Everand Logo

Welcome to Everand!

  • Discover millions of ebooks, audiobooks, and so much more with a free trial

    Only $11.99/month after trial. Cancel anytime.

    The Neoplatonic Imagination with Angela Voss: Neoplatonist Scholars, #1
    The Neoplatonic Imagination with Angela Voss: Neoplatonist Scholars, #1
    The Neoplatonic Imagination with Angela Voss: Neoplatonist Scholars, #1
    Ebook100 pages1 hour

    The Neoplatonic Imagination with Angela Voss: Neoplatonist Scholars, #1

    By Wise Studies and Angela Voss

    5/5

    ()

    Read preview

    About this ebook

    These three lectures are an introduction to one of the most important schools of philosophy in the ancient world, the followers of Plato (c.348-428 BCE) who are now called the Neoplatonists. Writing from roughly 100 to 500 CE, these philosophers offered interpretations of Plato's ideas from varying perspectives but always focussing on the nature of the human soul, and its relationship with the cosmos and with the One, the supreme, divine ground of being which gives rise to all that is. Each lecture is devoted to a different personality and viewpoint – Plotinus' contemplative approach, Iamblichus' ritual approach, and the visionary mysticism of the legendary Hermes Trismegistus.

    These three mystical 'ways' of attaining divine knowledge—which are ultimately one—are important because they provide the raw material as it were for the underlying philosophy of the Western esoteric traditions. These hidden and initiatory undercurrents to exoteric monotheism have given rise to the practices of alchemy, astrology, Kabbalah and natural magic which were developed in the Renaissance period where they enjoyed an ambivalent relationship with Christianity. The translation into Latin of many hitherto unavailable Greek sources instigated a flowering of culture, a renewal of religious experience and a new emphasis on working with the divinity within nature and cosmos in practical ways to achieve gnosis, or spiritual knowledge.

    • Session 1 – Plotinus and the Neoplatonic Cosmos

      In this lecture we will introduce the most well-known of neoplatonists, Plotinus. His Enneads are a manifesto for a contemplative yet intensely intellectual path to transcendence and union with the divine. Plotinus was also one of the first philosophers to exalt the power of the imagination to its role of mediator between heaven and earth.

    • Session 2 – Iamblichus and Theurgy

      In contrast, Iamblichus' path was one of ritual practice, and he developed the work of 'theurgy' or 'divine action' involving contacting the spiritual presences in nature and cosmos in order to raise the consciousness of the soul to remember its true identity. Iamblichus' use of symbolic objects and incantations as mirrors of divine ideas is based on the theory of sympathy and correspondence which is a feature of all Western esoteric traditions.

    • Session 3 – Hermes Trismegistus

      Hermes was a mythical figure under whose name a body of texts was composed in the same period as our previous two philosophers. These texts are examples of initiatic practices combining Egyptian and Greek elements, and were to have great influence on the Renaissance ideal of human autonomy, as well as on the power of art to convey symbolic insight into the human condition.

    Angela Voss, PhD, SFHEA is Programme Director for the MA in Myth, Cosmology and the Sacred at Canterbury Christ Church University, UK. She has studied and taught Western esotericism for over twenty years, and is also a musician and an astrologer. Her interest began with the Renaissance philosopher Marsilio Ficino, who was deeply indebted to both Plato and Hermes in his desire to renew the spirit of the Christian religion (see Marsilio Ficino, 2006), and she completed a doctorate on his astrological music therapy in 1992.  She is now in the Education Faculty at Canterbury Christ Church, and is working within a transformative learning context, finding ways to bridge esoteric wisdom and reflexive scholarship. She has written extensively on Ficino, the symbolic imagination, music, astrology and divination, and she regards her vocation as a 'walker between the worlds', of spiritual experience and academic discourse. 

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherWise Studies
    Release dateMay 26, 2019
    ISBN9781393067160
    The Neoplatonic Imagination with Angela Voss: Neoplatonist Scholars, #1

    Read more from Wise Studies

    Related to The Neoplatonic Imagination with Angela Voss

    Titles in the series (2)

    View More
    View More

    Related ebooks

    Philosophy For You

    View More
    View More

    Related podcast episodes

    Related articles

    • Article

      Buddhadharma On Books

      Jun 13, 2023

      FOR THE ANALYTICALLY minded who appreciate a systematic presentation of ideas, the Science and Philosophy in the Indian Buddhist Classics series (Wisdom), conceived by the Dalai Lama, compiled by a team of monastic scholars, and edited by Thupten Jin

      5 min read

    • Article

      Mind Or Brain?

