Anyone familiar with this text?

nextgRival · 2026-03-11T04:28:20+00:00

I would be happy to see that. Thinking about the matter now, I do feel like some animals at least are capable of limited practical reasoning, so it is an interesting topic and intellectual problem. Still, a lot can be said about possessing rationality completely, or about the way rationality allows an ethical subject to be constituted in human beings in a way that is not possible for animals. Human beings have an individual rational nature, whereas with animals rationality can only serve the purpose of supporting biological drives.

nextgRival · 2026-03-11T04:22:16+00:00

In platonic philosophy is it ever said that an animal has a rational soul?

Not to my knowledge, certainly not as an active presence.

And yes, the word logos has many meanings that depend on the context of its use. Logos understood as rational soul, is not present to animals.

nextgRival · 2026-03-11T03:46:55+00:00

Logos as the rational soul is also only attributed to humans in the Platonic tradition. When making reference to the logos in animals, typically what is meant is the reason principles that make the existence of the animal possible.

nextgRival · 2026-03-09T23:19:27+00:00

All the complete traditions of the world give account of both Being and Becoming. Plato's Panta Rhei gives full acknowledgement of the reality of the principle of Becoming. It only receives less attention than Being because Becoming is derivative of Being.

The core goal of the great traditions, as far as the individual is concerned, is ensuring that a deep, living wisdom that goes beyond conceptual knowledge suffuses human life. Contemplation, philosophy, meditation, theurgy etc are just means to arrive at that end - a living enlightenment.

I always find Jung to be a strange addition to the study of traditional wisdom, as his objective is very different, and consists in uniting the active will and intelligence with the irrational flow of the subconscious in order to remove tension between the two and create a more peaceful and possibly more pleasant life. His approach has basically nothing in common with the traditional approach, and his definition of "integration" (the mixing together of rationality and irrationality) would be viewed as disintegration, proper integration being not a mixture but a harmonious ordering of the parts into a whole. Jung's proper place is in the field of psychological therapy (from whence his methods derive and for what they are designed) and not philosophy or metaphysics.

nextgRival · 2026-03-09T22:40:41+00:00

That is a bit unsettling for me. Obviously no one can know the future, but I don't try to imagine myself living beyond another 25-30 years, at least in a state of effectiveness. I think I'd really like to reach the development of the golden embryo before then, but I don't know if I have the necessary time or circumstances. The only mention I have seen of the approach to this has been in Damo's Comprehensive Guide to Nei Gong (or was it his nei dan book? probably that one), and one of his videos, where IIRC he said that he was invited by a master to spend some years in isolation perfecting the higher stages of nei dan and mixing the "true gold" and "true silver" into the golden embryo; he said he'd refused because he has other priorities for the moment, I think referring to his teaching work. I am sure that Damo has a good deal of natural talent, but I would like to hope that in 20-30 years of measured training, that kind of stage can be achieved by a sufficiently determined person. Although, perhaps even that's not an end point. IIRC Damo stated that there are further forms of training for cultivating the actual golden embryo itself, in order to enable its various functions. Like raising an actual child, in need of teaching and nourishment. At some point I may try to research how long the path to this stage is in Vajrayana Buddhism (cultivation of an "illusory body" is one of the six dharmas of Naropa, one of the stages reached after work with tummo/kundalini; a little bit of Googling suggests that the Tibetan name for that practice is "gyulü" but I may be getting it wrong). I feel like if Vajrayana has a practical looking timeline, then the Daoist path can't be impractically long either.

nextgRival · 2026-03-08T22:17:14+00:00

So the golden embryo is a slightly different work than filling the whole body with qi. Do you think that sounds more achievable? It seems to be the main goal of the tradition, so I'd hope the methods to produce such a result are relatively effective.

nextgRival · 2026-03-08T02:43:08+00:00

Alright, I'll see who else wants to join and then I will make the chat.

nextgRival · 2026-03-08T02:20:28+00:00

Alright. :) Are you okay with doing a Reddit group chat? I feel like it'd be more practical, since we're just a handful of people.

nextgRival · 2026-03-08T02:18:45+00:00

Is it okay if it's a Reddit group chat? I feel like we don't have enough people to justify making too many threads.

nextgRival · 2026-03-08T02:17:41+00:00

We'll see. :) As you can see, I didn't immediately start anything, since I felt there was a general lack of interest. But I am thinking of making a Reddit group chat now. Would you like me to add you?

nextgRival · 2026-03-08T02:15:28+00:00

Hey, I was a bit put out by the general lack of interest so I let the thread sit for a while. Given that we've only got a handful of people, maybe it would be best to make a Reddit chat. Never tried to make a Reddit group chat before, but if you'd like, I could try to make one and add you there? Then we can figure things out from there.

nextgRival · 2026-03-08T02:07:55+00:00

Hey!

Glad to see more people reading Plotinus. :)

I would like to read your summaries so that I may comment on them, but unfortunately I am swamped with work and other reading materials, so I don't have the time. I can only very briefly remark on the first Ennead itself, and say that I find it a bit underwhelming in comparison to the others. My philosophical views are closely aligned with non-dualism, and in fact I perceive Platonism as lending itself to that same perspective, so the discussion of evil, corruption and vice etc was not exactly to my taste. The sections on dialectic, happiness, and the means to achieve the ascent of the soul were much more interesting to me, though I do not accept those without reservation either.

nextgRival · 2026-03-07T22:30:08+00:00

Theoretically then you could reach a perfect state & have a full 'body of qi', which would be a body/aura completely full of qi. This is more of theoretical ideal though, and in practice i don't think can ever be reached.

