So, I draw this distinction: On one side are those you just now called lovers of sights, lovers of crafts, and practical people; on the other side are those we are now arguing about and whom one would alone call philosophers.

How do you mean?

The lovers of sights and sounds like beautiful sounds, colors, shapes, and everything fashioned out of them, but their thought is unable to see and embrace the nature of the beautiful itself.

That's for sure.

In fact, there are very few people who would be able to reach the beautiful itself and see it by itself. Isn't that so?

Certainly.

What about someone who believes in beautiful things, but doesn't believe in the beautiful itself and isn't able to follow anyone who could lead him to the knowledge of it? Don't you think he is living in a dream rather than a wakened state? Isn't this dreaming: whether asleep or awake, to think that a likeness is not a likeness but rather the thing itself that it is like?

I certainly think that someone who does that is dreaming.

But someone who, to take the opposite case, believes in the beautiful itself, can see both it and the things that participate in it and doesn't believe that the participants are it or that it itself is the participants - is he living in a dream or is he awake?

He's very much awake.

Plato, Republic 475e - 476d

I have long been surprised at my own wisdom - and doubtful of it, too. That's why I think it's necessary to keep re-investigating whatever I say, since self-deception is the worst thing of all. How could it not be terrible, indeed, when the deceiver never deserts you even for an instant but is always right there with you? Therefore, I think we have to turn back frequently to what we've already said, in order to test it by looking at it "backwards and forwards simultaneously," as [Homer] puts it.

Plato, Cratylus 428d

At the start of the day tell yourself: I shall meet people who are officious, ungrateful, abusive, treacherous, malicious, and selfish. In every case, they’ve got like this because of their ignorance of good and bad. But I have seen goodness and badness for what they are, and I know that what is good is what is morally right, and what is bad is what is morally wrong; and I’ve seen the true nature of the wrongdoer himself and know that he’s related to me – not in the sense that we share blood and seed, but by virtue of the fact that we both partake of the same intelligence, and so of a portion of the divine. None of them can harm me, anyway, because none of them can infect me with immorality, nor can I become angry with someone who’s related to me, or hate him, because we were born to work together, like feet or hands or eyelids, like the rows of upper and lower teeth. To work against each other is therefore unnatural – and anger and rejection count as “working against.”

Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 2.1

And you must not be careless of the health of your body,
But maintain moderation in drink and food and exercise.

The Golden Verses of Pythagoras

Every habit and capacity is supported and strengthened by corresponding actions, that of walking by walking, that of running by running. If you want to be a good reader, read, or a good writer, write. But if you pass thirty days without reading and turn to something else, you'll notice the consequences. So also if you lie in bed for ten days, and then get up and try to walk a fair distance, you'll see how weak your legs are. In general, then, if you want to do something, make a habit of doing it; and if you don't want to do something, don't do it, but get into the habit of doing something else instead. The same also applies to states of mind. When you lose your temper, you should recognize not only that something has happened to you at present, but also that you've reinforced a bad habit, and you have, so to speak, added fresh fuel to the fire. When you've yielded to sexual desire, don't count that as being just a slight defeat, but recognize that you've fortified your incontinence, you've given it added strength. For it cannot fail to come about that, as a result of the corresponding actions, some habits and capacities will be developed if they didn't previously exist, wile others that were already present will be reinforced and strengthened.

Epictetus, Discourses 2.18

For everything that is qualified is not what it is absolutely - for example, that which is qualifiedly beautiful or qualifiedly equal; quality, being a characteristic, makes something beautiful or equal in a particular way, so that quality is not to be applied to the One in the essential and absolute sense, in order that it may not become a particular kind of One instead of the One itself. If, then, the One Itself and the primal entity are the same, and the primal entity is God, it is plain that the One Itself and God are the same, and that is not some particular God, but God Himself. Those, then, who say that the first God is Demiurge or Father are not correct; for the Demiurge and the Father is a particular god. This is obvious, for not every god is demiurge or father, whereas the first principle is simply God and all gods are gods through it, but only some, such as are demiurges, through the Demiurge, and fathers, through the primary Demiurge or Father. Let the One then be termed simply God, as being the cause for all gods of their being gods, but not for some particular gods, as for instance demiurgic or paternal or any other particular type of godhead, which is a type of qualified divinity, not divinity in the simple sense.

