"Progress in Virtue" by Plutarch

29 February 2024

 “Progress in Virtue” by Plutarch

I have just finished reading the essay Progress in Virtue by Plutarch which is found in Volume 1 of Moralia.  I enjoyed the essay and think it is of great value.  I say this because there is a tendency today to think of spirituality as a completely interior task.  In addition, there is the tendency to think that looking for signs of spiritual progress is a kind of attachment to ethical standards, as if that is automatically a bad thing.  Plutarch’s essay is a timely antidote to this kind of thinking.

Plutarch touches on a significant number of ways that someone on the spiritual path, which in Plutarch’s case means the Platonic Path, can recognize that they are making progress.  I’m going to highlight one example in this post:

“It is therefore imperative that we consider carefully whether, as for ourselves, we employ our discourse for our own improvement, and whether, as it affects others, we employ it, not for the sake of momentary repute, nor from motives of ambition, but rather with the wish to hear and to impart something; but most of all must we consider whether the spirit of contention and quarrelling over debatable questions has been put down, and whether we have ceased to equip ourselves with arguments, as with boxing-gloves or brass knuckles, with which to contend against one another, and to take more delight in scoring a hit or a knockout than in learning and imparting something.  For reasonableness and mildness in such matters, and the ability to join in discussions without wrangling, and to close them without anger, and to avoid a sort of arrogance over success in argument and exasperation over defeat, are the marks of a man who is making adequate progress.”

(Plutarch, Moralia Volume 1, Progress in Virtue, translated by Frank Cole Babbitt, Loeb Classical Library, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1927, page 427, ISBN: 9780674992177)

1.  This is a topic that receives a lot of attention in the Platonic tradition.  For example, the dispute between the Philosophers and the Sophists, frequently mentioned in Plato’s Dialogues, is an important example of this ongoing discussion.  The Sophists were skillful at rhetoric and boasted that they could win either side of any argument.  That means that they were not interested in truth or in using discussion as a means of accessing spiritual realities; the Sophists were only interested in worldly gain.

2.  I think the key to acquiring this ability to enter into philosophical discussions without getting sidetracked by desires, such as the desire to win the argument, is to cultivate the mind that is equally pleased whether or not the truth is uncovered by one’s own argument or by the argument of another.  It is the truth that matters. 

3.  In contemporary society the distinction between these two approaches is often seen by contrasting a genuine philosophical discussion with a formal debate.  In a formal debate, whether in a High School debating society or done at Oxford, the winner is a winner simply because they have followed the rules of the debate and have skillfully used rhetorical devices to convince others and/or undermine their opponent.  It is a performance, a mimic of a genuine discussion. 

This is also the overwhelmingly dominant mode in political discussions which are often nothing more than propaganda.

4.  One way of cultivating the ability to accept that someone else has shown the weakness of one’s own view or argument, and further, that another view or argument is more insightful, is to cultivate happiness at other people’s success.  Happiness at other people’s success happens spontaneously when a friend of ours, for example, gets the job they applied for.  It also happens in situations where someone we know acquires some skill they have been working on, such as cooking or playing a musical instrument, and so forth. 

So we are aware of what it feels like, both in body and mind, to be at ease with other people’s success and progress.  This can be applied to philosophical discussions; I often think of this as foundational for dialectic.  But because we are heavily invested in, and strongly identify with, our ideas, it is often more difficult to feel pleased that someone has raised a valid point, one that we have not thought of before, especially when their view is at odds with our own view.  Being aware of this, it is possible to let our negative feelings go.  We can do this by saying something like, “That’s a good point.  I haven’t thought of that before.  I’ll have to give that some thought.”  Once we start using these kinds of responses it becomes surprisingly easy to follow the teachings that Plutarch has offered in this essay.

5.  The whole essay by Plutarch is worth reading and applying to one’s own awareness of where one is on the spiritual path.  Plutarch appears to be intimately familiar with these various measures of progress; I mean he seems to be speaking from his own experience.  Because of this Plutarch is sympathetic with the ups and down of spiritual progress; I have mentioned on this blog before that my own progress on the path has been something like five steps forward, two steps back.  But the advantage of knowing what to look for in terms of spiritual progress is that even when one suffers setbacks, one knows how to start moving forward again.

