Or haven’t you remembered that in that life alone, when he looks at Beauty in the only way that Beauty can be seen - only then will it become possible for him to give birth not to images (because he’s in touch with no images), but to true virtue (because he is in touch with the true Beauty). The love of the gods belongs to anyone who has given birth to true virtue and nourished it, and if any human being could become immortal, it would be he.

Plato, Symposium 212a

If pagans are motivated by destruction, we are motivated by an evil impulse. We must be motivated by love and a desire to improve the spiritual condition of our people.

The consequences of the undermining of Christianity in the West have been overwhelmingly negative. That’s because, despite Christianity’s numerous shortcomings, it was, on balance, a force for good and a source of unity among Europeans.

As pagans, we should lovingly correct the failures of Christianity and seek to guide the living spiritual tradition of the West back to its purer and better (i.e., pagan) form rather than aid the destroyers of it.

It is of paramount importance that pagans understand this, as difficult as it might be for some to accept.

And this Aphrodite who belongs to the universe and is not only soul nor simply soul gave birth to the Love who is in this world and who from the start concerned himself with marriages and to the degree to which he is personally linked to the desire for what is above, moves the souls of the young and turns back the soul to which he is attached insofar as it is itself naturally disposed to recall the things above. For every soul desires the Good, both the mixed soul and the soul of the individual, since it follows on from and is derived from the higher soul.

Plotinus, Enneads 3.5.3.31-38

Consider that what I said before about anger has also been said about the other diseases of the soul. First, we must not leave the diagnosis of these passions to ourselves but we must entrust it to others; second, we must not leave this task to anyone at all but to older men who are commonly considered to be good and noble — men to whom we ourselves have given full approval because, on many occasions, we have found them free from these passions. We must further show that we are grateful to these men and not annoyed with them when they mention any of our faults. Furthermore, one should remind oneself of these things each day. It would be better to do this many times, but otherwise at least in the morning, before starting with your business, and in the evening, before going to rest. I in any case am accustomed first to read those exhortations circulating in Pythagoras’s name [i.e., The Golden Verses] twice during the day, and to say them out loud later. It is not enough for us to practice self-control over our anger; we must also cleanse ourselves of voluptuous eating, carnal lust, drunkenness, excessive curiosity, and envy. Let someone else keep watch over us to see that we are not seen greedily filling ourselves with food as dogs do, or, as do those who are on fire with a nonintermittent fever, that we do not lift the drink to our lips more greedily than becomes a man of dignity.

Galen, On the Diagnosis and Cure of the Passions in One's Soul 6.10-11

Only he knows how to pay honour [to divinities] who does not confuse the worth of those being honoured and who renders above all himself as a sacrifice, crafting his own soul into a divine sculpture and making his own intellect a temple for the reception of the divine light.

Hierocles of Alexandria, Commentary on the Pythagorean Golden Verses

Detail from an oversized statue of the goddess Hygeia

Archaeological Museum of ancient Feneos, Greece

Every manifold in some way participates unity.

For suppose a manifold in no way participating unity. Neither this manifold as a whole nor any of its several parts will be one; each part will itself be a manifold of parts, and so to infinity; and of this infinity of parts each, once more, will be infinitely manifold; for a manifold which in no way participates any unity, neither as a whole nor in respect of its parts severally, will be infinite in every way and in respect of every part. For each part of the manifold - take which you will - must be either one or not-one; and if not-one, then either many or nothing. But if each part be nothing, the whole is nothing, if many, it is made up of an infinity of infinities. This is impossible: for, on the one hand, nothing which is is made up of an infinity of infinities (since the infinite cannot be exceeded, yet the single part is exceeded by the sum); on the other hand, nothing can be made up of parts which are nothing. Every manifold, therefore, in some way participates unity.

Proclus, Elements of Theology 1

"Furthermore, I actually think that the purposes for which souls descend are different and that they thereby also cause differences in the manner of the descent. For the soul that descends for the salvation, purification, and perfection of this realm is immaculate in its descent. The soul, on the other hand, that directs itself about bodies for the exercise and correction of its own character is not entirely free of passions and was not sent away free in itself. The soul that comes down here for punishment and judgment seems somehow to be dragged and forced."

Iamblichus, De Anima 29

At dawn, when you're reluctant to get up, have this thought readily available: I have work to do as a human being, and that's why I'm getting up. Do I still resent it if I'm on my way to do the work for which I was born and for the sake of which I was brought into the world? Or is this what I was made for, to lie in bed and keep myself warm?

"But it's really nice."

So is pleasure what you were born for? And, in general, was it for feeling, not for doing? Can't you see plants, sparrows, ants, spiders, and bees all doing their own work and playing their part in the world's order? And are you then reluctant to do human work? Why aren't you eager to do what comes naturally to you?

"But rest is important too."

Yes, I agree. Nature has set limits on rest, however, as it has on eating and drinking as well; but aren't you overstepping those limits and taking more than suffices for your needs? It's only when it comes to action that you haven't yet reached the limits of your abilities. And the reason is that you don't love yourself. If you did, you'd love your nature and its purpose.