      Jan 23, 2024

      THAT LITTLE VOICE that’s narrating your experience as you read this—is it in your mind or in your brain? At first glance, this might seem like a stupid semantic question. But it cuts to the heart of a weighty dilemma for modern science that also has

      2 min read

    • Article

      Critical Thinker

      Apr 16, 2023

      ANAXIMANDER AND THE NATURE OF SCIENCE, by Carlo Rovelli (Allen Lane, $40) Most scientists know what science is until someone asks them to define it, and then they don’t. It’s something to do with precision and accuracy, so you’d think there was a pre

      3 min read

    • Article

      A Perception Of Something

      Nov 7, 2020

      A Perception Of Something
      9 min read

    • Article

      Ancient Greek Philosophers

      Nov 5, 2020

      Thales of Miletus is often considered to be the first philosopher and the father of Western philosophy, who founded the pre-Socratic Ionian school. At the time, the Greeks explained the origin of the world and natural events through myths and the sup

      3 min read

    • Article

      Hypatia Of Alexandria

      Oct 19, 2021

      Hypatia Of Alexandria
      8 min read

    • Article

      The Spiritual Materialist

      Mar 30, 2023

      The Spiritual Materialist
      11 min read

    • Article

      Book Briefs

      Aug 4, 2020

      Sometimes hope can come in the form of a good story. Alicia Turner, Laurence Cox, and Brian Bocking offer just that in The Irish Buddhist: The Forgotten Monk Who Faced Down the British Empire (Oxford), though they are careful to show that this is nei

      4 min read

    • Article

      The Science of Early Buddhism

      Feb 6, 2018

      The Science of Early Buddhism
      6 min read

    • Article

      Challenging Orthodox Science

      Jul 15, 2021

      TO SEND REVIEW COPIES, CONTACT THE BOOK REVIEWS EDITOR AT DVBARRETT@FORTEANTIMES.COM Imants Barušs Imprint Academic 2021 Pb, 228pp, £14.95, ISBN 9781788360418 The late William Corliss was very fond of a particular quotation from the 19th-century psyc

      11 min read

    • Article

      The Problem with Calling Buddhism a Science

      Feb 11, 2020

      The Problem with Calling Buddhism a Science
      8 min read

    • Article

      How Do We Make Sense of Rebirth?

      Jun 28, 2022

      How Do We Make Sense of Rebirth?
      15 min read

    • Article

      Electrons May Very Well Be Conscious

      Dec 30, 2020

      Happy Holidays. This week we are reprinting our top stories of 2020. This article first appeared online in our Facts So Romantic blog in May, 2020. In May, the cover of New Scientist ran the headline, “Is the Universe Conscious?” Mathematician and ph

      5 min read

    • Article

      The Classical Werewolf

      Nov 4, 2021

      Daniel Ogden Oxford University Press 2021 Hb, 280pp, £25, ISBN 9780198854319 Daniel Ogden has established himself as the go-to academic for scholarly, text-based surveys of supernatural motifs in the Ancient World, into which context this book fits a

      8 min read

    • Article

      What Is The Grail Message?

      Nov 30, 2021

      THE THREE VOLUMES of In the Light of Truth contain a total of 168 lectures whose contents, building upon one another, give a picture of Creation in entirety. The Author’s all-embracing view is based on well-known natural laws, which reveal the hidden

      2 min read

    • Article

      What Is The Grail Message?

      Aug 31, 2021

      THE THREE VOLUMES of In the Light of Truth contain a total of 168 lectures whose contents, building upon one another, give a picture of Creation in entirety. The Author’s all-embracing view is based on well-known natural laws, which reveal the hidden

      2 min read

    • Article

      What Is The Grail Message?

      Apr 30, 2020

      THE THREE VOLUMES of In the Light of Truth contain a total of 168 lectures whose contents, building upon one another, give a picture of Creation in entirety. The Author’s all-embracing view is based on well-known natural laws, which reveal the hidden

      2 min read

    • Article

      What Is The Grail Message?

