New Video Lecture Series by Dr. Pierre Grimes on Platonic Philosophy

Dr. Pierre Grimes recorded over 100 video lectures in the 1990's for the series Wisdom Literature in the Platonic Tradition, the DVDs of which are available from Opening Mind Associates.  Many of these lectures are available in full or in part at Opening Mind's YouTube channel or can be found by doing a YouTube search for "Pierre Grimes".  I have been thoroughly enjoying these, and watching them feels like sitting in on Pierre's classes.  I especially dig his treatment of Proclus as well as the dialogues of Plato.  I feel that having this resource available has made these Platonic texts more accessible and helpful for guiding one through the forest of primary sources.  Also highly recommended are the short series of interviews Coffee with Pierre.

Plato's Republic

I happened to be searching for more information on Pierre himself and came across a whole new video series on Platonic Philosophy over at academyofplatonicstudies.com.  It looks like they are doing a weekly session and then posting the material as they go along.  The video quality has improved a great deal from the 1990's videos.  The best thing is that they are all available for full download, and run usually 60-90 minutes.  Topics have covered much of the best from Plato, Plotinus, and Proclus, and it will be exciting to check back regularly and follow along on a weekly basis.  Especially valuable to me are the lecture cycles on the Timaeus, Parmenides, and Proclus' Commentary on the Parmenides.  I'm sure I will find all of them wonderful as I start digging in to the Platonic corpus in time.  It is a blessing that we have free access to such immense wisdom teachings on the internet today.  Thank you so much Pierre and blessings to you!

Here's a link to the videos: http://academyofplatonicstudies.com/video

Dr. Pierre Grimes

Here's a bit of background and description of Pierre from http://openingmind.com/bground.htm :

"Pierre Grimes is the founder of the Philosophical Midiwifery movement, which is an adaptation of Socratic midwifery, and is a mode of philosophical counseling. The Pierre Grimes in the flesh! name Philosophical Midiwifery comes from Plato's dialogue, the Theaetetus. In that dialogue, Socrates refers to his art as midwifery because he assists in the delivery of men who are pregnant with either true ideas or with false beliefs. Socrates calls it an art because it is the application of a knowledge that benefits the subject. It is a purely rational method of pursuing questions, a dialectic, that uncovers false beliefs, traces them to their origins, and through understanding their roots and influence on one's life deflates their influence."

Pierre Grimes is the author of several books on his teachings of Philosophical Midwifery.  Please see the Amazon links below if you would like to obtain these.

Iamblichus on Theurgy - Embracing Material Existence

I am currently reading through Gregory Shaw's article The Geometry of Grace: A Pythagorean Approach to Theurgy.  The article appears in the hard-to-obtain anthology of articles on The Divine Iamblichus: Philosopher and Man of Gods edited by H. J. Blumenthal and E. G. Clark published in 1993.  The article contains similar ideas to Shaw's classic work Theurgy and the Soul: The Neoplatonism of Iamblichus, but with emphasis on Pythagorean aspects to theurgy.

The Divine Iamblichus

Iamblichus opposed Plotinus' doctrine of an undescended aspect of the soul that was totally separate from materiality.  Iamblichus recognized that there must have been a purpose to the soul descending into material existence, and theurgy was how the philosopher redeemed his bodily nature.  I think this is best described by Shaw in the following quotation:

Following the will of the Demiurge and its own essential nature, the individual soul had to descend into a body, so its perfection had to incorporate the generated world into which it had fallen.  The manner of this incorporation was the exclusive task of theurgy where, through activities empowered by the gods the soul regained its continuity with them.  Put simply, theurgy transformed the soul's self-alienating activity into divine action.

This is an important concept, because we too often find spiritual aspirants denigrating the physical body and neglecting its proper care.  It is very common to think that spirituality means leaving the physical world behind to play with the Gods in the world of the starry heavens.  The highest spirituality actually embraces the physical world and the body, because it is part of the full spectrum of development.  We know that this world is magical, it is the realm through which spirituality is expressed in its true fullness.

It is our highest fulfillment to give expression to our spirit through physical action.  We do not seek to develop clairvoyance and astral projection to leave this world behind, but they are tools to manifest our highest potential and service to humanity here in this world.  What good is it if you can travel through astral space and do amazing things there, if you can't do amazing things here as well?

Many spiritual aspirants feel that they would be freed from the bondage of this world if they could develop astral projection.  But the reality is they will have to come back to the body sooner or later, so why not aspire equally to become the master of the body as well?

The true magic is being able to express our spiritual fullness through jobs and friendships, develop skills through which we can get our message out to the world, be able to make social connections to people who we can mutually serve with our unique talents, and eventually gain worldwide recognition as a philanthropist serving humanity and the planet on a mass global scale.  In short, the highest fulfillment is mastering the outer world by being at one with who we are in the inside, and expressing that on the outside without shame, guilt, or concealment.  The world becomes our magical playground, while our playmates are the gods.  It is nice to see the Neoplatonists' views on theurgy in harmony with this understanding.

Books mentioned in this article: