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Thread: Hellenic Wisdom Tradition

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    Default Hellenic Wisdom Tradition

    Exploring Hellenic wisdom tradition with quotes and information. I focus on Platonism but also include other aspects of the tradition.

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    In God there is no sort of wrong whatsoever; he is supremely just, and the thing most like him is the man who has become as just as it lies in human nature to be. And it is here that we see whether a man is truly able, or truly a weakling and a nonentity; for it is the realization of this that is genuine wisdom and goodness, while the failure to realize it is manifest folly and wickedness.

    Plato, Theaetetus 176c

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    The physical world is not perfect, but it is incorrect to characterize it as bad, since it is an image of the divine.


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    Pythagoras coined the term Philosophos, which means Lover of Wisdom. A new word was necessary because, while many people call themselves "wise" (sophos), the truly wise person knows that Wisdom (sophia), like Buddhahood, is an ideal that few attain, and then only after many lifetimes. Desire and pursuit of Wisdom is the most we should claim.

    Modern philosophy often seems like a dry, academic discipline residing in the highest attics of the ivory tower, but ancient Philosophia was very different; it was a practical discipline aimed at teaching one to live well. This is also the goal of modern teachers of Philosophia. (Better living through Enlightenment!)

    In some ways Philosophia is more like medicine than a theoretical subject. Its goal is both Therapeia (care, therapy, cure) and Hugieia (health, soundness of mind and body). That is, it aims at alleviating the troubles and afflictions of people and at showing them a better way to live.

    Since each student in a school of Philosophia is in a different situation, each student is prescribed practices suited to their condition. Assessing the spiritual condition and progress of the student is the job of the teacher, who may be called Kathêgemôn (Leader, Guide) or Didaskalos (Teacher, Master).

    The Teacher often makes use of the Therapy of the Word, which includes incantations and spells, but also theological and philosophical discourse. The latter might be true or false to varying degrees or on different levels, but their literal truth was not so important as their effect on the mind of the student. Just as the doctor may administer different herbs to you at different times, depending on your condition, so also the Guide administers different doctrines (verbal therapies) appropriate for your spiritual state. The goal is not to build philosophical systems but to cure and care for souls. As Epicurus (c.55-c.135) said, "Empty are the words of that philosophos who cures no human suffering."

    The Teacher may prescribe other Spiritual Exercises (Askêseis), including meditation, contemplation, affirmations, visualization, journal writing, and individual and group examination of spiritual progress and problems. More advanced students may be invited to receive training in Spiritual Magic (Theurgy) and other mystical practices requiring greater dedication.

    Is the Spiritual Guide superfluous in the modern world? On one hand, the threads of the ancient Succession are hard to find (although self-proclaimed gurus are everywhere). On the other, much of the ancient teaching can be found in books and doesn't have to come from oral teaching. Therefore, solitary practice if often the best option nowadays. Nevertheless, a Guide is still useful for being able to assess the condition of the student and to prescribe appropriate practices. Furthermore, a Guide is useful when the student gets stuck or encounters special problems (especially in the more advanced practices). Finally, if a student is psychologically "at risk," a spiritual Guide may steer them away from potentially dangerous practices, and aid their healing (perhaps directing them to professional care). In summary, although a Guide is by no means necessary, your progress may be easier if you can find a competent, honest Teacher.

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    I ve made a thread about Neo-Platonism, idk if it is of your interest.

    Quote Originally Posted by Tannhauser View Post


    From the Wiki:
    Neoplatonism is a strand of Platonic philosophy that emerged in the second century AD against the background of Hellenistic philosophy and religion. The term does not encapsulate a set of ideas as much as it encapsulates a chain of thinkers which began with Ammonius Saccas and his student Plotinus (c. 204/5 – 271 AD) and which stretches to the 5th century AD. Even though neoplatonism primarily circumscribes the thinkers who are now labeled Neoplatonists and not their ideas, there are some ideas that are common to neoplatonic systems, for example, the monistic idea that all of reality can be derived from a single principle, "the One".

    From Amanda Cook:
    Neoplatonism was a set of philosophical beliefs gaining in popularity in the 3rd century C.E. Followers of Neoplatonism believe that a divine form is attainable in the corporal world. By making oneself godly in this life, it is possible to achieve divinity and rebirth. These philosophical teachings (originating in the school of Athens) influenced authors living in the 3rd century and even much later throughout the Middle Ages.
    Quote Originally Posted by Tannhauser View Post

    The One

    For Plotinus, the first principle of reality is "the One", an utterly simple, ineffable, unknowable subsistence which is both the creative source and the teleological end of all existing things. Although, properly speaking, there is no name appropriate for the first principle, the most adequate names are "the One" or "the Good". The One is so simple that it cannot even be said to exist or to be a being. Rather, the creative principle of all things is beyond being, a notion which is derived from Book VI of the Republic, when, in the course of his famous analogy of the sun, Plato says that the Good is beyond being (ἐπέκεινα τῆς οὐσίας) in power and dignity. In Plotinus' model of reality, the One is the cause of the rest of reality, which takes the form of two subsequent "hypostases" or substances:[B] Nous and Soul.[/B] Although neoplatonists after Plotinus adhered to his cosmological scheme in its most general outline, later developments in the tradition also departed substantively from Plotinus' teachings in regards to significant philosophical issues, such as the nature of evil.