Marcus Aurelius, Meditations 5.1

Philosophy is a perfecting of every knowledge, music is preparatory to paideia. Philosophy is precise because it is an accomplishment that, through calling things to mind, makes up in full what was shed by the souls through circumstance in the course of creation; music is an initiation into the Mysteries and an agreeable preliminary sacrifice that presents a little something and gives a foretaste of things brought to perfection in philosophy; and music transmits the beginnings of every kind of learning, philosophy the extremes.

Aristides Quintilianus, On Music 3.27

The rational element in you - that is what is superior in you. Adorn and beautify that; but as for your hair, leave it to him who made it in accordance with his will. … Are you a man or a woman? A man. Then adorn yourself as a man, and not as a woman. … Man, what complaint do you have to bring against nature? That she brought you into the world as a man? What, ought she to bring everyone to birth as a woman, then? … Whom do you want to please? The women? Then please them as a man.

“Yes, but they like smooth-bodied men.”

Go hang yourself. But if they liked inverts, I suppose, you’d become one of those? Is this your business in life, then; is this what you were brought into the world for, to make yourself appealing to licentious women?

Epictetus, Discourses 3.1.26-33

Consider lost all the time in which you do not think of divinity.

Sextus the Pythagorean

For God is my witness that our country is a sort of secondary divinity, and our first and greatest parent.

Hierocles, On How We Ought to Conduct Ourselves Towards Our Country

There will be a day when the clear light of divine truth shines on our people once again, unifying us in its perfection and beauty. We must all do whatever we can to work towards that day, and to embody that truth in our own lives to the best of our ability.

"For that element in us which is divine and intellectual and one - or, if you so wish to term it, intelligible - is aroused, then, clearly in prayer, and when aroused, strives primarily towards what is like to itself, and joins itself to essential perfection."

Iamblichus, On the Mysteries 1.15

All inhabitants of city or country should in the first place be firmly persuaded of the existence of divinities as result of their observation of the heavens and the world, and the orderly arrangement of the beings contained therein. These are not the productions of chance or of men. We should reverence and honor them as causes of every reasonable good. ...

Should anyone feel the presence of an evil spirit, tempting him to injustice, he should go into a temple, remain at the altar, or into sacred groves, flying from injustice as from an impious and harmful mistress, supplicating the divinities to cooperate with him in turning it away from himself. He should also seek the company of men known for their virtue, in order to hear them discourse about a blessed life and the punishment of bad men, that he may be deterred from bad deeds, dreading none but the avenging divinities.

Citizens should honor all the Gods according to the particular country's legal rites, which should be considered as the most beautiful of all. Citizens should, besides obeying the laws, show their respect for the rulers by rising before them and obeying their instructions. Men who are intelligent and wish to be saved should, after the Gods, divinities and heroes, most honor parents, laws and rulers.

The Preface to the Laws of Zaleucus the Locrian

We shall then find that customs are corrupted in two ways: through ourselves, or through foreigners. This occurs through ourselves, indeed, due to our flying from pain, whereby we fail to endure labor, or through the pursuit of pleasure, whereby we reject the good. For labors procure good, but pleasures evil. Hence through pleasure, becoming incontinent and remiss, men are rendered effeminate in their souls, and more prodigal in their expenses. Customs and manners are corrupted through foreigners when their numbers swamp the natives, and boast of the success of their mercantile employments, or when those who dwell in the suburbs, becoming lovers of pleasures and luxury, spread their manners to the simple neighbors. Therefore the legislators, officers and mass of the people should diligently take notice whether the customs of the city are being carefully preserved, and that throughout the whole people. Moreover, they should observe whether the genuine and indigenous multitude, of which the polity consists, remains pure and unmingled with any other nation, and whether the magnitude of possessions remains in the same state, and does not become excessive. For the possession of superfluities is accompanied by the desire of still more of the superfluous. In such ways the customs should be preserved.

Hippodamus the Thurian, On a Republic

One who is just does not allow any part of himself to do the work of another part or allow the various classes within him to meddle with each other. He regulates well what is really his own and rules himself. He puts himself in order, is his own friend, and harmonizes the three parts of himself like three limiting notes in a musical scale - high, low, and middle. He binds together those parts and any others there may be in between, and from having been many things he becomes entirely one, moderate and harmonious. Only then does he act. And when he does anything, whether acquiring wealth, taking care of his body, engaging in politics, or in private contracts - in all of these, he believes that the action is just and fine that preserves this inner harmony and helps achieve it, and calls it so, and regards as wisdom the knowledge that oversees such actions. And he believes that the action that destroys this harmony is unjust, and calls it so, and regards the belief that oversees it as ignorance.

Plato, Republic 443d-e

PAGAN FUTURES conference, full playlist with live music from Wolcensmen and talks from Borja Vilallonga and Tom Rowsell: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLcroOUap-NynE3ARVQ1KZvfCRllnN2F27