Since the Enlightenment, with figures who rejected Christianity and embraced the classical, why don't we go back to worshipping Greek and Roman gods and practicing their pagan religion? If we're gonna LARP like them, we may as well go all out and practice their religion.
>>17984944the Greeks had already begun replacing the gods with speculative philosophy by the time of classical Athens
>>17984944There's 2k larpers in the YSEE
I don't have a deep understanding of it but mainstream Christianity, especially Catholicism, has effectively been a fusion of Greek philosophy, and therefore semi-religious thought, with the Bible for centuries. Namely under neoplatonism.Like one of the reasons the Church believed geocentrism is because they adopted Aristotle's proto theory of gravity. "Ok so we believe the earth is actually a sphere not a flat surface. Why then do people no fall off it?" Answer: objects have a natural platonic form like properties where they "go" to their natural place in existence. Mountains exist to be mountains on the ground while fire naturally floats to the heaves. And notably "heavy" objects pull towards the center of the universe i.e. earth. Thus objects "fall down" to a center.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TznEkJNvikgIn other words, you're already living it.
To be completely fair, many Enlightenment intellectuals borrowed pagan ideals like heroism, practicing the gods.
>>17984944>why don't we go back to worshipping Greek and Roman gods and practicing their pagan religion?What do you mean? I already do.t. Hellenic Platonist
>>17985445Do you drink wine and pour libations with it?
>>17985446I pour libations and recite hymns to Athena every morning. I have been long interested in Platonism, I started out getting into Jungian psychology as a teenager, which introduced me to alchemy, which compelled me to read Hermetic texts, which compelled me to read Plotinus, and so on and so forth. I have only recently come around to worshiping the Gods, because I previously saw it as unnecessary or illogical, in our modern society and whatnot.Being so new, I have only started with Athena, who was the first of the pantheon to resonate with me. She was born of the mind of Zeus, who is the demiurgic King of the world, meaning she was born of the mind of the most high. I therefore see her as a personification of Nous, or divine knowledge. Her association with wisdom, as well as courage and bravery (I have dealt with fear and anxiety throughout my life) is what spoke to me. My first ever prayer included a libation in my backyard. I asked for guidance towards philosophical truth, because I wanted to begin proper worship. Within the next week, I found an online community of Platonists who helped me learn how to practice it in my life. I have since done several more formal theurgic rituals, developed a relationship with Hermes (as I study finance), and own an eikon (statue/idol) of Athena. I'm working on studying Attic Greek so that I can recite the hymns in their proper tongue. As I grow in my relationship with Hermes, I will get a statue of him as well. Aphrodite and Apollon are also deities of interest, but they have not come to me yet. Or, perhaps, I have no answered them at this time.
>>17984944Because Christcucks are jew slaves.>>17984947No they didn't. They views changed, but they remained a polytheistic people.
>>17985462This is sad, regressing to polytheism instead of maturing beyond worshipping gods who, if they exist, are just as deluded as you (this includes YHWH). Are you even Greek?
>>17985465They did, read shit like Cicero. In the hellenistic period those who where educated tended to believe in a singular deity, Timaeus style.>>17984944Since its even more of a larp than monotheism already is. You dont honestly believe there is a god of messengers and forges do you? at least monotheism has the advantage of addressing ontological questions about the nature of being.
>>17985462>demiurgic King of the world>most highthat doesnt follow.anyways, if you are a platonist, that will inevitably lead to a sort of monotheism or pantheism.
>>17985462based
>>17985480Gods aren't people, they're personifications of transcendental concepts. >Are you even Greek?No, I've only chosen to worship Greek gods because it's consistent with the language of the philosophy I consume.>>17985484>that doesnt follow.Yeah, I just explained it poorly. It's past my bedtime. >will inevitably lead to a sort of monotheism or pantheismThere is The One, but The One is not something you worship, more so something you understand as an existential constant or a philosophical concept / entity. It's not personified by itself and its own right, but by the plurality of all that which exists within it. This is the most misunderstood thing about Platonism, both that of Plato himself and later Platonists, mostly by reinterpretations by monotheists. The worship of many Gods is self evident by the existence and nature of the world around us.