    Demiurge or Nous

    The original Being initially emanates, or throws out, the nous, which is a perfect image of the One and the archetype of all existing things. It is simultaneously both being and thought, idea and ideal world. As image, the nous corresponds perfectly to the One, but as derivative, it is entirely different. What Plotinus understands by the nous is the highest sphere accessible to the human mind, while also being pure intellect itself. Nous is the most critical component of idealism, Neoplatonism being a pure form of idealism. The demiurge (the nous) is the energy, or ergon (does the work), which manifests or organises the material world into perceivability.

    The world-soul

    The image and product of the motionless nous is the world-soul, which, according to Plotinus, is immaterial like the nous. Its relation to the nous is the same as that of the nous to the One. It stands between the nous and the phenomenal world, and it is permeated and illuminated by the former, but it is also in contact with the latter. The nous/spirit is indivisible; the world-soul may preserve its unity and remain in the nous, but, at the same time, it has the power of uniting with the corporeal world and thus being disintegrated. It therefore occupies an intermediate position. As a single world-soul, it belongs in essence and destination to the intelligible world; but it also embraces innumerable individual souls; and these can either allow themselves to be informed by the nous, or turn aside from the nous and choose the phenomenal world and lose themselves in the realm of the senses and the finite.

    The phenomenal world

    The soul, as a moving essence, generates the corporeal or phenomenal world. This world ought to be so pervaded by the soul that its various parts should remain in perfect harmony. Plotinus is no dualist in the same sense as sects like the Gnostics; in contrast, he admires the beauty and splendour of the world. So long as idea governs matter, or the soul governs the body, the world is fair and good. It is an image – though a shadowy image – of the upper world, and the degrees of better and worse in it are essential to the harmony of the whole. But, in the actual phenomenal world, unity and harmony are replaced by strife or discord; the result is a conflict, a becoming and vanishing, an illusive existence. And the reason for this state of things is that bodies rest on a substratum of matter. Matter is the indeterminate: that with no qualities. If destitute of form and idea, it is evil; as capable of form, it is neutral.
    Evil here is understood as a parasite, having no-existence of its own (parahypostasis), an unavoidable outcome of the Universe, having an "other"

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    Hellas,” he replied, “is a large place, Cebes, and has many good men, and there are barbarous races not a few: seek for him among them all, far and wide, sparing neither pains nor money; for there is no better way of using your money. And you must not forget to seek for him among yourselves too; for he is nowhere more likely to be found.”

    (Plato. Phædo)

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    HOW WE KNOW THAT THE COSMOS WAS CREATED, AND WHAT THE NATURE OF THAT CREATION WAS

    (This has been derived from Plato’s Timaeus 28a – 30c.)

    Everything that comes to be must of necessity come to be by the agency of some cause, for it is impossible for anything to come to be without a cause. The universe must have come to be, as it is a physical, material thing, and all things of this kind are in flux and in a state of becoming. Necessarily, then, the universe came to be by the agency of some cause.

    Furthermore, this cause, if it were merely another material cause, must then itself have some cause, and so on. This cannot go on forever. Thus, the cause of the universe must be immaterial.

    If something is created, it is created based on some sort of model. In contrast to the ever-changing, ever-becoming material world, there are those things which are changeless and which always are, and these things are intelligible and are grasped by the mind. Now, if these changeless, intelligible things are used as models to produce something else, that product will tend to have beauty. On the other hand, if the ever-changing is used as a model to produce something, the product will tend to lack beauty. And we can see that, not only is our universe beautiful, but in fact it is the most beautiful of all things that have come to be. So, it seems likely that our universe was modeled on the changeless realm of the intelligible. And if our universe was modeled on the changeless intelligibles, that immaterial cause of our universe perceived these changeless intelligibles and was thus a Craftsman.

    Why did the Craftsman create the universe? Likely, it is because he is good; and since he is good, and therefore free from jealousy, he desired that all things become good like he himself is. And so, the Craftsman saw that order is far better than disorder, and he gave order to the cosmos. Furthermore, as he perceived that, on the whole, that which has intelligence is superior to that which does not, and since intelligence can only be found with soul, divine providence brought our world into being as a truly living thing, endowed with soul and intelligence.

    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

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    Plato's argument for the existence of the soul and the underworld.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Tannhauser View Post
    I ve made a thread about Neo-Platonism, idk if it is of your interest.
    This thread will be pretty extensive and ofc open to others to input their thoughts, studies and quotes they would like. Like it's in the introduction [classical] platonism is the main topic but people if they want to participate with something else I would be happy if they would do it.

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    One of the most amazing part of Hellenism is that their ideas never get old and always continue to inspire. But the disordered interpretations of these abstract ideas that lead us to nowhere, the interpretation of Platonism or neoplatonism will still pose a major difficulty before us. As we know, all modern mainstream interpretations are tended to vilify both Platonism and the Neo, one can not expect free spoons from authority or academia. The world will change when people want it to change, still the world will change neverthlessly, as if the One is at work, the trick might be how can one bring oneself to term with it and see it in a good way. My esotericism tells me the world will always move to be better, it is the evil people who will always find them dissatisfied, like being crushed by the wheel of the One; not to be crushed, one must move along with the world is my way. People read that Plato says the One is all good, but not thinking that the world is being moved by him every single second and that many people who can not see it coming will get crushed in the process. In Buddhism, the importance is put upon being good, thus extricating oneself from the wheel of karma, what if there is no hell? just being crushed again and again by this world of endless reincarnation: Hell sounds like a relief now. The world is beautiful but it is still cruel as the real hell.

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