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why doesn't there exist a modern neoplatonism movement?

9-10ths_Penguin

1/10 Subway Stalinist
Premium Member
why doesn't there exist a modern neoplatonism movement?

I'm sure there's one out there somewhere.

"The Web brings people together because no matter what kind of a twisted sexual mutant you happen to be, you've got millions of pals out there. Type in 'Find people that have sex with goats that are on fire'and the computer will say, 'Specify type of goat.'" - Richard Jeni
 

Tamino

Active Member
I'm pretty sure that half of the deistic people who believe in a vaguely Christian but mostly distant and uninvolved Creator are pretty much neo-platonists. And most of the Esoteric folk that talk about destined eternal souls, laws of attraction, manifesting happiness and such things... If you push them about their world view it turns out pretty much like Plotinus' model.

Oh, and of course Neoplatonist philosophy had a huge influence on all three abrahamic religions.

When I studied Neoplatonism a bit, I was astonished how well it fits with a lot of modern esoteric, occult and religious concepts.
 

Starlight

Spiritual but not religious, new age and omnist
I'm pretty sure that half of the deistic people who believe in a vaguely Christian but mostly distant and uninvolved Creator are pretty much neo-platonists. And most of the Esoteric folk that talk about destined eternal souls, laws of attraction, manifesting happiness and such things... If you push them about their world view it turns out pretty much like Plotinus' model.

Oh, and of course Neoplatonist philosophy had a huge influence on all three abrahamic religions.

When I studied Neoplatonism a bit, I was astonished how well it fits with a lot of modern esoteric, occult and religious concepts.
yes neo-platonism is very similar to the world view of estoeric spiritual movements
 

Starlight

Spiritual but not religious, new age and omnist
Christianity was formulated in a Hellenistic environment where Platonism was well known and utilised by early Christians, then Mediaeval Christians and so on.
most christians do not believe in reincarnation. reincarnation is a big part of neo-platonism
 

firedragon

Veteran Member
Christianity was formulated in a Hellenistic environment where Platonism was well known and utilised by early Christians, then Mediaeval Christians and so on.
Correlation is not the same as causation. You have to provide evidence for it.

Can you prove that Christianity is neoplatonism with the philosophical implications of neoplatonism? I would love to read your reasoning but with data.

Thank you very much.
 

SalixIncendium

अहं ब्रह्मास्मि
Staff member
Premium Member
What would a modern version of a Neoplatonism look like?

As I understand it (and my understanding is cursory at best), Neoplatonism is a monist philosophy rooted in mysticism that posits that the phenomenal world is an appearance of an underlying reality. I see similarities of the Neoplatonic definition of "the One" and Brahman.
 

Spice

StewardshipPeaceIntergityCommunityEquality
most christians do not believe in reincarnation. reincarnation is a big part of neo-platonism
Reincarnation was an acceptable tenant of Christianity until the Second Council of Constantinople in 553. An early church father, Origen, was a Reincarnation believer. Reading up on him and his position in the controversies are interesting. I also enjoy reading Clements, though he was not a proponent of Reincarnation.
 

Spice

StewardshipPeaceIntergityCommunityEquality
Some early ones believed it. It helps deal with Elijah returning as John the Baptist.
And it makes more sense for Job having everything he lost replaced, if it took place in his next life.
 

Spice

StewardshipPeaceIntergityCommunityEquality
why doesn't there exist a modern neoplatonism movement?
The Unity Church and Christian Universalists both accept, if not promote, reincarnation. IMO they both are worth reading about.
Have a look:

 

Quintessence

Consults with Trees
Staff member
Premium Member
As mentioned, Neoplatonism was an influential undercurrent of much of later Western intellectualism, culture, and religion - I'm not up on the details but it more or less transformed into many of "standard" way of thinking in Western culture.

See:


For a far more thorough overview than I could ever hope to do myself at present. But they do speculate as to why it has the illusion of seeming less relevant in discourses of today:


"Neoplatonism has acquired the reputation of being speculative and abstract to a fault. Modern philosophical commitments to empiricism, logical positivism, and the analysis of language have not helped much to arrive at a judicious evaluation of the movement, its strengths and its weaknesses, and the dramatic scientific discoveries of contemporary bottom-up materialism tend to deter students from even attempting to find their way into the world of Neoplatonism."
 

Bharat Jhunjhunwala

TruthPrevails
I'm pretty sure that half of the deistic people who believe in a vaguely Christian but mostly distant and uninvolved Creator are pretty much neo-platonists. And most of the Esoteric folk that talk about destined eternal souls, laws of attraction, manifesting happiness and such things... If you push them about their world view it turns out pretty much like Plotinus' model.

Oh, and of course Neoplatonist philosophy had a huge influence on all three abrahamic religions.

When I studied Neoplatonism a bit, I was astonished how well it fits with a lot of modern esoteric, occult and religious concepts.
Stanford encyclopedia. In effect, they absorbed, appropriated, and creatively harmonized almost the entire Hellenic tradition of philosophy, religion...
The challenge today is to expand this to the world.
 
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