This is a terrific video from Think Big Animation. I had never heard of this guy. Plotinus is his name. Don’t confuse him with Plato. Totally different guy. Totally different.
It is a real gift to have these kinds of videos on Youtube. It used to take so much time and effort to study topics like this. This guy gives a through rundown of Plotinus in about five minutes.
So what do I think of Plotinus? I’m glad you asked. I feel like there is this theme running through most of these Greek guys. They want to make sense of things. Probably because things are always seeming out of control. And they seem to look at the unwashed masses of people and see not a whole lot there to be proud of. Like man, if we are all a bunch of peasants doing things that don’t really matter, we are all just going to die and be forgotten. That isn’t really a pleasant thought. It’s not a terrible thought. But, it is not a thought that makes you really happy and optimistic.
They seem to jump through hoops to come up with some kind of order of things. And that order of things always seems to end up with the rich and educated among us as being the best “form” of us. Like hey there is a reason why they are where they are and the rest of humanity is where they are. They have to come up with all sorts of charts and graphs to make it all add up. They make assumptions and build a whole pyramid of society around it.
The more and more I get into Greek Philosophy, the more I am coming to grips with us being animals just like dogs, cats, and bugs. We are smarter, but we are still animals. This one go around that we have in life may not be the most impressive of things. But, come on now, chill out. Accept that this is all that there is and try to enjoy it as much as you can.