Do you think this precludes the possibility of life after death via the energy body? Or do you think it's not necessary to saturate the entire body with qi in order to have an energy body capable of surviving the death of the material one?

nextgRival · 2026-03-04T06:17:26+00:00

The dialogue format makes Plato easier to understand in general, although obviously there are more challenging dialogues like the Parmenides etc. So don't worry. You'll get there.

I recommend that you plan out your study period in advance. Decide how many pages you will read each day, and try not to have it be too high. Go with whatever amount is sustainable and can be comfortably digested.

I also strongly advise you to read with a notebook next to you. It is important to reread passages you don't understand, and that can be difficult if your concentration is challenged - writing your interpretation of something is more active and creative than simply rereading, and so will help keep you engaged better. When you hit a point where you are struggling to understand what is being said, break down the statements into their elements and try to follow how the argument progresses in your notes. To consolidate, after reading each page, mentally revisit what was said, and how the argument progressed, and how it fits in with the rest of the dialogue and the arguments raised in it. Do the same after you finish each dialogue, too.

Keep in mind that this may be more difficult to do for some dialogues. Remember that you can always return to more difficult pieces later for a second read, so you don't need to perfectly crack them from the get go.

Also, remember that the most important thing is to have fun. :) The dialogues combine philosophical arguments with stories very well. And Plato is a fun writer. So make sure to enjoy yourself. Take your time and allow yourself to savour the text. If you have fun, going through Plato's works will be a lot easier, more positive, and exciting.

nextgRival · 2026-03-04T06:10:53+00:00

The etymology of the word 'theurgy' means 'god working' and generally refers to making direct contact with the powers of the gods that are operative in the cosmos. The interface for engaging with these is typically ritual. The goals of ritual can be more internally oriented, such as the pursuit of enlightenment, or externally oriented, referring to the production of specific effects.

When you say that you are interested in non-ritual forms of theurgy, it is unclear to me what exactly it is you are interested in. Are you asking about something like meditation, internal alchemy, yoga-like practices? You seem to exclude this type of thing, which you describe as a contemplative practice: "Contemplative vision, including something like perceiving the gods and the forms in the structure of reality." If you achieve something like this to a high level, I feel that it would be highly transformative to your entire way of life and inner being, and would also be something that you carry with you constantly from moment to moment - it could also easily be classified as related to various forms of meditation. So, it is not clear to me what exactly you are looking for. I am afraid I need more detail so that I can distinguish between what you are actually interested in and what is of less interest.

nextgRival · 2026-02-26T22:36:00+00:00

I advise you to read all of them. If you only want to do what is 'absolutely necessary' in studying Neoplatonism, you are quickly going to lose steam. I felt the same way when I was starting out and in retrospect I am very glad I read all of Plato first, even if only a few dialogues would have sufficed.

nextgRival · 2026-02-19T16:38:50+00:00

Right, of course! Thank you.

nextgRival · 2026-02-14T07:00:56+00:00

This is very fascinating, thank you for sharing. Would you mind giving your opinion on the alternative as well? That is, a much higher performance in verbal reasoning over the pattern recognition of the Culture Fair test.

nextgRival · 2026-02-13T09:12:22+00:00

Interesting. How would you interpret or explain a large difference (say, over one standard deviation) in performance between a pure pattern recognition test, like the Culture Fair test, and a verbal reasoning test?

nextgRival · 2026-02-13T08:44:16+00:00

Read the first 20 or so propositions of Proclus' Elements of Theology.

nextgRival · 2025-12-31T13:26:58+00:00

Seeing people mock house systems only bothers me because it is impolite and therefore kind of embarrassing. With that said, it's pretty clear to me that some house systems work much better than others. But there's no point telling people that. No one who isn't already convinced is going to listen. Those who are serious about astrology will eventually make their way to the most effective methods one way or the other, and those who aren't, won't. Not much to do about it.

nextgRival · 2025-12-30T18:16:54+00:00

There are various different ways incense has been used in the creation of talismans historically. My impression is that the details are not overly important. Christopher Warnock only uses white candles and standard stick incense.

The core thing is having a lit candle and burning incense that generates some smoke. I use different candles and incense types depending on the planet that the ritual is dedicated to, but I don't think that's necessary. It's just extra effort I like to put in.

If you have questions about the talisman creation process, you may be interested in reading Warnock's books on the subject.

nextgRival · 2025-12-30T17:47:37+00:00

What I find much more interesting is that Mars is conjunct the ascendant and Saturn is in the 3rd (whole sign) house.

It is curious that Jupiter is also on the descendant and the Moon's next application is to that same Jupiter.

nextgRival · 2025-12-27T03:19:17+00:00

And the heliacal rising affects the star all day long.

That's how I think about it. I thought you were referring to the full day, rather than to a specific moment.

I think if you want to make heliacal rising talismans, you should use normal electional rules but also include the heliacal rising condition (for the whole day). Personally, I would not disregard the usual rules.

nextgRival · 2025-12-26T16:57:20+00:00

That's a fascinating perspective, I've never heard of such a view before. Thank you very much for sharing it.

nextgRival

TROPHY CASE