Hellenic Wisdom Tradition

[Incal]

«We must remember that one man is much the same as another, and that he is best who is trained in the severest school.» (Archidamus)

[Hexachordia]

The part can never be well unless the whole is well
-Plato

I believe that personal wisdom is important, but it means nothing before the whole universe endows a pair of wing upon the whole world, one needs the patience to wait for the world as well. My own philosophy(or metaphysics) is still in the making, I do not wanna expose half-baked stuff. But I am making sure once it is rip people shall be happy with it, it is a continuation of all classical ideals. May God guard my efforts untill then.

[Lemminkäinen]

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

Did Platon belueve in God or in ultimate ideas of everything, every abstract?

[Incal]

Did Platon belueve in God or in ultimate ideas of everything, every abstract?

He believed in the Greek gods and mythology.

[solarisregvm]

I will post ten verses per day of the Golden Verses and then move to the Handbook of Epictetus. Both of these works were part of the historical curriculum for students at the Academy. (The Academy was established by Plato and was the premier center of hellenic thought till it was shut down)

The idea with this curriculum was that you should purify yourself psychologically and ethically before seriously pursuing the depths of metaphysical speculation.

1 First worship the Immortal gods, as they are established and ordained by the Law.
2 Reverence the Oath, and next the Heroes, full of goodness and light.
3 Honour likewise the Terrestrial Daemons by rendering them the worship lawfully due to them.
4 Honour likewise your parents, and those most nearly related to you.
5 Of all the rest of mankind, make him your friend who distinguishes himself by his virtue.
6 Always give ear to his mild exhortations, and take example from his virtuous and useful actions.
7 Avoid as much as possible hating your friend for a slight fault.
8 Power is a near neighbour to necessity.
9 Know that all these things are just as what I have told you; and accustom yourself to overcome and vanquish these passions:
10 First gluttony, sloth, sensuality, and anger.

[Lemminkäinen]

He believed in the Greek gods and mythology.

It didn't make it impossible to be logical. Basics

The theory of Forms or theory of Ideas[1][2][3] is a philosophical theory, concept, or world-view, attributed to Plato, that the physical world is not as real or true as timeless, absolute, unchangeable ideas.[4] According to this theory, ideas in this sense, often capitalized and translated as "Ideas" or "Forms",[5] are the non-physical essences of all things, of which objects and matter in the physical world are merely imitations.

This meant that objects in the physical world are like imperfect copies of perfect ideas. It doesn't say anything about ancient Gods. Human beings are not able to see the reality, perfect ideas, and they see only like shadows in a light of truth.

[Incal]

It didn't make it impossible to be logical. Basics

Nobody said it could be impossible.

[Incal]

«Children have no fairer prize than this, the being born of a good and noble sire, and the power to wed from noble families; but whoso is enslaved by passion and makes a lowborn match, I cannot praise for leaving to his children a legacy of shame, to gratify himself. For noble birth offers a stouter resistance to adversity than base parentage.» (Euripides. The Heracleidae)

[solarisregvm]

Plato’s famous allegory of the cave is at once a picture of the structure of reality and a roadmap.
In it, people are chained in the cave since childhood and forced to watch as shadows play on the wall in front of them. They know nothing else. The shadows are caused by objects behind the prisoners that pass before a fire. Some way behind the fire lies the mouth of the cave which leads out into the sunlight.
First, you must free yourself from your chains and turn around to see the objects and the fire.
Second, you must realize that there is more beyond the fire and continue on towards the mouth of the cave.
Third, you must ascend into the sunlight. It will take time for your eyes to adjust.
Fourth, once you have some understanding of the reality you now perceive, you must descend back into the cave, bringing your new understanding with you. You must live in the world, but unchained.
Fifth, you must return to the light outside the cave, but this time, with stronger eyes, you can see the Sun itself.
Sixth, you must return to the prisoners and help them escape.

A common misunderstanding of Platonism is that it is antagonistic to the body or the world. This is not true. Here is a simple way to understand how this is not true:
1. We are to imitate the Gods. Imitation of the Gods is essentially what it means to be virtuous.
2. The Gods are beyond petty pleasure seeking and petty ego complexes.
3. At the same time, the Gods are at all times providentially maintaining and caring for the entire universe.
How could we imitate the Gods if we do not also ultimately have this same care and love for the world (our bodies are a part of the world)?

In Platonism, the world is considered beautiful and as good as it possibly could be, despite its imperfections.
Indeed, to understand the cosmos is, in an important sense, to understand divinity. This is why the Greeks were lovers of mathematics and science.
At the same time, we are not to attach ourselves to the lower elements of physicality, and our passions and instincts should always be ruled over by discipline and wisdom.

[solarisregvm]

Some gods are cosmic, and some gods are hypercosmic.

Cosmic gods make (or maintain) the cosmos.
Some make the world be.
Some animate the world.
Some harmonize the world.
Some maintain the world.

Since there are four classes of cosmic god, and since for each of these classes there is a beginning, a middle, and an end, there must be twelve cosmic gods.

Makers of the world: Zeus, Poseidon, Hephaestus.
Animators of the world: Demeter, Hera, Artemis.
Harmonizers of the world: Apollo, Aphrodite, Hermes.
Watchers or maintainers of the world: Hestia, Athena, Ares.

Hypercosmic gods create essence, mind, or soul.

See Sallust's On the Gods and the World, VI.