NEOPLATONISM

the term
- a modern term
- it’s a school of religious and mystical philosophy
- it was started by Plotinus in 3rd century AD
- he based his believes on Plato’s teachings

teachings
- the ONE – it’s the origin of all things though it didn’t have any origin itself
- it didn’t have a beginning, so it won’t have an end as well, it’s Infinite
- it’s also the only real, sure existence, being beyond all Being, despite the fact that it’s
actually the source of it all, and also, it’s above all existence
- it can’t be known through experience or reasoning (those two are from Plato)
- it’s also called Good, that created all things that are meant to be a part of it again
- it’s the source of all motion, not having been moved by anything itself
- we can’t attach any moral attributes to it, as it doesn’t have any, of any kind; having
them would mean limitation and we know that it’s limitless
- we may call God that ‘One’
- pantheism, as God is in all things, and all things are more or less divine because of
that

- the NOUS – also called Demiurge is the beginning of all things thrown out by the One
- it’s a perfect image of it’s origin, being the archetype of all existing things
- it’s ideal and pure, and also motionless
- it’s the highest sphere accessible to the human mind (through reasoning)

- the creation of it is an immaterial WORLD-SOUL

- it’s relation to the nous is the same as the one of the nous to the One
- it stands between the nous and the phenomenal world, staying in contact with both of
them

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 - it embraces numerous SOULS that have the choice – they may turn to it and be ruled
by the nous, or turn away and lose themselves in the world of phenomenal world
- the soul is a moving essence

- it generates the PHENOMENAL (corporeal) world

- Plotinus admires the material word, saying that it’s good as long as the idea rules the
matter or soul governs the body
- it’s an image, imperfect though, of the upper world of ideas
- if they’re more or less perfect depends on the harmony of the whole
- however, actual world is full of chaos because of the internal disorder of all material
things, which base on the matter

- MATTER is the antithesis of idea, it has no qualifies and is called ‘evil’

- human souls, having had descended to our material bodies, allowed themselves to be
trapped by lust
- they are fooled all the time by it, though they can escape, as they haven’t lost their
freedom – the conversion is still possible

practice
- the soul must return to it’s origin, using the same way it used while descending to the
phenomenal world
- it can be achieved through the practice of virtues and leads up to God
- 3 stages – civil virtues, purifying and divine ones (allowing ecstatic approach to God)
- first must we contemplate all of the material things, their harmony; then the soul must
look within itself and travel towards the nous; finally, it has to forget everything and
lose itself in order to achieve the ecstatic union with the One

celestial hierarchy
- at first the neoplatonic philosopher did quite well without any aid of religion etc.
- later philosophers added lots of divine beings and created a hierarchy:
- the One (God) + The Hypercosmic Gods (those which make Essence) + The Demiurge (the creator) + The Cosmic Gods
(those who make Being, Nature and Matter; gods from classical mythology are put here)

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salvation
- people can be happy and perfect in their lives, without waiting for afterlife
- it can be achieved through philosophical contemplation
- they also didn’t believe in evil as an independent being – it was the lack of good, just
as darkness is only the absence of light
- all our conscience should disappear in order to let us return to the Source
- however, it’s up to us (during our life) if our soul shall reach the One, or if it will be
purified and forced to descend again, to another body

renaissance
- Marsilio Ficino – one of the most important renaissance neoplatonists
- he was the founder of the Academy in Firenze, which was part discussion group, part
literature club
- human soul is immortal and is the center of the universe, because it is the only thing
that exists between the physical world and the world of ideas and can travel from one
to another
- that’s why it’s called the center of the universe, that binds all things, those two worlds
- as for the religion, he believed that there was one God and many various ways of
worshipping Him
- the purpose of human’s life is contemplation, as the way of reuniting with God
- he underlined that, though the relation between human and God is individual, humans
are social beings and need contact with others
- the highest level of relationship two people can achieve mirrors the love of God
towards the human
- love became more than erotic experience – it was seen as a spiritual bond between two
people (also homosexual)
- it was also visible in art and literature