>>17985495Isnt the personification thing a reapplication of jung after the fact?From my reading of Timeaus, the Gods in Platos view were eminences of the One. we then are eminences of them. So when refering to a god of this or that, we are really referring to an aspect of the One via intermediary.
>>17985481>>17985508Timaeus wasn't monotheistic
>>17985508Pretty much. The Gods represent transcendental concepts or aspects of existence, or The One more accurately. Proclus (I think) considered Gods to have series, which is what you're referring to. I believe the personification comes from us as humans wanting to put a face and personality to the beings so that they are more relatable. It's hard to ask an amorphous sphere for things like compassion, healing, inspiration, etc, but it's much more natural to speak to someone who looks like yourself. It's also important to the entire concept of kharis, which is building a relationship with the Gods. Kharis mimics our own behaviors with one another, building rapport and respect with other people, and being able to conceive of the Gods as people like us is what makes this dynamic possible on an emotional level. The Gods are personable because, in their Sympatheia, wish to connect with us and bring us closer to themselves. It's similar to how the devoutly religious want others to have a connection to God, but even more so, considering the Gods are as close as one can possibly be with The One while still retaining an individuated will. Not all of that is uniquely Platonic. Sympatheia is Stoic, even. However, that's how I've come to see it. The existence of the Gods as perennial beings is why the Greeks and Romans interpreted one another's Gods as their own, as well as the Gods of other cultures, as their own.It's way too late to proofread this. I'm going to bed. Hopefully discussion will continue tomorrow and I can give more thorough and well thought out answers.
>>17985508>Isnt the personification thing a reapplication of jung after the fact?Oh, also, to address this, no I don't do this from a modernist perspective. I've completely outgrown Jung at this point in my life. I think his concept of individuation is great and I believe in it, more or less, but not his more esoteric ideas. In fact, I basically ignore 99% of modern "philosophy". Jung, while being more on the occult side of things, still falls into that category for me. He misses the forest for the trees and does not engage with ancient concepts, especially religious ones, the same way the ancients did, or with the same authenticity or genuineness.
>>17984944Enlightenment was about reason, not swapping one fairy tale for another. We LARP their philosophy and aesthetics because they are useful. Their religion was just a bunch of fickle, petty gods demanding animal sacrifices.
>>17985858as anon already said the Greeks by the classical age did not take the gods all that seriously and were replacing them with philosophy
>worshipping anything external to Oneself
>>17986405>worshipping oneselfDo we have a solipsist in the room with us?
>>17986426Nope>One God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in all.
>>17986396Well, depended on who you are like always. there were the more superstitious sort, like Christians today praying to some petty saint of this or that, often more rural, and then there were more cosmopolitan perspectives, like the diesm of the 17/1800's which percieved those rituals as quaint superstitions and took a more alagorical/philosophical aproach to god.
>>17986484"Know thyself" was a maxim inscribed on the Temple of Apollo in Delphi. This has always been a case and is probably the most explicit evidence for perennialism, or prisca theologia, or divine truth. However you want to express it. It's not necessarily about worshipping the self, however, it's more about understand the place of the self within the whole of the cosmos and understanding your own innerworkings. It's also important to point out that this is not the monolith when it comes to these religions cited in the picture. What's outlined in the line about Hinduism is Advaita Vedanta, but there is also Dvaita and Vishishtadvaita, both of which posit similar but vitally different philosophies. One posits that Brahman, the soul, and the material universe are three separate but equal parts of reality. The other insists that they are entirely separate and that the Gods the only way by which one may achieve enlightenment. It's similar to late Platonism and the split between Plotinus (All is One, only contemplation is necessary) and Iamblichus (humans are too descended into matter and need the Gods to enlighten them). Very generally speaking, of course.
>>17986484>thinks God exists and is a Father(?) because many religions tell you to be introspectiveI'm not following.
