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.