      Aug 2, 2021

      THE THREE VOLUMES of In the Light of Truth contain a total of 168 lectures whose contents, building upon one another, give a picture of Creation in entirety. The Author’s all-embracing view is based on well-known natural laws, which reveal the hidden

      2 min read

    • Article

      What Is The Grail Message?

      Jun 7, 2021

      THE THREE VOLUMES of In the Light of Truth contain a total of 168 lectures whose contents, building upon one another, give a picture of Creation in entirety. The Author’s all-embracing view is based on well-known natural laws, which reveal the hidden

      2 min read

    • Article

      What Is The Grail Message?

      May 29, 2020

      THE THREE VOLUMES of In the Light of Truth contain a total of 168 lectures whose contents, building upon one another, give a picture of Creation in entirety. The Author’s all-embracing view is based on well-known natural laws, which reveal the hidden

      2 min read

    • Article

      What Is The Grail Message?

      Nov 1, 2021

      THE THREE VOLUMES of In the Light of Truth contain a total of 168 lectures whose contents, building upon one another, give a picture of Creation in entirety. The Author’s all-embracing view is based on well-known natural laws, which reveal the hidden

      2 min read

    • Article

      The Reality of Color Is Perception: An argument for a new definition of color.

      Jul 23, 2015

      Philosophers have a bad reputation for casting unwarranted doubt on established facts. Little could be more certain than your belief that the cloudless sky, on a summer afternoon, is blue. Yet we may wonder in earnest, is it also blue for the birds w

      7 min read

    • Article

      The Reality of Color Is Perception

      Jan 11, 2018

      Philosophers have a bad reputation for casting unwarranted doubt on established facts. Little could be more certain than your belief that the cloudless sky, on a summer afternoon, is blue. Yet we may wonder in earnest, is it also blue for the birds w

      7 min read

    • Article

      What Is The Grail Message?

      Jan 31, 2020

      THE THREE VOLUMES of In the Light of Truth contain a total of 168 lectures whose contents, building upon one another, give a picture of Creation in entirety. The Author’s all-embracing view is based on well-known natural laws, which reveal the hidden

      2 min read

    • Article

      What Is The Grail Message?

      Feb 28, 2020

      THE THREE VOLUMES of In the Light of Truth contain a total of 168 lectures whose contents, building upon one another, give a picture of Creation in entirety. The Author’s all-embracing view is based on well-known Natural Laws, which reveal the hidden

      2 min read

    Related categories

    Reviews for The Neoplatonic Imagination with Angela Voss

    5/5

    1 rating0 reviews

    What did you think?

    Tap to rate

    Review must be at least 10 words

      Book preview

      The Neoplatonic Imagination with Angela Voss - Wise Studies

      At Wise Studies we are committed to illuminating the texts and teachings of the world’s great contemplative traditions.

      These three lectures are an introduction to one of the most important schools of philosophy in the ancient world, the followers of Plato (c.348-428 BCE) who are now called the Neoplatonists.

      Newsletter

      Tap here linktr.ee/wisestudies to subscribe to Wise Studies' newsletter to access exclusive updates, special offers, new releases and bonus content.

      Writing from roughly 100 to 500 CE, these philosophers offered interpretations of Plato’s ideas from varying perspectives but always focusing on the nature of the human soul, and its relationship with the cosmos and with the One, the supreme, divine ground of being which gives rise to all that is. Each lecture is devoted to a different personality and viewpoint – Plotinus’ contemplative approach, Iamblichus’ ritual approach, and the visionary mysticism of the legendary Hermes Trismegistus. 

      These three mystical ‘ways’ of attaining divine knowledge—which are ultimately one—are important because they provide the raw material as it were for the underlying philosophy of the Western esoteric traditions. These hidden and initiatory undercurrents to exoteric monotheism have given rise to the practices of alchemy, astrology, Kabbalah and natural magic which were developed in the Renaissance period where they enjoyed an ambivalent relationship with Christianity. The translation into Latin of many hitherto unavailable Greek sources instigated a flowering of culture, a renewal of religious experience and a new emphasis on working with the divinity within nature and cosmos in practical ways to achieve gnosis, or spiritual knowledge.

      Key to neoplatonic philosophy is the power of symbolic vision, which was understood as the way of awakening the soul from its earthbound slumber to a recognition of its innate divinity.