Gods, Spirits, and Rebirth

26 February 2024

Gods, Spirits, and Rebirth

In Ennead III.4, On Our Allotted Guardian Spirit there is a section where Plotinus focuses on rebirth and how it works; it is an extended discussion starting with Section 2.  Plotinus discusses how what kind of life a human being lives will lead that individual to rebirth as a human being, or some kind of animal, and even raises the idea that some people will be reborn as plants.

What I want to focus on are the brief remarks Plotinus makes on human beings taking rebirth as a spirit or a god:

“Who, then, becomes a spirit?  He who was one here too.  And who a god?  Certainly he who was one here.  For what worked in a man leads him [after death—translator’s addition], since it was his ruler and guide here too.  Is this, then, ‘the spirit to whom he was allotted while he lived’?  No . . . “

(Plotinus, Ennead III.4.3, On Our Allotted Guardian Spirit, translated by A. H. Armstrong, Plotinus: Ennead III, Loeb Classical Library, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1967, pages 147 & 149, ISBN: 9780674997874)

I want to highlight this passage because I think it is consistent with the idea that gods and spirits are part of our world, the third level, or hypostasis, of Platonic metaphysics.  Here are a few comments:

1.  The passage suggests that human beings can be reborn as gods or spirits if they have lived in a way that ‘leads’ them to such a rebirth.  In principle, the mechanism for this kind of rebirth as a god or spirit, is the same mechanism that leads someone to rebirth as a plant or animal.

2.  I think this implies that in at least some cases gods and spirits are embedded in genesis, samsara, and cyclic existence.  Cyclic existence is another name for the third level, or hypostasis, of the metaphysical map of the cosmos found in Platonism; it is the realm in which we dwell.

3.  I think this also implies that gods and spirits can be reborn in lower states, such as that of a human being, animals, and plants, depending on their dominant tendencies during their lifetimes; that is to say what ‘leads’ them.  It is true that Plotinus does not specifically say this, but it is the nature of the wheel of rebirth that rebirth can go to higher or lower conditions with each rebirth and since human beings can become gods or spirits through the mechanism of rebirth, I suggest that it follows that gods and spirits can become humans through the same mechanism.

4.  I am aware that this is not the final word on how Plotinus views deities; there are other passages that seem to align more with the idea that gods and spirits are immortal.  This may have to do with a typology of deities, or it may have to do with the particular topic being discussed at that time.  But here Plotinus indicates that the process of rebirth for gods, spirits, and humans is the same.

5.  This helps us to understand why Plotinus views the transcendental, the Good and the One, as beyond the realm of the gods and spirits.

6.  This kind of teaching suggests that the journey to the One entails transcending the realm of gods and spirits since they dwell in the third level, or hypostasis, of existence.  It also suggests that gods and spirits can also transcend the third level, or material level, of existence by following the path of philosophy; but if they don’t they will be reborn either in a deity dimension of the third level, or in a lower dimension of the third level such as that of humans, animals, or plants.

7.  Gods and spirits are dwellers in samsara, or genesis, just like you and me.  In this sense we, meaning gods, spirits, and humans, are on a common journey to transcendence.

Brief Notes on Various Topics -- 8

25 February 2024

Brief Notes on Various Topics – 8

1.  Not all ritual is an example of sacrifice.  Many rituals are meant to pay homage to, or honor, an event or a person.  Another common ritual is a prayer request for a future result.  Other rituals serve as reminders for particularly significant cultural or individual commitments.  Still other rituals are a way of cultivating historical memory.

 

My own understanding of ritual in life is shaped by the Confucian text, the Book of Rites which has something to say about everything from what we would consider etiquette to ancestor veneration.  In a Platonic context I think that rituals paying homage to our Platonic ancestors, or rituals honoring specific books of Platonic wisdom (for example, a celebration for the Enneads and/or The Consolation by Boethius, and so forth) could be beneficial. 

 

In contrast, sacrificial rituals would, I think, lead practitioners astray.  I say this because it seems to me that sacrificial rituals might be misconstrued as a form of purification and thereby sow confusion as to what the practice of purification entails.

 

2.  I’ve been reading a PhD dissertation on The Consolation of Philosophy.  In the opening sections the author bemoans the fact that the status of the Consolation has fallen in contemporary society; the author sees its status as having slipped over the last 200 years, though I suspect it started slipping earlier than that.  It used to be the case that Boethius’s Consolation was something that every educated person would read.  There are hundreds of manuscripts of the Consolation from the Medieval period that are available to researchers because the book was so popular.  Though the Consolation is still read, it no longer is felt to be essential reading for an educated person.

