The fight against Newspeak

[veritas]

This implies that the prefix "neo-" has nothing to do with the original—with that which was authentic; in essence, this movement ought to have been called something else.

This is the primary argument put forward by many contemporary historians of philosophy, who are in complete agreement with you. Indeed, if one applies the criterion of strict fidelity to the original, the term "Neoplatonism" is misleading. One could just as easily call them "Plotinians" or "theurgists."
Nevertheless, the connection to the original doctrine was not entirely lost: it was a relationship akin to the transmission of "genetic material"—material that had, however, undergone a mutation. It was not an arbitrary or entirely different philosophy—and here is why:

1. The architecture of the system remained Platonic

Although they altered the method (by introducing elements of magic and the miraculous), the very structure of their thought remained strictly Platonic.
• The distinction between the sensible world (the realm of matter) and the intelligible world (the realm of forms/ideas) remained the foundation of everything.
• The ultimate goal remained the same: the liberation of the soul from the shackles of the body and its return to its source. Simply put, rather than ascending a staircase by means of reason (as Plato did), they attempted to "soar" upward by using the "elevator" of theurgy.

2. The illusion of "authenticity"

The Neoplatonists themselves did not believe they were offering anything new. They lived in an era (Late Antiquity) when anything old was automatically perceived as true and authoritative, while anything new was viewed with suspicion.
• For their theories to carry authority, they had to be presented as the "correct interpretation" of Plato’s ideas. • Had they been named differently, they would have lost the intellectual legitimacy conferred upon them by the name of a great philosopher.

The prefix "neo-" as a historical tool for differentiation

As previously mentioned, the term "Neoplatonism" itself did not exist during that era; it was introduced by German scholars in the 19th century. Historians faced a need similar to one you might experience yourself: they realized that this system had evolved to such an extent that it could no longer simply be called "Platonism." Rather than coining an entirely new term, however, they added the prefix "neo-" to point back to its original roots. In essence, the prefix "neo-" functions much like a surname: it indicates your lineage, yet it offers no guarantee that you will resemble your great-grandfather—neither in character nor in your actions.
Would you like to explore whether a similar "departure" from the original source has occurred in other "neo-" movements—such as Neo-Marxism or contemporary neoliberalism?

[veritas]

I think you might be slightly misleading people; Plato sought to show others that they were being deceived, and he was certainly not on the side of those in power. In a way, you could be compared to Plato—someone who wants to convey something to people, something previously unknown to them. One must be very careful when it comes to philosophy. Best of luck to you, and thanks again for your hard work.

[Firestarter]

I think that "The fight against Neoplatonism" would have been a better title for this thread...
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While we have been made to believe that ancient Greece is the birthplace of rational thinking, science, philosophy and democracy, the truth is of course more sinister.
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The official story is that Emperor Constantine (Emperor 306-337 AD) converted from Mithraism to Christianity on the eve of a battle in 312 AD. Constantine made Christianity the state religion. All subsequent emperors were openly hostile towards Mithraism: http://www.cais-soas.com/CAIS/Religions ... ianity.htm
(archived here: http://archive.is/YnS6B)


After Emperor Constantine supposedly converted to Christianity in 312 AD, he maintained the title “Pontifex Maximus” - the high priest of paganism.

I searched the internet for a connection between Socrates, Plato and the Mithras cult, and found it, but NOT how I expected...

The symbolism and rituals of Roman Mithraism depended so much on Platonic philosophy that it can be seen as Neoplatonism.
The bull sacrifice in a cave, was similar to the cave in Plato’s Republic.
Mithra was called “demiurge and father of all things”, like the Platonic demiurge.
The Mithraic doctrine of the soul is linked with the myth of creation and (of course) Platonic philosophy. As in the Platonic Timaeus, the human soul came down from heaven, and was finally caught within the body after crossing the 7 spheres of the planets.
The task of life is to liberate one’s divine part (the soul) from the shackles of the body and to reascend through the 7 spheres to the eternal, unchanging realm of the fixed stars. This ascent to the sky was pictured as Mithra leaving earth in the chariot of the sun god.

