<v Speaker 2>of interfaith or East West dialogue, showing that deep philosophies

1447
01:51:16.239 --> 01:51:20.760
<v Speaker 2>of unity emerge independently in both cultures. It also influenced

1448
01:51:20.800 --> 01:51:24.560
<v Speaker 2>some comparative philosophy works and the self perception of modern

1449
01:51:24.600 --> 01:51:29.520
<v Speaker 2>Indian philosophers, who often claim ancient Indian philosophy had analogous

1450
01:51:29.560 --> 01:51:33.880
<v Speaker 2>heights as Greek, with Platinus frequently used as the Western

1451
01:51:33.920 --> 01:51:39.079
<v Speaker 2>counterpoint to Shinkara, Platinus stands as a pivotal figure who

1452
01:51:39.159 --> 01:51:43.760
<v Speaker 2>bridged classical Greek philosophy and later religious thought. His biography,

1453
01:51:44.000 --> 01:51:47.079
<v Speaker 2>though scant and personal details, shows a life devoted to

1454
01:51:47.680 --> 01:51:51.000
<v Speaker 2>bringing back to divine in himself, to the divine in

1455
01:51:51.039 --> 01:51:57.239
<v Speaker 2>the oul. His philosophy centered on the one emanation, the

1456
01:51:57.319 --> 01:52:00.920
<v Speaker 2>true self, happiness in union with the divine. Critique of

1457
01:52:01.000 --> 01:52:06.920
<v Speaker 2>dualistic heresies, skepticism of astrological determinism and the possibility of

1458
01:52:07.000 --> 01:52:10.159
<v Speaker 2>mystical henosis has proven to be one of the most

1459
01:52:10.319 --> 01:52:15.319
<v Speaker 2>enduring systems of thought. It provided tools for the theological reflection,

1460
01:52:15.720 --> 01:52:20.119
<v Speaker 2>mystical practice, and philosophical speculation that is still in use.

1461
01:52:21.199 --> 01:52:26.720
<v Speaker 2>As one modern scholar put it, Platinus's views may appear astonishing, innovative,

1462
01:52:26.960 --> 01:52:31.640
<v Speaker 2>or even modern, precisely because they address perennial human spiritual

1463
01:52:31.680 --> 01:52:37.800
<v Speaker 2>aspirations in a rigorous philosophical form. Almost eighteen centuries later,

1464
01:52:38.479 --> 01:52:42.199
<v Speaker 2>readers of Platinus, where the academic or spiritual, continue to

1465
01:52:42.239 --> 01:52:47.319
<v Speaker 2>find illuminations in his amalgam of reason and mysticism, making

1466
01:52:47.399 --> 01:52:52.279
<v Speaker 2>him truly as the old Neoplatonist believed and illuminator, a

1467
01:52:52.319 --> 01:52:57.840
<v Speaker 2>philosopher who guides souls upward to the light of the good. Now,

1468
01:52:57.880 --> 01:53:00.439
<v Speaker 2>before we wrap this up, this would be in a

1469
01:53:00.479 --> 01:53:04.319
<v Speaker 2>cult reject show if we didn't include Platinus's idea about

1470
01:53:04.319 --> 01:53:09.800
<v Speaker 2>the eyes and light. He that has the strength let

1471
01:53:09.880 --> 01:53:15.359
<v Speaker 2>him arise and withdraw into himself, foregoing all that is

1472
01:53:15.479 --> 01:53:20.319
<v Speaker 2>known by the eyes. Platinus touches and reflects on the

1473
01:53:20.359 --> 01:53:24.119
<v Speaker 2>eyes in sight, mainly in the fifth tractate Problems of

1474
01:53:24.159 --> 01:53:28.439
<v Speaker 2>the Soul and on Site, Platinus begins with a challenge

1475
01:53:28.439 --> 01:53:31.439
<v Speaker 2>that had tugged at Greek optic since Plato and Aristotle,