 

I’m not disturbed by this.  Of course I would prefer that the Consolation retain its prior status.  But things change.  And we live in a culture that despises its own past so it is not a surprise that the Consolation has lost some of its influence and presence.  I take a seasonal view of such things.  Our culture is now entering a deep Winter where all that is valuable must withdraw underground if it is to survive until Spring.

 

3.  We use non-material objects every day; I don’t think it is possible for us to get through a day without using them.  Just think of how often we use numbers.  What I’m getting at is that we don’t need to become mystics (although that would be nice) to comprehend the presence of real abstractions, or forms, or ideas.  There are many ordinary things we use all the time that are non-material and real abstractions.  A materialist might argue that this alone does not support a Platonist perspective; I would say it is not sufficient by itself but, on the other hand, it is consistent with a Platonist perspective.  A materialist might say that these abstract objects are derived from material experience through mental processes that distill similarities and essential features from sensory experience.  Even if that is true, it still means that the abstractions are real.  Just as a mental construct such as a piece of music is real, so also an idea, or form, is real even if it is a mental construct. 

 

I used to use this argument with atheists to open the door for them to non-material realities.  In a few instances it worked.  I don’t think it made them Platonists, but it was a step in the right direction.

 

4.  I am sometimes struck while reading Plotinus at how easily he views the cosmos as rational and fundamentally orderly, and how Plotinus sees in this basic order a distant reflection of noetic realities, and beyond the noetic, to the One; because the One is the source for all unity and the orderliness of the cosmos is a kind of unity.  To be honest, for most of my life I have thought of the cosmos as chaotic, meaning unpredictable and arbitrary.  That might be why I am more sympathetic with the view of the Gods found in popular Classical literature, such as the theatrical tragedies, and in the writings of Hesiod, than the view of the Gods found in philosophical works from the same period.  It has been difficult for me to begin a transition to seeing a deeper order in the cosmos and in some ways I am still not comfortable with that point of view.

 

 

Brief Notes on Various Topics -- 7

22 February 2024

Brief Notes on Various Topics – 7

1.  I listened to an interview on Youtube with a guy who is interested in Greek culture, Platonism, and Hellenism in general.  In describing his background, and how he became interested in these fields, he said that his father was Greek and very proud of his Greek heritage.  He described how his father would bring him works of Greek philosophy, and specifically Plato, when he was a young teenager.  Then he mentioned that his father had him read these works ‘like the Avesta or other holy texts.’ 

The interviewer noted how different this was from the way people are introduced to Greek philosophy at University.  I’m not sure what, exactly, was meant by ‘holy texts,’ but what comes to my mind is reverence, trust, and openness to what is being offered in the book.  I like to say that when I read something in Plato or Plotinus that I don’t understand, I assume that this lack of understanding is due to my own deficiencies rather than the fault of the author.  I think that is part of what he might have been referring to.

2.  Very few people are great musicians.  Very few people are great mathematicians.  In a similar way, I think, very few people are spiritual adepts.  By ‘adepts’ I mean someone who has absorbed the teachings of their tradition and, in addition, lives a life in accordance with the ethical precepts and demands of that tradition.  For Platonism these teachings and ethical precepts are found in the Dialogues and the Enneads.

This does not mean that someone who is not a great musician shouldn’t study music or learn an instrument to the best of their ability.  And it doesn’t mean that those who are not spiritual adepts have no part in the Platonic Path.  A few steps on the path taken during a lifetime is a few steps closer to the Good and the One.  If someone takes a few steps forward each lifetime that is a significant accomplishment.

3.  There is a connection between contemplation and the teachings of ethical restraint.  The practice of contemplation embodies such restraint in its purest form for those of us living in the material realm.  For example, during contemplation we are not indulging sensory impulses; instead we are simply letting them go.  We are not eating during contemplation, or engaged in other worldly activities and desires.  Even when such desires arise in the mind during contemplation, they are quietly put aside. 

