What we’re about
We're a Late Platonist/Neoplatonist study group focused on the writings of Plato and Plotinus.
We listen to passages from the original texts and discuss them together, with the aim of deepening both our understanding and our lived practice of Platonism as a philosophy of life.
"Withdraw into yourself and look. And if you do not find yourself beautiful yet, act as does the creator of a statue that is to be made beautiful: he cuts away here, he smoothes there, he makes this line lighter, this other purer, until a lovely face has grown upon his work. So do you also: cut away all that is excessive, straighten all that is crooked, bring light to all that is overcast, labour to make all one glow of beauty and never cease chiselling your statue, until there shall shine out on you from it the godlike splendour of virtue, until you shall see the perfect goodness surely established in the stainless shrine.
When you know that you have become this perfect work, when you are self-gathered in the purity of your being, nothing now remaining that can shatter that inner unity, nothing from without clinging to the authentic man, when you find yourself wholly true to your essential nature, wholly that only veritable Light which is not measured by space, not narrowed to any circumscribed form nor again diffused as a thing void of term, but ever unmeasurable as something greater than all measure and more than all quantity—when you perceive that you have grown to this, you are now become very vision: now call up all your confidence, strike forward yet a step—you need a guide no longer—strain, and see." -Enneads I, 6.9
Upcoming events
2
•OnlineThe Allegory of the Cave (Plato’s Republic)
OnlineIn this session, we’ll listen to Plato’s famous Allegory of the Cave from Book VII, Part 2 of the Republic (about 20 minutes), where Socrates describes the soul’s ascent from ignorance and illusion to the vision of truth and the Good.
This short passage contains some of the most influential imagery in Western philosophy — shadows and fire, imprisonment and liberation, turning of the soul, and the dazzling encounter with reality.
Here's the text and audio if you’d like to check them out beforehand:
Text: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1myqbgC9rKMVtvTX7F39SrPp7zLRDe5-qffAH70wuEqI/edit?usp=sharing
Audio: Start to 17:09 https://ia601908.us.archive.org/27/items/republic_version_2_1310_librivox/republic_14_plato_128kb.mp3
After listening, we’ll open a discussion around questions such as:
- What keeps the soul “chained” in the cave?
- What does it take to turn toward the light?
- How does this allegory relate to education, politics, or spiritual practice today?
No prior knowledge of Plato is required — just curiosity, goodwill, and a willingness to dialogue together.
45 attendees
Past events
2