1476
01:53:32.479 --> 01:53:35.640
<v Speaker 2>can there be vision in the absence of any intervening

1477
01:53:35.760 --> 01:53:38.640
<v Speaker 2>medium such as air or some other form of what

1478
01:53:38.800 --> 01:53:43.880
<v Speaker 2>is known as transparent body. From that deliberately technical question,

1479
01:53:44.359 --> 01:53:47.880
<v Speaker 2>he spirals outward into a meditation on what it means

1480
01:53:47.880 --> 01:53:52.319
<v Speaker 2>for any living being to apprehend a world in any

1481
01:53:52.319 --> 01:53:56.119
<v Speaker 2>add four Problems of the Soul and on Site, Platinus

1482
01:53:56.119 --> 01:53:58.640
<v Speaker 2>thinks no seeing is possible in the absence of a

1483
01:53:58.680 --> 01:54:02.159
<v Speaker 2>bodily medium, because there's pure soul left to itself, is

1484
01:54:02.199 --> 01:54:05.960
<v Speaker 2>absorbed in the intelligible realm and cannot interact with matter.

1485
01:54:07.000 --> 01:54:10.199
<v Speaker 2>The bodily eye is grown by the insoled organism as

1486
01:54:10.239 --> 01:54:14.279
<v Speaker 2>an organ of sympathia, a continuation of the soul outward

1487
01:54:14.640 --> 01:54:18.880
<v Speaker 2>that lets it come into something like unity with the alien.

1488
01:54:20.359 --> 01:54:23.479
<v Speaker 2>We undertook to discuss the question where the site is

1489
01:54:23.560 --> 01:54:27.319
<v Speaker 2>possible in the absence of any intervening medium, such as

1490
01:54:27.439 --> 01:54:30.039
<v Speaker 2>air or some other form of what is known as

1491
01:54:30.159 --> 01:54:35.279
<v Speaker 2>transparent body. This is the time in place it has

1492
01:54:35.319 --> 01:54:39.039
<v Speaker 2>been explained that seeing and all sense perception can occur

1493
01:54:39.279 --> 01:54:43.279
<v Speaker 2>only through the medium of some bodily substance, since in

1494
01:54:43.319 --> 01:54:46.640
<v Speaker 2>the absence of body, the soul is utterly absorbed in

1495
01:54:46.680 --> 01:54:52.279
<v Speaker 2>the intellectual sphere, sense perception being the gripping not of

1496
01:54:52.319 --> 01:54:56.159
<v Speaker 2>the intellectual but of the sensible alone. The soul, if

1497
01:54:56.199 --> 01:54:58.880
<v Speaker 2>it is to form any relationship of knowledge or of

1498
01:54:58.920 --> 01:55:02.800
<v Speaker 2>an oppression with objects or sense, must be brought in

1499
01:55:02.880 --> 01:55:05.920
<v Speaker 2>some kind of contact with them by means of whatever

1500
01:55:06.039 --> 01:55:11.199
<v Speaker 2>may bridge the gap, and that is from indead. Four

1501
01:55:11.840 --> 01:55:16.199
<v Speaker 2>problems of the soul and on site. Platinus also reviews

1502
01:55:16.239 --> 01:55:21.680
<v Speaker 2>three optical models current in his day. Progressive affection. The

1503
01:55:21.720 --> 01:55:24.760
<v Speaker 2>air itself is stamped with the body's image and passes

1504
01:55:24.800 --> 01:55:28.600
<v Speaker 2>that imprint on tier by tier to the eye.

1505
01:55:28.760 --> 01:55:29.439
<v Speaker 1>Extra mission.

1506
01:55:29.880 --> 01:55:33.439
<v Speaker 2>The eye emits a fiery visual ray, carving a path

1507
01:55:33.600 --> 01:55:38.960
<v Speaker 2>that meets and merges with daylight and resistance theory vision

1508
01:55:39.000 --> 01:55:42.479
<v Speaker 2>is a physical tussle where the medium pushes back against.

