Neoplatonism

I attended a lunch at the Ath for a talk on Neoplatonism by Professor El-Bizri.  Prof El-Bizri is a visiting lecturer here, he normally teaches at the American University of Beirut, and was brought to CMC by my religious studies teacher, because Prof El-Bizri is one of the foremost scholars on Arabic studies and philosophy.  He discussed Neoplatonism, a philosophic movement that started in the 3rd century and is mostly based on Plato's theories.  The biggest concept with in neoplatonism is "The One," which is the highest transcendent principle that has so much existence that it overflows and creates everything around us.  It is self-aware that it is different than everything it creates, which is everything, and this self-awareness is recursive in all things.  The philosophical implications of this thinking were very deep and somewhat hard to follow because Prof El-Bizri has practically an excess of knowledge in the area.  However, he was extremely engaging and discussed enough background information, especially on Plato's theory of forms, that the detailed philosophical ideas had context.