Proclus, Commentary on the Parmenides 1096

Let me not cease, O Blissful Gods,
to owe You gratitude,
for all the good things I receive,
and for that which I have received in the past
under the patronage of Supreme Zeus.
Let me not neglect,
in accordance with my strength,
that which is good for my nation.
To serve willingly the common good,
and to consider that as a great benefit to myself.
Let me not be the cause for anything evil,
of the type which befall humans,
but rather of the good, as much as I am able,
so that I may become blissful,
in Your likeness.

Pletho, Hymn 22

It is important that we effect a shift of perspective and attitude towards our own spiritual and intellectual heritage.

The works of the ancient European philosophical tradition - the tradition flowing through the Orphics, the Pythagoreans, Parmenides, Plato, Aristotle, the Stoics, Plotinus, and others - are the Upanishads of the West.

Philosophy is not dry academia; it is not hairsplitting pedantry; it is not a debate club for nerds. It is a journey towards godlikeness and wisdom.

Sin should be abstained from, not through fear, but for the sake of the becoming.

The Golden Sentences of Democrates 7

Thus all beings proceed from, and are comprehended in the first being; all intellects emanate from one first intellect; all souls from one first soul; all natures blossom from one first nature; and all bodies proceed from the vital and luminous body of the world. And lastly, all these great monads are comprehended in the first one, from which both they and all their depending series are unfolded into light. Hence this first one is truly the unity of unities, the monad of monads, the principle of principles, the God of Gods, one and all things, and yet one prior to all.

Thomas Taylor, The Theology of the Greeks

Hermes, the god who presides over rational discourse, has long been considered, quite rightly, to be the common patron of all priests; he who presides over true knowledge about the gods is one and the same always and everywhere. It is to him that our ancestors in particular dedicated the fruits of their wisdom, attributing all their own writings to Hermes.

Iamblichus, De Mysteriis 1.1

Whoever then is advanced thus far in the mysteries of Love by a right and regular progress of contemplation, approaching now to perfect intuition, suddenly he will discover, bursting into view, a beauty astonishingly admirable; that very beauty, to the gaining a sight of which the aim of all his preceding studies and labours had been directed: a beauty, whose peculiar characters are these: In the first place, it never had a beginning, nor will ever have an end, but always IS, and always flourishes in perfection, unsusceptible of growth or of decay. ... It resides not in any other being, not in any animal, for instance; nor in the earth, nor in the heavens, nor in any other part of the universe: but, simple and separate from other things, it subsists alone with itself, and possesses an essence eternally uniform. All other forms which are beauteous participate of this; but in such a manner they participate, that by their generation or destruction this suffers no diminution, receives no addition, nor undergoes any kind of alteration. When from those lower beauties, reascending by the right way of Love, a man begins to gain a sight of this supreme beauty, he must have almost attained somewhat of his end. Now to go, or to be led by another, along the right way of Love, is this: Beginning from those beauties of lower rank, to proceed in a continual ascent, all the way proposing this highest beauty as the end; and using the rest but as so many steps in the ascent; to proceed from one to two, from two to all beauteous bodies; from the beauty of bodies to that of souls; from the beauty of souls to that of arts; from the beauty of arts to that of disciplines; until at length from the disciplines he arrives at that discipline which is the discipline of no other thing than of that supreme beauty; and thus finally attains to know what is the beautiful itself.

Plato, Symposium 210e - 211c

If you want to make progress, put up with being thought foolish and silly with regard to external things, and don’t even wish to give the impression of knowing anything about them; and if some people come to think that you’re somebody of note, regard yourself with distrust.

Epictetus, The Handbook 13

May one of you show himself to be such a person, so that I can say, 'Enter, young man, into what is your own, for you are destined to become an adornment to philosophy; yours are these goods, yours these books, yours these discourses.' And then, when he has laboured in this fine field of study and proved his mastery, let him come back to me and say, 'I want indeed to be free from passion and disturbance of mind, but I also want, as a pious person, a philosopher, and a diligent student, to know what my duty is towards the gods, towards my parents, towards my brother, towards my country, and towards strangers.' Pass on now to the second field of study; for that too is yours. ...