1509
01:55:42.199 --> 01:55:43.800
<v Speaker 1>The visual ray.

1510
01:55:44.520 --> 01:55:48.880
<v Speaker 2>He rejects all of them with one decisive diagnosis. Any

1511
01:55:48.960 --> 01:55:53.479
<v Speaker 2>extra body between eye and object adds nothing to seeing power.

1512
01:55:54.199 --> 01:55:58.239
<v Speaker 2>The less material the intervening substance is, the more clearly

1513
01:55:58.279 --> 01:56:03.279
<v Speaker 2>we see. If contact were a little physical chain. He argues,

1514
01:56:03.680 --> 01:56:06.560
<v Speaker 2>the vast dark of night would break it. Yet we

1515
01:56:06.640 --> 01:56:12.119
<v Speaker 2>still see campfires and stars. That thought experiment yields his

1516
01:56:12.279 --> 01:56:16.920
<v Speaker 2>most lapidary verdict. In the blackest of night, we can

1517
01:56:16.920 --> 01:56:21.840
<v Speaker 2>see the fire of the beacon stations. Therefore, the impossibility

1518
01:56:21.840 --> 01:56:25.600
<v Speaker 2>of vision without an intervening substance does not depend upon

1519
01:56:25.800 --> 01:56:30.920
<v Speaker 2>that absence in itself. The sole reason is that with

1520
01:56:31.039 --> 01:56:34.359
<v Speaker 2>the absence, there would be an end to the sympathy

1521
01:56:34.479 --> 01:56:39.840
<v Speaker 2>raining in the living hole. Platinus suffuses three earlier theories,

1522
01:56:40.840 --> 01:56:45.520
<v Speaker 2>Plato's outward streaming visual fire, Aristotle's insistence on a medium,

1523
01:56:45.600 --> 01:56:49.319
<v Speaker 2>and the stoic idea of numa that links cosmos and observer.

1524
01:56:50.600 --> 01:56:54.000
<v Speaker 2>The eye does emit a living pneumatic ray, but vision

1525
01:56:54.079 --> 01:56:57.039
<v Speaker 2>is completed only when that ray meets the form laden

1526
01:56:57.119 --> 01:57:02.920
<v Speaker 2>light coming the other way through the medium. Modern historians

1527
01:57:03.439 --> 01:57:06.840
<v Speaker 2>call this a reciprocal or two ray model, and see

1528
01:57:06.840 --> 01:57:11.800
<v Speaker 2>it as Platinus's own synthesis. In the Aeniad, he also

1529
01:57:11.960 --> 01:57:16.800
<v Speaker 2>sees sight as sympathia in a living cosmos. This breakthrough

1530
01:57:16.800 --> 01:57:20.920
<v Speaker 2>comes when Platinus shifts from physics to biology. The universe

1531
01:57:21.039 --> 01:57:25.520
<v Speaker 2>is one living organism, every part sympathetically tuned to every other.

1532
01:57:26.319 --> 01:57:30.359
<v Speaker 2>Perception is nothing but the momentary unism of two members

1533
01:57:30.520 --> 01:57:36.760
<v Speaker 2>of that organism. Thus the knowledge is realized by means

1534
01:57:36.760 --> 01:57:41.279
<v Speaker 2>of bodily organs. Through these continuations of the soul, it

1535
01:57:41.359 --> 01:57:46.159
<v Speaker 2>comes into something like unity with the alien. The unity

1536
01:57:46.359 --> 01:57:50.239
<v Speaker 2>is not brute contact, but a double act. First act,

1537
01:57:50.359 --> 01:57:53.399
<v Speaker 2>the visual faculty of the soul extends outward in a

1538
01:57:53.520 --> 01:57:58.760
<v Speaker 2>delicate bodyless readiness. The second act, the object's own power

1539
01:57:58.840 --> 01:58:03.000
<v Speaker 2>travels inward oneong the same channel of light. When the