4.  It is not a bad thing that there are different interpretations of Platonism circulating at this time.  I have to remind myself of this because sometimes I get frustrated about this situation; though such frustration usually doesn’t last very long.  For example, I get frustrated with those who think that Plotinus was “the father of Neoplatonism;” a phrase I frequently hear.  On the other hand, having such a view circulating in the world has pushed me to clarify my own understanding of Plotinus and his relationship to Plato, which has been of personal benefit to me.

5.  I’m not strongly inclined to view music and painting as offering a means of transcendence.  I have read that Schopenhauer thought that this was the case.  Sometimes music and painting offer such an opportunity in the same way that a beautiful landscape can offer such an opportunity.  But for the most part, I tend to view music and painting as crafts; they more closely resemble carpentry, baking, and quilt making than doors to the transcendental.

The thing is, carpentry and baking and quilt making can offer occasions for transcendence if the mind of the carpenter or baker or quilt maker is ready and open for such understanding.  Music and painting are like this as well.  But I don’t think this happens very often; in fact I suspect it is rare.

I say this as a musician and composer, as well as a poet.  In general I think our culture overestimates the status of what we refer to as the ‘fine arts.’  That doesn’t mean I think they are negatives or harmful either socially or karmically.  I get great satisfaction from writing a well-crafted poem and from listening to music; many people do.  But personally, I have found that these kinds of artistic activities are not inherently spiritual in nature and do not necessarily lead people to higher understanding or to the Good and the One.

6.  To a significant extent the absence of the Ascetic Ideal in our present time and culture is circumstantial (as opposed to thought out, or consciously chosen.)  In a time of great material abundance (for some parts of the world) the Ascetic Ideal lacks a foundation in the sense that in a materially abundant society the practical aspects of the Ascetic Ideal are likely to be occluded.  The only exception is when someone takes on an ascetic program in order to achieve some specific material goal such as studying instead of going to a bar, or refraining from alcohol the day before participating in an athletic contest; things like that. 

But the Ascetic Ideal never completely disappears.  I think there is an intuition as to its connection to spirituality and transcendence.  For this reason, I am optimistic regarding the eventual return of the Ascetic Ideal.

 

  

What is Suitable for a Life of Philosophy

19 February 2024

What is Suitable for a Life of Philosophy

“’Now, those who have become part of these few [who follow the way of philosophy] and have tasted what a sweet and blessed thing they possess have, moreover, seen the madness of the majority of people and the fact that no one does anything salutary, so to speak, for the state’s affairs, and that there is not even an ally with whom one could go to the aid of justice and rescue it; but like a man falling among wild beasts who is neither willing to join them in their criminal activities, nor, as he is on his own, is capable of holding out against all their savagery, he would be killed before he could benefit the state or his friends in any way and would become useless to himself and the rest.  So taking all this into account, he holds his peace and attends to his own business, just as when in a dust storm or driving rain raised by the wind, someone having taken shelter under a wall, sees the rest filled to the brim with lawlessness and is delighted if he can somehow lead the rest of his life free from injustice and unsanctioned deeds and meet his end with good hope graciously and with equanimity.’

“’Well I tell you,’ he said, ‘he would end up having achieved a not inconsiderable amount.’

“’But not a very great amount either,’ I said, ‘since he has not found a state constituted in a fitting way.  For in one that is fitting he will grow more and preserve the common interests along with his own.  Well now, I think we have discussed the reasons why the subject of philosophy has received such condemnation, and unjustly at that, in sufficient detail, unless you still have something to say?’

“’Well, I don’t want to say any more on this,’ he said, ‘but which of today’s states do you say are suitable for philosophy?’

“’None whatsoever,’ I replied . . . “

(Plato, Republic, translated by Chris Emlyn-Jones and William Preddy, Loeb Classical Library, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 2013, pages 49-51, 496c – 497b, ISBN: 9780674996519)

A friend of mine pointed out this passage because it relates to my post on solitude and my analysis that the Platonist way of life would, by itself, lead those who follow it to end up in a situation where they had only a few close spiritual friends, or may end up separated from the community that they live in.  This, in turn, could lead someone to solitude.

1.  “No one does anything salutary for the state’s affairs.”  This is because people who are drawn to politics overwhelmingly do so for personal gain; the interests of a wider community are, at best, a distant secondary consideration. 

2.  “He would be killed before he could benefit the state or his friends in any way.”  Or he would be seduced into serving power for power’s sake by skillful sophists/propagandists and in a surprisingly short time he will have forgotten about any such thing as a higher motive.

