Is Platonism the Answer to our Existential Crisis? How an Ancient Syrian Platonist Helps us Today скачать в хорошем качестве

Is Platonism the Answer to our Existential Crisis? How an Ancient Syrian Platonist Helps us Today

Do we have to choose between mind and matter, or are they somehow one? We live today in a battle between two rival streams of ancient wisdom, one that demonized matter as evil and one that divinized it. The great Syrian Neoplatonist, Iamblichus, was the descendant of priest-kings, and wrote one of the most difficult and important texts of late antique philosophy: On the Mysteries. This conversation with Dr. Gregory Shaw, one of the world's leading experts on the Neoplatonism of Iamblichus, provides powerful insights into non-dualist Platonism and how ancient philosophy helps us bring scientific rigor to the spiritual life, uncovering the deep relevance of the ancient practice known as theurgy, divine work. Gregory Shaw, PhD is Professor Emeritus of Religious Studies at Stonehill College, Massachusetts and the author of Theurgy and the Soul: The Neoplatonism of Iamblichus and Hellenic Tantra: The Theurgic Platonism of Iamblichus. This public work is made possible by the support of Becoming Human Members. Become a Member of Becomging Human today: https://www.samuelloncar.com/join-bec... ABOUT Hellenic Tantra Hellenic Tantra argues that scholarship on later Platonism has been misled by a dualist worldview. The theurgic Platonists in the school of Iamblichus (4th century CE) did not ascend out of their bodies to be united with the gods—as is the common belief—but allowed the gods to descend into their bodies. By comparing embodied deification in theurgy to Tantric traditions of embodied deification, Gregory Shaw allows us to understand the power and charisma of the last Platonic teachers. Hellenic Tantra reveals a living Platonism that has been hidden from us. “Theurgy was the Neoplatonic art of embodying the gods in human form: the human as superhuman, the god incarnate. Significantly, this was realized through ritual—the ‘work of the gods’—and involved all the paranormal phenomena we know today, including precognition, telepathy, trance mediumship, possession, and levitation. It is impossible not to see comparisons with Christian models of incarnation, more so with the deified humans, nondualities, and subtle bodies of the Tantric traditions. Gregory Shaw draws richly on these exact Neoplatonic and Tantric resonances. The result is a marvel of comparison, a kind of visionary thinking that both illuminates and mutates what we might yet become.”—JEFFREY J. KRIPAL, Rice University, author of How to Think Impossibly: About Souls, UFOs, Time, Belief, and Everything Else ABOUT Samuel Loncar Born in Athens, Greece, Samuel’s ancestors’ give him global roots: in Okinawa, Japan, among the Chippewa (or Ojibwe) people, and in Eastern Europe. Samuel’s diverse background motivated his search for a truth that would respect his upbringing but answer his hardest questions, leading him to discover, at age 14, an ancient philosophy text that converted him to philosophy as a way of life. He received his Ph.D. from Yale University in 2019 and specializes in philosophy and its connection to religion, science, and the growth and preservation of knowledge in the digital age. Samuel is the founder and creator of the Becoming Human Project, a multi-media project to bring philosophy as a way of life to everyone and build a community of creators seeking a more meaningful life. Samuel Loncar, Ph.D. (Yale) is a philosopher, scholar of religion and science, poet, and Editor of the Marginalia Review of Books.