1540
01:58:03.039 --> 01:58:08.640
<v Speaker 2>two acts coincide, vision flashes. If in the act of

1541
01:58:08.720 --> 01:58:13.079
<v Speaker 2>vision that length light becomes insul if the soul permeates

1542
01:58:13.119 --> 01:58:16.039
<v Speaker 2>it and enters into union with it, the process of

1543
01:58:16.079 --> 01:58:19.880
<v Speaker 2>seeing will be like that of touch. The intervening light

1544
01:58:20.199 --> 01:58:24.760
<v Speaker 2>is not a necessity. Gary Gertler's twenty eighteen article in

1545
01:58:24.800 --> 01:58:28.039
<v Speaker 2>the International Journal of the Platonic Tradition calls this the

1546
01:58:28.079 --> 01:58:33.000
<v Speaker 2>most original move in the tractate. Platinus substitutes his own

1547
01:58:33.039 --> 01:58:35.960
<v Speaker 2>account in terms of both sympathy and the principle of

1548
01:58:36.000 --> 01:58:39.600
<v Speaker 2>two acts, explaining vision both during the day as well

1549
01:58:39.640 --> 01:58:44.239
<v Speaker 2>at night, and derives strikingly original corrollaries about the nature

1550
01:58:44.239 --> 01:58:48.319
<v Speaker 2>of light and the source of color. Kay Emilson and

1551
01:58:48.399 --> 01:58:53.079
<v Speaker 2>his monograph Platinus on Sense Perception identifies the same passage

1552
01:58:53.119 --> 01:58:56.359
<v Speaker 2>as the moment where vision becomes an instant of the

1553
01:58:56.399 --> 01:59:01.640
<v Speaker 2>soul's self recognition rather than a passive impress. When it

1554
01:59:01.680 --> 01:59:04.680
<v Speaker 2>comes to light in color, Platinus treats light not as

1555
01:59:04.720 --> 01:59:07.640
<v Speaker 2>a substance lodged in air, but as the ongoing act

1556
01:59:07.720 --> 01:59:11.159
<v Speaker 2>of any luminous body. If air happens to be there,

1557
01:59:11.239 --> 01:59:14.479
<v Speaker 2>it glows. If not, the act leaps the void, just

1558
01:59:14.520 --> 01:59:18.920
<v Speaker 2>as life leaps from soul to limb. He even anticipates

1559
01:59:18.960 --> 01:59:23.039
<v Speaker 2>the idea of a cone of vision. Any given portion

1560
01:59:23.159 --> 01:59:26.840
<v Speaker 2>of the air contains the object of vision. In face view,

1561
01:59:27.000 --> 01:59:31.119
<v Speaker 2>so to speak, we are confronted by no merely corporal phenomena.

1562
01:59:31.600 --> 01:59:34.279
<v Speaker 2>The facts depend upon the greater law of a living

1563
01:59:34.399 --> 01:59:38.760
<v Speaker 2>being and self sensitive. The physical eye is grown by

1564
01:59:38.760 --> 01:59:43.359
<v Speaker 2>the soul as an instrument of sympathia, its clarity mirroring

1565
01:59:43.399 --> 01:59:48.039
<v Speaker 2>the self reflective clarity of intellect. The famous moral outcome

1566
01:59:48.079 --> 01:59:52.560
<v Speaker 2>appears in the neighboring etherical Tractate, but echoes here, never

1567
01:59:52.800 --> 01:59:57.279
<v Speaker 2>did I e ye see the sun unless it had

1568
01:59:57.359 --> 02:00:02.680
<v Speaker 2>first become sunlight, a line that medieval and Renaissance writers

1569
02:00:02.760 --> 02:00:09.239
<v Speaker 2>quote whenever they invoke spiritual illumination. Platinus also speaks of

1570
02:00:09.279 --> 02:00:12.720
<v Speaker 2>the eye as a metaphysical symbol. Again, never did I

1571
02:00:12.840 --> 02:00:15.760
<v Speaker 2>see the sun unless it had first becomes sun like.