3.  “He holds his peace and tends to his own business.”  If he can; but it is a mark of ideological commitments that they seek out people who are minding ‘their own business’ and coerce them into joining the ideologues group.  It is not enough, from an ideological perspective, for someone to not actively oppose them; it is not enough that someone simply stand on the sidelines.  This hostility to people who try to maintain a neutral stance was targeted during the French Revolution and such targeting has been a part of   ideological programs ever since.

4.  “Which of today’s states do you say are suitable for philosophy?”  “None whatsoever.”  This was written thousands of years ago but it remains depressingly true today.

5.  To the degree possible, it is better for a philosopher to separate themselves from political, especially ideological, activity.  In some societies this will be relatively simple; in other societies the space available for such separation will be very narrow.  But, again, the possibility for such separation is something the philosopher should be attentive towards.

6.  There is a wonderful book by Bill Porter, also known as Red Pine, called Road to Heaven.  The book is about how religious hermits of various affiliations managed to keep to their hermit practice even during the cultural revolution under Chairman Mao.  These hermits had retreats in a mountainous region of China and were able to maintain their commitments and vows in a very difficult context.  It is inspiring to know that some people were able to practice their path even in such a situation.

 

  

Brief Notes on Various Topics -- 6

17 February 2024

Brief Notes on Various Topics – 6

1.  I’ve been reading Ennead III.9, Against the Gnostics.  One of the criticisms Plotinus makes of the Gnostics is that they unnecessarily generate elaborations; that is to say their system is unnecessarily complex.  “So we must not go after other first principles but put this first, and then after it Intellect, that which primally thinks, and then Soul after Intellect (for this is the order which corresponds to the nature of things): and we must not posit more principles than these in the intelligible world, or fewer.”

(Plotinus, Ennead II.9, Against the Gnostics, translated by A. H. Armstrong, Loeb Classical Library, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1966, pages 225-227, ISBN: 9780674994867)

A comment like this inclines me to think that Platonism isn’t really complex.  I think the difficulty people have accessing Platonism has more to do with its specialized vocabulary and that its intuitions, such as the transcendental, run counter to the dominant contemporary culture. 

2.  There is a tendency among some spiritual traditions to attempt to force, or even coerce, people into awakening.  The role of the teacher from this perspective is to disrupt mechanical habits that block access to the awakened state.  This way of looking at spirituality justifies sometimes very dramatic or very aggressive behaviors on the part of the teacher.  It is my observation that the results of teachers acting from this view are often damaging.  The analogy I like to use is that it is as if a gardener, in order to make a plant blossom, yelled at the plant, slapped the plant, kicked the plant, and otherwise tried to order the plant to bloom.  But the plant has its own schedule and will blossom when it is ready.

In contrast to this approach are teachers who nourish the souls of their students; this resembles a gardener watering, fertilizing, trimming, and otherwise caring for the plants in the gardener’s garden.  Socrates could be confrontative, but he was not humiliating.  And in many ways he cared for and nourished his students’ souls.  And this is how I see teachers of Platonism behaving.

3.  Plotinus compares awakening to a sunrise.  In other words, awakening appears when it is timely for it to do so.

4.  One thing that my long journey to Platonism has shown me is that I have what I call ‘blind spots.’  I don’t think I’m unique in this regard.  I say this based on my experience with the dialogue Phaedo.  I first read Phaedo in college as an undergraduate.  I completely missed the teachings on asceticism and rebirth; I mean that it was as if I didn’t even see them even though I read the whole book.  In fairness to myself, the teacher ignored these teachings and focused on other aspects such as the logical structure of arguments found in the dialogue which left me with the impression that Plato was a kind of ancient rationalist. 

It came to me as a big surprise when, decades later, I reread Phaedo and discovered these teachings on rebirth and asceticism.  By then I had studied Buddhism for many years and I was open to such teachings because of this.  In other words, the lens of my mind had changed.

I think one of the reasons that we often miss spiritual teachings that are clearly presented is that we tend to go to spiritual works to find support for opinions we already hold; in other words, I think we kind of scan a spiritual book, looking for teachings that already confirm what we hold to be true.  This way of reading a spiritual work effectively blocks access to ideas and practices that could undermine, or change, views we already have.

