Dipped into Neoplatonism today for some novel research. (Felt sad about the murder of Hypatia all over again, as one does.*)

But in general, it always strikes me how much 19th-C categories fudged our sense of history. "Neoplatonism" is an early Victorian term used to organize late-Hellenic philosophies pre- & post- Plotinus. But it's *much* more fruitful to study the progression of "one-ness" from older Egyptian & Indian philosophies, through 3rd C BC Plato & beyond.

Periodization is a trap!

*This has been another episode of "esoteric thoughts accumulated while diving down research rabbit holes, with ML" - but I had a chuckle when I realized that I *do* often pause to think about the murder of Hypatia, and the earlier burning of the Library of Alexandria.

You know that toxic bro meme about how you're not a real man if you don't think about the Roman Empire at least weekly? This is my version of that: I grieve the destruction of knowledge and scholars... way more than is healthy. 😅