1572
02:00:16.079 --> 02:00:20.359
<v Speaker 2>Platinus's most quoted aphorism equates bodily sun eye with the

1573
02:00:20.399 --> 02:00:25.399
<v Speaker 2>intelligible good soul. To behold supreme beauty, the inner eye

1574
02:00:25.479 --> 02:00:30.680
<v Speaker 2>must be purified until it resembles what it seeks. Platinus infers,

1575
02:00:30.720 --> 02:00:34.279
<v Speaker 2>our highest soul is always looking at nose, but a

1576
02:00:34.279 --> 02:00:39.119
<v Speaker 2>lower part looks out through the eyeballs. Spiritual practice is

1577
02:00:39.159 --> 02:00:42.119
<v Speaker 2>the turning around of that gaze from the dark screen

1578
02:00:42.159 --> 02:00:47.039
<v Speaker 2>of matter back to the intelligible light. He also speaks

1579
02:00:47.039 --> 02:00:51.920
<v Speaker 2>of higher analogies and mystical sight. Intellect or nose is

1580
02:00:51.960 --> 02:00:55.880
<v Speaker 2>the cosmic eye. Just as the physical eye contains miniature

1581
02:00:55.920 --> 02:00:59.720
<v Speaker 2>images of everything it sees, the divine intellect contains the

1582
02:00:59.840 --> 02:01:04.399
<v Speaker 2>art type of forms. Site therefore models knowledge at every

1583
02:01:04.479 --> 02:01:11.239
<v Speaker 2>level pupil, image, and soul and idea intellect to one,

1584
02:01:11.399 --> 02:01:14.319
<v Speaker 2>and that we have the flash of ainosis. Porphary says

1585
02:01:14.319 --> 02:01:19.479
<v Speaker 2>Platinus became one with the one. Four times each experiences

1586
02:01:19.600 --> 02:01:22.800
<v Speaker 2>was reported as a sudden light flooding from the inner

1587
02:01:22.840 --> 02:01:27.079
<v Speaker 2>eye in the dad. He compares this to seeing the

1588
02:01:27.119 --> 02:01:30.640
<v Speaker 2>sun by the sun's own light the sear and this

1589
02:01:30.800 --> 02:01:36.399
<v Speaker 2>scene a one luminous act. Platinus also says after death,

1590
02:01:36.640 --> 02:01:40.439
<v Speaker 2>if purified, the soul will look on itself and all

1591
02:01:40.640 --> 02:01:44.600
<v Speaker 2>in a single glance, freed from the distortions that plague

1592
02:01:44.680 --> 02:01:49.119
<v Speaker 2>earth bound eyes, which would be distance, dimness, and refraction

1593
02:01:51.159 --> 02:01:55.079
<v Speaker 2>in attractate ostensibly about the eyes. Platinus ends by showing

1594
02:01:55.119 --> 02:01:58.880
<v Speaker 2>that vision is the whole soul, stretching towards its origin.

1595
02:02:00.279 --> 02:02:03.319
<v Speaker 2>The outer drama of life crossing space is but the

1596
02:02:03.319 --> 02:02:07.840
<v Speaker 2>shadow of an inner drama. The intellect recognizing itself, is

1597
02:02:07.880 --> 02:02:11.720
<v Speaker 2>what it beholds, and just ashinosis eRASS the gap between

1598
02:02:11.720 --> 02:02:15.079
<v Speaker 2>knower and known, so perfect sight would erase the gap

1599
02:02:15.119 --> 02:02:20.039
<v Speaker 2>between eye and star. Until then, Platinus leaves us with

1600
02:02:20.079 --> 02:02:23.520
<v Speaker 2>a metaphysical optic, in which every glance is an act

1601
02:02:23.520 --> 02:02:27.720
<v Speaker 2>of sympathy, every color a handshake across the living fabric

