26 October 2022

Asceticism

In my post on the ‘Geography of Platonism Today’, which I posted a few days ago, I mentioned ‘Ascetic Platonism’ and suggested that the dialogue Phaedo is a primary source for understanding the Platonic tradition as an ascetic tradition.  Here is an example of the kind of teaching found in Phaedo I refer to:

Socrates: “Now, my friend, see if you agree with me; for, if you do, I think we shall get more light on our subject.  Do you think a philosopher would be likely to care much about the so-called pleasures, such as eating and drinking?”

Simmias: “By no means, Socrates,” said Simmias.

Socrates: “How about the pleasures of love?”

Simmias: “Certainly not.”

Socrates: “Well, do you think such a man would think much of the other cares of the body – I mean such as the possession of fine clothes and shoes and the other personal adornments?  Do you think he would care about them or despise them, except so far as it is necessary to have them?”

Simmias: “I think the true philosopher would despise them,” he replied.

Socrates: “Altogether, then, you think that such a man would not devote himself to the body, but would, so far as he was able, turn away from the body and concern himself with the soul?”

Simmias: “Yes.”

Socrates: “To begin with, then, it is clear that in such matters the philosopher, more than other men, separates the soul from communion with the body?”

Simmias: “It is.”

 

(Phaedo, Plato I, translated by Harold North Fowler, Loeb Classical Library, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1914, pages 225-227.  I have added the speakers’ names.)

 

Socrates:  “Now, my good man, see if your opinion is just the same as mine.  For I think we’ll know more about what we’re looking into by beginning with this: Does it appear to you that being serious about the so-called pleasures, such as those of food and drink, goes with being a philosophical man?”

Simmias: “Least of all, Socrates,” said Simmias.

Socrates: “And what about the pleasures of love-making?”

Simmias: “No way.”

Socrates: “And what about any other servicing of the body?  Does such a man seem to you to regard any of them as worthy of honor?  For instance, there’s the attainment of diverse cloaks and sandals and the other, body-related beautifications.  Does he seem to you to honor them?  Or does he hold them in dishonor, except insofar as there’s an urgent necessity for him to have his share of them?”

Simmias: “Seems to me he holds them in dishonor,” he said, “at least the one who’s truly a philosopher.”

Socrates: “All in all, doesn’t it seem to you,” he said, “that the business of such a man is not with the body; instead, he stands apart from it and keeps turned toward the soul as much as he can?”

Simmias: “Seems so to me.”

 

(Plato: Phaedo, translated by Eva Brann, Peer Kalkavage, and Eric Salem, Focus Philosophical Library; Hackett Publishing Company; Indianapolis, Indiana, 1998, pages 35 and 36.  I have added the speakers’ names.)

 

When I read this passage, I am impressed by the way Socrates defines a philosophical life as an ascetic life.  Socrates, on his last day on earth, is impressing upon Simmias, and his other students who are standing nearby, the centrality of renunciation for a philosophical life. 

When I read this passage, I understand that the basic mode, or way, of living a philosophical life is to turn away from the sensory world, from sensory stimulation, to that of the soul.  I see this as a mystical teaching, meaning a teaching that guides its practitioners away from the ephemeral to that which is eternal.  The ephemeral is the world of the senses.  The eternal is the realm of the transcendental, beyond, and before, what can be sensed.

When I read this passage, I am inspired to take this teaching seriously.  Taking this teaching seriously means to apply this teaching of withdrawing from the world of the senses in order to cultivate the soul, for the soul is the presence of eternity within the ephemeral individual.