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The cave, both in Mithraic ritual and Platonic philosophy, served as the archetype of the cosmic microcosm, the place where the soul enters matter and from which it must ultimately ascend. Porphyry, the Neoplatonic philosopher who offers one of the most insightful ancient commentaries on Mithraic symbolism, explicitly identifies this connection.
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Just as in Plato’s Republic (Book VII), the soul ascends from the darkness of the cave toward the light of the Good, so too does the Mithraic initiate move from ignorance toward gnosis, from material illusion toward cosmic order. Yet the Mithraic cave is not the prison of Plato’s allegory; it is the crucible of transformation. For Plato, the cave is an image of delusion; for the Mithraist, it is a sanctum of regeneration. Where the philosopher escapes the cave, the initiate masters it.
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The cave’s darkness was not merely the absence of light; it was the primordial potential of creation. In Neoplatonic thought, the material world is not evil but the lowest manifestation of the divine, awaiting illumination by intellect, as Plotinus writes, “We must not despise the body, for even here the divine radiance shines; but we must ascend through its shadow to the source of light.”
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Porphyry, following the Neoplatonic line of thought, identifies the bull as the symbol of the material world (Hyle). In De Abstinentia (2.56), he explains that the slaying of the bull by Mithras signifies “the subjection of matter to divine reason, the ordering of chaos by intellect.”
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When all these elements are considered together; the animals, the torchbearers, Sol and Luna, the tauroctony reveals itself not as a narrative image but as a cosmic diagram, a visual mandala of Indo-European metaphysics. The figures form a sacred geometry: Mithras at the center as the mediating intellect; Sol and Luna above as the transcendent principles; the animals below as the material and psychic forces; and the torchbearers as the twin poles of cosmic rhythm. This structure corresponds to the Neoplatonic hierarchy: The One (Sol), Nous (Mithras), Psyche (Luna), and Hyle (the animals and bull). The initiate, standing before this image in the dim mithraeum, did not simply observe it entered it. His consciousness was aligned with its architecture, his soul rehearsed its ascent through ritual, and his inner world became the living reflection of the cosmos carved before him, as the Neoplatonist Iamblichus wrote, “Ritual images are not mere symbols but vehicles of divine presence; by contemplating them, the soul is raised to the reality they signify”[27] Thus, the tauroctony was not a teaching device but an instrument of transformation.

https://archive.is/d1oyQ


The truth about the trial and execution of Socrates in 399 BC for “corrupting the youth” has been deliberately obscured.
Socrates was not sentenced to death for asking philosophical questions, but sentenced for "his organisational role in a network that had attempted to destroy Athenian democracy".

While Socrates never produced any book, his legendary status was promoted through his disciple Plato, an aristocrat whose family was involved in the "Thirty Tyrants" coup.
Socrates, with Plato, were part of a network of aristocrats (some sort of "deep state"?!?) that orchestrated terror against the "democratic order". For Socrates and Plato, democracy was tyranny of the majority (really: of the lower class) over wisdom and virtue (really: tyranny of the elite).

Socrates' most prominent associates — Alcibiades, Critias, Charmides — were members of an aristocratic network hostile to Athenian democracy.
Critias — one of Socrates’s closest associates — led the oligarchic coup of 404 BC, which led to the short regime of the “Thirty Tyrants”.

The Academy Plato founded was not a university, but a cult - a closed brotherhood with political ambitions, property holdings, and initiation rites: https://www.globalresearch.ca/socrates- ... yr/5928383


As for another interpretation of “corrupting the youth”...
One of Socrates' most infamous students was Alcibiades.
According to Plato, the much older Socrates, was in a gay, sexual relationship (not platonic!) with the Athenian general Alcibiades, who was famous for his physical attractiveness.

See the 1777 painting "Alcibiades Being Taught by Socrates" by François-André Vincent. It depicts the feminine Alcibiades with Socrates.

https://web.archive.org/web/20260602081 ... 26?lang=en

[veritas]

Can you give me an honest answer to my question: are you Jewish? Jews are often hired for jobs in banks. Can you answer this honestly, or is it an inappropriate question to ask?