1602
02:02:27.760 --> 02:02:30.840
<v Speaker 2>of the universe, and every spark of light a reminder

1603
02:02:30.840 --> 02:02:39.119
<v Speaker 2>that seeing is always at bottom, soul touching soul. Platinus

1604
02:02:39.199 --> 02:02:42.399
<v Speaker 2>tought that happiness is immune to fortune because it's not

1605
02:02:42.439 --> 02:02:45.520
<v Speaker 2>a trophy one in the arena of circumstance. It is

1606
02:02:45.520 --> 02:02:49.760
<v Speaker 2>the soul's recognition of its own altitude. Even the stars,

1607
02:02:49.800 --> 02:02:53.680
<v Speaker 2>he said, are merely shimmering signatures and a letter already

1608
02:02:53.720 --> 02:02:57.840
<v Speaker 2>posted in the heart. If a third century philosopher could

1609
02:02:57.880 --> 02:03:00.640
<v Speaker 2>stand in the midst civil war and play can still

1610
02:03:00.640 --> 02:03:03.520
<v Speaker 2>praise the cosmo says good, the rest of us can

1611
02:03:03.520 --> 02:03:06.960
<v Speaker 2>try to practice that same devotion when headlines scream and

1612
02:03:07.119 --> 02:03:12.199
<v Speaker 2>algorithms beckon us. And perhaps that is Platinus's final gift,

1613
02:03:13.399 --> 02:03:17.199
<v Speaker 2>the permission to treat every moment of clear intention as

1614
02:03:17.279 --> 02:03:22.159
<v Speaker 2>a lit stairway. When we love something truly beautiful, we

1615
02:03:22.319 --> 02:03:27.880
<v Speaker 2>glimpse beauty itself. When we reason honestly, we graze the

1616
02:03:28.000 --> 02:03:31.600
<v Speaker 2>edge of intellect. When we forgive the world it spruises,

1617
02:03:32.079 --> 02:03:37.039
<v Speaker 2>we echo generosity of the one that overflows without laws.

1618
02:03:37.800 --> 02:03:41.840
<v Speaker 2>The path is not a conquest, but a remembering, a

1619
02:03:41.960 --> 02:03:47.079
<v Speaker 2>slow unclenching, until giver and gift seeker and sort meet

1620
02:03:47.159 --> 02:03:51.840
<v Speaker 2>in a silence deeper than can ever be imagined. So

1621
02:03:51.920 --> 02:03:55.319
<v Speaker 2>take this conversation with you into whatever night or morning

1622
02:03:55.319 --> 02:03:58.520
<v Speaker 2>surrounds you. Let the lamplight on your desk, the bulb

1623
02:03:58.600 --> 02:04:00.960
<v Speaker 2>hanging from your ceiling, with a passing headlights in the

1624
02:04:01.000 --> 02:04:04.760
<v Speaker 2>street remind you that every flicker is a faint relay

1625
02:04:04.960 --> 02:04:12.239
<v Speaker 2>of one inexhaustible, brilliant radiance. The philosopher Capania believed and

1626
02:04:12.279 --> 02:04:15.520
<v Speaker 2>lived as though believing that no soul is ever truly

1627
02:04:15.840 --> 02:04:22.079
<v Speaker 2>exiled from that source. May we too learn to travel homeward,

1628
02:04:22.760 --> 02:04:27.760
<v Speaker 2>not by running faster, but by standing still, listening, and

1629
02:04:27.840 --> 02:04:30.000
<v Speaker 2>letting the hidden fountain speak to us.

1630
02:04:31.520 --> 02:04:32.359
<v Speaker 1>Until next time.

1631
02:04:33.479 --> 02:04:37.319
<v Speaker 2>Stay curious, stay courageous, and with love in your heart,

1632
02:04:38.319 --> 02:04:43.640
<v Speaker 2>keep that inner compass pointed toward the light behind your eyes.