About The Neoplatonists of Dallas

This is a new meet-up, and is indeed a 'work-in-progress'.

But the hope is to bring together intelligent and spiritually minded individuals who are interested in developing a community in the Dallas area based on the ancient ideas and practice of the Pythagorean and Platonic philosophers.

What members hope to gain is essentially:

• Insights of other Pythagorean Platonists,
  
• Discussions on Neoplatonic concepts and theory,
  
• Mutual encouragement and support in spiritual praxis,
  
• Intelligent conversation,
  
• A group with which to meditate and practice the arts of theurgy,
  
• A sense of tradition and brotherhood,
  
• A hope in possibly establishing the sacred Mysteries in Texas.
  

The idea is perfect the virtue of friendship amongst philosophers and theurgists who aspire to make the best of their time in this life in the pursuit of wisdom, personal excellence and a strong communion with the divine.

The Meetings

The second century Platonist, Taurus, would invite individuals to his home. However, instead of bringing food or gifts, they would bring topics for discussion. All members are equally encouraged to bring a topic they what to discuss, seek clarification on, play with, or develop. Two topics chosen in advance for the each meeting.

Homework

In relation to this, every member chooses research projects, usually on a topic which the individual needs more knowledge or practice. The purpose of this is to allow members to find ways of making the ideas and practices real and productive, with depth and purpose.

In addition to the homework, each member makes a pledge to achieve some specific goal in the coming weeks. This may be adherence to a meditation schedule, community service, etc.

Support

The members get an opportunity to discuss their own insights on Platonic principles and some of the issues they face during their daily praxis. We all have problems that trump us and we all have had things that work for us, and it is beneficial to discuss and acknowledge them.

Theurgy

One of the goals of this meetup is to reconstruct, as much as we can, the ancient practices of the Neoplatonists.

So, in addition to the scheduled meetups, the hope is to arrange times when members can come together to practice (and experiment with variations of) various forms of theurgy. This gives us an opportunity to find out what works for us as a group and what doesn't, and to pursue those divine blessings we can gain as a group rather than just through our solitary practices.

This is a great hope, but one that I know is achievable.