[veritas]

If you don’t answer me, I’ll consider you a Jew and find all the information about you on the internet.

[veritas]

You might want to add to all this that Constantine was baptized by an Arian—the very group he had fought against!

[veritas]

I noticed traits of a Jew in you a long time ago. First, there’s the megalomania—which is linked to your paranoia—and then there’s your superficial approach to studying history, along with frequent self-aggrandizement. You also have a specific way of presenting criminal news, and you avoid identifying the people who have taken over all the positions of power in the world—the *marranos* and the Freemasons—as Jews.

[Firestarter]

I think that "The fight against Neoplatonism" would have been a better title for this thread...
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The Academy Plato founded was not a university, but a cult - a closed brotherhood with political ambitions, property holdings, and initiation rites

So the philosophy / academy of Plato and Socrates was always an elite secret society, with initiation levels.
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The symbolism and rituals of Roman Mithraism depended so much on Platonic philosophy that it can be seen as Neoplatonism.

It is widely known that Plato and Socrates had a huge influence over Western philosophy, but not that these Greek philosophers were occultists, deep into esoteric mysticism.
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Socrates, with Plato, were part of a network of aristocrats (some sort of "deep state"?!?) that orchestrated terror against the "democratic order". For Socrates and Plato, democracy was tyranny of the majority (really: of the lower class) over wisdom and virtue (really: tyranny of the elite).

Plato described the ideal state in “The Republic”, in which there were 3 classes: guardians (philosopher kings), auxiliaries (police, soldiers and lawyers) and producers (as the lowest class).
Apparently the Neoplatonists wanted to control the masses through "wisdom and virtue". Which meant that they obscured the truth from the lower classes.

Plato argued that citizens must believe in myths so they will accept their class. Plato called such myths “Noble Lies”: Plato explicitly recommended lying to the masses (but not to the elite, guardians).
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We must surely prize truth most highly. For if we were right in what we were just saying and falsehood is useless to gods, but to men useful as a remedy or form of medicine, it is obvious that such a thing must be granted to physicians and laymen should have nothing to do with it.

Obviously, he replied.

The rulers then of the city may, if anybody, rightly lie to and about enemies or citizens for the benefit of the state; no others may have anything to do with it, but for a layman to lie to rulers we shall affirm to be as great a sin, even greater than it is for a patient not to tell physician or an athlete his trainer the truth about his bodily condition, or for a man to deceive the captain about the ship and the sailors as to the real condition of himself or a fellow-sailor, and how they fare.

https://philolibrary.crc.nd.edu/article/the-noble-lie/


It's obvious that this idea of misleading the masses through myths wasn’t only through political propaganda but also through religiosity.
That Neoplatonists influence (and even founded) Christianity and Islam suggests that these organisations were founded to keep the lower classes under the tyranny of the elite through “noble lies”.
With only the initiated Neoplatonists understanding what was really behind the doctrines of these religious organisations (like the degrees in freemasonry).
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Worshippers of Mithras prayed:

Abide with me in my soul. Leave me not [so] that I may be initiated and that the Holy Spirit may breathe within me.

I've never quite been able to understand what the Christian "Holy Spirit" is supposed to mean.
This looks to come from the Neoplatonist "World Soul" (a.k.a. psyche kosmou or anima mundi).

The influence of Neoplatonism extended beyond the classical period, significantly impacting early Christian, Islamic, and Renaissance thought. The integration of Platonic and Neoplatonic ideas into Christian theology, particularly through the works of Augustine and Pseudo-Dionysius, demonstrates the enduring legacy of the concept of the World Soul.

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See Robert Fludd's illustration of all parts of the created cosmos, with its soul depicted as a woman.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anima_mundi


Besides Christianity and Islam, Neoplatonism (and other ancient Greek philosophy) also played a pivotal role in shaping the mystic Jewish Kabbalah.

See the Knesset Menorah that merges Kabbalah symbolism with echoes of Greek philosophy.


Neoplatonism proposed that reality emanated from a single, transcendent source, which the 3rd century CE Neoplatonist Plotinus called “The One”. This source was beyond all comprehension and could only be described in negative terms.

