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.

First Post - Introduction and Purpose of This Blog

After wondering about my own spiritual heritage and how I developed my unique interests in life, I received inner guidance to delve into Neoplatonism.  I feel deeply drawn to the philosophy of Proclus, who I had been studying for Pythagorean inspiration from his Commentary on the First Book of Euclid's Elements.  On learning that Proclus was also heavily into theurgy, I knew that it was time to devote myself to the massive library of his written work.

Iamblichus and Proclus were clearly knowledgeable of the Pythagorean background to Plato and their writings are a goldmine for those who want to understand clearly what the Pythagorean spiritual discipline entailed.  There are no surviving works of Pythagoras, but the Pythagorean texts that have come down to us are written in symbolic language, not in the abstract conceptualized thinking pioneered by Plato.  For example, the Pythagorean Symbols consist of short cryptic aphorisms such as "do not poke the fire with a sword" or "eat not the heart".  The phrases were intended to be accompanied by oral instruction, from master to disciple.  While the Pythagorean lineage may have ended some time ago, the tradition of wisdom initiated by Pythagoras was rekindled by Plato, as can be seen in his many numerical and geometric riddles.  Plato's doctrines evolved and developed into a clear form of expression the succession from Plotinus, Porphyry, Iamblichus, Syrianus, Proclus, and Damascius.  Of these, Proclus was the most prolific, producing upward of 45 written works, many of which were commentaries on the dialogues of Plato, while injecting vitality and freshness with his own works. 

I shall be devoting a greater part of this blog to Proclus, not only because of the sheer volume of his writings that are available or because of the depthness and clarity of his expression, but because I feel that his spirit is close to me, and want to draw nearer.

As I continue my studies I will report here from time to time on good ideas that I find and what sources I'm using so that you can put yourself back into the Neoplatonist mindset and taste the pleasures contained therein.  This information will be also useful to have so that I can make cross-references on my other blogs.