7 October 2022

Grace

Socrates:  At the moment, if through all this discussion our queries and statements have been correct, virtue is found to be neither natural nor taught, but is imparted to us by a divine dispensation without understanding in those who receive it . . .

Meno: I think you put it excellently, Socrates.

Socrates: Then the result of our reasoning, Meno, is found to be that virtue comes to us by a divine dispensation, when it does come.

(Meno, Plato, translated by W. R. M. Lamb, Loeb Classical Library, 1924, pages 369 and 371)

Socrates:  But now, if we in this whole account both searched rightly and were speaking rightly, virtue would be neither by nature, nor something teachable, but has come by divine dispensation without intelligence in those to whom it might come . . .

Meno:  You have spoken most beautifully, it seems to me, Socrates.

Socrates:  Then from this reasoning, Meno, virtue appears to have come to us by divine dispensation, for those to whom it may come.

(Meno, Plato, translated by George Anastaplo and Laurence Berns, Focus Philosophical Library, Newburyport, MA, 2004, page 45)

I tend to see grace as an essential feature of Platonism.  By that I mean that without grace the mystical return to The One would not be possible.  I see the passage quoted above as supporting this point of view.  There are contemporary Platonists who disagree with this perspective, some do so strongly.  Here are a few observations:

1. We tend to understand grace through the lens of Christianity; this makes sense because the Christian perspective on grace is central to that tradition and because Christian perspectives have permeated Western culture, it is natural that we in the West would defer to a Christian understanding of grace when talking about grace.

2. I think of grace in Christianity as being derived from Platonism; that is to say I think the view of grace existed first in Platonism and then was adopted, with modifications, by early Christianity, in Latin Christianity primarily by Augustine.  This is a complex topic.  As Phillip Carey writes in Inner Grace, “Divine grace is built into the very structure of Platonism, in which all good is a participation in a higher Good . . . “ (page 5). 

3. I think that our understanding of grace can be deepened by engaging non-Monotheistic traditions where grace plays an important role.  I am thinking primarily of Pure Land Buddhism.  In the Pure Land tradition, the emphasis is on how ordinary human beings have to rely on the compassion of celestial beings, Bodhisattvas, to become uplifted and, ultimately, enlightened.  I see this as similar to how the Platonist has to rely on the energy emanating from The One, The Good, and The Beautiful in order to access the mystical ascent. 

4. I understand grace in Platonism as a consequence of understanding the ultimate as The Eternal.  I see The Eternal as having three aspects: 1) the always existing or always present or omnipresent, 2) the everywhere nature of The Eternal, meaning that there is no place that the Eternal is not present, and 3) the everything nature of The Eternal, meaning that all things are derived from, touched by, and participate in The Eternal.  I see The Eternal as The One in the mode of grace.

5.  None of this is to say that people do not have to make effort, that they need to cultivate virtue, that they need to engage with purifications, in order to climb the path to union with The One.  I suspect that some who dislike the idea of grace see grace as undermining the need for individuals to commit themselves to spiritual practice.  But I think both are true.  It is like moonlight shining on a mountain path that you could not see but for the moonlight, but you still need to take the steps on this difficult path.