This concept is similar to the Kabbalistic notion of “Ein Sof”, the infinite, unknowable God. From this divine source, the universe emanates in a series of progressively more complex layers, represented by the Ten Sefirot, or divine emanations. These Sefirot form the structure of the Kabbalistic Tree of Life, an intricate map of the divine order: https://greekreporter.com/2026/04/08/in ... -kabbalah/


The following gives an idea of “Neoplatonic principles”...

It might be worth concluding with an attempt to explain why Neoplatonism, in spite of its difficulty, is worth understanding. Neoplatonism is worth understanding for its own sake, but it is separately worth the attention of anyone who wants to understand how philosophy developed through the period in which Christianity and Islam became world-historical forces and came to dominate the intellectual currents of their respective societies. Understanding Neoplatonism is also critical for attempting to make sense of medieval philosophy (again, in both the Christian and Islamic world), and, therefore, the environment in which philosophy as we know it today emerged.
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The two most characteristically Neoplatonic principles are not distinctly Platonic. The first is held by Plato, but also by Aristotle and many other Greek philosophers of that period. The principle can be summarised simply as: “mind precedes matter,” or “mind over matter” as it is sometimes rendered. For the term “mind” we could well substitute “mindful intelligence,” “consciousness,” “intellect,” or “thought.” The Greek term, nous, bears connotations of all these English terms.
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The second principle is perhaps the most distinctive Neoplatonic principle — it is the idea that reality wholly depends on a highest principle. This principle is one of unity. It is commonly considered divine, and indeed sometimes referred to simply as “God,” although the Neoplatonists were pagans. It goes by other names: “the One,” “the Good,” “the First,” and others. Evidently, these principles are related. If mind precedes matter, then the first principle of creation must be a conscious principle. Neoplatonism must, therefore, attempt to explain how all of reality proceeds from consciousness.

https://www.thecollector.com/what-is-neoplatonism/

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Plato described the ideal state in “The Republic”, in which there were 3 classes: guardians (philosopher kings), auxiliaries (police, soldiers and lawyers) and producers (as the lowest class).
Apparently the Neoplatonists wanted to control the masses through "wisdom and virtue". Which meant that they obscured the truth from the lower classes.

While the influence of Mithraism on the founding of the Catholic Church is interesting, it never quite explained to me what was behind founding the Church and proclaiming the Tanach (a.k.a. Old Testament) and New Testament as the "Word of God" through a political vote by the Council of Nicaea. And to me it never explained this "Holy Spirit".
Christianity is as much two-tier as just about any large organisation in our brave new world.
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Plato argued that citizens must believe in myths so they will accept their class. Plato called such myths “Noble Lies”: Plato explicitly recommended lying to the masses (but not to the elite, guardians).

To me Neoplatonism explains all of this much much better. Neoplatonists started Christianity to control the masses through 'noble lies'. In short the message the lower classes get brainwashed with is that we must be good and obedient to the Church 'fathers', and ultimately ALL authorities, to get rewarded in the afterlife by the almighty God.
The elites get another message, one of spiritual awaking, through oneness, union with the divine, or union with the "World Soul" or Holy Spirit. And by becoming one with the Holy Spirit, they automatically 'transcend' into becoming part of the Holy Trinity. Which then makes it morally just for them to enslave and exploit the inferior lower classes.

Of course the idea of ‘enlightenment’ is just as much a “noble lie” as the idea that you get rewarded in the afterlife for bowing down to the rich and corrupt that exploit the masses...
I cannot really say that I found good information about how this works. I haven’t found a single conspiracy story on how Christianity is a two-tier organisation, even though there are a lot of conspiracies on the Catholic Church. And through the Neoplatonist connection this isn’t difficult to deduce.


This finally explains to me what the role is of this “Holy Spirit” that I was never able to understand (although maybe I still don’t)...

Worshippers of Mithras prayed:

I've never quite been able to understand what the Christian "Holy Spirit" is supposed to mean.
This looks to come from the Neoplatonist "World Soul" (a.k.a. psyche kosmou or anima mundi).