No, one hears nothing like that, but rather, 'I want to know what Chrysippus has to say in his treatise about 'the Liar.’’ Why don't you go off and hang yourself, you wretch, if that is really what you want? And what good will it do you to know it? You'll read the whole book from one end to the other while grieving all the while, and you'll be trembling when you expound it to others.

Epictetus, Discourses 2.17

Hence it is that things which in some fashion have fallen away from their good are at the same stroke deprived of participation of unity; and in like manner things which have lost their portion in unity, being infected with division, are deprived of their good. Goodness, then, is unification, and unification goodness; the Good is one, and the One is primal good.

Proclus, Elements of Theology 13

The courageous man is not only he who conquers his enemies, but also he who conquers his pleasures. Some men are masters of cities but slaves of women.

Democritus, Ethical Fragments 287

Beyond all bodies is the soul's essence; beyond all souls, the intellective principle; and beyond all intellective substances, the One.

For every body is moved by something not itself: self-movement is contrary to its nature, but by communication in soul it is moved from within, and because of soul it has life. ...

Soul again, being moved by itself, has a rank inferior to the unmoved principle which is unmoved even in its activity. ... Now Intelligence is such an unmoved cause of motion, eternally active without change. ...

Yet again, the One is prior to Intelligence. For the Intelligence, though unmoved, is yet not unity: in knowing itself, it is object to its own activity.

Proclus, Elements of Theology 20

The intellect of the Father made a crashing noise, understanding, with unwearied counsel, omniform ideas. But with winged speed they leaped forth from one fountain: for both the counsel and the end were from the Father. In consequence too of being allotted an intellectual fire, they are divided into other intellectual forms: for the king previously placed in the multiform world, an intellectual incorruptible impression, the vestige of which hastening through the world, causes the world to appear invested with form, and replete with all-various ideas, of which there is one fountain. From this fountain other immense distributed ideas rush with a crashing noise, bursting forth about the bodies of the world, and are bourne along its terrible bosoms, like swarms of bees. They turn themselves too on all sides, and nearly in all directions. They are intellectual conceptions from the paternal fountain, plucking abundantly the flower of the fire of sleepless time. But a self-perfect fountain pours forth primogenial ideas from the primary vigour of the Father.

Chaldean Oracles fragment 37

When you relax your attention for a short while, don't imagine that you'll be able to recover it whenever you please, but bear this in mind, that because of the error that you've committed today, your affairs will necessarily proceed far worse in every respect. For to begin with, and most seriously of all, a habit of inattention will grow up in you, and then a habit of deferring any effort to pay attention. ...

And is there anything whatever in life that is done better by those who remain inattentive? ...

Don't you realize that when you've let your mind roam free, it is no longer in your power to call it back, either to decorum, or to self-respect, or to good order? But instead you do everything that comes into your head; you follow your impulses.

[Give your attention to] those general principles that you should always have at hand, so as not to go to sleep, or get up, or drink or eat, or converse with others, without them, namely, that no one is master over another person's choice, and that it is in choice alone that our good and evil lie. ...

'But I haven't pleased So-and-so.' - Is he an action of mine, then; is he a judgment of mine? - 'No' - Then why should I trouble myself any longer? - 'But he passes for being a man of some importance.' - Let him look to that, and those who think him so, but I for my part have someone whom I must please, whom I must submit to, whom I must obey, namely, God, and after him, myself.

Epictetus, Discourses 4.12

Having a daily routine of devotion and contemplation in accordance with the principles of this tradition can immediately make a huge positive difference in your life. Do not get so bogged down in the technicalities of metaphysics or concerns about perfect historical accuracy that you do little or nothing. Get started now.

A good place to start if you are unsure is with a simple prayer (you can find many examples in this channel) & incense along with meditation on the Golden Verses or The Handbook (Enchiridion) of Epictetus.

So we'd be right if we said that wickedness is discord and sickness of the soul. Well then, suppose something that's in motion aims at a target and tries to hit it, but on every try passes by it and misses. Are we going to say that it does this because it's properly proportioned or because it's out of proportion? But we know that no soul is willingly ignorant of anything. But ignorance occurs precisely when a soul tries for the truth but swerves aside from understanding and so is beside itself. So we have to take it that an ignorant soul is ugly and out of proportion.

Plato, Sophist 228b-d