One antidote to this tendency is repetition; to read a spiritual book several times.  Often when this is done things that we unconsciously blocked the first time around move into the foreground.  Another antidote is to discuss the book with others who do not share your own viewpoint; this can be in a class situation, but it is better, I think, to share this kind of conversation with a good spiritual friend.

5.  I don’t recall much discussion about solitude in Platonist works.  That doesn’t mean it isn’t there, but solitude doesn’t seem to have a strong emphasis.  For example, in Phaedo there are sections that talk about the life of a philosopher and a life of solitude is not one of the things that is emphasized.  The suggestions for a philosophical life in Platonism lead, I think, to a relative solitude because you will not be aligning yourself with what ordinary people do.  For example, if you are restrained regarding eating and drinking alcohol, or  if you have abandoned drinking alcohol altogether, this cuts off a large number of social interactions.  And similarly for the other kinds of ethical restraints that are explicitly mentioned.  I think it would be a good idea to explore the role that solitude might have in a Platonic context. 

 

 

Brief Notes on Various Topics -- 5

14 February 2024

Brief Notes on Various Topics --5

1.  John Peter Kenney in his book Mystical Monotheism suggests that Plotinus advocated for an ineffable One as a way of countering the infinite regress implied in some versions of earlier Platonism; most of those versions were derived from the Plato’s Parmenides.  I don’t see it that way.  Plotinus’s apophatic approach to the One is derived from his contemplative experience rather than from an analysis of inferential systems. 

David J. Yount in his book Plotinus the Platonist understands this; for example, “I believe Plotinus had the same experience or vision of the Good that Plato did, and so their philosophies come out sounding, if not being, the same.  However, it is not because Plato wrote what he did that Plotinus agrees with it; Plotinus agrees with it because he achieved knowledge of the Good; thus Plato wrote what he did because he also had the experience of the Good.”  (Page xxiii)  And later Yount writes, “. . . it is my unprovable contention that Plotinus exited Plato’s Cave, saw the Good and described it in as much detail as he and his listeners had time to question and investigate – everything from the shadows on the wall to the Good Itself.” (page xxix) I would add, that I think that Yount’s view is provable if you walk the Way of Platonism long enough and enter into contemplation long enough; ‘long enough’ in this context means something like ‘many years.’

2.  I often compare Platonism to Dharmic traditions from India because I think Platonism has more in common with Dharmic traditions than it does with what philosophy has become in modernity.  Lately I have been comparing Platonism to Confucianism.  Points to consider include that rather undefined nature of ultimacy in both systems.  In Platonism the One is ineffable.  In Confucianism Heaven is mentioned, but it is not an idea that is unpacked in detail; it is rather an influential reality.  Heaven isn’t quite apophatic in a Plotinian sense; on the other hand, Heaven isn’t specified in any detail.

Another similarity is that the Confucian Sage is dedicated to the Way of the Scholar Sage; in a Confucian context this means the study of the Confucian Classics such as the Analects and the Book of Rites and the Book of Poetry, and so forth.  I think it is possible to map onto Platonism some aspects of the Way of the Scholar Sage such as the dedicated reading and study of the Platonic Classics, specifically the Dialogues and the Enneads.

Though it is not generally understood in the West, Confucianism has a contemplative dimension.  This dimension is also present in Platonism.

Two big differences are, first, that the Confucian Sage regards serving the State as a noble calling.  In contrast, the Platonic Sage is not inherently drawn to such service.  And second, Confucianism is not an ascetic tradition, though it does have strong ethical commitments that might, in our hedonistic time, be thought of as unnecessarily restrictive.  But asceticism is central to Platonism, it is a primary form of practice.

3.  I’ve been thinking about why I spend time comparing Platonism to non-Western spiritual systems.  I think I am motivated to do so because Western Philosophy has evolved in a manner that makes it almost impossible to understand Platonism if you only view Platonism through the lens of contemporary, or modernist, Western Philosophy.  If I were to focus on a single absence in modernist Western Philosophy it would be that there is no understanding of Philosophy as salvific; the very idea of Philosophy as salvific sounds strange in a contemporary philosophical context.  In contrast, Dharmic traditions, and a tradition like Confucianism, view their philosophical studies as leading to salvation and the overcoming of negative metaphysically rooted conditions and situations.  For this reason I feel a need to link Platonism to, especially, Dharmic traditions, and other spiritual traditions in an attempt to explain what Platonism is about.