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The following describes the 3 Stages of “spiritual awakening” (enlightenment) in Christian mysticism:
Purgative: Cleansing the mind and ego of attachments, sin, and distractions.
Illuminative: A state of spiritual awakening. The Holy Spirit floods the mind with spiritual wisdom, profound clarity, and an experiential understanding of God's love.
Unitive: Complete union with the divine, characterised by a continuous state of love, self-surrender, and peace.

Throughout these stages, ”the mystic remains distinct from God”, but "united in love and purpose" (whatever that means?!?): https://www.magiscenter.com/blog/christian-mysticism


While the Protestant Reformation downplayed mysticism, Martin Luther was influenced by the German mystical tradition of Eckhart, but also other sources.

Eckhart is widely recognised as one of the most famous Christian mystics, and less well-known as a Neoplatonist: https://www.scilit.com/publications/dcf ... 0d49ba5270


And of course the Satanist that founded Theosophy (which started the ‘mystic’ New Age religiosity), Helena Blavatsky, was born to a noble Russian family.
Blavatsky's promoted the idea that all religions stem from a single "Ancient Wisdom", which she connected to the Western esotericism of ancient Hermeticism and Neoplatonism: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helena_Blavatsky

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It's obvious that this idea of misleading the masses through myths wasn’t only through political propaganda but also through religiosity.
That Neoplatonists influence (and even founded) Christianity and Islam suggests that these organisations were founded to keep the lower classes under the tyranny of the elite through “noble lies”.
With only the initiated Neoplatonists understanding what was really behind the doctrines of these religious organisations (like the degrees in freemasonry).

Freemasons have actually boasted about the influence of neoplatonism on “the craft”, calling Neoplatonism “one of the foundations of Masonic philosophy”.
Albert Pike, who was sometimes called the “Plato of Freemasonry”, held the teachings of Plato in high esteem. Pike in Morals and Dogma (1956) calls Plato among the “greatest revellers of truth and light”, and that Plato expressed the noble doctrine of nature “in the most beautiful and luminous manner”.
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The ‘Third Way’ was a modified re-hashing of Strauss’ interpretation of Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, which posited that societal equilibrium should be maintained like a population in a cave believing that their perception of shadows cast by a managerial elite was the only reality that existed: https://archive.is/Zcqur

https://lawfulpath.com/forum/viewtopic. ... 401#p88401

Freemasonry also love the allegory of the cave; according to Mackey (1927) the cave is “a symbol of the darkness of ignorance and crime impenetrable to the light of truth”, in contrast to the illumination that freemasonry will NOT bring…

The neophyte, who has petitioned Freemasonry, is “held in the bondage of ignorance” with the masses, while as a result of the “true teachings of the Craft”, “disinterestedness vanishes, every one howls, searches, gropes, and gnaws for himself. Ideas are ignored, and of progress there is no thought” (Pike, 1956).

In the Ninth degree of the Scottish Rite, “the cave is a symbol of the imprisonment of the human soul and intellect by ignorance, superstition, deceit, and fraud” (Hutchens, 2000): https://web.archive.org/web/20260208165 ... 20Cave.pdf


The second significant figure in Neoplatonism is Iamblichus from Syria, who further developed Plotinus' ideas. lamblichus acknowledged a primordial deity that divided into a Trinity and then multiplied into numerous gods, reaching 360 gods. lamblichus also highlights fate, as “a force that rules over man and from which one can only be freed thanks to the intervention of the gods”.

With the Arab and Ottoman conquests and the fall of Byzantium, the Islamic world adopted Greek texts. In the 14th and 15th centuries, most Byzantines fled Ottoman conquests, emigrating to Italy. One of the most influential Byzantine thinkers was Georgius Gemistus Pletho, who arrived in Florence in the first half of the 15th century, and helped reconcile differences between Catholic and Orthodox clergy. Pletho actively promoted Plato and Neoplatonic philosophers, noting the kinship between Christian theology and the Platonic school, and criticising medieval scholasticism and Aristotle: https://web.archive.org/web/20260415105 ... sonry.html