      These lectures will focus on the spiritual paths and practices of Plotinus, Iamblichus and Hermes which were intended to redeem both the soul of the world and the soul of the human being, and to ultimately lead to the full realization of humanity’s innate divinity.

      Of course, esotericism did not end there – movements such as Freemasonry and Rosicrucianism carried the ‘secret teachings’ into the Enlightenment period, and the occult revival of the late 19th and early 20th centuries relied heavily on Hermetic philosophy and ritual practice. The contemporary ‘new age’ movement is also in many ways an attempt to revive and reconnect with this underground stream of wisdom.

      The ideas and metaphors underlying neoplatonism are timeless, because they speak of a unified consciousness which seeks to attain knowledge of, and unite with, a greater Mind, a mysterious ‘other’ dimension which seems to burst through into human existence in so many different ways. They also suggest that the yearning of the heart will be more effective in this quest than the rational mind alone, and therefore offer an antidote to so much of our modern Western sense of alienation from what is truly real.

      Although our chosen examples are men, it is important to realize that there were many female neoplatonists whose voices we will never hear—Hypatia being one example. But whether expounded by men or women, there is a divine feminine, intuitive and imaginative dimension to this way of life which cuts across gender dominance and aspires towards a truly androgynous condition of being, a harmony of soul which is ultimately in service to its salvation.

      Plotinus and the Neoplatonic Cosmos

      In this lecture we will introduce the most well-known of neoplatonists, Plotinus. His Enneads are a manifesto for a contemplative yet intensely intellectual path to transcendence and union with the divine. Plotinus was also one of the first philosophers to exalt the power of the imagination to its role of mediator between heaven and earth.

      Iamblichus and Theurgy

      In contrast, Iamblichus’ path was one of ritual practice, and he developed the work of ‘theurgy’ or ‘divine action’ involving contacting the spiritual presences in nature and cosmos in order to raise the consciousness of the soul to remember its true identity. Iamblichus’ use of symbolic objects and incantations as mirrors of divine ideas is based on the theory of sympathy and correspondence which is a feature of all Western esoteric traditions.

      Hermes Trismegistus

      Hermes was a mythical figure under whose name a body of texts was composed in the same period as our previous two philosophers. These texts are examples of initiatic practices combining Egyptian and Greek elements, and were to have great influence on the Renaissance ideal of human autonomy, as well as on the power of art to convey symbolic insight into the human condition.

      In this first session Angela introduces the most well-known of the Neoplatonists, Plotinus, one of the first philosophers to exalt the power of the imagination to its role between heaven and earth.

      Session 1: Plotinus and the Neoplatonic Cosmos

      So, this lecture is going to be about the very famous Neoplatonist, Plotinus, and the Neoplatonic cosmos.

      I will begin with a quotation by the Jungian scholar Ira Progoff, who eloquently sums up the underlying premises Platonic philosophy, and indeed of the Western esoteric traditions as a whole. He says:

      There is a dimension of human experience which is not external to us in the sense that it can be directly and tangibly grasped. Rather, it is within us, but the word within must be understood metaphorically. It reflects a depth in us as human beings, and also a depth of the universe. Perceiving one, we perceive the other.

      The philosopher Plotinus, who lived from 205 to 270/71 CE, is regarded as the first great Neoplatonist although he would not have used that term, as it was only coined in the 18th century. He would certainly have seen himself as a follower of Plato, and he revived and elaborated upon the teachings of his master in Alexandria and Rome in the early years of the Christian era. Contemporary with the development of Hermeticism, which I will explore in the third of these lectures, Plotinian neoplatonism provides a more purely ‘philosophical’ complement to the direct spiritual revelations of the Hermetic texts.  But by ‘philosophy’ we do not mean an abstract speculation or a logical analysis. Philosophy means a love of wisdom, and going back to Pythagoras, who was an inspirational source for Plato, philosophy was a way of life based on moderation, virtue, contemplation and healthy regimes, which could raise the soul to recognise its innate divinity. For Plato and his followers, knowing how to live well and pursue the Good in all things was the goal of philosophical education, and this journey would eventually take the student to knowledge of the One, the divine principle and source of creation. The Platonic path is a spiritual path of knowledge, or gnosis,

      Enjoying the preview?
      Page 1 of 1