Brief Notes on Various Topics -- 21

28 April 2024

Brief Notes on Various Topics – 21

1.  The importance of friendship is emphasized by Aristotle in books VIII and IX of Nicomachean Ethics.  And the Buddha was once asked by his disciple, Ananda, about the Buddhist Monastic Sangha and what importance should be placed on it.  The Buddha responded that the Sangha was the whole of the Dharma (the Buddhist teachings.)  These observations emphasize how significant friendship is for a well lived life.

There appears to be about 30 people who followed Socrates around.  From the Dialogues I get the impression that most of them knew each other and the parameters of each other’s lives.  They could joke with each other, dispute with each other, walk here and there with each other while listening to Socrates.  In many ways it looks like an ideal philosophical community.

It is not easy for a Platonist today to find a spiritual friend.  Perhaps it has never been easy, but I’m inclined to think that it is more difficult today than it was in the past, though I can’t prove it.  A spiritual friend is someone who encourages us in our spiritual quest.  A spiritual friend is someone who refrains from distracting us with worldly activities and concerns.  A spiritual friend is someone who understands the direction of asceticism and the path entailed by an ascetic commitment.  A spiritual friend is a reciprocal relationship; I mean that a spiritual friendship mutually encourages both parties to retain a spiritual focus in life.

It is possible to make progress without a spiritual friend, but I think it is much more difficult to do it that way. 

2.  For some reason I’ve become more aware of the problem, often mentioned by translators, of how it is often difficult to know which noun a pronoun refers to in the writings of Plotinus.  In Ennead V there seem to be a number of essays where the pronoun ‘it’ is used very frequently; I find I need to slow down at times to check that I still have the thread of the sentence in mind, meaning that I’m getting the antecedent reference of ‘it’ correct.  It’s not a huge problem, but at times it’s a bit awkward.  I wonder if a translator might substitute the referent for the pronoun in cases where the abundant usage of pronouns might make it difficult to get clarity?  Just to test the idea I rewrote some of the sentences I was wrestling with, replacing the antecedent noun for the pronoun (usually this was either The Good or Intellect/Nous).  Then I reread the sentence and I found it more agreeable from a reader’s perspective. 

I am told that it is not always clear what the antecedent noun is and, in those cases, it is better to simply leave the pronoun as is.  That makes sense.  But in at least some cases it might make the writing more accessible to supply the antecedent noun.  A translator could compromise by using a device like ‘it/intellect’ or ‘it/the Good.’  There are various ways of going about it. 

Keep in mind that I don’t know Greek and I’m not a translator, so these remarks are made from a reader who likely is missing important aspects of this situation.

3.  I’m not convinced that Plato was a Pagan.  I don’t think Plato was a monotheist either.  There are more alternatives than Pagan or Monotheist. 

I’m not saying that Plato was anti-Pagan, and I am aware of the strident conflict that late Classical Platonists had with triumphalist Christianity.  But I think one of the sad things about that Late Classical period is that the non-Pagan and non-Monotheist perspectives were banished from the discussion as the conflict between the Monotheists and Pagans intensified. 

My own feeling at this time is that Plato was what I would call a monist of an idealist leaning.  The use of the term ‘idealist’ is a bit anachronistic, but I think it fits.  I say Plato was an idealist because of the centrality of contemplation in Platonic practice; as Plotinus will say, all things are engaged in contemplation, at least to some degree. 

4.  As I become more familiar with the history of Platonism I observe that there seem to be certain perspectives that are used to interpret Platonism; they rise like a wave and then recede back into the sea.  The earliest one I observe is the adoption of a militant skepticism at the Academy after the first four or five heads of the Academy had passed.  A contemporary example of one that I see emerging is a kind of secular, self-consciously atheist, interpretation (I don’t think this will last very long.) 

I see this as the dominant culture impressing itself on Platonism.  But Platonism is about that which is eternal.  These cultural impressions come and go, but the Platonist tradition, which sees things from the perspective of eternity, outlasts these cultural intrusions.

5.  It is quiet in the desert this afternoon.  Some sparrows are chirping in the bougainvillea.  The sky is cloudless; clear like space.