4.  I’ve posted several times about the topic of evil recently.  In a book by Eric Fallick, a contemporary Platonist practitioner, there is an essay, Some Thoughts on the Great Problems of Manyness and Evil.  Here is a quote;

“How and why can there be more than the One, especially when everything else is a descent from Its perfection?  How and why do many things come from the One?  Even more incomprehensible, how can evil, which is so evident and undeniable, arise from the Good Itself, and why should this be so?  Indeed, compared to the One Itself, just the existence of anything else, even of those things we ordinarily describe as good, is evil in itself just as those things being other than the Good!  Why are they then, and how can this be so?  Why did our souls descend in the first place and the beginningless cycles of birth and death, genesis, samsara begin?  These sorts of questions, and related variants according to different systems, have been considered and answered by many different people in many different systems of many varieties.  No answer has satisfied everyone and perhaps there is no answer but to realize union with the Absolute through diligent contemplative ascetic practice, at which point both the question and the questioner cease or, to put it another way, the answer is obvious.”

(Eric Fallick, Platonist Contemplative Asceticism: Practice and Principle, published by lulu-dot-com, 2019, pages 164 and 165, ISBN: 9780359773015)

Some things are answered only through practice.  I think this is true even in mundane activities.  For example, an instructor might tell an aspiring musician to hold his hands in a particular way around the instrument.  For the student this position may seem awkward or counterintuitive.  Later on, though, as he becomes more skilled, he finds out that this hand position allows for skillful performance of many pieces of music.  The analogy has some flaws, but I think you get what I’m saying. 

5.  Beautiful things in this world are like the sound of a bell.  They are attractive like the sound of a bell.  They arise due to causes and conditions like the sound of a bell.  The sound of a bell endures and then fades, just like beautiful things endure and then fade.

The beauty of the sound of a bell is the beauty of the noetic and the One manifesting in the dimension of time.  And this is true for all beautiful things.  But noetic beauty is Beauty as Such and does not fade because it transcends time.  Following the beauty of the sound of a bell back to its noetic source and we find ourselves in the presence of eternity.

 

 

Brief Notes on Various Topics -- 4

12 February 2024

Brief Notes on Various Topics – 4

1.  Porphyry writes in his Life of Plotinus that Plotinus wrote quickly and after finishing an essay refrained from revising it.  At times, I think, this gives his writing the feeling of ‘thinking out loud;’ I’m referring to a kind of spontaneity as Plotinus looks at a topic from another philosopher’s perspective, then a second philosopher’s, or tradition’s, perspective.  This can happen because Plotinus had internalized the vast heritage of Greek philosophy in general, and his own Platonist heritage in particular.

2.  I have returned to The Consolation of Philosophy by Boethius, which I am reading in the evening.  I regularly reread the Consolation.  There is a strong connection between Phaedo and Consolation.  Both depict the salvific nature of philosophy at the end of lives dedicated to its study and practice.  Socrates is more sure of himself and the salvific nature of philosophy; he doesn’t have to be convinced of this, rather Socrates is in the role of convincing his students.  Boethius has lost touch with the central teachings of philosophy and because of this he, unlike Socrates, is in despair.  The Consolation shows Boethius reconnecting with philosophy and how that brings a sense of peace to him even in his very difficult situation.  Both works inspire readers to walk the way of philosophy.

3.  One of the differences between Socrates and Boethius is that Boethius was seduced by politics.  Socrates was never seduced by politics; he remained outside of that sphere.  Both were victims of political machinations.  I think the lesson to be learned from this is that philosophers should withdraw from the political sphere and focus on the transcendental.  That doesn’t guarantee that politics won’t track you down, as in the case of Socrates.  But I think disengaging from politics offers a philosopher a greater sense of a life well lived.

4.  It’s interesting that near the beginning of Consolation Philosophy banishes the muses who are keeping Boethius in his miserable state due to their fixation on his woeful condition.  Yet the Consolation itself alternates between poetry and prose throughout the work.  This is an example of a kind of ambiguity towards poetry, and other arts, found in the Platonic tradition. 

5.  I live in a desert valley surrounded by mountains.  There was a winter rainstorm last week and the mountains are now covered with snow.  It is awesomely beautiful. 

The snow will melt soon as the desert heat returns.  But the beauty itself will remain.