Classic Reboot: Understanding NeoPlatonism with Pierre Grimes

Pierre Grimes, PhD, is a specialist in classical Greek philosophy. He is the founder of the American Philosophical Practitioners Association. He is also founder of the Noetic Society in the Los Angeles area. He is author of Philosophical Midwifery: A New Paradigm for Understanding Human Problems with Its Validation, Socrates and Jesus: A Dialogue in Heaven, and Unblocking: Removing Blocks to Understanding. He is also a decorated veteran of the second world war.

In this 2018 interview, he points out that the Neoplatonists deviated from Plato's original emphasis on the Self. He regards their interest in theurgy as a decadent development. However, he holds that there is a continuous Hellenic, philosophical tradition extending from the pre-Socratic philosophers through Plato and Aristotle to the Neoplatonists. He also suggests that the Buddhist philosophy of Nagarjuna may have been influenced by Sextus Empericus and the Pyrrhonist school of Greek philosophy.

Edited subtitles for this video are available in Russian, Portuguese, Italian, German, French, and Spanish.

New Thinking Allowed host, Jeffrey Mishlove, PhD, is author of The Roots of Consciousness, Psi Development Systems, and The PK Man. Between 1986 and 2002 he hosted and co-produced the original Thinking Allowed public television series. He is the recipient of the only doctoral diploma in "parapsychology" ever awarded by an accredited university (University of California, Berkeley, 1980). He is also the Grand Prize winner of the 2021 Bigelow Institute essay competition regarding the best evidence for survival of human consciousness after permanent bodily death.

[NewThinkingAllowed]

Statement of Comment Etiquette for New Thinking Allowed

[alexjann]

This morning this great man has passed away. 6/3/24 In peace, One

[TheNativoamericano]

I Love Pierre Brimes! Thanks for replaying this amazing interview. Wish he is still healthy and luminous as ever! A really Truth Master 😍💖✨

[peterdeutsch]

As a person that struggles to read. I really appreciate you bringing this material in such an interesting and accessible way.

[flow]

Thank goodness for Pierre Grimes l! He rocks philosophy!
Thank goodness for Jeffery Mishlove! He opens doors and shines in the light of genuine curiosity with superb technique & magnificent talent. 🙏

[maryhitchcock]

The conversations with Pierre Grimes are among my most favorite discussions. I just love listening to the fluidity of dense content with interesting analysis.

[hshxn]

I wish this conversation was 10 times longer

[celt]

This was such a helpful insight into the development of platonism/neoplatonism. Although Pierre isn't keen on 'theurgy', to pick up a copy of Iamblichus's 'On the Mysteriis' is to have hold of, and experience, a numinous text.

[viison]

Who here stares at the sun and sees things after you close your eyes?

[Navili]

The Neoplatonist Pseudo-Christian Synesius of Cyrene has a very interesting treatise about divination by dreams. And later Priscian had written to King Khosroes of Persia about the same subject. So I am not convinced this school neglected dreamwork, but held a healthy skepticism about the imagination and its relation to knowledge by sense perception.

[martinwilliams]

"One" implies non-separation, trying to unify with it is like a dog trying to be one with itself by catching its own tail!

[mohammedabohnad]

Al Farabi is considered the second " teacher " refering to Aristotle. correction to beloved Grimes

[byzantium]

In terms of Silence, there is probable Buddhist influence in the later Hesychast tradition in Byzantine monasticism where monks sat in silent contemplation, leading (it is thought) to the phrase “contemplating one’s navel”.

[byzantium]

When the Academy was closed by Justinian, Syria was not part of the Islamic world. Mohammed was not yet born. Syria was then very much part of the Byzantine Empire.